342 PHALACROCOftACIDJE. 



Coloration. Black, glossed with purplish or greenish ; feathers 

 of upper back, scapulars, and wing-coverts dull brownish bronze, 

 with broad black margins. There are a few white specks on the 

 sides of the head, and, in breeding-plumage only, a pure white 

 tuft on each side of the neck behind the ear-coverts. 



In non-breeding plumage, the throat is more or less speckled 

 with white. 



Young birds are brown above, with black margins to the 

 feathers of the upper back, to the scapulars, and wing-coverts ; 

 throat white ; breast and abdomen partly or wholly white. 



Bill dusky brown, reddish beneath ; irides verdigris-blue; nude 

 orbits black; gular skin yellow; feet black (Jtrdon). Irides 

 green ; naked skin of head yellow (Oates). 



Length 25; tail (of 12 feathers) 6*5; wing 10*5; tarsus 1-8; 

 bill from gape 3-25. 



Distribution. This species is rare or wanting in Northern India, 

 except in Sind, where it is a permanent resident, and about Delhi. 

 It has been found sparingly in Central India, the Deccan, the 

 Carnatic, and Orissa, and has been seen occasionally in Ceylon, 

 but appears not to have been observed on the Malabar coast. It 

 is more common to the eastward in Burma, and was found by 

 Hume in Manipur. It is probable that in some cases small 

 females of P. carbo have been mistaken for P.fuscicollis. 



Habits, fyc. The Indian Shag is a bird of rivers, lakes, and 

 estuaries, rather than of the sea-coasts. It is resident in India, and 

 has been found breeding by Gates in July amongst reeds in the 

 Myitkyo Swamp, Pegu, and by Doig and Butler on tamarisk trees 

 in the Eastern Nara, Sind, from July to December. The eggs 

 are like those of P. carbo, and measure about 2-1 by 1-4. 



1528. Phalacrocorax javanicus. The Little Cormorant. 



PHydrocorax niger, Vieill N. Dirt. d'Hist. Nat. viii, p. 88 (1817). 

 Carbo javanicus, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 197 (1821). 

 Carbo melauognathus, Brandt, Bull. Acad. St. Petersb. iii, p. 57 



(1837). 

 Graculus pygmaeus, amid Bhjth, Cat. p. 293 ; BlytJi $ Wald. Birds 



Burm. p. 164 ; Fairbank, S. F. iv, p. 264 ; Gates, S. F. v, p. 170 ; 



nee Pallas. 

 Graculus javanicus. Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 863 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 181 ; 



Butler $ Hume, 'S. F. iv, p. 34. 

 Graculus melanognathus, Hume, N. $ E. p. 660 ; id. S. F. i, p. 289 ; 



Adam, ibid. p. 403. 

 1'halacroccrax pygmaeus, apud Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi, p. 496 ; 



Ball, AS'. F. vii, p. 234; Cripps, ibid. p. 315 ; Hume, ibid. p. 497 ; 



id. Cat. no. 1007 ; Doig, S. F. viii, p. 372 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl 



p. 1191 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 96 ; Butler, ibid. p. 442 ; Reid, S. F. 



x, p. 88 ; Davison, ibid. p. 419 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 234 ; id. in 



Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 273 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 439 ; 



id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 305 : Hume, S. F. xi, p. 352. 

 Pan-kowa, Jograbi, H. ; Pan-kowri, Pan-kouti, Beng. ; Niru-kahi, 

 Tel. ; Kadal Kagam, Jttr Kakam, Tarn. (Ceylon) ; Diya Kawa, Cing. 



Coloration. Black, with a slight green gloss ; scapulars and 



