MEXICAN CORMORANT
121. Phalacrocorax vigua mexicanus. 25 in.
Adults with feathers bordering on the gular sac, white. In breeding plumage, the sides of head and neck have tufts of filmy white feathers, eyes green, as they are in all cormorants. All cormorants are expert swimmers and fishermen. They never plunge for their prey, but pursue and catch it under water, the same as do the grebes. When perching, they sit erect with their neck bent in the form of a letter S. They fly with their necks outstretched, and with rather slow wing beats. They are very gregarious and nest in large colonies, this species always being found in swamps or heavy shrubbery, surrounding bodies of water.
Nest.—Usually in trees overhanging the water, or upon the ground, in either case being made of sticks and weeds. The 3 to 5 eggs are bluish-green, covered with a chalky deposit (2.25 × 1.35).
Range.—Breeds north to the extreme southern boundary of the United States; wanders north casually to Ill. in summer.
PELICANS—Family Pelecanidæ
WHITE PELICAN
125. Pelecanus erythrorhynchus. 5 feet.