THE CORMORANTS AND SHAGS. 21 I 



THE CORMORANTS. 



SUB-ORDER PHALACROCORACES. 



As in all the Steganopodes, the Cormorants have a desraog- 

 nathous, or "bridged," palate, and they have the four toes 

 all joined together by a web. They have also a remarkably 

 hooked bill, with a sort of nail at the end. The feet in these 

 birds are placed very far back, and the thighs are feathered 

 down to the tarsal joint. 



Cormorants and Shags are found in nearly every part of 

 the world, and are most numerous in species in the Southern 

 Hemisphere. 



THE CORMORANTS AND SHAGS. 



GENUS PHALACROCORAX. 



Phalacrocorax, Briss. Orn. vi. p. 511 (1760). 

 Type, P. carbo (Linn.). 



Any number of anatomical and osteological characters can 

 be brought forward for the identification of the Cormorants, 

 but in a book dealing only with British birds we have, happily, 

 no need to go into these minuter details, for our two species 

 are easily recognisable by the merest tyro. Thus their webbed 

 feet, with all four toes joined together by a membrane, are a 

 leading character; secondly, their black plumage is distinctive, 

 and their hooked bills and bare faces will distinguish them 

 from all our British sea-birds, except the Gannets. 



Two species inhabit the British area, the Common Cor- 

 morant and the Green Cormorant, or Shag, and there is no 

 difficulty in distinguishing these black-plumaged birds from 

 the white-plumaged Gannets. 



I. THE CORMORANT. PHALACROCORAX CARBO. 



Pelecanus carbo, Linn. S. N. i. p. 216 (1766). 



Phalacrocorax carbo, Macg. Br. B. v. p. 380 (1852) ; Dresser, 

 B. Eur. vi. p. 151, pi. 388 (1879); B. O. U. List Br. 

 B. p. 105 (1883) ; Saunders, ed. Yarr. Br. B. iv. p. 143 

 (1884); Seebohm, Br. B. iii. p. 650 (1885); Saunders, 

 Man. Br. B. p. 349 (1889); Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B. 

 part xxii. (1892). 



P 2 



