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VIOLET-GREEN CORMORANT. 



Phalacrocorax resplendens. 



PLATE CCCCXII. Adult. 



This Cormorant, the most beautiful hitherto found within the li- 

 mits of the United States, was obtained by Dr Townsend at Cape Dis- 

 appointment, near the entrance of the Columbia River. The specimen 

 from which the figure in the plate was taken, was transmitted to me 

 by that zealous student of Nature. The beautiful gloss of its silky 

 plumage suggested the specific name which I have given to it. 



Phalacrocorax resplendens. 



Adult. Plate CCCCXII. Fig. 1. 



Bill about the length of the head, slender, cylindrical, enlarged at 

 the base, and compressed toward the end, straight. Upper mandible 

 with the dorsal line very slightly concave, until on the unguis, where 

 it is decurved, the ridge convex, flattened toward the end, separated from 

 the sides by a narrow groove, the sides convex, the edges sharp and 

 straight as far as the unguis, which is decurved, convex above, acute, 

 its tip not extending beyond the level of the dorsal outline of the lower 

 mandible. No external nostrils. Lower mandible with the angle long 

 and very narrow towards the end, filled up by an extensile membrane 

 which does not extend beyond the level of the eye, its very short dor- 

 sal line considerably convex, the sides erect and very convex, the edges 

 sharp and inflected, the tip compressed and truncate. 



Head small, oblong. Neck long and slender. Body rather full, 

 elongated, and depressed. Feet short, stout, placed far behind ; tibia 

 feathered in its whole length ; tarsus very short, strong, much compres- 

 sed, covered all round with scales, of which a series on the inner side 

 anteriorly, and another on the outer, are scutelliform, the posterior very 

 small and roundish. Toes all placed in the same plane, connected by 

 reticulated webs, and covered above with numerous broad but very 

 short oblique scutella ; first toe smallest, fourth longest. Claws rather 

 small, strong, compressed, acute, convex above, arched, that of the 

 third toe pectinated on its inner edge. 



