Cormorant
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Cormorant. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a genus of web-footed birds in the order Steganopodes, besides pelicans, solan. geese, and frigate-birds. They are familiar birds, frequenting islands in most parts of the world. The head is relatively small, and is naked behind the eyes and at the root of the beak. At the breeding season some forms exhibit a crest and wattles. There is a dilatable membrane beneath the lower jaw. The bill is moderately long, straight, rounded above, and strongly hooked hooked at the end. The neck is long, snake-like and naked on the throat. The wings are of moderate length; the tail is rather short and rounded, but with stiff feathers, which are used as aids in progression. The common British cormorant is an almost cosmopolitan bird about three feet long, for the most part of a blackish-green metallic color, with brownish feathers on the shoulder region. When in full breeding plumage it has a crest on the head, white plumes on the throat, and a white patch on the lower flanks. The bill is black, the face yellow, the feet also black. It was formerly trained in England, as still in China, for fishing purposes. The_dwarf cormorant from southeastern Europe, north Africa, CORMORANT tude for his services, appointed him governor of New York. He began his administration as a successor of Lord Bellamont, 1702. He was a bigot in religion, and oppressive and unjust in his administration of the government. He died in London, April 1, 1723 .
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a family of fish-pursuing birds. Of thirty species ten are found in North America . They breed and fish in colonies, chiefly on the seacoast, but are found on large bodies of inland waters as well. They dive from the surface or from a low perch. The double crested cormorant, about thirty-three inches in length, chiefly black, nests in trees about the lakes of the upper Mississippi Valley. A colony nesting on an island in a lake, for instance, seems to map out the fishing waters. The females feed near the island; the males fly often several miles away each to his preserve. The cormorant pursues fish under water with inconceivable rapidity. The loon uses feet only, but the cormorant uses feet and wings. The feet fold when carried forward, and open during the stroke. The Chinese boat-dwellers train tame cormorants to catch fish. The cormorant sits on the side of the house-boat gravely watching for fish, which it is claimed he pursues to a depth of 100 feet, if necessary. A ring on the neck prevents the bird from swallowing the fish until fed by its master. The English nobility at an early date took fish in the same way. When at leisure a cormorant takes pleasure in playing with a live fish like a cat with a mouse. The fish is tossed into the air and caught again in the wide bill. See Pelican ; Anhinga ; Albatross