724 



SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS — STEGANOPODES. 



style in the nape, in the position of the Ugamentum nucha; of many animals, and articulated mth 

 the occiput,_ is the most remarkable (fig. 505). It occurs in the Anhinga also, but is there much 

 smaller. The desmoguathous structure is seen in its highest development ; the palatines being 

 not only soldered, but sending down a keel along their line of union ; the interorbital septum is 



# 



vei7 defective, with hori- 

 zontal inferior border (a 

 general character of the 

 order except in the Peli- 

 cans). The sternum and 

 shoulder -girdle, and the 

 knee, are shown in figs. 504, 

 502. In the knee-joint, 

 there is a bulky free patella, 

 coexistent with a short cne- 

 inial apophysis or rotular 

 process of the tibia, but per- 

 fectly distinct therefrom, as 

 in Podiceps. The muscles 

 of the legs are as in Sulidee. 

 The pterylosis agrees essen- 

 tially with the ordinal ptery- 

 lographic characters, but the 

 plumage is peculiar in cer- 

 tain details. Excepting a 

 few speckled species, and 

 some others that are largely white below, 

 the plumage is glossy or lustrous black, often 

 highly iridescent with green, purple, and violet 

 tints, commonly uniform on the head, neck, and 

 under parts, but on the back and wing-coverts, 

 where the feathers are sharp-edged and distinct, 

 the shade is more apt to be coppery or bronzy, each feather with well-defined darker border. 

 This concerns, however, only the adult plumage, which is the same in both sexes : the young 

 are plain brownish or blackish. The Cormorants have other special featherings, generally of 

 a temporary character, assumed at the breeding season and lost soon after; these are curious 



Fig. 50.3. — The nest of the Cormorant (P. hicris- 

 tatus). (Designed by H. W. Elliot.) 



