Clafs II.] 
bird s. 
G.E N U S XVIII. The CORVORANT. 
*59 
* 
S P E C I E S I. The Corvorant. Plate 3 i. The Female. 
The cormorants TVtl. 
orn. 329. 
_'n. av% 122. 
Pelecanus carbo. Lim jyftk 133. 
H IS fpecies weighs four pounds. The 
length is thirty-two inches; the breadth 
near four feet. The bill is dulky, three 
inches and a half long, and deftitute of noftrils • 
the bale of the lower mandible is covered with a 
naked yellowilh (kin, that extends under the chin, 
and forms a fort of pouch : a loofe (kin of the fame 
color reaches from the upper mandible round the 
eyes, and angles of the mouth : the head and neck 
are of a footy blacknefs; but under the chin of 
the male, the feathers are white : the coverts of 
the wings, the fcapuiars, and the back, are of a 
deep green, edged with black, and gloffed with 
blue : the quil feathers and tail dulky ; the laft 
confifts of fourteen feathers: the belly dulky, 
with a whitilh bed in the midft of it: on the 
thighs of the male is a tuft of white feathers : 
the legs are Ihort, ftrong, and black ; the middle 
SPECIES 
The lhag, called in the North of Eng¬ 
land the crane. JVil. orn. 330. 
Corvus aquaticus minor. Graculus 
palmipes dictus. Rail fyn. av. 123. 
H E fhag is much inferior in fize to the 
corvoranti the length is twenty-feven 
inches ; the breadth three feet fix. The 
bill is four inches long, and more (lender than 
that of the preceding : the head is adorned with 
a creft two inches long, pointing backward : the 
whole plumage of the upper part of this bird is 
of a fine and very Ihining green, the edges of the 
feathers a purplilh black ; but the lower part of 
the back is wholly green : the belly is dusky : the 
tail confifts of only twelve feathers, of a dusky 
Phalacrocorax. Briffon av. VI. 511 
Tab\ 45* The 
claw ferrated on the infide : the irides are of a 
light alh-color. Thefe birds occupy the higheft 
parts of the cliffs that impend over the fea : they 
make their nefts of fticks, fea tang, grafs. See. 
and lay fix or feven white eggs of an oblong form. 
In winter they difperfe along the ftiores, and vifit 
the frefh waters, where they make great havoke 
among the fifth They are remarkably voracious, 
having a moft fudden digeftion, promoted by the 
infinite quantity of fmall worms that fill their in- 
teftines. The corvorant has the rankeft and moft 
difagreeable fmell of any bird, even when alive. 
Its form is difagreeable,its voice hoarfe and croak¬ 
ing, and its qualities bale. No wonder then that 
Milton Ihould make fatan perfonate this bird, to 
T ur ve$ undelighted the beauties of Paradife 5 and 
Jit devijing deaths on the tree of life.*^ 
VnrJT Iea T d Dr l ^ ° r derives the word Orvaram from 
€ 7* pTZ S r?T r h ; ence ; COrm P tl y OUr word Cormorant. Caiiotufc on 
** Paradife loft, took 4. Ime 194, & c . ^ J 
II. The Shag. 
Phalacrocorax minor. Rriffon av. 
VI. 516. 
Phalacrocorax criftatus. Rrunnich. 
ornith. 31. 
hue, tinged with green ; the legs are black, and 
like thofe of the corvorant. Both thefe Ipecies 
agree in their manners, and breed in the fame 
places : and, what is very ftrange in webbed foot¬ 
ed birds, will perch and build in trees Both fwim 
with their heads quite ere£t, and are very difficult 
to be (hot; for, like the Grebes and Divers, as foon 
as they fee the flafli of the gun pan, they pop un¬ 
der water, and never rife but at a confiderabie 
diftance. 
SPECIES 
4 
1 
