156 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



as the Cormorant does. Its mode of nesting is also similar, and its 

 eggs resemble those of the Cormorant, but are rather smaller. 



Carbo leucogaster, Cara, appears to be nothing more than the 

 immature bird of the present species. 



PHALACROCORAX PYGMJEUS (Pallas). 

 PYGMY COEMORANT. 



Pelecanus pygmeus, Pall. licise Buss. Beichs ii, p. 712, Anhang (1770) ; 



Mallicrbc, Faiiiie Oiii. de I'Alg. p. 38 (1855). 

 Phalacrocorax pygmaeus, Pall. Zoogr. Boss.-As. ii, p. 300, pi. Ixxiv, 



tig. 1 (1811) ; Ogilvie- Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvi, p. 405. 

 Haliseus pygmaeus, Loche, E.rpl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 166 (1867). 



Description. — Adult male, winter, from Sardinia. 



Head and neck glossy reddish-brown, except the forehead and lores, 

 which are black ; back, scapulars, and upper wing-coverts blackish-grey, 

 the feathers fringed with black ; remainder of plumage greenish-black, the 

 tail, quills and underparts rather more dusky, and the latter with a few 

 white streaks. 



Iris green ; bill, feet, bare space round the eye and on the chin, blackish. 



Total length 19 inches, wing 8, culmen 1-40, tarsus 1-30. 



Adult female similar to the male, but rather smaller. 



The Pygmy Cormorant is abundant in some parts of Algeria, and 

 examples appear to have been obtained close to the Algerio-Tunisiau 

 frontier, a specimen from Guelma, on the Tunis-Bone railway line, 

 being preserved in the British Museum collection. I feel no hesita- 

 tion, therefore, in including this species among the birds of Tunisia. 



According to Loche this Cormorant is abundant and breeds on the 

 Algerian lakes, being particularly plentiful on Lake Fetzara near 

 Bone, where he counted in one day as many as thirty nests. 

 Examples of this species from Algeria are preserved in the Turati 

 collection of the Milan Museum ; they are labelled Haliceus algeri- 

 ensis, but are undoubtedly P, pygmcBus. In his work on the Algerian 

 Ornis, Loche states that ttco small species of Cormorant, which he 

 calls H. pijgnueus and H. algeriensis, are to be found in Algeria; but 

 from the description given of the birds, and judging from the examples 



