278 -. STEGANOPODOUS BIRDS. 



almost cosmopolitan distribution, inhabiting countries as remote from one another 

 as Britain and New Zealand. Whereas, however, some seldom leave the neigh- 

 bourhood of the sea, where they take up their stations on rocky islands, others 

 frequent reedy swamps and marshes, or the banks of rivers and lakes, and rarely, 

 if ever, visit the sea. While the more northern species are migratory, this is not 

 the case with their more southern cousins. Fossil cormorants date in Europe 

 from the lower portion of the Miocene period. All cormorants are characterised by 

 the dark blackish, bluish, or greenish hue of the plumage of the upper-parts, which 

 generally has a more or less marked metallic tinge ; and the head may be orna- 

 mented with one or two crests of feathers. The best known, and at the same time 

 the typical representative of the genus, is the common great or black cormorant 

 {Phalacrocorax carhd), which ranges over the whole of Europe, a large part of 

 Eastern North America, Northern Africa and Egypt, and the greater portion of 

 Asia, and is represented by a closely allied form in Australia and New Zealand. 

 The species is characterised by the presence of fourteen tail-feathers, and attains a 

 length of about 36 inches. In the adult bird the plumage of the head and part of 

 the neck during the spring and summer is black, with a number of hair-like white 

 feathers intermingled, while the feathers of the back of the head are elongated into 

 a crest. The back and wing-coverts are dark brown, with black margins to the 

 feathers ; the quills and tail are black, and the lower portion of the neck and under- 

 parts, save a white patch on the thigh, are bluish black. Of the naked portions, 

 the base of the upper mandible, together with the dilatable membrane of the lower 

 jaw, are yellow, the greater part of the beak is homy, and the legs and toes are 

 black. In the noi'ihem part of its range the common species is accompanied 

 by the smaller green, or crested cormorant or shag (P. graculus), as it is 

 indifferently called, which also ranges still farther to the north. This British 

 species, in addition to its smaller size, may be distinguished by the presence 

 of only twelve feathers in the tail, and the general green hue of the plumage, 

 which lacks the white patch on the thigh. Like the larger species, both sexes 

 have a crest in the breeding-season ; but this is wanting during the winter, and in 

 young birds at all times. This cormorant is essentially a marine species. It is 

 replaced in the Mediteri-anean by an allied form, P. desmaresti or pygmceus, which 

 has brighter coloured plumage, and is generally said to lack the crest. This form 

 extends eastwards to Java, and is likewise an inhabitant of salt or brackish water. 

 The South African P. capensis is also nearly related. Cormorants are by far the 

 most expert divers of the order to which they belong, and both swim and dive 

 with a speed and power which cannot fail to arouse the admiration of all beholders. 

 On land their movements are awkward and ungainly, but their flight, although 

 heavy, is strong and comparatively swift. Feeding almost exclusively on fish, 

 these birds are the very type of greediness, and, after having eaten till they can 

 swallow no more, will not unfrequently still try to catch any prey that may come 

 within their reach. When fishing, cormorants often swim with their heads below 

 water, and they also capture a large number of fish by pouncing down upon 

 them from a perch near the bank as they appear at the surface of the water. 

 In general, cormorants are social birds, and frequently associate in vast flocks, 

 as is the case with the South African species, which is found in such numbers 



