PHA LA CROC OR A CID.E : CORMORANTS. 965 



P. d. albocilia'tus. (Lat. cdbiis, white ; ciUatus, having cilia, i. e., the early plumes of the 

 lateral crests.) Faralloxe Cormorant. Small; leugth .'30.00 or less ; wing about 12.00; 

 l)ill 2.15. VlnnvAge ■a.s m floridanus ; but nuptial crests chiefly white, as in cincinnatiis, of 

 which it is the southerly representative. Coast and inland waters of southern Oregon and 

 California to Cape San Lucas, and thence in winter extending along the Mexican coast. Breeds 

 in abundance on Farallone and other islands ; nests in trees inland. Eggs 2.40 X 1.50. 



(Subgenus Viguacarbo.) 



P. mexica'nus. (Lat. mexicanus, Mexican.) Mexican Cormorant. Resembling the last, 

 l)at perfectly distinct from this or any other species of North America; closely related to the 

 Brazilian Cormorant, P. vigua, of which perhaps only a subspecies. Adult (J 9 > in breeding 

 dres.s : Black, intensely lustrous, rather purplish-violet than green ; feathers of back and scap- 

 ulars dark slate, with black edges, making more sharply lanceolate figures than usual. A 

 sharp white gorget bordering gular sac behind and reaching nearly to eyes ; sac not strongly 

 convex in posterior outline, where the feathers pass across throat with a straiglit or slightly 

 convex outline. Nuptial plumes white, in a packet on each side of head, and other long white 

 filaments scattered over the neck and some other parts. Thus there are lateral crests resem- 

 bling those of albociliatus, but the other filaments are difierent. Gular sac orange. Adults in 

 winter lack the white plumes and gorget, and the plumage is not so lustrous as in summer. 

 Young: grayish-brown, paler or even whitish on most of the under parts; the white gorget 

 thus undefined. Immature birds are thus of ambiguous aspect, but the very small size, and 

 shape of gular pouch, are distinctive. Length always under 30.00, usually 24.00-28.00; ex- 

 tent about 40.00; wing 10.00: tail 6.00-6.50, thus relatively long, l2-feathered; tarsus under 

 2.00; culmen 2.00 or less. Central America, Mexico, West Indies; Texas, New Mexico, 

 and Kansas, and up the Mississippi Valley to Illinois. Eggs 2.20 X 1-40. 



{Subgenus Compsohalieus.) 



P. penicilla'tus. (Lat. penicillatus, pencilled, brushy ; jienicillum, a painter's brush 

 or pencil.) Pencilled Cormorant. Tufted Cormorant. Brandt's Cormorant. 

 Townsend's Cormorant. Tail sliort, of 12 {not 14) feathers. Gular sac heart-shaped 

 behind, owing to a narrow pointed forward extension of feathers on median line, as in carbo, 

 but largely naked, the feathers reaching on it little if any in advance of those on lower man- 

 dible. No definite crests; no white flank-patch. Adult ^ 9 , in breeding plumage: Deep 

 lustrous greenish-black, changing to violet or steel blue-black on neck and head ; middle of 

 back plain, like under parts, but scapulars and wing-coverts showing narrow black edgings of 

 individual feathers, less conspicuous than in any of the foregoing species. White or pale 

 yellowish filamentous plumes, 2.00 or more in length, straight aud stiffish, spring in a series 

 along each side of neck ; a few others are irregularly scattered over back of neck ; many others, 

 still longer, and somewhat webbed, grow on interscapulars and scapulars. A gorget of mouse- 

 brown or fawn-colored plumage surrounding gular sac; this is conspicuous, especially when 

 palest. Sac dark blue ; bill dusky ; iris green, as usual in the genus. Adults out of season 

 lack the straw-colored filaments. Young: Blackish-brown, more rusty below, the belly gray- 

 i.'^li ; scapulars and wing-coverts with edges paler than centres; gorget fawn-colored, as in tlie 

 adult {P. townsendi Aud.). Length about 33.00; wing 10.75-11.75; tail hardly G.OO, little 

 rounded; tarsus 2.50; culmen 2.75 on an average, nearly straight to the small hook. Tlie 

 species does not closely resemble any other here described. Pacific coast of the U. S.. \ an- 

 couver Island to Cape San Lucas, abundant, bn-eding in large rookeries on rocky i>iantls, .some- 

 times in company with Baird's Cormorants (Loo.Mi.s, Proc Cala. Acad. 2d ser. v, June, 18!»5, 

 pp. 217-221). Nest of eel-grass or other seaweeds, about 20.00 X 6.(K) outside. lO.(M) X 4.00 



