CHAPTER XIII. 



THE CORMORANT GROUP, Order STEGANOPODES. 



THE two ordinal groups of birds forming the subject of this and the next chapter- 

 agree with those considered in the two previous chapters in having bridged, or 

 desmognathous palates, and likewise in the want of a projecting external process 

 at the lower end of the humerus. The first order, which includes not only 

 cormorants, but also darters, gannets, pelicans, and frigate and tropic-birds, may be 

 known as the cormorant-like, or steganopodous group, and is at once distinguished 

 from all others by the whole four toes being connected together by a web, which 



generally extends to their extremities ; while the angle 

 of the lower jaw is not produced behind its point 

 of attachment to the skull. These birds are further 

 characterised by the shortness of their legs, this 

 shortness being most marked in the frigate - birds, 

 and also by the plumage of the neck being without 

 gaps, and continuous. Their skulls lack the deep 

 grooves for glands on the frontal region characterising 

 many other aquatic birds ; and its rostrum has no 

 basipterygoid processes for the articulation of the 

 EIGHT FOOT OF PELICAN. pterygoid bones. There is a tufted oil-gland, and the 



young are helpless, and pass through a downy stage. 



As a rule, their bodies are elongated, the neck of medium length, and the head 

 small ; while the beak may be either long or short. The wings may be long and 

 rounded, or exceedingly elongated and pointed ; and although the tail is variable 

 in form, it is always very different from that of other swimming birds. Although 

 several members of the group frequent the coast, it is only the representatives 

 of two families that are purely pelagic in their habits ; while many species inhabit 

 rivers or lakes far removed from the sea. All are carnivorous, subsisting almost 

 entirely on fish ; but their breeding-habits vary considerably, although both parents 

 take their share in incubation. The eggs, which may be either one, or from two 

 to four in number, are of relatively small size, much elongated, and generally 

 invested with a chalky coating over the uniformly coloured shell. Occasionally, 

 however, they are smooth -shelled, with dark markings upon a light ground. 

 While some fish by diving into the water from a height, others capture their prey 

 by thrusting their necks down into the water as they swim, while yet others 

 follow the fish of which they are in pursuit beneath the water. Some diversity 

 of view obtains among ornithologists as to the number of family groups into which 

 these birds should be divided. 



