PHALACEOCOEAX CAUBO 153 



Order 8TEGAN0P0DES. 



Family PELECANID^. 



PHALACROCORAX CARBO (Linnieus). 



COEMOEANT. 



Pelecanus carbo, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 216 (1766). 



Phalacrocorax carbo, Pall. Zoogr. lioss.-As. ii, p. 297 (1811) ; Ogilvie- 



Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvi, p. 340 ; Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. 



ii, p. 162 (1867) ; Koenig, J. f. 0. 1888, p. 297 ; id. J. f. 0. 1893, 



p. 105; Erlaiujcr, J.f. 0. 1900, p. 71. 

 Carbo cormoranus, Malherbe, Cat. Bais. d'Ois. Alg. p. 23 (1846). 



Description. — Adult male, spring, from Tunis, North Tunisia. 



General colour of plumage metallic greenish-black, becoming bronze on 

 the back, where the feathers are fringed with greenish-black ; head and neck 

 thickly covered with soft elongated white filoplumes ; a broad whitish band 

 passing from the back of the eye and surrounding the bare space at the base 

 of the bill ; a patch of white feathers on the thighs ; tail-feathers fourteen 

 in number. 



Iris bright green ; bill dark brown, yellowish at the base ; feet black ; 

 gular pouch yellowish 



Total length 33 inches, wing 13-50, culmen 3-50, tarsus 2-50. 



Adult female similar to the male, but rather smaller, duller in coloration 

 and with a smaller crest. 



The Cormorant is common all along the Tunisian coast from north 

 to south and, according to Blanc, breeds in the Eegency, and is to 

 be met with throughout the year. It may often be seen in winter on 

 the Tunis lake, El-Bahira as it is called, perching on the posts placed 

 in some of the shallower parts, but since the canal was opened 

 between Tunis and Goletta, the bird is not quite so abundant there as 

 it used to be. On some of the inland lakes and rivers the species is 

 to be met with occasionally and I have a note of its occurrence on the 

 Eiver Medjerdah, near Souk-el-Khemis, a long way from the sea- 

 coast. 



In Algeria, according to Loche, the Cormorant is not uncommon 

 and is sedentary ; while in Marocco, Col. Ii'by, on the authority of 



