° is g 6 1I ] Shufeldt, Cormorant Rookeries of the Lofoten Islands. 3 I 3 



own ornithologists. He writes me (11 Jan., 1896) that this view 

 is of a rocky bay on the small island of Borgevae of the Lofoten 

 group, and that about three thousand Cormorant eggs are collected 

 there annually, " and eaten by the fishermen ; the eggs you see in 

 the picture, was the third set laid this summer (all the other 

 eggs already taken)." In the illustration are seen a number of the 

 nests of the Cormorants in the foreground, containing from three 

 to five eggs each ; while in the distance nine or ten of the birds 

 are in sight. Three or four of these are sitting on their eggs in 

 the nests ; others are perched on the rocks, and one is standing on 

 the edge of its nest. Mr. Ridgway in his ' Manual of North 

 American Birds ' gives the clutch of eggs for the Phalacrocoracidae 

 as 2-5, and the size of those of Ph. carbo as 2.50X1-61, being 

 " elongate-ovate, pale bluish green, with a more or less continuous 

 white chalky crust " (pp. 77, 78). The present writer has exam- 

 ined the eggs of this Cormorant in the collections of the U. S. 

 National Museum, for which courtesy he is indebted to Major 

 Bendire. The eggs of some species of Cormorants are wonder- 

 fully like those of the Western Grebe (sEchmof horns occiJaitaUs), 

 and not at all easily distinguished from them. 



The Lofoten Islands are off the northwest coast of Norway 

 between 67°3o'and 6c) 2o' N. lat., and between 12 and i6°35' 

 E. long. It is a large group and noted for its picturesqueness, and 

 the location given also includes the Vesteraalen. We are told that 

 the " extreme length of the group from Andenaes, at the north of 

 Ando, to Rost, is about 130 English miles ; the aggregate area 

 amounts to about 1560 square miles, supporting a permanent 

 population of about 20,000. The islands, which are all of 

 granite or metamorphic gneiss, are precipitous and lofty ; the 

 highest peaks are in the Lofoten group, Vaagekallan on Ost- 

 Vaago rising directly from the sea to a height of 3090 feet. The 

 climate is not rigorous, and in summer the snow-line is at 3000 

 feet. There is no wood upon these islands." 



In the 'Dictionary of Birds' Professor Newton says: "The 

 Cormorant. P. carbo, frequents almost all the seacoast of Europe, 

 and breeds in localities at various stations most generally on 

 steep cliffs, but occasionally on rocky islands as well as on trees. 

 The nest consists of a large mass of seaweed, and, with the 



