MEASUREMENTS OF WINTERING DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS AND DISCRIMINANT MODELS OF SEX

Body mass, maximum wing length, culmen length, culmen depth, tarsal le ngth and sex were recorded from 200 Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacr ocorax auritus auritus) collected from January through April 1991 at r oost sites in the delta region of Mississippi. Body mass and tarsal le ngth appeared to distinguish this population as excluding the Ii a. fl oridanus subspecies, which is also reported to be geographically restr icted to the Gulf Coast, or at least 250 km south of our study area Wi ng length, culmen depth and culmen length, in order of importance, wer e the most useful variables for identifying sex in a discriminant func tion model that predicted sex with 96.5% accuracy.