40 HISTORY OF THE 



Sp. Char. "Basal oiitliue of the giilar pouch exteudiug straight across the 

 throat or projectiug slightly back along the median line. Adult, in full breed- 

 ing plumage: Head, neck, rump and entire lower parts glossy black, with a faint 

 luster of dull bluish green; back, scapulars and wings dull grayish brown, each 

 feather conspicuously and broadly bordered with black; tail uniform dull black. 

 A tuft of narrow, lengthened, curved feathers on each side the crown, springing 

 from behind and above the eye; these feathers are wholly black. Maxilla black, 

 mottled with grayish or dull yellowish along the sides; mandible yellowish or 

 pale bluish, mottled with dusky; loral region and gular sac deep orange; eyelids 

 and whole interior of the mouth bright cobalt blue, the former sometimes dotted 

 with white; iris bright grass green; legs and feet deep black. Adult, in winter: 

 Similar to the above, but tufts of the head wanting, and the bare skin of the 

 lores, gular pouch, etc., deep yellow instead of orange, and the blue of the mouth 

 and eyelids absent. Young, first plumage: Head and neck grayish brown, 

 lighter next to the gular sac, darker on the crown and nape; back, scapulars and 

 wings dull, brownish gray, the feathers bordered with dusky brown; rump dusky 

 brown; primaries and tail dull grayish black; lower parts light fawn color, 

 darker on tlie sides, anal region and crissum. Bill dull brownish yellow, nearly 

 black on the culmen; gular sac deep chrome yellow; iris greenish gray; legs and 

 feet deep black. Young, in winter: Similar to the above, but throat, jugulum 

 and breast paler, sometimes quite white." 



The birds are abundant on the northeast coast, decreasing in 

 numbers westward to the Kocky Mountains. They have been 

 reported west of the Eockies, and breeding there, but the speci- 

 mens taken on the Pacific side prove to be an intermediate race 

 between this species and albociliatus. 



Tlie birds subsist chiefly upon fish, which they capture by div- 

 ing and pursuing beneath the water, with a speed the swiftest of 

 the finny tribe seldom escape, coming to the surface with their 

 capture, tossing the same in the air and catching it head first as 

 it falls, so that the fins will not prevent its passing into the stom- 

 ach. The throat readily expands and enables them to swallow 

 fish larger than the neck in its normal condition. I have often 

 noticed the birds when resting upon a log, or perched upon a 

 limb over the water, suddenly drop and disappear beneath its 

 surface at the sight of a fish, catching it, however, in a fair chase, 

 and not, like the Gannet or Kingfisher, by a plunge upon their 

 prey. 



