THE COMMON CORMORANT. 417 



fish thrown to them from the distance of several yards, by a sudden and 

 precise movement of the neck and head, as seldom to miss one in a dozen. 



The courtship of this species is so similar to that of the Florida Cormorant, 

 that I consider it unnecessary to describe it, as I should merely repeat what 

 is said with respect to that species. I have seen them act in the same 

 manner, both on the shelves on which the nests were placed, and on the 

 water. They begin to lay about the first of June, on the islands near the 

 Bay of Fundy, about a fortnight later in Labrador; and it is my opinion 

 that the younger birds spend their breeding season in the former places. 



The Common Cormorant walks in a waddling and awkward manner, but 

 at a good pace, and leaps from one stone to another, assisting itself with its 

 wings, and occasionally with the tail, which acts as a kind of spring. I am 

 unable to say at what age this species attains the full dress of the love season, 

 but it cannot be in less than three years, as some which I have known to 

 have been kept in a state of constant captivity, did not shew the white patch 

 on the thigh, nor the slender white feathers around the head and part of the 

 neck, until the middle of May, in the fifth year. That the younger birds of 

 this and other Cormorants, breed before they have acquired the full beauty 

 of their plumage, is a fact which I have had many opportunities of ascertain- 

 ing. The Common Cormorant is found breeding, both near the entrance of 

 the Bay of Fundy, and along the coast of Labrador, in flocks of fifty or more 

 pairs, of which not an individual shews any white unless on the sides of the 

 head, and along the throat, but much duller on these parts than even in the 

 female represented in the plate, wmich was yet what may be termed an 

 immature bird. No differences appear in the garb of the sexes, in their 

 different states of plumage, and perfect specimens of both are equally 

 beautiful in the breeding season, being then similar to the male of which I 

 have endeavoured to present a good portrait. I have observed a greater 

 difference in size between individuals of this species, than those of any other. 



The white markings observed on the old birds of this species, during the 

 period of courtship, incubation, and rearing of the young until they are able 

 to fly, and which extends to two months and a half, begin to disappear from 

 the moment incubation has fairly begun, and at the time when the young 

 leave the nest scarcely any remain, unless on the sides of the head. In 

 autumn and winter the feathers of the head are similar to those of the neck, 

 and the plumage in general has lost much of its vernal and asstival beauty. 

 The entire crest also falls off in autumn. The white markings and the crest 

 are renewed in the wild state about the end of February; but in birds kept 

 in domestication rarely before May. The young do not exhibit the crest 

 until the second spring, at which period, being yet destitute of white 

 Vol. VI. 57 



