328 



PHAI.ACROCOHACIO-E 



Distriliiilion. — Kew South Wales, N'ictotia, Soutli Australia, Islands of Bass Strait, Tasmania. 



(^KLTHOUGH inhabiting New South Wales, personally I ha\-e never to my knowledge seen 

 .JTjl. this species in a state of nature, nor have I ever handled a freshly killed specimen in 

 the flesh. According to Gould's description the " naked skin at the base of the bill and round 

 the eye purple," should enable one to easily distinguish it from its close ally Flmhuroiorax rnriiis, 

 which it otherwise closely resembles. Gould writes :" — •'This species is very abundant in all 

 the bays and inlets of the sea surrounding Tasmania; it ascends the rivers almost to their source, 

 and the large lakes of the interior are seldom without its presence. It breeds on most of the 



islands of Bass Straits, where it 

 constructs a round nest of seaweed 

 on the ledges of the low rocks, and 

 lays two bluish-white eggs. It 

 becomes far less numerous as we 

 proceed northward, but is to be 

 found in all the localities suitable 

 to it throughout the whole coast of 

 South Australia. 1 have also seen 

 it on the Hunter, as well as in 

 Spencer's and St. Mncent's Gulfs. 

 In a state of nature it is a showy 

 and attractive bird, the decided 

 contrast in the colouring of its 

 plumage rendering it a conspicuous 

 object at a considerable distance, 

 particularly wlien it is reposing in 

 tlocks on the craggy summits of 

 the low black rocks forming the 

 margins of the risers, or when 

 perched side by side on the bare branches of the trees overhanging the water. The sexes are 

 so nearly alike in their plumage, that it is impossible to distinguish them without the aid of 

 dissection ; the spring or nuptial dress is characterised by long white feathers springing from 

 the sides of the neck, which are entirely absent at other seasons." 



The late Mr. II. P. C. Ashworth, who formed one of a small party of the Field Naturalists' 

 Club of Victoria to visit the Furneaux Group, at the eastern entrance to Bass Strait, in 

 November, 1S93, kindly forwarded me a photograph of a nesting colony of White-breasted 

 Cormorants, taken on Storehouse Island, lying off Flinders Island. The nests, he informed me, 

 were well constructed large open structures, formed chietly of seaweed and other marine 

 growth, about eighteen to twenty inches across, some of them in particular being thickly coated 

 with excreta, and containing chiefly young in down, although fresh eggs were also found, usually 

 two or three in number for a sitting, while scattered around some of them were the remains of 

 hsh in all stages of putrefaction. The nests, as will be seen by the accompanying figure, are 

 placed upon the Hat rocks; others are deep structures formed liy filling up the cavities between 

 two rocks, and some are built close to the small rocks on the sand. Mr. Joseph Gabriel, leader 

 of the party, thus refers to the visit in " The \'ictorian Naturalist," I 21st No\ ember, 1893: — 

 " The wind had changed and was blowing right in to the cove, so that there was nothing for it 

 but to kedge the boat out far enough to get an offing, when we set sail again for Storehouse 

 Island, anchoring within one hundred yards of the Cormorant rookery. While ha\ing breakfast 

 we were deeply interested with the movements of the birds. Landing we soon got to work-, and 



WIIITK nitEASTKI) COHMORANT. 



• Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. II., p. 492 (1S65). f Vict. Nat., Vol. X., p 173 (1894). 



