THE CORMORANT. 229

The tern is believed by commentators to be intended
under the name of “cuckoo” in Leviticus xi., as the ori- .
ginal word “shackaph” denotes slenderness; and from
both the Greek and Vulgate versions, it is.supposed that
a small kind of sea-fowl is meant. Some writers think that
the sea-mew may be the bird alluded to.

Puatacrocorax CarBo.—The Common Cormorant.

This bird varies in size from thirty inches to three feet
in length, and above four feet in breadth with the wings ex-
tended ; the bill measures four inches, and is of a dark colour ;
the tip of the upper mandible is much hooked, the lower
compressed ; the skin about the chin and neck is capable
of distension, so as to form a kind of pouch; the eyes have
a peculiar and remarkable stare, and there is a bare yel-
lowish space round them. The top of the head and the
neck are black, and the former has a short crest; the breast
and all the under parts are black, glossed with green; the
tail and legs black. _

Cormorants may be found in every climate, usually as-
sembling in large flocks, on the high rocks of the sea-
shore, upon which the female constructs her nest, of sea-_
weeds, sticks, and grass, laying four or five greenish-white
eggs; they live on fish, which they catch with the greatest