254 BULLETIN 121, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



flakes, where it had become dry, making climbiag very unpleasant. 

 Most of the nests contained two or three eggs each, but in some cases 

 we found newly hatched young, black, naked, and feeble. The old 

 cormorants were quite tame and soon returned to their nests even 

 within 10 feet of us. Their only note was a loud guttural croak or 

 grunt, which seemed to roll up through their long necks with a 

 hollow, rattling noise. I visited Cuthbert rookery again on March 

 29, 1908; the herons were incubating on full sets of eggs, but the 

 cormorants had not begun to lay at that time. Apparently the 

 Florida cormorant does not ordinarily lay its eggs before April, 

 probably early in that month in the southern portion of its range 

 and later farther north, but evidently not until May in the Caro- 

 linas. Its nesting habits seem to vary considerably in different 

 localities, as do those of its relatives, but, as far as I know, it never 

 nests on the ground. Some observers state that it uses no lining in 

 its nest, but, as most cormorants do line their nests with grasses, 

 leaves, or other soft substances, it is probably exceptional when it 

 fails to do so. 



Eggs. — ^The Florida cormorant usually lays three eggs, sometimes 

 only two,, or rarely four; except for an average difference in size, 

 they are not distinguishable from, those of its northern relatives. 

 The measurements of 41 eggs, in the United States National Museum 

 and the author's collections, average 58.2 by 36.8 millimeters; the 

 eggs showing the four extremes measure 64.5 by 38.5, 62 by 39, 50 

 by 35, and 53 by 33 millimeters. 



Food. — The feeding habits of the Florida cormorant are similar 

 to those of the northern subspecies. Mr. John T. Nichols (1918) 

 speaks of seeing " a school of porpoises breaking not far from our 

 anchorage," with " three or four cormorants following them closely, 

 screaming and making short flights, diving close after them." He 

 refers to this as a common habit, perhaps for the purpose of secur- 

 ing pieces of fish left by the porpoises. According to Mr. T. Gilbert 

 Pearson (1919), "In the summer of 1905 H. H. Brimley saw an im- 

 mature bird disgorge a portion of a large water snake {Natrix tax- 

 ispilota) ." 



In other respects the life history and habits of the Florida cormo- 

 rant are not essentially different from those of the double-crested 

 cormorant, though it is less migratory and, except in the northern 

 portion of its breeding range, is practically resident. 



DISTRIBtmON. 



Breeding mnge.~On the Atlantic coast from North Carolina 

 (Craven County) southward, along both coasts of Florida and the 

 coast of Louisiana; on some of the Bahama Islands (Great Abaco, 



