BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. ay 
the birds had been disturbed repeatedly. I regret exceedingly 
that the letter has been mislaid, or I would reproduce the 
statement in his own language. This is by no means the only 
instance of which birds have been known to forego the employ- 
ment of a nest after having been presistently robbed of their 
eggs by man or beast. 
Dr. T. S. Roberts, of Minneapolis, reported to me his dis- 
covery of several nests of this species on May 28, 1876; and on 
the 14th of the following June, Messrs. W. L. Tiffany and John 
Roberts, of the same place, secured six nests ‘‘on a sheet of 
floating moss, or fresh reeds, in about three or four feet of water, 
regularly woven of swamp grass, and each containing two or 
three eggs.” 
Mr. Washburn found them in «July, 1885, ‘‘Very common 
throughout the Red River valley, about large sloughs and 
lakes,—at Ada, and along Thief river in the vicinity of Mud 
lake.” Their distribution is nearly uniform where the food 
conditions are found. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
Head, neck, breast, sides, and abdomen. black; lower tail 
coverts white; under coverings of wings ashy gray; back and 
wings dark plumbeous gray; the first four primaries grayish- 
black, with their shafts white; bend of the wing edged with 
white; tail same color as the back; bill, brownish- black; iris, 
brown; legs and feet, reddish-brown; length, 9.50; wing, 8 50; 
tail, 8.50. Habitat, Temperate and Tropical America. 
Family PHALACROCORACID_E. 
PHALACROCORAX DILOPHUS Swartnson. (120.) 
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT. 
While shooting ducks in the spring hunters very soon learn 
to recognize the more obvious characteristics of this species of 
the Cormorants; one of these characteristics is the peculiarity 
of their flight. At the time referred to these birds are in con- 
siderable flocks, resembling in the remote distance the larger 
sized ducks and the black Brant until a good many times de- 
ceived, but the observing sportsmen readily discover the 
identity. 
~ When frequently disturbed by the shooting at the ducks they 
will occasionally become mingled with them in their flight from 
one lake to another and are thus brought within easy range of 
