NESTS AXD tGGS OF AVSTRAUAX UIKDS. gyi 



ORDER— STEQANOPODES: PELICANS. 



FAxMILY^ PHALACROCORACID.'E : CORMOEANTS. 



ISUB-FAMII.V PnALACKUfOUAClNiE. 



720- — Phalacrocouax carbo, Liuiireus. — (652) 

 /'. itvvce-hi)//(tin/ice, Stephens. 



BLACK CORMORANT. 



Figure. — Gould: Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vii., pi. 66. 



Keftrence. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxvi., p. 340. 



Previous Descriftions of Eggs. — Gould : Birds of Australia (1S48) , 

 also Handbook, vol. ii., p. 489 (1865); Potts: Trans. New 

 Zealand Inst., vol. iu., p. 108 (1871); Duller: Birds of New 

 Zealand (1873), vol. ii., p. 148 (1888); North: Austn. Mus. 

 Cat., p. 365 (1889) ; Hume : Nests and Eggs Indian Birds 

 (1875), also (Gates' ed.) vol. iii., p. 270 (1890). 



Geuyrop/iira/ Disfrihiitii)n. — Australia iu general and Tasmania; 

 also New Zealand (including Chatham Islands), the Austro-Malayan 

 region, Asia, Afiica, Europe, and by way of the Faroe Islands and 

 Iceland to the Atlantic coast of North America. 



y^e.^t, — Rough, sUghtly concave on top, constructed of twgs and 

 leaves or aquatic herbage, as the case may be ; placed on bushes or low 

 trees over water, in a rookery, sometimes in company with those of 

 other species of Cormorants, In some localities, accorchng to Gould, 

 the nests are composed of seaweed. &c., and placed on ledges of rock. 

 Dimensions, about 18 inches across by 3 or 4 inches high. 



E(/f/>:. — Clutch, three to four : elliptically inclined in shape ; tex- 

 ture of shell coarse ; siu'face without gloss ; colour, greenish-white more 

 or less irregularly coated with hme Dimensions in inches of a clutch ; 

 (1) 2-4 X 1-5, (2) "2-34 x 1-49, (3) 2-32 x 1-44. 



Oliscrvufloii:^. — This species, the largest of Australian Cormorants, 

 is by sound authorities i^ronounccd to be the common P. carho of 

 Europe. In fact, its range actually stretches right across the world 

 from New Zealand to Iceland. 



Gould found the large Black Cormorant, or Shag, nowhere so 

 abimdant as in Tasmania, inhabiting not only bays and inlets, but 

 ascending the rivers, even to the lakes in the middle of the island, on 

 several of which they breed. The plumage of the Black Cormorant in 

 general may be described as a dark, glossy, greenish-black, ornamented 

 on the sides of the neck with fine white feathers diu-ing the breeding, 

 or summer season. Eyes are green. Dimensions: length, 34 inches; 

 bill, 4 inches; wing, 13i inches; tail, 8 inches. 



