PHALACROCORACID.E — THE CORMl 'HANTS — PHALACROCORAX. 16 1 



/'. pelagiciis v-yjlentlens : Female adult, summer plumage 



b. Robust us: Wing, 10.00-11.40 inches (average, 10.80); tail, 6.25-8.50 (7.00) ; culmen, 1.70- 

 2.10 (1.95) ; tarsus, 1.95-2.45 (2.16) ; outer toe, 3.00-3.50 (3.26). [Eleven specimens.] 



c. Resplendent: Total length, 25.50-29.00 inches ; extent, 39.10-43.50 ; wing, 9.30-10.50 (average, 

 9.79) ; tail, 5.80-7.00 (6.30) ; culmen, 1.65-2.00 (1.81) ; tarsus, 1.80-2.15 (1.95) ; outer toe, 2.90 

 -3.40 (3.04). [Fifteen specimens.] 



The Violet-green Cormorant was first described as a North American bird by Audu- 

 bon from a specimen obtained by Mr. Townsend at Cape Disappointment, near the 

 mouth of Columbia River. It is said to be the most beautiful of the family found 

 within the limits of the United States. This species appears to have very nearly the 

 same distribution as G. penicilla- 

 tus ; but it is a somewhat more 

 northern species. Mr. Dall speaks 

 of it as being very common at 

 Sitka and at Kadiak, where speci- 

 mens were obtained by Mr. Bisch- 

 off. It is also said to be abundant 

 at St. George's Island, in Behring's 

 Sea, where Captain Smith obtained 

 several examples. It was also 

 found on the coast of Vancouver 

 Island by Mr. R. Browne. 



Dr. Cooper writes that the 

 original locality where this beauti- 

 ful species was first discovered — ■ 

 namely, Cape Disappointment, near the mouth of the Columbia — was also the place 

 where he first met with it, in 1854. The locality is very difficult of approach, on 

 account of the heavy surf constantly breaking upon the rocky shore, and it was 

 not without danger that he secured his specimen. At the same time he also noticed 

 there the penicillatus and another Cormorant, which he supposed to be the adult of 

 P. pelagicus, and which had its flanks marked with a large patch of white. This, 

 he thinks, must have been the same bird referred to by Townsend and Audubon as 

 P. leuconotis, and seen by the former at Cape I >isappointment. 



Mr. Dall refers to this species as being resident in the Aleutian Islands. It was 

 common on the rocks in the outer bay at Unalashka. but seldom approached the 

 harbor. He describes it as occurring in large flocks, and appearing to be of a very 

 inquisitive disposition — flying around the boat when the party was employed in 

 sounding, and uttering at intervals a shrill cry. He also found this species abundant 

 at the Shumagins. 



Eggs of this Cormorant in the Smithsonian Collection (No. 12858), obtained tit 

 Sitka by Mr. Bischoff, measure 2.25 by 1.45 inches, and are in all respects undistin- 

 guishable from the eggs of the other species of this peculiar genus. 



Mr. Dall, in his Report on the Avifauna of the Aleutian Islands west of Unalashka, 

 mentions this species as a resident of the Aleutian Islands. Specimens from Kyska, 

 procured July 8 — females — had the iris brown, and naked membrane somewhat 

 carunculated and of a coral-red; the mandible nearly black. Others from Amchitka, 

 July 26, had a dark-green iris and a similarly-colored gular sac. One obtained in 

 1872, at Unalashka, had a dark, nearly black, iris, with the gular sac flesh-colored, 

 passing into ashy gray above. All the birds seen appeared to possess small white 

 feathers scattered through the plumage in the breeding-season ; but Mr. Dall is not 

 sure that the white thigh-patches are always of this character. There appears to be 



VOL. II. — 21 



