388 FLORIDA CORMORANT. 



and even of the Ohio, while others proceed as far eastward as Cape Hat- 

 teras, all returning to the Floridas on the approach of cold weather. 



The Florida Cormorant seldom goes far out to sea, but prefers the 

 neio-hbourhood of the shores, being found in the bays, inlets, and large 

 rivers. I never met with one at a greater distance from land than five 

 miles. It is at all seasons gregarious, although it is not always found in 

 large flocks. The birds of this species never suffer others of the same 

 genus to resort to their breeding places, although they sometimes as- 

 sociate with individuals belonging to different genera. The P. Carbo 

 appropriates to itself the upper shelves of the most rugged and elevated 

 rocks, whose bases are washed by the sea ; P. dilophus breeds on flat 

 rocky islands at some distance from the shores of the mainland ; and the 

 Florida Cormorant nestles on trees. In the many breeding places of all 

 these species which I have visited, I never found individuals of one in- 

 termingled with those of another, although the Large Cormorant did not 

 seem averse from having the Peregrine Falcon in its vicinity, while the 

 Double- crested allowed a few Gannets or Guillemots to nestle beside it, 

 and the Florida Cormorant associated with Herons, Frigate Pelicans, 

 Grakles, or Pigeons. 



This species seldom flies far over land, but follows the sinuosities of the 

 shores or the waters of rivers, although its course towards a given point 

 should thus be three times as long. It is the only one of the three species 

 that, in as far as I have observed in America, alights on trees. My learned 

 friend, the Prince of Musignano, mentions in his valuable Synopsis of 

 the Birds of the United States, a species of Cormorant under the name 

 of P. Graculus, w^iich he describes as being when adult greenish-black, 

 with a few scattered white streaks on the neck, in winter bronzed, and 

 havino- a golden-green crest, the head, neck, and thighs with short small 

 white feathers, and adds that it " inhabits both continents and both he- 

 mispheres : not uncommon in spring and autumn in the Middle States : 

 very common in the Floridas, where it breeds, though very abundant in 

 the arctic and antarctic circles." Unfortunately no dimensions are given, 

 except of the bill, which is said to be three and a half inches long. The 

 Florida Cormorant, however, does not at any season present these charac- 

 ters, and therefore conceiving it to be different from any hitherto de- 

 scribed, I have taken the liberty of giving it a name, while the figure and 

 description will enable the scientific to form a distinct idea of it, and thus 



