TOTIPALMATE SWIMMERS 



119. Cormorant. Phalacrocorax carbo. 



Range. — The Atlantic coast breeding from Maine 

 to Greenland. 



The common Cormorant or Shag is one of the 

 largest of the race, having a lengtli of 36 inches. 



In breeding plumage, the black head and neck 

 are so thickly covered with the slender white 

 plumes as to almost wholly obscure the black. 

 There is also a large white patch on the flanks. 

 They nest in colonies on the rocky shores of New- 



Chalky sreeni.sh or bluish wliitae 



foundland and Labrador, placing their nests of 

 sticks and seaweed in rows along the high ledges, 

 where they sit, as one writer aptly expresses it, 

 like so many black bottles. A few pairs also nest 

 on some of the isolated rocky islets off the Maine 

 coast. During the latter part of May and dur- 

 ing June they lay generally four or five greenish 

 white, chalky looking eggs. Size 2.50 x 1.40, Data. 

 — Black Horse Rock, Maine coast, June 6, 1893. 

 Four eggs in a nest of seaweed and a few sticks; 

 on a high ledge of rock. Collector, C. A. Reed. 



-^Y 



(Jormorant 

 Double -crested Cormorant 



120. Double-crested Cormorant. Phalacrocorax aiiritus auritus. 



Range. — The Atlantic coast and also in the interior, breeding from Nova 

 Scotia and North Dakota northward. 



This is a slightly smaller bird than carho, and in the nesting season the white 

 plumes of the latter are replaced by tufts of black and white feathers from 

 above each eye. On the coast they nest the same as carho and in company with 

 them on rocky islands. In the interior they place their nests on the ground or 

 occasionally in low trees on islands in the lakes. They breed in large colonies, 

 making the nests of sticks and weeds and lay three or four eggs like those of 

 the common Cormorant but averaging shorter. Size 2.30 x 1.40. Data. — Stump 

 Lake, North Dakota, May 31, 1897. Nest of dead weeds on an island. Six eggs. 

 Collector, T. P. Bastgate. 



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