PLOTID.E — THE ANHINGAS — PLOTUS. 



167 



terminally. Sides of the occiput and neck ornamented by lengthened, loose-webbed, hair-like 

 feathers of dirty white or pale grayish lilac ; nuchal feathers elongated, hair-like, forming a sort of 

 loose mane. " Upper mandible dusky-olive, the edges yellow ; lower mandible bright yellow, 

 the edges and tip greenish ; bare space about the eye bluish green ; gular sac bright orange ; iris 

 bright carmine ; tarsi and toes anteriorly dusky-olive, the hind parts and webs yellow, claws 

 brownish black" (Audubon). Adult male, in winter: Similar to the above, but destitute of the 





p. anhinga. 



whitish feathers of the head and neck. Adult female, in full breeding-plumage : Head, neck, and 

 breast grayish buff, becoming grayish brown (sometimes quite dusky) on the pileum and nape, the 

 breast lighter, and bounded below by a narrow band of dark chestnut, bordering the upper edge of 

 the black of the abdomen ; sides of the upper part of the neck adorned with an inconspicuous lon- 

 gitudinal stripe of short white loose-webbed feathers. Rest of the plumage as in the male. Bill, 

 etc., colored much as in the male, but iris paler red (pinkish). Young, in first icinter : Similar to 

 the adult female, but lower parts duller black (the feathers usually indistinctly tipped with grayish 

 brown), the chestnut pectoral band entirely absent ; upper parts much duller black (the Ijuck 



decidedly brownish), the light markings much smaller and more indistinct. Young, first plumage .- 

 Similar to the above, but entire lower parts light grayish buff, darker posteriorly. Transverse 

 corrugations of the middle rectrices quite obsolete. Nestling: Covered with buft-colored down 

 (Audubon). 



Total length, about 34.00 to 36.00 inches ; extent, 43.00 to 44.00; wing, 14.00; tail, 11.00 ; 

 bill, 3.25 ; tarsus, 1.35. 



The Australian P. novw-hollanduc resembles very closely the American species in the details of 



