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THE DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT. 



-^"Phalacrocorax dilophus, Swains. 

 PLATE CCCCXVL— Male. 



The objects that more especially attract the notice of the voyager, as he 

 draws near the south-west coast of Labrador, are the numerous low islands 

 covered with countless multitudes of birds, that have assembled there for the 

 purpose of reproduction. Some miles farther, you see a ridge of craggy and 

 desolate cliffs, emerging from the sea, and presenting the appearance of a 

 huge granite wall. This forms a partition between the waters of the great 

 St. Lawrence and many fine harbours hidden here and there behind it, along 

 with numerous inlets and bays, coves and small creeks, in which the bark of 

 the adventurer may ride in comparative safety. From the hoary summit of 

 this bulwark the view is grand beyond description; valleys richly carpeted 

 with moss and thickets of low shrubs glow in tints of the richest green; 

 clear blue lakes bear on their bosom numerous birds of varied wing, while 

 around their margins the females are seated on their eggs or carefully leading 

 about their young; banks of perennial snow arrest your eye for a moment, 

 and perhaps produce an involuntary chill; onward towards the horizon, 

 mountains heaped confusedly behind mountains, mingle their gloomy tints 

 with those of the cold sky. In that land, man may for weeks, even months, 

 seek for his kind in vain. The deep silence that reigns around him during a 

 calm, seldom fails to bring sadness to his heart, as his eye grows dim with 

 gazing on the wilderness. Should the northern gale issue from its snowy 

 chambers, darkness follows in its train, and should its whole fury pour upon 

 you, melancholy indeed must be your lot. 



To the low islands above alluded to, the beautiful Cormorant represented 

 in the plate before you, resorts each spring, for the purpose of breeding. It 

 arrives from the south about the beginning of May, or as soon as the waters 

 of the Gulf are sufficiently free of ice to enable it to procure food. The 

 winter it spends on our eastern coasts, but it rarely proceeds farther south 

 than the Capes of North Carolina, about which it meets its southern friend 

 the Florida Cormorant, on whose dominions, however, it does not venture. 



While with us, the Double-crested Cormorants are seen flying in long 

 lines, sometimes forming angles, and passing low over the water, at no great 



