292 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
Sub-family Phalacrocoracine. 
Genus Phalacrecorax. 
Cormorants. 
A large genus, containing nearly forty species, distributed 
almost all over the world. Three species occur in Ceylon. 
As mentioned above, the bill is hooked at the tip. The 
nostrils are concealed by the skin at the base of the bill ; the 
nasal grooves are long and narrow. There is a naked gular 
pouch extending almost to the end of the lower mandible, the 
sides of which are joined together only at the tip. 
Rough Key to Ceylon Species. 
A.—Fourteen feathers in tail; wing 12 inches or over > 
plumage across the throat from eye to eye white. 
P. carbo (Large Cormorant). 
B.—Twelve feathers in tail. 
(a) Wing about 10°5.* 
P. fuscicollis (Indian Shag). 
(b) Wing about 7°5. 
P. javanicus (the Little Cormorant). 
PHALACROCORAX CARBO (Blanford, Vol. IV., p. 340 ; 
Legge, p. 1182). 
The Large Cormorant. 
Description.—Adults : black glossed with green or purple ; 
a white band across the throat from eye to eye adjoining the 
naked skin of the face ; a small pointed crest on the head 
and nape ; feathers of the upper back and wing coverts dark 
brown edged with black ; wing quills bronzed black. 
In the breeding season adults assume a patch of white low 
down on each flank; the head and neck are streaked with 
long narrow white plumes, which often almost hide the black 
plumage underneath. 
* Abnormal specimens sometimes occur with fourteen tail feathers, 
but they have no white facial band. 
