PELECANIN-/E. PHALACROCORAX. 221 



and diving in pursuit of their prey, others hovering in 

 the air, and plunging headlong into the water. They 

 perch on rocks or trees, nestle in such places, lay from 

 one to three or four bluish-white eggs, of an elongated 

 form, and always crusted with calcareous matter. The 

 young, which are at first covered with down, remain in 

 the nest until fledged. Representatives of two genera, 

 Phalacrocorax and Sula, occur in Britain. These gene- 

 ra, forming the extremes of the series, differ considerably 

 in form and habits. 



GENUS CXLIV. PHALACROCORAX. CORMO- 

 RANT. 



The Cormorants are birds of large or moderate size, hav- 

 ing the body large and elongated ; the neck long and stout ; 

 the head oblong, anteriorly narrowed. Bill about the length 

 of the head, straight, rather slender, somewhat compressed, 

 opening from far behind the eyes ; upper mandible with the 

 ridge convex, separated by very narrow grooves from the 

 sides, which are convex and irregularly scaly, with a slender 

 separate piece at the base, the edges sharp, the unguis nar- 

 row, convex, decurved, obtuse, but thin-edged ; lower man- 

 dible with the angle very long and narrow, the intercrural 

 membrane partly bare, the sides scaly and somewhat convex, 

 the edges sharp and inflected, the tip compressed, obliquely 

 truncate, formed of an involute unguis, with a slender inter- 

 calated piece. Mouth, wide and very dilatable, the mandi- 

 bles having a kind of joint on each, side ; palate flat, with 

 two ridges ; tongue extremely small, ovato-lanceolate, ca- 

 rinate above ; oesophagus extremely wide, and below dilated 

 into an enormous sac ; pro ventricular glands in two round 

 disks ; stomach roundish, large, with the muscular coat very 

 thin, the inner soft and smooth ; pyloric lobe roundish ; duo- 

 denum at first curved forwards, intestine of moderate length 

 and width ; coeca very short and obtuse. Nostrils oblite- 

 rated in the adult, open in tlie young. Eyes rather small, 

 eyelids and a large space at the base of both mandibles bare. 

 Aperture of ear very small. Feet short, stout, placed far 

 behind ; tibia feathered to the joint ; tarsus very short, re- 



