iv PHALACROCORACIDAE 79 



in caves, on ledges of cliffs, tops of stacks, or low islands, and 

 less commonly on trees, bushes or reeds, is a mass of sticks, grass, 

 seaweed, rushes and the like, according to situation ; the smaller 

 species constructing a slighter platform when the trees are chosen, 

 and a lining of green leaves being occasionally added. Early in 

 spring colonies, often of very large dimensions, are formed by many 

 but not all of the species for breeding purposes, the stench 

 from the remains of decaying fish at such spots being decidedly 

 unpleasant. Incubation lasts about four weeks. Cormorants 

 were of old used in England for catching fish, and this has been 

 a regular business from time immemorial in China and Japan ; 

 but with us it is a mere sport, the chief exponent of which 

 is now Captain F. H. Salvin, whose chapters on " Fishing with 

 Cormorants " will be read with pleasure by those interested in the 

 subject. 1 The bird rises to the surface to swallow its prey, but 

 a strap round the neck allows it to dispose of the smallest only 

 of its captures, while it is forced by its master to disgorge the 

 remainder before it is rewarded with a portion of the catch. 



Plotus anhinga, the Snake-bird or Darter of tropical and 

 sub-tropical America, ranging northwards to "West Mexico and 

 South Carolina, is glossy greenish-black with beautiful silvery- 

 grey markings on the scapulars and wing-coverts, a broad brown 

 tip to the tail, which becomes white terminally, and long whitish 

 hair-like feathers on the sides of the occiput and neck, merging 

 into a black mane on the nape. The filoplumes are absent in 

 winter, and are inconspicuous in the female, which differs, more- 

 over, in having a grey-buff head, neck, and breast, the latter 

 being divided from the belly by a chestnut band. The young 

 resemble the mother-bird, but are duller and lack the chestnut 

 tint. The peculiar long thin neck and corrugated rectrices have 

 been mentioned above; the plumage is unusually close, and is 

 chiefly composed of small soft feathers of very uniform distribu- 

 tion ; the lores, orbits, chin, and throat are naked, the two former 

 being apparently greenish, and the latter, which is moderately 

 dilatable, orange. The bill is olive above and yellow below, the 

 feet mainly olive with yellow webs. Three other species are 

 recognised, but the variability in the amount of rufous in all 

 makes their validity somewhat questionable. They are P. novae 

 Jiollandiae of Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea, with a 



1 Freeman and Salvin, Falconry, its claims, etc., London, 1859, pp. 327-349. 



