[94] BIRDS OF OREGON 



They are usually seen in solemn flight, singly or with a few others, on 

 the larger bays. They are smaller than their white relatives but have the 

 same powerful flight and carry themselves with the same absurd dignity. 

 Unlike the White Pelican, which does its fishing while sitting on the 

 water, these birds fish from the air, circling over the water and dropping 

 like giant kingfishers after their prey. When fish are caught, the birds 

 usually remain sitting on the water until they have swallowed them, 

 when they again take flight and resume fishing operations. These pelicans 

 certainly do no harm whatever while off the Oregon coast. Their numbers 

 are usually not sufficient to make any appreciable difference, even should 

 they feed entirely on valuable fish, which is not the case, however, as all 

 available evidence indicates that they like many other fish-eating birds 

 feed very largely on small trash fish of no commercial value. One 

 Oregon stomach from Sand Lake (November 5) contained two Amphis- 

 tichus argenteus, entire save for heads. 



Cormorants: Family Phalacrocoracidae 



Farallon Cormorant: 



Phalacrocorax auritus albociliatus Ridgway 



DESCRIPTION. "Adults in breeding plumage: Throat pouch orange, a narrow crest of 

 curved black feathers above and back of each eye; back and wings slaty, feathers 

 bordered with black; rest of plumage glossy greenish black. Post-breeding flumage: 

 Head without crest. Young: Plumage brownish becoming grayish brown on head 

 and neck; throat and breast lighter, sometimes white before the first moult." 

 (Bailey) Young, when first hatched, are black, naked, and helpless. Si%e: Length 

 2 -9-~33-5> "wing 11.75-13.00, bill 1.90-1.35." (Bailey) Nest: On the coast, usually 

 of weeds, grasses, or sticks on the bare rock on offshore islands or precipitous head- 

 lands; in the interior, crudely made of sticks in trees or sometimes on the ground 

 of tules or weeds, or in masses of broken-down tules. Eggs: 3 to 5, occasionally 

 more, very pale blue to bluish white, more or less concealed by a white calcareous 

 covering and frequently badly nest-stained. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds on offshore islands and rocky headlands from Three 

 Arch Rocks, Oregon, south to Mexico and inland through eastern Oregon (Snake 

 River, Malheur Lake, etc.) south to southern California. Winters over much of 

 breeding territory except where all water freezes up entirely. In Oregon: Breeds on 

 almost all offshore rocks and in various places in Klamath, Lake, and Harney 

 Counties, occasionally at least along Snake River (usually in Idaho), and perhaps 

 other places. 



THE FARALLON CORMORANT (Plate 13, A), in common with all the great 

 colony-nesting birds of the interior basin, has attracted much attention 

 from ornithologists and consequently enjoys a place of prominence in 

 Oregon bird literature somewhat greater than its actual importance would 

 seem to warrant. It is the largest and by far the most numerous of the 

 three shags that occur regularly in the State and can readily be distin- 



