18 Smith, Double-crested Cormorants Breeding in Cent. III. LJan. 



apart contained each two nests. Of the two nests in each tree 

 one was empty and the other contained a set of three eggs. The 

 eggs of neither set had been long incubated but the nests were 

 apparently deserted and no living cormorants were seen in the 

 immediate vicinity. A dead adult hanging from a limb of a tree 

 near-by gave reason for the supposition that the little colony had 

 been broken up by hunters or fishermen. About a half mile from 

 these two trees another tree was found which contained two nests, 

 both empty. Five adults were seen flying or swimming near-by. 

 The six nests referred to above were from twenty-four to thirty- 

 two feet above the water but could not well be placed higher as all 

 the trees of the immediate vicinity were rather small. 



On July 14, 1910, a visit was made to a nesting place about five 

 miles north of Havana at the head of Dogfish Lake where two tall 

 dead Cottonwood trees were found in close proximity, one of which 

 had one nest and the other had two nests. One of the latter was 

 dislodged during a violent wind storm after our arrival but before 

 the photograph was taken. The nests were at least fifty feet above 

 the water. 



Soon after the storm had passed and before we had gone very 

 near to the nests, small flocks of cormorants from neighboring 

 lakes began arriving and finally twenty-one of them were perched 

 in the two nest-bearing trees before we disturbed them by our 

 approach. None of them seemed to pay any special attention to 

 the nests, and as we afterwards saw no signs of life therein we 

 conjectured that young birds might already have been reared and 

 have left the nest and were perhaps included in the flocks. We 

 could not get near enough to determine whether or not any of 

 them were juvenile. It was nearly a month later in the season 

 than the time at which well grown birds had been found the pre- 

 ceding year. 



Although this latter nesting place was much nearer to Havana 

 than the first one, it was not in the line of regular travel, was not 

 known to as many people, and I have no knowledge of the birds 

 having been molested. 



Inquiries among fishermen and hunters disclosed the fact that 

 cormorants' nests have been built in the Havana region for a 

 number of years past and while it was difficult to get very definite 



