93 NEW zEALAxn nrRDS. 



L., 36 ; W., 19 ; B., 5 ; T., 2. 



Egg. — White, stained with reddish-brown ; leiiKlli, 31 ; breadth, 1-85. 



Hab. — Both Islands ; Australia, Cape of Good Hope. 



'^ It is a powcrftil flior ; and it is very interesting to watch it 

 Avliile in pursuit of its (iuny \n-v\ : poising its body for an instant in 

 mid-air, it plunges headlong into the sea, -with a velocity that makes 

 the spray rise several feet, entirely disappearing under the surface for 

 some seconds, and then springing npAvards with the buoyancy of a 

 cork ; after which it rests on the water for several minutes, and then 

 takes wing again, to renew the feat. In dull murky weather the 

 snow-white plumage of this bird, rendered more striking by the black 

 extremities of the expanded wings, makes it a very conspicuous object 

 as it sails majestically overhead or scans the surface of the rippling 

 waves." — BuLLER. 



Phalaceocobax. Brisson. 



Bill, straight, rather slender, hooked at the tip ; second and third qnills the longest ; 

 tail, rounded. 



150. Phalacroeorax novse-hollandise. Gould. 



Black Shag. 



Above, dark-green or blue-black ; bronzy on the back ; below, green-black ; throat, and 

 a band extending to the ejc, white ; a while spot on the thighs, and a few linear white 

 featliers on the head and neck. When the breeding-season is over the white feathers on the 

 head and neck are lost, and the throat is yellowish-white. The young are brown, mottled 

 with white below. 



L., 34 ; W., 13-5 ; B., 375 ; T., 2 25. 



i^^^*;.— Bluish-white, chalky ; length, 25 ; breadth, I'oS. 



Hab. — Both Islands ; Australia. 



" After comparing a large number of specimens, I feel no hesita- 

 tion in keeping this form distinct from tlie well-known P. carho of 

 Europe, although the two species arc closely related and have doubt- 

 less sprung from a common ancestor. In thus separating it, T am 

 supported by Mr. Gould, who had frequent op})ortunitics of investi- 

 gating the subject in Australia and Tasmania, where this bird is very 

 generally dispersed. Tlic same view was taken by ^Mr. G. R. Gray in 

 his latest arrangement of the group (Hand-list of Birds, 1871) ; and 

 Mr. R. B. Sharpe has since adopted it in his classification of the 

 specimens in the British Museum 



" The Black Shag is very common on our coasts and within the 

 mouths of our tidal rivers. Along the ocean-beach it is generally 

 dispersed singly or in pairs, but on the sand-banks it often congregates 

 to the number of twenty or thirty. It walks v.ith an awkward 

 waddling gait, supporting itself in part with its tail, which is moved 

 alternately to the right and left at every stej). It has a very fetid 

 odour ; and a person approaching a flock of these birds on the leeward 



