PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OF 



longer than tertiaries. Iris green, bill horn-black ; feet pure black. Gular 

 sac black, with red marks (shrinking and looking dull red when dry). A nar- 

 row patch of skin around eye, extending as far back as that around angle of 

 mouth and gular sac. A sharp angle covered with feathers extends on middle 

 line of throat, a little further forward than eyes. Forehead feathered down 

 to bill, leaving only a narrow loral space bare. 



This species is closely related to the G. violaceus of the Oregon and Wash- 

 ington coasts, and replaces it as on the coast of upper and lower California. 

 According to Mr. James Hepburn, it differs in a much more slender bill and 

 other points of structure, as well as in the presence of the conspicuous white 

 patches on the flanks. 



In 1834 Mr. J. K. Townsend saw "at Cape Disappointment ten Cormorants, 

 one with a white tail, the others with a white rump," which, without further 

 description, Mr. Audubon called Phalacrocorax leucurus and P. leuconotus. 

 It is quite possible that Townsend might have referred to P. bairdii, in his 

 notes as above quoted, but as neither attribute applies to the present species 

 the names would be inadmissible, even if accompanied by a diagnosis. I 

 myself saw what I believed to be this species at the mouth of the Columbia 

 River, in July, 1854, but could not obtain specimens. Mr. F. Gruber, of this 

 city, was the first to secure specimens of the species and distribute them as 

 P. bairdii, (named after Prof. S. F. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution) and 

 informs me that the species was published under that name in Germany, al- 

 though I have not been able to find it, and think it is possible that it may still 

 be a manuscript communication. It is with great pleasure that I append the 

 following note on this species : 



Note on Graculus Bairdii, the White patched Cormorant of the Farrallone 



Islands, California, by James Hepburn, San Francisco. 



(From a letter addressed to the Smithsonian Institution, dated Dec. 30tb, 1862. 



"While at Barclay Sound, I noticed that there appeared to be a Cormorant 

 there about the size of the one from the Farallones but without any white 

 spot. I could only get one of them, and that on the last day I was out. On 

 examining it, I found that it was of the same size as the other, but it had an 

 orange gular pouch, as described by Audubon, whereas the other, as I have 

 already insisted, has a dusky pouch, with numerous bright red papillae, much 

 too striking a point to be overlooked by any one who sees the bird while in the 

 flesh. Another difference is that the irides of the former are brown, those of 

 the latter sea-green. The plumage too is dissimilar in color, though both of 

 them might fairly be called violet green. In the Farallones' bird, however, 

 the green greatly predominates, in the other the violet. With respect to the 

 white spot, I have seen the bird with it as early as February, and as late as 

 the middle of July, at which time it showed no signs of disappearing, though 

 the G. dilophus had months previously lost its crests. I have never been 

 able to see the bird in autumn, which I am very anxious to do. If, as I 

 think, it then appears with the white patch, the question of its being the 

 breeding plumage is disposed of. At any rate the birds in Barclay Sound had 

 no patch at the end of March. The only remaining conjecture is that one may 

 be the young of the other ; and this I find is Dr. Suckley's idea, who appears 

 to have remarked both kinds at Cape Disappointment. To this I object that 

 I do not know of the patchless bird having been noticed in California, and I 

 am very certain that I saw none with a patch about Vancouver Island. As to 

 their frequenting Cape Disappointment, that would only prove that to be 

 the boundary line of their respective habitats. I am aware that it is danger- 

 ous work to build speculations as I am doing, on a single specimen ; but I 

 shall do my best to find out where the northern bird breeds, and to obtain a 

 sitting bird with its eggs ; and then should the differences be equally marked 

 at that period, if there is any such thing as species, the two birds must, I 

 think, be pronounced distinct." 



[Jan. 



