282 COMMON CORVORANT. Class II. 



Descrip- X HAVE weighed a bird of this species that 

 exceeded seven pounds : the length three feet 

 four ; the extent four feet two. The bill is dusky, 

 five inches long, destitute of nostrils ; the base 

 of the lower mandible is covered with a naked 

 yellowish skin, that extends under the chin, and 

 forms a sort of pouch ; a loose skin of the same 

 color reaches from the upper mandible round 

 the eyes, and angles of the mouth ; the head 

 and neck are of a sooty blackness ; but under 

 the chin of the male the feathers are white; 

 and the head in that sex is adorned with a short 

 loose pendent crest ; in some the crest and hind 

 part of the head are streaked with white ; the 

 coverts of the wings, the scapulars, and the 

 back, are of a deep green, edged with black, 

 and glossed with blue; the quil feathers and 

 tail dusky; the last consists of fourteen fea- 

 thers ; the breast and belly black ; in the midst 

 of the last is often a bed of white ; on the thighs 

 of the male is a tuft of white feathers ; the legs 

 are short, strong, and black ; the middle claw 

 serrated on the inside j the irides are of a light 

 ash color. 



These birds occupy the highest parts of the 

 cliffs that impend over the sea : they make their 

 nests of sticks, sea tang, grass, &c. and lay 



