LITTLE GOBMOBANT. l43 



appears to me that he thus puts in doubt its appearance in Venice, 

 and anyway it is not very probable that it breeds there; the more 

 so as this is not mentioned by Ninni in his recent catalogue of the 

 birds of this region. It is without doubt this species that ought to 

 be referred to the individual mentioned by Savi, which was killed 

 in the moat of the Lazaretto of Livorno in August, 1830." 



Dr. Lindermayer says that it breeds along the Island of Euboa, 

 in the inland lakes, and the surrounding country. 



" The Little Cormorant," says M. Dubois, ^'^frequents the lakes in 

 the interior of the continent, as well as the sea; but it loves, above 

 all things, extensive marshes which are full of reeds and other 

 aquatic plants, and cut into channels of deep water, full of fish, where 

 they can constantly seek their food, for they are very voracious, and 

 wage a constant war against the finny tribe. When they wish to 

 rest they place themselves on the trunk of a tree, or post surrounded 

 with water, where they remain for hours without moving. 



"Their immobility seems to be a source of the greatest pleasure 

 to them in fine weather. Plunged into a half sleepy condition, it is 

 at such times easy to cover them with the gun; but the sportsman 

 is often deceived when he thinks by their sudden fall into the water 

 that they are mortally wounded, as they often rise to the surface 

 again far beyond his reach. They swim with an inconceivable 

 dexterity, and they can hardly be seen when they are in the water, 

 as they only show a small part of the head and the top of the back. 



"They are very sociable, above all to their congeners; they are 

 seen united in large numbers in the places where they breed, and 

 they live there peaceably, even with birds of another species. To 

 construct their nest they generally choose a site which is dangerous 

 to approach. They select the trunk of a willow which is surrounded 

 by mud and slime, which forbids all approach even in a boat. 

 Two or three nests are sometimes found on the same stump, composed 

 of small branches and reeds, which they build up to a rather considerable 

 height; and the white dung which they constantly deposit gives the 

 nest the appearance of having been coarsely plastered with lime. 

 They lay towards the end of May five or six eggs, rarely more. 

 The male and female alternately incubate." 



The Little Cormorant is not the smallest of its genus, and therefore, 

 as Temminck has observed, the name pygmcBus is inappropriate. It 

 is, however, much smaller than the Shag, S. graculus, and differs 

 from it strongly, in the size of the beak, and length of the tail and 

 dorsal plumage. It is altogether a smaller made bird, and no mistake 

 can be made between the two when compared together. It is more 



