CORMORANTS 



[OBDER : Ciconiiformes. SUBORDER : Steganopodes. FAMILY : Phdlacrocoracidce] 

 PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 



[E. HARTERT. F. C. R. JOURDAIN. W. P. PYCRAIT. A. L. THOMSON] 



CORMORANT [Phalacrocorax cdrbo (Linnaeus). Great or black-cormorant ; 

 coalgoose, mochrum elder (Kent) ; Isle of Wight parson (Hants) ; palmer, 

 scarf or scart (Scotland) ; loering (old), brongie (young) (Shetlands). French, 

 grand cormoran ; German, Kormoran (usually) or Kormoran-Scharbe ; Italian, 

 cormorand]. 



1. Description. The cormorant agrees with the shag and the gannet in 

 having all the toes enclosed in a common web, but it may at all times be distinguished 

 from the shag, with which alone it can be confused, by its larger size, its blue-black 

 metallic gloss, and the presence of fourteen tail feathers. The sexes are alike, and 

 there is a slight seasonal change of coloration. (PL 170.) Length about 36 in. 

 [914 mm.]. The general coloration is of a metallic steel-blue, almost black, save 

 on the wing-coverts and scapulars, which are of a bronze-brown hue " laced " with 

 black. The nuptial dress is distinguished by the development of a nuchal crest, 

 and numerous long, white filoplumes on the sides of the head and neck, imparting 

 a hoary appearance. A still more striking development of filoplumes takes place 

 over the thigh, where they form a large, oval, white patch. Beak and legs black, 

 gular pouch yellow, iris green. The juvenile dress differs from that of the adult in 

 that the general coloration is of an ash-brown hue with a metallic green gloss on the 

 back. The wings are coloured as in the adult, save that the major coverts have 

 brown tips. The under parts are of an ash-brown ; frequently, however, the centre 

 of the breast and abdomen are more or less conspicuously white. The iris is brown. 

 The young in down are of a dark sooty-brown colour, [w. P. P.] 



2. Distribution. In the British Isles the cormorant is chiefly confined to 



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