BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 37 



CORMORANT. 



(Phalacrocorax carbo.) 

 Order STEGANOPODES ; Family PELECANID.E (PELICANS). 



Description of Parent 

 Birds. Length about 

 thirty-six inches. Bill 

 rather long, straight ex- 

 cept at the tip, where 

 it is hooked, and pale 

 brown. Irides green. 

 Crown, nape, and a por- 

 tion of the neck black, 

 intermixed with a num- 



ADULT CORMORANT AND YOUNG. bei " f VCty ^TTOW white 



feathers almost like hairs. 



The feathers at the back of the head are elongated 

 into a kind of crest. The feathers on the back 

 and of the wing-coverts are dark brown bordered 

 with black. Wing and tail quills black. Round the 

 base of the bill and chin bare and yellow, bordered 

 with white on the latter. Neck all round below 

 the portion streaked with white, breast, belly, and 

 under-parts rich bluish-black, except on either thigh, 

 where there is a patch of white. Legs, toes, mem- 

 branes, and claws black. The female is said not to 

 be so large as the male, but has her crest often 

 longer. 



Situation and Locality. On ledges 9i cliff by 

 the sea, and also inland, on low rocky islands and 

 reefs, sometimes in trees. The bird breeds pretty 

 generally round our coasts wherever suitable cliffs 

 and rocks are to be found, and still maintains 

 inland colonies at a few places. 



