PHALACROCORACID^ — THE CORMORANTS — PHALACROCORAX. 



165 



shining purple ; neck deep greenish blue; the face and upper part of the neck ornamented with 

 some thinly-dispersed, long, narrow, hair-like, straw-colored feathers ; hody above and beneath 

 deep glossy green ; scapulars and wings deep purple, primaries and tail Idack, the latter with white 

 shafts ; on each side of the abdomen, at the insertion of the leg, a large patch of white ; bill black- 

 ish hair-color, lighter at the tip ; naked part of the throat, corners of the mouth, and naked skin 

 of the orbits apparently rich orange. 



" Total length, 36.00 inches ; bill, 4.00 ; tail, 9.00 ; tarsi, 3.00. 



"Hah. Russian America. 



" Nearly allied to, if not identical with, but differs from, the Felecanus urile of Latham in its 

 much larger size, and in the ornamental plumes being dispersed over the face and sides of the neck, 

 instead of on the front of the latter only " (Gould). 



This species still remains unknown in American collections. It evidently belongs to the same 

 group as P. urile and P. iielmjicus, but is very much larger even than the former, and otherwise 

 different. 



Pallas's description, in some respects more precise than the preceding, is as follows : — 



" Size of the largest Goose. Form of the preceding [P. felagicus], which also has pure white 

 spots on the flanks. Body entirely black. Thin white, rather long, and narrow feathers hanging 

 about the neck, as in Ardea. Occiput with an enormous erectile tuft. Around the base of the 

 bill a naked skin varied with vermilion, blue, and white, as in the Turkey. About the eyes a kind 

 of ' spectacles ' of thick white skin, six lines broad. Weight, twelve to fourteen pounds. Female 

 smaller, without the crest and spectacles. 



" This species Steller observed nowhere but in the island named after the unfortunate Bering, 

 where he lived shipwrecked. There they are very common ; but never go to the shores of Cam- 

 tschatka. As it exceeds its relatives in size, it also exceeds them in stupidity. It is a very ridicu- 

 lous-looking bird, on account of the eye-rings, which, so to speak, represent spectacles, and its habit 

 of making clown-like contortions of the neck and head." 



It seems probable that this fine bird must now be ranked among the extinct species. Dr. Leon- 

 hard Stejneger, who spent two years on Behring Island, and made diligent search for it, writes 

 thus concerning it (cf. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. vol. 6, 1883, p. 65) : "It is not to be doubted that 



