COBMORA1TT. 7 



reflections, and each feather is narrowly edged with deep 

 velvet black. 



The wings reach, when extended, from four feet four to 

 four feet six inches; greater and lesser vying coverts, bronze 

 brown, with a tinge of green; primaries, dull black; secondaries, 

 blackish bronze brown, tinged with purple and green; ter- 

 tiaries, also blackish bronze brown, tinged with purple and 

 green. The tail, which is rounded at the end, is black, the 

 feathers, fourteen in number, are remarkably strong arid 

 stiff, and when on the land the bird rests on them. The 

 legs, which are thick and strong, are as the toes, black; 

 webs, black. 



The female is like the male in his winter plumage, and 

 both assume summer plumage; length, about two feet nine 

 inches; Yarrell says that her crest is longer than that of 

 the male, and brighter in colour, but smaller in size. 



The young are at first of a bluish black colour, and in a 

 few days become covered with black down. In their first 

 plumage, which is not fully attained in less than five or six 

 weeks, they have the- upper bill dark brown, the lower one 

 yellowish brown; iris, brown. Forehead and crown, dark 

 dusky brown, slightly glossed with purple green, the lower 

 part of the sides of the head white; neck and nape, also dark 

 brown, the pouch under the chin, and throat, dull yellowish 

 white. Breast, dull yellowish brown above, mottled with 

 greyish white, below dull white, varied with a little brown, 

 the sides darker dusky brown; greater and lesser wing coverts, 

 greyish black, the edges of the feathers blackish brown. Under 

 tail coverts, dusky; legs and toes, nearly black; webs, nearly 

 black. 



Mr. Yarrell gives the following account of observations 

 made on an old Cormorant, kept in the Garden of the Royal 

 Zoological Society, Regent's Park, London, with reference to 

 the changes in its plumage, incident to the approach of 

 summer: 'Some white feathers on the side of the head and 

 neck began to appear on the 4th. of January, 1832, and 

 arrived at their greatest perfection by the 26th. of February. 

 They remained in this state until the 2nd. of April, when 

 they began gradually to disappear, and by the 12th. of May 

 were wholly lost, having been fifty-three days arriving at 

 perfection; making together a period of eighteen weeks three 

 days. These white feathers are new ones, much longer than 

 the bkck feathers of the same part, rounded in form, and in 



