THE CORMORANT 



Phalacrocorax carbo 



Arabic, Agag 



Plumage dark bluish-black over head, breast, body ; dull 

 greenish-brown on wings, each feather margined with a 

 darker tone ; a pure white patch on cheeks, and another on 

 the flanks ; feathers on top of head elongated and edged 

 with white; beak black at tip, yellow at base; part of the 

 pouch which is without feathers, blue ; legs black ; eyes 

 green. Length, 36 inches. 



This is not a bird one would expect to see far 

 away from the salt water, but there is anyhow one 

 colony of them up the Nile at Gebel Abu Feada — 

 and any one going up the Nile must pass right 

 by their breeding-place — and the birds in general 

 seem to work rather south of that point than to 

 the north. In March 1908 I saw them twice ; 

 once, near Manfalut, a string of six flew low over 

 the water in single file so near that one could 

 with the glass see the very hook at the end of their 

 long bills. Perhaps no point on the river is quite 

 so magnificent as these cliffs of Abu Feada — the 

 water rushes by their very feet, and their tops 

 tower high in beautifully broken forms. The 



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