LITTLE CORMORANT. DO 



lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts uniform blue-black glossed with green ; 

 bastard-wing, primary-coverts and quills uniform dark brown, the quills paler on 

 the inner webs and hoary-grey on the outer webs of some of the secondaries ; tail 

 dark brown ; head and neck all round, dark brown with an oily-green reflection, 

 darker on the crown of the head and hind-neck, paler and inclining to brown on 

 the throat and sides of the face ; sides of the face, ear-coverts, and sides of crown 

 covered with white-tipped plumes ; remainder and entire under-surface blue-black 

 glossed with green. Bill : culmen black, remainder of bill and bare skin leaden- 

 grey ; iris green ; tarsi and feet black. Total length 610 mm. ; culmen 48, wing 

 253, tail 131, tarsus 52. 



Adult female. Very similar to the adult male but smaller and with a few white- 

 plumed feathers scattered down the hind-neck. Culmen 42 mm., wing 238, tail 120, 

 tarsus 44. 



Immature. Differs from the adult in being more or less brown on the head, 

 sides of the face, fore-neck and chest, and the white-tipped plumes on the head 

 much less numerous. 



Nestling. Born naked. 



Nest. Constructed of sticks, leaves, etc., and placed in a tree ; in rookeries. 



Eggs. Clutch, three to four ; ground-colour pale green covered with white 

 lime ; axis 50 to 56 mm., diameter 33-37. (Victoria.) Clutch, four ; axis 49 to 

 50 mm., diameter 31. (Port Darwin.) 



Breeding-season. August to December ; May and June. 



Distribution and forms. Australia and the islands to the north and New Zealand. 

 The Neozelanic form M . a. purpuragula Peale appears to differ in its larger wing, 

 shorter bill and tarsus, but no big series is available The soft parts also seem to 

 differ in coloration. 



Genus MICROCARBO. 



Microcarbo Bonaparte, Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci. Paris, Vol. XLIII., p. 577, Sept 1856. 

 Type (by original designation) : Pelecanus pygmeus Pallas. 



Halietor Heine, Journ. fiir Orn., May 1860, p. 202. New name for Microcarbo Bp. 

 Melanocarbo Bernstein, Bijdr. Taal- Land- en Volkenk. Ned. -Indie, Ser. IV., Vol. VII., p. 119, 

 1883. Type (by monotypy) : Hydrocorax melanoleucos Vieillot. 



Smallest Phalacrocoracine birds with very short bills, long necks, long wings, 

 very long tails and short legs and feet. The bill is very short, being less than one- 

 sixth the length of the wing and shorter than the metatarsus. The wing has the 

 primary formula different from any of the preceding genera, having the second and 

 third primaries subequal, the third sometimes the longest, while the first is exceeded 

 by the fourth. The tail, composed of twelve feathers, is very long, about two-thirds 

 the length of the wing, and four times the length of the culmen or metatarsus. 



The feet are delicately formed when contrasted with those of the preceding 

 genera, though comparatively they agree in their proportions. 



There appears to be no crest in the breeding-season, at least, in the Australian 

 species. 



49. Microcarbo melanoleucus. LITTLE CORMORANT. 



Gould, Vol. VII., pi. 70 (pt. xii.), Sept. 1st, 1843. Mathews, Vol. IV., pt. 2, pi. 223, Feb. 

 17th, 1915. 



Hydrocorax melanoleucos Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., Vol. VIII., p. 88, March 15th, 



1817 : " Australasie " = New South Wales. 



Carbo dimidiatus Lesson, Traite d'Orn., 8 e livr., p. 604, June llth, 1831 : New South Wales. 



Phalacrocorax flavirhynchus Gould, Synops. Birds Austr., pt. iv., App., p. 8, April 1st, 1838 : 



New South Wales. 



Graucalus flavirostris Gray, in Dieffenbach's Travels in New Zeal., Vol. II., p. 201, (middle 



Jan.) 1843. Emendation of Gould's name. 



F 



