BLACK CORMORANT. 67 



which the nostrils, obsolete and scarcely apparent in the adult, are placed at about 

 a quarter the bill's length from the frontal feathering. The bill is longer than the 

 head and about equal to the metatarsus in length. The under mandible is narrow, 

 the rami enclosing a very narrow unfeathered tract, which develops into a more 

 or Jess distensible gular pouch. The head is crested and the lores are bare. The 

 wings are long with the second primary longest, the third a little shorter, almost 

 subequal, while the first is longer than the fourth though shorter than the third ; 

 all the primaries show scalloping. The tail is comparatively short, less than half 

 the length of the wing and about twice the length of the culmen or metatarsus. It 

 is wedge shaped, composed of fourteen very stiff feathers with short, insignificant 

 upper tail-coverts. The legs are short, the toes long. The metatarsus is very stout, 

 laterally compressed, reticulated throughout, the scales on the front and sides small 

 but those on the hind portion very minute. The metatarsus is about half the length 

 of the tail and two -thirds the length of the outer toe. 



The toes are all fully connected with a web, the outer toe longest, the middle 

 longer than the inner, the inner exceeding the hind -toe. The claws are long, hooked, 

 the middle one bearing pectinations. 



50. Phalacrocorax carbo. BLACK CORMORANT. 



[Pelecanus carbo Linne, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., p. 133, Jan. 1st, 1758: Europe. Extra-limited.] 



Gould, Vol. VII., pi. 66 (pt. xxxiv.), Dec. 1st, 1848. Mathews, Vol. IV., pt. 2, pi. 219, 

 Feb. 17th, 1915. 



Phalacrocorax novcehollandice Stephens, in Shaw's Gen. Zoo!., Vol. XIII., pt. I., p. 93, Feb. 



18th, 1826 : Tasmania. 



Phalacrocorax carboides Gould, Synops. Birds Austr., pt. iv., App., p. 7, April 1838 : Tasmania. 



Carbo carbo westralis Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. I., pt. 2, p. 33, April 2nd, 1912 : Swan 



River, South-west Australia. 



Phalacrocorax carbo gracemeri Mathews, Birds Austr., Vol. IV., pt. 2, p. 167, Feb. 17th, 1915 : 



Gracemere, Queensland. 



DISTRIBUTION. Australia generally and Tasmania. 



Adult male (in winter). Upper back, scapulars, and wings greyish-brown with 

 black margins to the feathers ; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts uniform 

 blue-black ; quills and tail-feathers dull black with very glossy shafts ; head and 

 neck all round and the entire under-suiface glossy black with green reflections in 

 certain lights ; chin and sides of the face, including the eye, white ; a few white 

 feathers on the lower flanks Bill yellow, culmen purplish, naked skin gamboge- 

 yellow ; iris emerald -green ; feet black. Total length 780 mm. ; culmen 67, wing 

 357, tail 155, tarsus 60. 



Adult female. Similar to the adult male but smaller. In summer the adults 

 have a white patch on the flanks and white lanceolate feathers on the neck. 



Immature. Distinguished by its browner appearance, especially on the head, 

 neck, and under parts, the absence of the white flank plumes, and in being whitish 

 in the middle of the belly. 



Nest. Composed of twigs, etc., saucer-shaped, about three inches deep and 

 16 to 18 inches wide, placed (often in colonies) in low bushes or rocky ground. 



Eggs. Four (sometimes three) ; ground-colour greenish and dull, covered 

 with a white coating of lime ; axis 59-60 mm., diameter 35-6. 



Breeding-season. August to November. 



Distribution and forms. World-wide and foims not yet detailed. In 1915 

 Mathews suggested six subspecies : P. c. carbo Linne, Europe, with large size, deep 

 purplish gloss and heavy nuptial ornamentation (since, following Mathews's sugges- 

 tion, separated into two by Hartert, P. c. carbo Linne from Northern Europe, and 

 P. c. subcormoranus Brehm, from Southern Europe) ; P. c. americamis Reichenbach 

 from North America ; P. c. indicus Mathews, from India, by small size and purplish- 



F 2 



