76 



CICONIIFORMES 



CHAP. 



the remaining upper parts bronzy-black, the throat white, the bill 

 and feet grey-black. In spring a slight crest adorns the occiput 

 and white patches appear on the thighs. In common with its 

 congeners this species has naked lores, orbital and gular regions, 

 which are here of a yellow colour, becoming redder below the eye ; 

 the iris is emerald-green. The skin of the throat is dilatable 

 and forms a pouch for food. It breeds on most of the British 

 coasts, except between the Humber and the Thames, and 

 occasionally inland ; while it ranges to Greenland northwards, 



M 



Fig. 22. Cormorant. Plwlacrocorax carho. X i. 



and thence down the Atlantic to Xew Jersey in the west, 

 and to North and even South Africa on the east, as well 

 as through Europe and Asia. The Australian and New Zea- 

 land F. novae hollandiae is doubtfully distinct. P. dilophus, of 

 which several forms occur on the shores and in the interior of 

 North America as far south as Mexico, is not unlike P. carlo, but 

 has a tuft of long narrow recurved plumes on each side of the 

 crown in the nuptial dress, which are black, white, or particoloured 

 according to the locality. The bare loral region and gular sac 

 are orange, and no white is visible on the throat or flanks. The 

 splendid P. pelagicus, on the contrary, has white flank-patches in 

 addition to white filaments on the neck and rump, the head and 



