LITTLE CORMORANT. 65 
lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts uniform blue-black glossed with green ; 
bastard-wing, primary-coverts and quills uniform dark brown, the quills paler on 
the inner webs and hoary-grey on the outer webs of some of the secondaries ; tail 
dark brown ; head and neck all round, dark brown with an oily-green reflection, 
darker on the crown of the head and hind-neck, paler and inclining to brown on 
the throat and sides of the face ; sides of the face, ear-coverts, and sides of crown 
covered with white-tipped plumes ; remainder and entire under-surface blue-black 
glossed with green. Bill: culmen black, remainder of bill and bare skin leaden- 
grey ; iris green; tarsi and feet black. Total Jength 610 mm.; culmen 48, wing 
253, tail 131, tarsus 52. 
Adult female —Very similar to the adult male but smaller and with a few white- 
plumed feathers scattered down the hind-neck. Culmen 42 mm., wing 238, tail 120, 
tarsus 44. 
Immature.—Differs from the adult in being more or less brown on the head, 
sides of the face, fore-neck and chest, and the white-tipped plumes on the head 
much less numerous. 
Nestling—Born naked. 
Nest.—Constructed of sticks, leaves, ete., and placed in a tree ; in rookeries. 
Eggs.—Clutch, three to four; ground-colour pale green covered with white 
lime ; axis 50 to 56 mm., diameter 33-37. (Victoria.) Clutch, four; axis 49 to 
50 mm., diameter 31. (Port Darwin.) 
Breeding-season.—August to December ; May and June. 
Distribution and forms —Australia and the islands to the north and New Zealand. 
The Neozelanic form M. a. purpuragula Peale appears to differ in its larger wing, 
shorter bill and tarsus, but no big series is available The soft parts also seem to 
differ in coloration. 
Genus MICROCARBO. 
Microcarbo Bonaparte, Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci. Paris, Vol. XLIII., p. 577, Sept 1856. 
Type (by original designation): Pelecanus pygmeus Pallas. 
Halietor Heine, Journ. fiir Orn., May 1860, p. 202. New name for Microcarbo Bp. 
Melanocarbo Bernstein, Bijdr. Taal- Land- en Volkenk. Ned.-Indie, Ser. IV., Vol. VII., p. 119, 
1883. Type (by monotypy): Hydrocorax melanoleucos Vieillot. 
Smallest Phalacrocoracine birds with very short bills, long necks, long wings, 
very long tails and short legs and feet. The bill is very short, being less than one- 
sixth the length of the wing and shorter than the metatarsus. The wing has the 
primary formula different from any of the preceding genera, having the second and 
third primaries subequal, the third sometimes the longest, while the first is exceeded 
by the fourth. The tail, composed of twelve feathers, is very long, about two-thirds 
the length of the wing, and four times the length of the culmen or metatarsus. 
The feet are delicately formed when contrasted with those of the preceding 
genera, though comparatively they agree in their proportions. 
There appears to be no crest in the breeding-season, at least, in the Australian 
species. 
49. Microcarbo melanoleucus.—LITTLE CORMORANT. 
Gould, Vol. VIL., pl. 70 (pt. xu1.), Sept. 1st, 1843. Mathews, Vol. IV., pt. 2, pl. 223, Feb. 
17th, 1915. 
Hydrocorax melanoleucos Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., Vol. VIII., p. 88, March 15th, 
1817: ‘‘ Australasie ’? = New South Wales. 
Carbo dimidiatus Lesson, Traité d’Orn., 8¢ livr., p. 604, June 11th, 1831: New South Wales. 
Phalacrocorax flavirhynchus Gould, Synops. Birds Austr., pt. Iv., App., p- 8, April Ist, 1838 : 
New South Wales. 
Graucalus flavirostris Gray, in Dieffenbach’s Travels in New Zeal., Vol. II., p. 201, (middle 
Jan.) 1843. Emendation of Gould’s name, 
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