THE DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT. 535 



The female resembles the male, but is smaller. 



Hob. Labrador, and along the coast as far south as New Jersey in winter. 



These birds are abundant on the coast of Labrador, where large numbers assem- 

 ble for the purpose of reproduction, forming -their nests upon the inaccessible ledges 

 of rocky cliffs. 



Their mode of flight is swift and strong. Their food is obtained by diving and 

 pursuing it beneath the surface, where they make rapid progress by the aid of .their 

 wings. 



THIS species is pretty common on our coast in the latter 

 part of autumn and during the winter. It is not gre- 

 garious, but is seen singly or, at most, in pairs. It is shy, 

 and difficult of approach, and seems ever on the alert for 

 danger. The Grand Menan is the most southern breeding- 

 place of this bird in our neighborhood. There it builds a 

 large nest of seaweeds on shelves of steep cliffs or in crev 

 ices of the rocks. The eggs are usually three in number. 

 They are of a bluish-green color which is covered, over 

 nearly their whole surface, with a calcareous deposit. They 

 are of an elongated ovate form, and average in dimensions 

 about 2.90 by 1.75 inch. They are, in their various sizes, 

 impossible of identification from the succeeding species. 



GEACULUS DILOPHUS. Gray. 

 The Double-crested Cormorant. 



Phalacrocorax ditophus, Nuttall. Man., II. (1834) 483. Aud. Orn. Biog., III. 

 (1835) 420; V. (1839) 628. /&., Birds Am., Yl. (1843) 423. 

 Graculus dilqphus, Gray. Gen. of Birds (1845). 



DESCRIPTION. 



Greenish-black; behind each eye a recurved crest of loose feathers ; gular sac 

 orange; second quill longest; tail of twelve feathers. 



Adult. The plumage of the head, neck, lower part of the back and entire under 

 surface is greenish-black, the feathers of the upper part of the back, the wing- 

 coverts, the scapularies and tertiaries, grayish-brown or dark-ash, the margins of 

 which are greenish-black ; primaries blackish-brown, lighter on the inner webs ; the 

 secondaries dark grayish-brown ; tail black, as are also the shafts ; running from 

 the bill over the eye is a line of white filamentous feathers, there are also a few of 

 the same character sparsely distributed over the neck ; behind each eye is a tuft of 

 rather long slender feathers, erect and curving forwards ; bare space in the region 

 of the eye, and gular sac, orange ; upper mandible blackish-brown, with the edges 

 yellowish; lower yellow, marked irregularly with dusky; iris bright-green: legs, 

 feet, and claws black, claw of the middle toe pectinated. 



