MEXICAN CORMORANT 

 121. Phalacrocorax vigua mexicanus. 25 in. 



Adults with feathers bordering on the gular sac, white. 

 In breeding plumage, the sides of head and neck have 

 tufts of filmy white feathers, eyes green, as they are in 

 all cormorants. All cormorants are expert swimmers 

 and fishermen. They never plunge for their prey, but 

 pursue and catch it under water, the same as do the 

 grebes. When perching, they sit erect with their neck 

 bent in the form of a letter S. They fly with their 

 necks outstretched, and with rather slow wing beats. 

 They are very gregarious and nest in large colonies, 

 this species always being found in swamps or heavy 

 shrubbery, surrounding bodies of water. 



Nest. Usually in trees overhanging the water, or 

 upon the ground, in either case being made of sticks 

 and weeds. The 3 to 5 eggs are bluish-green, covered 

 with a chalky deposit (2.25x1.35). 



Range. Breeds north to the extreme southern bound- 

 ary of the United States; wanders north casually t:> 

 111. in summer. 



