226 Mr. W. GooMeWow— Ornithological 



Fam. Phalacrocoracid.e. 



521. PHALACROCOKAX BRASILIANUS (Gm.) . 



This Cormorant was common on the Upper Napo, bnt we 

 did not see it after we passed the Coca. Iris bri<>ht 

 emerald-green ; bare skin about the gape red ; bill yellowish 

 green, black down the centre and yellow at the tip. One 

 skin, that of a young male, has the throat, neck, and breast 

 fawn-coloured mixed with brown and black. Wings and back 

 dark slaty grey, each feather margined with black ; tail 

 slightly tipped with white. 



Fam. A R D E I D ^. 

 5.'22. BuTORiDEs cYANURUs (Vicill.). 



A male from the stream running through the clearing at 

 Santo Domingo. Bill shaded yellow and green ; iris yellow. 



Fam. Plataleid.e. 



523. Theristicus branickii (Berl. & Stolzm.). 



Theristicus branickii Salvad. Ibis, 1900, p. 515, pi. ix. 



A fiat plain in the elevated Valle de Viciosa, between 

 Antisana and Kilendafia, was the only locality where we met 

 with these rare Ibises. They were generally in pairs, or at 

 most three or four together, and were exceedingly shy, while, 

 on account of the open nature of the ground they frequented, 

 they were difficult to shoot. When we were fortunate enough 

 to kill one, we could generally get another, as the birds flew 

 screaming around their fallen companion. They were more 

 easily approached in the early morning, after snow had fallen 

 during the night, as they then sat shivering about until the 

 sun had melted the snow, and were not in such a hurry to take 

 flight. A shepherd, who was the only inhabitant of this region, 

 told us that they were not resident there all the year. He 

 said that sometimes for two or three months at a time there 

 were none of them in the valley ; but whether this was at 

 irregular or fixed periods he was unable to say. Duriu"- the 

 week that we stayed there in December we saw some of these 

 birds every day, and often heard their cry during the moon- 

 light nights. It sounded as if they were flying over the 



