64 jrfl \\i> waas OF 



118. ANHINGA. 



pearlng. It has also the curious habit of quietly sinking like a grebe. The nesta 

 of the Anhinga are variously placed sometimes in low bushes at an elevation of 

 only a few feet, or in the upper branches of a high tree, but always over water. 

 Sometimes this bird breeds in large colonies with various species of Herons. Th<> 

 eggs are from three to five iu number, bluish or dark greenish-white, with a white 

 chalky incrustation; they are narrow and elongated in shape; the sizes range from 

 2.00 to 2.30 long by 1.30 to 1.40 broad. In Florida the Water Turkey deposits its eggs 

 in April; many eggs are collectel in March, and a writer in TJic Oo/ov//.s/ (May, 1893, 

 ', states he has seen nests occupied in February. Mr. R. W. Williams, jr., in- 

 forms me than the Anliin^a will occupy the same nest year after year with little 

 s. Tn a small swamp near Tallahassee the nests arc frequently found in close 

 to those of Ward's Herons. He states the Anhlnga may be robbed of its 

 eggs constantly and yet they will continue to nest in the same swamp. 



119. CORMORANT. r)inlni;-',,;,rn.r <>//-,< Linn.) Geog. Dist. Atlantic coasts 

 south in winter on the coast of the rnited States, casually 

 Unas. 

 The rnmmon Cormorant is very generally distributed throughout nearly the 



Miisphere. It breeds in the northern parts of Kurope ,-unl 

 and in North America from the I'.av of Fundy to Greenland. The Cormnran: 



'is birds of strange figure; the outer surface of the plumage in m< 



normally is of a dark lustrous greenish-black, lint suhject to preat , h.-inpes, making 



diflicult. The eyes as a rule are preen, a color rarely seen in birds. 



principally upon fish and their voi : ..verbial. This spec ies hn-eds 



;rnbers on the rocky shores of Labrador and Newfoundland: making the 



ipon the tops of ledges or on projections and in the crevices of precipitous rocks, 



which are covered with the excrement of the birds. It is composed of sticks, kelp 



and sea weed. Like all the Cormorants this species is gregarious and breeds in 



communities. They are all known under the common name of Shag. Mr. Frazer 



