330 
REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS. 
rough estimate placed this number at considerably over 1 000, and a more incon¬ 
gruous assemblage was never witnessed. As our boat approached the island the parent. 
hi r( io Uerran to manifest some uneasiness, and when we were about two gunshots awa,\ 
theyOos masse and settled in the water at convenient distance for watching our 
proceedings. The younglingswere considerably flustered when they found such strange 
creatures among them, and treated all our advances with marked disapproval, loini- 
in<r into solid phalanxes of all sizes, they shuffled over the sands, the ranks opening to 
right and left witli all alacrity according as we directed our steps. The appearance 
they cut as they waddled about on their unsteady legs, some of them almost naked 
and all uglv and uncouth, was ludicrous iu the extreme. Even the-older ones made no 
attempt at aggressive resistance when captured, but were content to show their re¬ 
pugnance at being handled by violent efforts to escape from our hands. Finally, in 
response to the coaxing of a few old birds that ventured in, many took to the water, 
and having swam out three or four hundred yards, remained quietly eyeing our move¬ 
ments with all unconcern. Many gulls and several pairs of cormorants and great blue 
herons shared the islaud with the pelicans, and their young afforded living proofs of 
the unruffled tempers and good dispositions of the big birds. , _ , , 1lir 
At this lake the pelicans presented a peculiarly noteworthy sight as at intervals dur¬ 
ing the day they spread their broad wings and flew in bauds of from five to titty to the 
neighborhood of some one of the lofty peaks within a mile or two, where they amused 
themselves by sailing about for an hour at a time in the invigorating air and m encom¬ 
passing the summits in wide circles. Their snowy-white plumage reflected thei bright 
sunlight, and the huge birds appeared at their best as they soared above canon ami forest 
at such height that all ungainliness of form was lost and we were left to admire toe 
suowy purity of their colors and their tine powers of flight. 
The “ centre-board,” so called, a horny excrescence appearing on the bills ot the 
adults about the mating period is, as has been shown by Captain Bendire, common to 
both sexes. This is shed as the season progresses, till, in early July, when the young are 
usually well advanced, it is rarely seen, although a lew still persist at this time. (J 
its use nothing appears to be known. 
GRACULID./E—Cormorauts. 
Graculus Linmeus. 
G. ditophus (Sw.). Double-crested Cormorant. 
The cormorants from this region have usually been referred to the variety Jtoridams, 
a name bestowed upon Avhat was supposed to he a small southern race of ddophus. But 
my pair of specimens taken at Pyramid Lake, Nevada, in summer, are fully up to the 
requirement s of size of dilophus, and I therefore so consider them. It is to be remarked, 
however, as has been indicated by Mr. Ridgway, that specimens occur in the region 
under notice’, and in California, that are no larger than many 1 lorula horn birds. After 
examination of the Smithsonian material I am of the opinion that the alleged differ¬ 
ence of size is of too doubtful applicability-to warrant the recognition of this variety. 
The double-crested cormorant is more or less numerous on many ot the lakes ot tins 
rce (louuie-cresitju uuiiiiukdui to mviv ^ --- * , ,, 
region, its abundance at any given locality being chiefly regulated by the presence 
and character of nesting facilities. , , 
All the nests examined by me were built in depressions and cavities on rocky islands, 
although in this same region they build upon trees, as fully attested by Mr. Ridgway. 
The nests were composed chiefly of sticks with a substantial lining of weeds. ne 
me nests were oum dgocu :—; > r * • > i i 
was noticed tliat had an additional slight felting of feathers. No birds could * ell be 
loiiceci Llicit Iiau all auuitiuuai —-; , , « , j 
less fastidious in regard to their nesting arrangements than they, and the toul odor 
about a cormorant rookery is almost unendurable. Entangled in one nest that 1 ex¬ 
amined was the mummied head and neck of a brother cormorant that apparently had 
been gathered as available nest material. , , . . 
Although the flight of the cormorant appears heavy and somewhat laborious, it yet 
progresses from feeding ground to feeding ground with tolerable ease and much swift¬ 
ness. But the bird appears at its best in the water, where it is scarcely less at home 
than the typical divers, and where no little of its existence is passed beneath the sur¬ 
face in pursuit of its finny prey. This the cormorant never plunges for but, like the 
grebes, divers, and other birds of that class, the best swimmers of all, captures it n full 
chase. The bird’s forays are usually made iuto large schools, and apparently it has 
verv little trouble iu procuring all it requires. The cormorant is not always successful 
in holding a fish after it has fairly seized it, and at Eagle Lake there were to be seen 
in every school of white-fish ( Coregonus mlliamsoni ) a considerable number that bore 
across their bodies the marks of the powerful mandibles. I found quite a number of 
sizable fish that had escaped from the birds bills, only to die a lingering death horn 
the effects of compression. 
