CORMORANTS. 



277 



CORMORANTS, DARTERS, AND GANNETS. 



Family PHALACROCORACID^E. 



The cormorants, of which there are some thirty species, are the typical repre- 

 sentatives of the first family of the order, and are characterised by their elongated 



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COMMON CORMOKAKT. 



but powerful body, the long neck, which may vary considerably in thickness, the 

 moderately long and narrow beak, of which the tip is sharply deflected, and by 

 their lineal and concealed nostrils. The face and throat are naked, the legs short 

 and stout, with the first toe articulated to the inner side of the metatarsus ; and 

 the claw of the third toe has a serrated inner margin. The wings are of moderate 

 length, with the third quill the longest : and the tail has either twelve or fourteen 

 feathers remarkable for their extreme stiffness. Cormorants, although far more 

 numerous in the warmer regions of the globe than in northern climates, have an 



