70 
THE WILSON BULLETIN— June, 1922 
blacking. When first hatched they could open their eyes, 
though the aperture was little larger than a pinhead. Stom- 
achs of three one-day-old young were found to contain coarse 
scales and other fish remains. One had the back spine of a fair- 
sized bullhead in the stomach. By the first week in June most 
of the migrating cormoraiits had passed on, leaving those that 
were nesting and many non-breeding birds around the colony. 
Most of the cormorants did their fishing in the shallow bays 
that extended a considerable distance into what was formerly 
marsh and tamarack swamp. Here it was a common sight to 
see fifteen or twenty of these black fellows sitting on some 
favorite snag or dead tree sunning themselves with partly ex- 
tended wings, as they digested their last meal. 
When they commenced nesting all the adults had full crests 
and intense bluish-green dottings around their emerald eyes. 
By the time the young were hatched the adults collected were 
found to have lost their crests, and the eye ornaments had 
dimmed somewhat. 
Some other interesting facts were brought to light by col- 
lecting this material. One fine large individual that had been 
sitting on four addled eggs for a long time, proved to be a male 
when collected, the smaller, equally glossy bird that usually 
sat nearby being i^resuniably his mate. But very often he was 
seen to have a light breasted companion, this bird proving to be a 
non-breeding male. There were a number of these non-breeders, 
all more or less mottled on their breasts and necks with lighter 
feathers. 
The stomachs of seven adults shot April 10 all contained 
fish. Five each held one large bullhead of nearly a pound 
weight, swallowed spines and all, while each of the others held 
a pike that would weigh over a pound. Others examined from 
time to time contained partly digested bullheads or more rarely 
other fish. 
Breathing entirely through their mouths, these birds kept 
them open wide while flying excitedly around their nests. 
Double-crested Cormorants had nested in this region the two 
preceding years but not before that, according to information 
I later was able to obtain. Mr. Laurence Keller of Prairie du 
Sac saw many of these birds, mostly in immature plumage, 
near three distinct nesting areas in mid-summer of 1920. Others 
mentioned seeing half grown young sitting on the shore of the 
lake opi^osite the colonies in summer. The cormorant nests are 
