170 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Pamjly PHALACROCORACIDAEJ 



Cormorants 



Bill as long as head, nearly cylindrical, strongly hooked at tip, edges 

 jagged; gape very deep; wings strong, stiff and comparatively short; tail 

 long, tipped and fan-shaped of 12 to 14 feathers; body heavy; neck long; 

 legs set far back. Conseqviently cormorants stand in a more or less vertical 

 position like grebes, and like them dive from the surface of the water, and 

 pursue their prey, using their wings under water like the diving ducks. There 

 are 30 or more species of Cormorant, inhabiting all parts of the world, 10 of 

 them occurring in North America. Besides the two occurring in New York, 

 a third, the Florida cormorant, has approached our western borders [see 

 Langdon, Jour. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist. 3:229]. 



Phalacrocorax carbo (Linnaeus) 

 Cormorant 



Plate 9 



Pelecanus carbo Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. Ed. 10. 1758. 1:133 

 Phalacrocorax carbo DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 292 



A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. 119 



phalacrd'corax, Gr. & Lat., a cormorant, from <^aXa(cpos, bald, and Kopai, 

 raven ; car' bo, Lat. , charcoal 



Description. Breeding plumage: Mostly glossy black, the back and 

 wing coverts bronzy gray edged with black; wings and tail grayish black; 

 fringe of pouch, threadlike plumes on head and neck, and flank patches 

 white; pouch yellow; iris green; feet black; occipital crest black. Winter: 

 No crest or white feathers on the head and flanks. Immature: Brownish 

 gray and blackish, darkest on the hind neck, rump, sides and under tail 

 coverts; grayish below, the belly largely white. Tail of 14 feathers. 



Length 34-40 inches; extent 60; wing 12-14; t^^il 6-7.75; bill 2.85-3.4; 

 gape 4; tarsus 2.5. 



The Common cormorant, or Shag, is a maritime species rarely found in 

 the interior of the State, but occurs as a transient visitant in small numbers 

 off the shores of Long Island, September 22 to November 8. Most of the 

 records from the interior of New York probably refer to the next species, 

 as I have seen no specimen from our inland waters. 



The Common cormorant like the Gannet is characteristically maritime 

 in habitat and agrees with that species in distribution. 



