1^4 Goss o« the Violet-green Cormorants. [April 



Iris of adults, green; of juveniles, brown. Bill dusky with an olive 

 tint; in birds shot May 13, grayish on sides. Lores, bare space around 

 eyes and gular sac dark purple-brown, dotted over with deep red pa- 

 pillae. Legs, feet, webs, and claws black. 



I notice that in all the descriptions of the birds that I have read 

 the bare space around the eyes and gular sac are given as orange. 

 This must be incorrect, as none of the many I shot were even 

 tinged with this color, but were throughout of rather a deep 

 reddish-brown or grape-juice color. 1 am inclined to think 

 writers have followed Aububon, who gives the color as orange from 

 a dried specimen sent to him by Mr. Townsend ; and as the bill, 

 legs, feet, and all bare spaces change rapidly to a darker color 

 after death, it wouldjbe impossible to determine with any certainty 

 from dried skins the true color in life. 



The sexes are alike in color, the female being full}' as lustrous 

 as the male, the only diflerence in outward appearance being the 

 smaller size of the female. Except during the breeding season, 

 the birds are without the coronal and occipital crests and the 

 white flank-patches. About the middle of February a few scat- 

 tering white feathers begin to appear upon the flanks, and by the 

 middle of May these patches are wholly white, and the two lat- 

 eral crests on the head are full and complete. The short, white, 

 /^azV-like feathers irregularly and sparingly scattered over the 

 neck, and occasionally upon the back, I found about the same in 

 all the adults, but I am inclined to think that they also belong to 

 the breeding plumage and are not present in autumn. The young 

 birds are rusty brown, and as many were of this color when I 

 left (June 6), the birds must be two years at least in acquiring 

 the adult plumage. 



May 15, at Tatoash Isle (an islet close to Cape Flattery, just 

 outside of the mouth of the Strait of Fuca) , I found a few of these 

 birds nesting up the south side of the high perpendicular clifts. 

 The nests were made of seaweed but were not bulky. On the top 

 of the island were places where I could look down upon the birds, 

 which I frightened away by dropping pieces of sod torn from the 

 bank. Several nests wei'e without eggs ; others had one or two. 

 It was my intention to return later, and also visit the "Flattery 

 Rocks,' where they nest in numbers, for the purpose of securing 

 full sets of their eggs (three to four, white vv^ith a bluish-g)-een 

 tint) ; but an opportunity to cruise in a schooner that was to take 

 Indians and their canoes to catch the fur seals was too tempting to 

 be resisted, and on my return business engagements called me home. 



