98 OUR RESIDENT BIRDS 



Habits. Flight powerful, heavy, and sweeping. On 

 the ground it sidles along with long, ungainly hops, or 

 walks in a stately manner. 



Food. Omnivorous. 



Nest. March. One brood. 



Site. Not often in trees ; usually on some inaccessible 

 ledge on the sea-cliffs. 



Materials. Stout sticks, twigs, and heather-sprigs, 

 lined with grass, roots, wool, fur, &c. 



Eggs. Four to six. Greenish blue, more or less 

 densely spotted and blotched with dark olive-brown ; 

 variable. 



COMMON CORMORANT (Phalacrocorax carbo). 



Common throughout our coasts where suitable. 



Haunts. Rocky ledges of the cliffs and the sea and 

 some inland stations. 



Plumage. Head and neck black, with white fila- 

 mentary plumes, the feathers of the occiput becoming 

 crest -like in spring. Throat white ; gular pouch yellow. 

 Mantle black, glossed with cupreous ; rest of plumage 

 black. Conspicuous white patch on the thighs in the 

 breeding season. Bill dark horn-colour. Legs black. 

 Length '36 in. Female similar. Nestlings nude, and 

 bluish black. Young bird, dark brown above and dirty 

 white below, mottled with pale brown. 



Language. A harsh guttural cry. Usually very silent. 



Habits. On land it progresses awkwardly, owing to 

 the backward position of the legs. It flies rapidly, with 

 neck outstretched like a Duck's. It is an expert swimmer 

 and diver, going down to great depths with incredible 

 rapidity after its finny prey. Very sociable, always 

 nesting in communities. It loves to sit on a rocky ledge, 

 with head erect and half-opened wings, occasionally 

 flapping them. The Cormorant's " rookery " is a most 

 evil abode, reeking and stinking with its excrement and 

 regurgitated fragments of fish. 



