RELECANINJE. PHALACROCORAX. 221 
and diving in pursuit of their prey, others hovering in 
the air, and plunging headlong into the water. They 
perch on rocks or trees, nestle in such places, lay from 
one to three or four bluish-white eggs, of an elongated 
form, and always crusted with calcareous matter. The 
young, which are at first covered with down, remain in 
the nest until fledged. Representatives of two genera, 
Phalacrocorax and Sula, occur in Britain. These gene- 
ra, forming the extremes of the series, differ considerably 
in form and habits. 
GENUS CXLIY. PHALACROCORAX. CORMO- 
RANT. 
The Cormorants are birds of large or moderate size, hav- 
ing the body large and elongated ; the neck long and stout ; 
the head oblong, anteriorly narrowed. Bill about the length 
of the head, straight, rather slender, somewhat compressed, 
opening from far behind the eyes ; upper mandible with the 
ridge convex, separated by very narrow grooves from the 
sides, which are convex and irregularly scaly, with a slender 
separate piece at the base, the edges sharp, the unguis nar- 
row, convex, decurved, obtuse, but thin-edged ; lower man- 
dible with the angle very long and narrow, the intercrural 
membrane partly bare, the sides scaly and somewhat convex, 
the edges sharp and inflected, the tip compressed, obliquely 
truncate, formed of an involute unguis, with a slender inter- 
calated piece. Mouth wide and very dilatable, the mandi- 
bles having a kind of joint on each side ; palate flat, with 
two ridges ; tongue extremely small, ovato-lanceolate, ca- 
rinate above ; oesophagus extremely wide, and below dilated 
into an enormous sac ; pro ventricular glands in two round 
disks ; stomach roundish, large, with the muscular coat very 
thin, the inner soft and smooth ; pyloric lobe roundish; duo- 
denum at first curved forwards, intestine of moderate length 
and width ; coeca very short and obtuse. Nostrils oblite- i 
rated in the adult, open in the young. Eyes rather small, 
eyelids and a large space at the base of both mandibles bare. 
Aperture of ear very small. Feet short, stout, placed far 
behind ; tibia feathered to the joint ; tarsus very short, re- 
