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THE DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMOR AN r I. 
Phalacrocorax dilophus, Swains. 
PLATE COCOXYL— 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. Prom 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, e?en 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 
