THK CORMORANTS AND SHAGS. 
21 1 
THE CORMORANTS. 
SUB-ORDER PHALACROCOBACES. 
As in all the Steganopodes, the Cormorants have a desmog- 
nathous, or “bridged,” palate, and they have the four toes 
all joined together by a web. They have also a remarkably 
hooked bill, with a sort of nail at the end. The feet in these 
birds are placed very far back, and the thighs are feathered 
down to the tarsal joint. 
Cormorants and Shags are found in nearly every part of 
the world, and are most numerous in species in the Southern 
Hemisphere. 
THE CORMORANTS AND SHAGS. 
(;enus phalacrocorax. 
Phalacrocorax, Briss. Orn. vi. p. 51 1 (1760). 
Type, P. carbo (Linn.). 
Any number of anatomical and osteological characters can 
be brought forward for the identification of the Cormorants, 
but in a book dealing only with British birds we have, happily,’ 
no need to go into these minuter details, for our two species 
are easily recognisable by the merest tyro. Thus their webbed 
feet, with all four toes joined together by a membrane, are a 
leading character j secondly, their black plumage is distinctive, 
and their hooked bills and bare faces will distinguish them 
from all our British sea-birds, except the Gannets. ' 
Two species inhabit the British area, the Common Cor- 
rnorant and the Green Cormorant, or Shag, and there is no 
difficulty in distinguishing these black-plumaged birds from 
the white-plumaged Gannets. 
I. THE CORMORANT. PHAL.ACROCORAX CARBO. 
Pelecanus carbo, Linn. S. N. i. p. 216 (1766). 
Phalacrocorax carlo, Macg. Br. B. v. p. 380 (1852); Dresser, 
B. Eur. vi. p. 151, pi. 388 (1879)7 B. O. U. List Br. 
B. p. 105 (1883) 7 Saunders, ed. Yarr. Br. B. iv. p. 143 
(1884)7 Seebohm, Br. B. iii. p. 650 (1885)7 Saunders, 
Man. Br. B. p. 349 (1889) 7 Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B. 
part xxii. ( 1892). 
p 2 
