282. 
COMMON CORVORANT.  Cuass II. 
Descere- J HAVE weighed. a bird of this species that 
TION. 
exceeded seven pounds: the length three feet — 
four ; the extent four feet two. The bill is dusky, 
five inches long, destitute’ of nostrils; the base 
of the lower mandible is covered with a naked 
yellowish skin, that extends under the chin, and 
forms a sort of pouch; a loose skin of the same 
color reaches from the upper mandible round 
the eyes, and angles of the mouth; the head 
and neck are of a sooty blackness; but under 
the chin of the male the feathers are white; 
and the head in that sex is adorned with a short 
loose pendent crest; in some the crest and hind 
part of the head are streaked with white; the 
coverts of the wings, the scapulars, and the 
back, are of a deep green, edged with black, 
and glossed with blue; the quil feathers and 
tail dusky; the last consists of fourteen fea- 
thers; the breast and belly black; in the midst 
of the last is often a bed of white; on the thighs 
of the male is a tuft of white feathers; the legs 
are short, strong, and black; the middle claw 
serrated on the inside; the irides are of a light 
ash color. % 
These birds occupy the highest parts of the 
cliffs that impend over the sea: they make their 
nests of sticks, sea tang, grass, &c. and lay 
