Bill Arvey Journal Bolinas Bay, Marin Co., Calif. (8) Nov. 11, 1966 They can take off and maintain level flight without dropping like the Brandts and Pelagics seem to do. I'm down another 3/4 mile or so and I see out in the water a long line of cormorants, no more than 3 deep in any place--approximately 50 in this one string. They don't seem to be doing much; they aren't oriented at all the same way though they tend to be orienting east, paddling away from the shore. Maybe they'll form a fishing flock, I don't know. Nobody's going up or down. They are evenly well- spaced in this line which extends for 50 yds. or so. Very little clumping; there seems to be a good distance between all the individuals and they're in a definite line, front moving in one direction. I noticed when they were sitting on the pilings there were very few very dark birds, like an adult Brandts or something. They were a sort of washed-out black instead of a real glossy black that you find in the other 2 species. The predominance in the ones that I saw had a lot of light underneath and were probably young birds.