16 BIRDS OF ARKANSAS. 



breeds in a rookery at Walker Lake, Mississippi County, in company 

 with great blue herons and water turkeys. When I visited this 

 rookery the first week in May, 1910, I found the cormorants sitting 

 on their nests in the tops of the tall cypresses growing in the lake. 

 The nests, of which there were between 100 and 200, were placed in 

 crotches either close to the trunks or some distance out on the Hmbs 

 and were compactly built of green cypress twigs with a few strips of 

 bark as a lining. Most of the nests examined contained three or four 

 bluish eggs, but in one were four httle naked coal-black cormorants 

 a few days old. The number of nests in a single tree varied from 

 1 to 6 — usually 3 or 4 — and in many instances the cormorants shared 

 the tree with several great blue herons. Specimens taken in this 

 colony are referable to the northern form, and this is probably the 

 southern hmit of its breeding range. 



Cormorants feed chiefly upon fish and often fly long distances to 

 obtain their favorite food. With the approach of winter many of 

 the birds seek more southern waters, but some remain tiU cold 

 weather. Migrants were observed at Helena between September 15 

 and October 14, 1894 (Stephenson), and quite a number on Menasha 

 Lake November 22-24 (McAtee, 1910). In 1882 they were reported" 

 as very abundant along White River near Crocketts Bluff.^ Many 

 persons caU this species "water turkey" as well as the species properly 

 so named. Cormorants may be easily recognized by their hooked bill 

 and their uniform glossy black color. 



White FeHcan. Pelecarvus erythrorhynchos. 



White pelicans were formerly very abundant in migration along 

 the larger rivers and they stfll visit the State in some numbers. In 

 1895 and 1896 Mrs. L, M. Stephenson reported flocks of 100 to 300 

 at Helena between September 3 and November 9. Mr. W. D. 

 Brooks, of Turrefl, states that numbers of them come to the lake at 

 that place each year in August, and one was killed there about Novem- 

 ber 15, 1910. Occasional flocks are seen on Walker Lake and on Big 

 Lake, and the birds doubtless occur regularly in small numbers in all 

 parts of the Sunken Lands. 



Merganser. Mergus americanus. 



This duck, known commonly as "sheUdrake," is probably an 

 uncommon winter resident. Audubon speaks of observing it on the 

 Arkansas River,^ and Mrs. Stephenson reports it on the authority of 

 local hunters at Helena, but definite records of its recent occurrence 

 are lacking. 



[Bed-breasted Merganser. Mergus senator. 



The red-breasted merganser is a common winter resident in Louisiana and a rare 

 winter resident in Missouri. It should be found occaaionally in Arkansas.] 



1 Forest and Stream, XVOI, p. 27, 1882. 2 Birds olAmer., VI, p. 387, 1843. 



