DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT. 483 



DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT. 



(Phalacrocorax dilophus. Pelccanus (Carho) dilophus, Swains. Rich. 



and Swains. North. Zool. ii. p. 473.) 



Sp. Charact. — Tail of 12 feathers; bill 3J inches long; a crested 



tufl of feathers behind each eye. 



This new species, allied to the common Cormorant, was 

 obtained on the Saskatchewan in the month of May, by Dr. 

 Richardson, but of its habits and manners we are wholly 

 ignorant : it seems, however, there to supply the place of 

 the other species which is not mentioned as found in the 

 fur countries. 



Length about 33 inches ; the bill from the front 2 inches 1 line , 

 the wing 12 inches ; middle tail feathers 6J inches ; tarsus about 2 

 inches 3 lines : the long toe and nail 4 inches 1 line. The bill black- 

 ish-brown. Orbits and naked skin round the chin yellow. Over 

 the 6ye a line of white dots. General plumage above and below, 

 deep bluish-black, glossed obscurely with green ; this color, as usual, 

 confined to the margins only of the feathers on the upper part of 

 the back, the lesser wing coverts and the tertials, the middle of 

 which are light hair-brown : quills much darker. Tail and feet 

 black. The middle toe strongly pectinated. Naked space on the 

 sides of the head small, extending from the bill to the eye, which it 

 scarcely encircles ; it also occupies a narrow margin at the rictus, 

 and then curves downwards under the chin, which it crosses, leav- 

 ing a naked space 3J inches in length, measured to the base of the 

 . gonys of the under mandible. Immediately behind the eye is a con- 

 spicuous crest or tuft of narrow slender feathers, many of which are 

 an inch and a quarter long. Tail moderate, of 12 feathers, each of 

 which is graduated. Lesser quills slightly mucronated. 



