The Farallon Cormorant 



Young cormorants are perfectly helpless when hatched, and are, if 

 possible, uglier than young magpies. Not only are they coal black and as 

 naked as sin, but their heads are scarcely larger around than their long 

 necks, and a nestful of them looks more like a bundle of young black- 

 snakes than anything avian. The characteristic orange upon the gular 

 area of the adult is reflected by a pale yellow, sharply contrasting with 

 the posterior black, even in the very youngest specimens; while youngsters 

 half or two-thirds grown are covered with a coarse black down. When 



Taken near Mecca 



A POPULOUS COLONY 



Photo by the Author 



THE HOST TREE IS A WATER-WORN MESQUITE NOW EMERGING AFTER THE GREAT FLOOD WHICH 



FILLED THE SALTON SINK 



disturbed at the nest the younglings quit their quarters and waddle off 

 clumsily to the farthest nest of the immediate group, where they stand on 

 the defensive a dozen or twenty strong. When brought to bay, and, of 

 course, after they have disposed of the contents of their crops, no matter 

 where, they thrust out the neck at the intruder and open the gullet, until 

 it almost makes one dizzy to look down it, emitting the while a sound be- 

 tween a hiss and a bark, intended no doubt to be frightful, but really only 

 dismal or ridiculous. Most interesting, also, is the curious pulsating of 

 the loose membranes of the throat during excitement or anger, or perhaps 



1943 



