182 
CORMORANTS 
nest, they utter harsh, grating calls, which, if another bird chances to 
be near, is replied to with threatening motions of the sharply pointed 
bill. 
1908. Chapman, F. M., Camps and Cruises, 116-118 (nesting). 
12. Family Phalacrocoracidjs. Cormorants. (Figs. 29, 31.) 
Cormorants are found in all parts of the world. Six of the forty 
known species inhabit North America. As a rule they are mari- 
time, but they also frequent bodies of fresh water far from the 
seacoast. They are more or less gregarious at all seasons, and breed in 
colonies. Their flight is strong and ducklike, and they often fly in 
diagonal lines with a somewhat gooselike formation. They secure 
their food of fish by pursuing it under water, swimming with feet 
alone, their hooked bill assisting them in its capture. Unlike the Gan- 
nets, they do not dive from the air, but from the water or a low perch. 
They nest on the ground on islands, or on trees growing in water, build- 
ing well-formed structures. The young are born naked, but are soon 
covered with a thick, short, black down, which is succeeded by the 
plumage of flight. They feed, as do the young of most Steganopodes, 
by thrusting their head and neck well down the parent’s throat. 
KEY TO THE SPECIES 
A. Tail of 14 feathers, length over 33'00 119. Cormorant. 
B. Tail of 12 feathers, length under 31 •00. 
a. Feathers of back and scapulars rounded. 
120. Double-crested Cormorant. 
b. Feathers of back and scapulars pointed . 121. Mexican Cormorant. 
119. Phalaeroeorax earbo (Linn.). Cormorant (Figs. 29, 32.) 'Ads. 
in breeding plumage. — Region about base of lower mandible white or whitish; 
head, upper neck, and throat glossy black, thickly sprinkled with white; 
rest of neck, underparts, and rump glossy black; a white patch on flank; 
upper back, scapulars, and wing-coverts light olive-brown, each feather 
bordered by glossy black; tail black, composed of fourteen feathers. Ads. 
in winter. — Similar, but without white on the head. Im. — Top of the head 
and hindneck brownish black; upper back, scapulars, and wing-coverts 
grayish brown, the feathers bordered by blackish; rump glossy black; 
throat and breast grayish brown, changing to white on belly; sides and under 
tail-coverts glossy black. L., 36'00; W., 14'00; T., 7'00; B., 3*00. 
Range. — N. Hemisphere. Breeds from cen. Greenland s. to N. S., and 
e. through Europe and Asia to Kamchatka; winters from s. Greenland s. to 
L. I., casually to Lake Ont. and S. C., and from the Mediterranean s. to s. 
Africa, Australia, and Malay Pen. 
Long Island, regular T. V. in limited numbers (Dutcher). 
Nest, of sticks and seaweed, in colonies, generally on the ledges of rocky 
cliffs. Eggs, 4-6, pale bluish white, more or less overlaid with a chalky 
deposit, 2‘50 x 1’50. Date, s. Lab., June 19. 
120. Phalaeroeorax auritus auritus (Swains.). Double - crested 
Cormorant. Ads. in breeding plumage. — Head, neck, rump and underparts 
glossy black; upper back, scapulars, and wing-coverts light grayish brown, 
each feather margined with glossy black ; tail black, composed of twelve feath - 
