PHALACROCOKACID^ PHALACROCORAX 



a 1 . Bill somewhat" slender and distinctly 



hooked; wings short and rounded Phalacrocorax. p. 2. 



b 1 . Bill very slender and sharp-pointed ; wings 



long and pointed Plotus, p. 11. 



c 1 . Bill stout and subcylindrical ; nostrils 



obsolete in the adults Sula, p. 16. 



d l . Bill long and flattened ; size very large Pelecanus, p. 24. 



b. Middle tail-feathers much elongated and 

 attenuated ; nostrils distinct and pervious ; 



bill compressed and pointed . Phaethon, p. 28. 



B. Tail deeply forked ; webs between the toes 



emarginate Fregata, p. 22. 



Family I. PHAtACROCORACID^E. 



The Cormorants and Darters are diving birds with long flexible 

 necks and generally of black or sooty plumage. The nostrils are 

 small and not pervious, and the cervical vertebrae are twenty in 

 number ; the f urculum is not fused to the keel of the sternum ; the 

 tongue is very small, almost rudimentary in Plctus ; the skin is not 

 emphysernatous, that is to say there are no air-spaces within it; 

 the pterylosis is nearly uniform, the feathering very thick, the 

 apteria or bare spaces being reduced to a very narrow tract on the 

 breast and another on the back between the shoulder blades. 



The two genera comprising this family are very distinct in many 

 respects, especially anatomically. They certainly form two sub- 

 families. 



Subfamily I. PHALACROCORACIN^E. 

 Genus I. PHALACROCORAX. 



Phalacrocorax, Brisson, Ornith. vi, p. 511 (1760). 



Bill subcylindrical and somewhat slender, the upper mandible 

 strongly hooked towards the tip ; a long groove separates the culmeu 

 from the side pieces of the bill ; nostrils rudimentary ; wings rather 

 short and rounded, the first three primaries about equal, the third 

 usually slightly the longest ; tail of twelve or fourteen feathers 

 rather short and stiffened, rounded or cuneate ; tarsus short and 

 compressed, all the toes well webbed, the claw of the middle one 

 pectinate. 



