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Order III. STEGANOPODES. 



Family PELECANID^l. 



Genus PHAEACROCORAX. 



Phalacrocorax, Brisson, Orn. vi. p. 511 (1760). 



Pelecanus apud Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. p. 216 (1766). 



Procellaria apud Miiller, Zool. Dan. Prodr. p. 18 (1776). 



Carlo apud Meyer, Taschenb. deutsch. Vogelk. ii. p. 576 (J 810). 



Halieus apud Illiger, Prodr. Mamm. et Av. p. 279 (1811). 



Hydrocorax apud Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. viii. p. 83 (1817). 



Cormoranus apud Baillon, Mem. Soc. Roy. d'Emul. dAbbev. 1833, p. 77. 



Grauculus apud G. R. Gray in Dieff. Trav. ii. App. p. 201 (1843). 



Gracalus apud G. R. Gray, Voy. Ereb. & Terr. Birds, p. 20 (1844). 



Microcarbo apud Bonaparte, Cat. Parzud. p. 10 (1856). 



Until quite recently the birds belonging to the family Pelecanidse have been ranged with the 

 water-birds, on account of their having webbed feet ; but it has now been clearly shown that they 

 must be placed between the Accipitres and the Herodii, where I have accordingly inserted them. 

 The first genus in this family, Phalacrocorax, is represented in the Palsearctic, Ethiopian, Oriental, 

 Australian, Nearctic, and Neotropical Regions, four species being found within the limits of the 

 Western Palsearctic, Region. 



The Cormorants frequent the sea-coast, as well as inland sheets of water, and are especially 

 partial to lakes and ponds which are surrounded by high trees. As they feed entirely on fish, 

 which they capture with great dexterity by diving, they are always found near and spend most 

 of their time on the water. They swim with great ease and swiftness, sink themselves in the 

 water when alarmed, and dive extremely well. They perch on rocks and trees, sitting very 

 erect, walk very little, have a quick, steady, and even flight, and are generally very shy and 

 cautious. They construct large, bulky nests of sticks lined with grass and weeds, which they 

 place on a tree or rock, and lay white eggs, the surface being chalky, and the shell underneath 

 bluish. 



Phalacrocorax carlo, the type of the genus, has the bill about as long as the head, straight, 

 slender, compressed, the gape extending far beyond the eyes ; ridge of the upper mandible 

 convex, separated by narrow grooves from the sides, which are scaly; unguis narrow, decurved 

 to a point, thin-edged ; under mandible straight, scaly, with the tip obliquely truncate ; face in 

 front bare, the mouth wide and dilatable ; nostrils obliterated in the adult, open in the young ; 

 wings rather short but broad, the second and third quills longest ; tail rather long, rounded, the 

 feathers with very strong shafts ; feet short, stout, placed far behind ; the tibia full feathered to 

 the joint; tarsus short, reticulated; toes webbed, the outer one longer, the inner short; claws 

 strong, curved, that on the middle toe pectinate. 



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