380 BIRDS OP SOUTH AFRICA. 



pointed, with the second and third quills the longest ; tail 

 moderate, and rounded at its end ; tarsi short, one-third less 

 than the middle toe, much compressed, and covered with 

 reticulated scales ; toes long, with the outer rather longer 

 than the middle one, and all four united by a full web ; the 

 base of the lower mandible is furnished with a coriaceous 

 pouch, which is capable of expansion. 



698. GraCUlUS Carbo; Phalacrocorax Carbo, 

 Linn., PI. Enl, 927 ; Carlo Cormorans, Mey., Vieill. 

 Gal. des Ois., t. 407 ; Audub. B. of Am., PL 266 ; 

 Duiker of Colonists. 



HEAD and back of neck, dark-brown, with a tinge of rufous ; 

 back, sides, and flanks, black-green ; wing-coverts and scapu- 

 lars grey, edged with black-green, causing a scaled appear- 

 ance, which is very beautiful ; tail black, slightly frosted with 

 grey ; chin, fore part of throat, and under parts, pure white. 

 Length, 27"; wing, 13"; tail, 7", fourteen feathers. 



Wot so common as the lesser G. Capensis, but still in considerable 

 abundance. Its chief haunt is the rocky, lonely shore at the base of 

 Cape Point. I have not succeeded in discovering where it breeds, and 

 fancy it must be somewhere to the North- West, among the islands off 

 Walwich Bay. 



699. GraCUlUS CapensiS, G. R Gray; Phala- 

 crocorax Capensis, Bp. Consp., 2, p. 1 70 ; Pelicanus 

 Capensis, Sparr., Mus. Carls., t. 61 ; P. Gracula, Lath. 



GENERAL colour of adult, black-green ; the wing-covers and 

 scapulars very dark-grey, narrowly edged with black-green ; 

 tail black, slightly frosted with grey ; chin bare and bright- 

 orange ; irides green. Length, 22"; wing, 9 J"; tail, 4". 



Young : throughout of a dull rufous-brown, palest on the 

 neck, and darkest and least rufous on the wings and tail. 



Extremely common along the whole coast, I have seen it in flocks 

 extending upwards of three miles in length and a quarter of a mile 

 wide, across the bay, the hindermost constantly flying forward and 

 plunging into the sea as soon as the outside of the army was reached. 

 In this way the flock gradually moved out of the bay, feeding as it 

 went. It breeds on Pomona Island, and on all the small rocks along 

 the coast, laying two eggs of a blue ground covered with white chalk : 

 axis, 2" 4"'; diam., I" 6'". It is eaten by the Dutch colonists ; and 

 after soaking for a night in vinegar, or being buried ior a few hours in 

 the ground, it loses its disagreeable odour, and is not bad food. 



