270 On the Cormorantu of Japan and China. 



identified for me by Mr. Sharpe are : — Petra'ca multicolor 

 (Gra.) ; Eudynamys taitensis{S[^&Yrm.); Ninox macidata (Vig.); 

 Aplonisfuscus, Gould; jEgialitis hicincta, Jerd. ; Porphyrio 

 melanotus, Temm. ; Rhipidura pelzelni, Gm. ; Zosterops 

 teniiirostr is, GouXd; Gerygone modesta, Pelz. ; Symmorphus 

 leucopygius, Govi\d; and Pachycephala £eanthoprocta, Gould. 

 I hope in time to have sufficient materials for a paper on 

 the land-birds of Norfolk Island. 



XXIV. — On the Cormorants of Japan and China. 

 By Henry Seebohm. 



The numerous collections of Japanese birds recently sent 

 to this country have enabled me to amass a series large 

 enouo-h to clear up some of the difficulties which have hitherto 

 presented themselves in an attempt to unravel the tangle 

 into which the Cormorants of China and Japan have fallen. 



Temminck and Schlegel, in the ' Fauna Japonica/ enu- 

 merate three : — 



1. Carbo cormoranus. 



2. ,, filamentosus vel capillatus. 



3. „ bicristatus. 



The second in this list bears the former name in the text, 

 and the latter on the plates ; but Schlegel, in his ' Museum 

 d'Histoire Naturelle des Pays-Bas/ gave up the species 

 (incorrectly, as I hope to show presently) , and treated botli 

 names as synonyms of the Common Cormorant. 



Swinhoe accepted Schlegel's union of No. 1 and No. 2 

 under the name of Phalacrocorax carbo, and in 1871 called 

 No. 3 Graculus bicristatus, after having in 1867 described it 

 as new under the name of Phalacrocorax ceolus ; but in 1874 

 he identified this supposed new species as P. pelagicus. 



The conclusions at which I have arrived are that there are 

 three Cormorants found in China and Japan. 



Phalacrocorax carbo. 



The Common Cormorant appears to breed in Japau and 

 North China and to winter in South China. It may at once 



