Cormorant

[Fr. cormoran.] (Zool.) A family of birds, ord. Nat a to res, comprising swimming birds which have the tip of the bill much hooked, acute, and the nostrils not perceptible. They are many species, and they abound on the coasts of all countries. The common cormorant, Graculus carbo of Gray, (the sea-raven of the ancients,) is about the size of a goose, and something like it in shape, but with a compre ed bill, and the middle toe notched like a saw. Its plumage is black, with greenish and purple reflection; it has a crest of long feathers on the head, and numerous slender white feathers on the head, neck, and thighs; the tail is black, and rounded. It is a bird of such insatiable appetite that its very name has become a synonym for voracity; Fig . 687.-CORMORANT. all sorts of fish, tenants of the lake or of the deep, are devoured with equal avidity, and it carries on its ravages by night as well as by day. It builds its nest on rocks on the shore, or even on trees near great lakes, and has three or four greenish-white eggs. -A glutton; a voracious eater. CORK, the cap. of the above co., is situate on the river Lee, over which are several handsome stone bridges, 138 m. S. S. W. of Dublin. The public buildings are generally of a plain exterior. C. po eses several scientific institutions. Manf . Sail-cloth, sheeting, paper, leather, glue, gla , iron, and gloves. The city exports large quantities of salt provisions, with bides, butter, flour, pork, and other Irish produce. C. stands abt. 15 m. from the sea, and its harbor, or the Cove of Cork ( q . v . ), 9 m. below the town, has long been celebrated for its safety and capaciousne . Pop . in 1881, 97,526; in 1891, 75,070. Cork, in Georgia , a village of Butts co. Corked ( korkt ), a. Po e ing a corky taste. "The major swore the wine was corked ."-Noctes Ambrosian a. Cork'-fo il, n. ( Min .) A variety of amianthus, resembling cork.