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302 



GEAOULIDiE, CORMORANTS. GEN. 275. 



is difficult, owing to the great changes in jjlumage, the high normal variability in 

 size, and their close inter-relation, which is such that the single genus Graculus 

 does not appear capable of well founded division. Species are found all over the 

 world, excepting the uttermost polar regions, and are usually very abundant in 

 individuals ; they are all very much alike in their habits. Many are maritime, but 

 others range over fresh waters as well. They are eminently gregarious, esisecially 

 in the breeding season, when they congregate by thousands — the boreal kinds 

 generally on rock-begirt coasts and islands, those of warm countries in the dense 

 fringes of shrubbery. They often migrate in large serried ranks. The nest is rude 

 and bulky ; the eggs are commonly two, of elliptical form and pale greenish color, 

 overlaid with a white, chalky substance. They feed principally upon fish, and their 

 voracitjr is proverbial, though probably no greater than in the cases of allied birds. 

 Under some circumstances they have shown an intelligent 'dociUty ; witness their 

 semi-domestication hy the Chinese, who train them to fish for their masters, a close 

 collar being slipped around the neck to prevent them from swallowing the booty. 



Fig. 198. Doublo-cvested Comiorant. 



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275. Genus GRACULUS Linnaeus. 



* Tail of 14 feathers (and gular sac heart-shaped behind). 

 ■■ ^ Common Cormorant. Shag. Glossy greenish-black, feathers of back 

 and wing coverts bronzj'-gray, black-edged ; quills and tail grayish-black ; 

 gular sac yellow, white-bordered ; feet black ; in summer a white flank 

 patch, numerous long thready white plumes on head and neck, and a small 

 black occipital crest ; length 36 ; wing 12-14 ; tail 6-7 ; tarsus over 2 ; bill 

 4 along the gape. Atlantic Coast of Europe and North America ; breeds in 

 great numbers in Labrador and Newfoundland; S. to the Middle States in 

 winter. Nutt., ii, 479 ; Aud., vi, 412, pi. 415 ; Lawr. in Bd., 876. carbo. 

 ** Tail of 12 feathers. 

 I Gular sac convex, or nearly straight-edged, behind. 



WMte-tufted Cormorant. Glossy greenish-black, the back and wing 

 coverts with the feathers gray, black-edged ; lateral crests, of a superciliary 

 bundle of long*curly filamentous feathers, white. Size of the last. Alaska. 



1 have never seen this bird, and do not know of any specimen in this 

 country : description compiled from the original account. Brandt, Bull. 

 Imp. Acad. St. Petersburg, iii, 55 ; Bonap., Consp. Av. ii, 168 ; Sciilegel, 

 Mus. Pays-Bas, iv, 22 ; Lawr. in Bd., 877 ; Elliot, pi. 51. cincinnatus. 



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