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THE DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT. 



Phalacrocorax dilophus. 



PLATE CCLVII. Male. 



The objects that more especially attract the notice of the voyager, as he 

 draws near the south-west coast of Labrador, are the numerous low islands 

 covered with countless multitudes of birds, that have assembled there for 

 the purpose of reproduction. Some miles farther, you see a ridge of craggy 

 and desolate cliffs, emerging from the sea, and presenting the appearance of 

 a huge granite wall. This forms a partition between the waters of the great 

 St Lawrence and many fine harbours hidden here and there behind it, 

 along with numerous inlets and bays, coves and small creeks, in which 

 the bark of the adventurer may ride in comparative safety. From the 

 hoary summit of this bulwark the view is grand beyond description ; val- 

 leys richly carpeted with moss and thickets of low shrubs glow in tints of 

 the richest green ; clear blue lakes bear on their bosom numerous birds 

 of varied wing, while around their margins the females are seated on their 

 eggs or carefully leading about their young ; banks of perennial snow ar- 

 rest your eye for a moment, and perhaps produce an involuntary chill ; 

 onward towards the horizon, mountains heaped confusedly behind moun- 

 tains, mingle their gloomy tints with those of the cold sky. In that land, 

 man may for weeks, even months, seek for his kind in vain. The deep 

 silence that reigns around him during a calm, seldom fails to bring sad- 

 ness to his heart, as his eye grows dim with gazing on the wilderness. 

 Should the northern gale issue from its snowy chambers, darkness fol- 

 lows in its train, and should its whole fury pour upon you, melancholy 

 indeed must be your lot. 



To the low islands above alluded to, the beautiful Cormorant repre- 

 sented in the plate before you, resorts each spring, for the purpose of 

 breeding. It arrives from the south about the beginning of May, or as 

 soon as the waters of the Gulf are sufficiently free of ice to enable it to 

 procure food. The winter it spends on our eastern coasts, but it rarely 

 proceeds farther south than the Capes of North Carolina, about which it 

 meets its southern friend the Florida Cormorant, on whose dominions, 

 however, it does not venture. 



