i;2 BRITISH SEA BIRDS. 



from the coast to fresh waters, where an abundant 

 supply of fish offers a solace to its great voracity. 

 The Cormorants and the Gannet are members of 

 the family PHALACROCORACID^, although generically 

 distinct from each other. Their principal external 

 characteristics are the webbed feet, each toe, 

 including the hind one, being connected by a 

 membrane, the long and powerful wings, and the 

 strong beak. The young birds in this family are 

 hatched naked and blind, but soon become clothed 

 with down. The first plumage differs considerably 

 from that of maturity, and the latter is not rarely 

 attained for several years. These birds have but 

 one actual moult in the year, in autumn, but just 

 previous to the pairing season in winter, crests in 

 some species, and ornamental filaments and tufts in 

 others, are assumed, but are lost by abrasion during 

 the ensuing breeding period. Three members of 

 this family are British, and breed abundantly 

 within our limits. Cormorants and Gannets are 

 widely dispersed species ; the former are almost 

 cosmopolitan, only being absent from the polar 

 regions and Polynesia; the latter are most abundant 

 in the tropics and the southern seas. A detailed 

 account of the three British species will now be 



given. 



CORMORANT. 



From the autumn onwards to the following 

 spring, there are few parts of the coast, indeed, 

 where this bird, the Phalacrocorax carbo of orni- 



