70 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



Breeding Notes. — The nest is usually placed on a ledge of 

 some bold-faced rock; in some instances about forty feet above 

 the sea. It is large, built of sea-weed, a few grass stalks, and an 

 abundance of its own excrement. The eggs number three or four, 

 blue, of pale shade, to white in colour. {Turner.) 



123a. Violet-green Cormorant. 



Phalacrocorax pelagicus robustus Ridgw. 1884. 



An abundant resident on the coast of British Columbia, taken 

 as far north as Port Simpson; it breeds on the islands close to 

 Sidney island, about fifteen miles from Victoria. {Fannin.) This 

 is the most abundant cormorant in Alaska. It occurs everywhere 

 on the coast of Norton sound to Sitka, and breeds on almost every 

 rocky promontory. {Nelson.) This species is very common near 

 the entrance to St. Michael. {Turner.) 



Breeding abundantly on the more exposed outlying islands at 

 Sitka, Alaska. The immature birds and others not breeding 

 remained in flocks about the rocks and reefs further inland. The 

 nests were usually situated on the shelves of rock on the perpen- 

 dicular sides of the islands. I noted a row of 15 nests in a single 

 transverse crevice on the face of a promontory. The nests are deep 

 saucer-shaped and compactly made of grass and turf. The eggs 

 are 2 to 4 in number, oftener 3. 



Two adult females taken at Nutchuk, Prince William sound, 

 Alaska. {Grinnell.) 



124. Eed-faced Cormorant. 



Phalacrocorax urile (Gmel.) Ridgw. 1884. 



This is a resident species on the Pribilof islands. It is a more 

 or less common summer resident on St. Matthew and St.Liwrence 

 islands as well as upon all the cliffs on both shores of Bering strait 

 and the islands in the strait. {Nelson^ A single specimen of this 

 bird was obtained at St. Michael. I did not see it elsewhere. 

 {Turner?) 



Breeding Notes. — This species is the earliest of the birds in 

 Bering sea to lay its eggs. Two eggs from a bed on " the reef,' 

 St. Paul island June 1st, 1872, nearly hatched, which is nearly 



