GREAT CORMORANT. 383 



on the head and upper neck are interspersed very slender 

 white filaments having a pencillate tip. The space round the 

 eyes, and along the hase of the bill, together with the gular 

 membrane, are bare. The wings are rather large and broad, 

 convex, and somewhat rounded, but when folded seem short, 

 the primary quills being comparatively small, and the longest 

 not extending beyond the base of the tail ; they are very 

 strong, tapering, obtuse ; the third longest, the second nearly 

 two-twelfths of an inch shorter, and exceeding the first by 

 four-twelfths; the secondaries eighteen, of moderate breadth, 

 and broadly rounded. The tail is of moderate length, narrow, 

 straight, much rounded, of fourteen stiff, strong-shafted, 

 rounded feathers, of which the outer is an inch and a half 

 shorter than the middle. 



The bill is greyish-brown on the sides, dusky on the 

 ridge, with the tips brown, the base yellowish-white. The 

 iris bright green, the edges of the eyelids dusky. The bare 

 space around the eye is dull greenish-brown, below it bright 

 yellow, as is the gular sac. The feet and claws are greyish- 

 black. The silky plumage of the head, neck, lower parts, a 

 medial band down the back, and its middle and hind parts, 

 are black, glossed with bluish-green. A broad band of white 

 crosses the throat from one eye to the other ; the filamentous 

 plumelets on the head and neck are also white, as is a broken 

 patch on each side over the thigh, composed of elongated 

 linear feathers. The feathers on the fore part and sides of 

 the back, the scapulars, the wing-coverts, and secondary 

 quills, are greyish-broAvn, with bronze and green reflections, 

 and edged with greenish-black. The primary quills and tail- 

 feathers are greyish-black. The shafts of all the feathers are 

 greyish-blue at the base, becoming black toward the end. 



Length to end of tail 38 inches ; extent of wings 60 ; 

 wing from flexure 14 ; tail 6 ; bill along the ridge 3-^, 

 along the edge of lower mandible 4^ ; tarsus 2^ ; hind toe 

 1^, its claw -^ ; second toe l\^, its claw -j^^ ; third toe 2-^, 

 its claw ^ ; fourth toe 3\^, its claw -f-j. 



Female in Winter. — The female is similar to the male, 

 but smaller. 



