234 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



604. PHALACROCORAX PYGM^US. 

 THE LITTLE CORMORANT. 



Pelecanus pygmaeus, Pall. Reis. Russ. Reichs, ii. p. 712. Carbo javanicus, 

 Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 197. Carbo melanognathus, Brandt, Bull. 

 Ac. Sc. St. Petersb. iii. p. 57. Graculus javanicus, Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. >-<;:}. 

 Graculus melanognathos, Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. GOO ; id. 8. F. iii. p. 194. 

 Microcarbo pygmaeus, Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. -'JOO. Graculus pygmaeus, 

 Bl. B. Burm. p. 164; Oates, S. F. v. p. 170. Phalacrocorax pygmaeus, 

 Dresser, Birds Eur. vi. p. 173, pi. ; Anders. Yunnan Exped. p. 697 ; Leyye, Jiirdx 

 Ceylon, p. 1191 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi. p. 490; Hume, 8. F. viii. p. 116 ; Oaf, 

 S. F. x. p. 248. 



Description. Breeding-plumage. The whole plumage deep black; the 

 feathers of the wing-coverts, scapulars, tertiaries and secondaries paler at 

 the centres, the edges broadly black ; the shafts of the feathers of the 

 upper back glistening; a short occipital crest; several white hair-like 

 feathers on the sides of the head and neck. 



At other times the chin and upper throat are whitish ; and the feathers 

 are everywhere more or less margined with pale rufescent white, and the 

 whole of the neck and head is more or less brownish. 



Iris greenish brown, varying to greenish white ; bill fleshy ; upper 

 mandible dark brown; facial and gular skin dark. (Legge.) 



Length 20 inches, tail (of twelve feathers) 6*5, wing 8, tarsus 1*4, bill 

 from gape 2*3. The female is of the same size. 



The Little Cormorant is generally distributed over the whole of' 

 Burm ah, and in some parts, such as the low plains of Southern Pegu, ia 

 exceedingly abundant. 



It is met with over the greater portion of Southern Asia, South-east 

 Europe and Northern Africa. It has not yet been recorded from any 

 part of China nor from Cochin China ; but it extends down the Malay 

 peninsula to Sumatra, Java and Borneo. 



The Little Cormorant is found as often singly as in flocks, and it appears 

 to be confined to fresh water. It breeds in July and August; and I 

 found great numbers of its nests at Myitkyo in reed-beds. 



