130 TOWNSEND'S CORMORANT. 



I believe, is known of the distribution or habits of this species, which 

 I have honoured with the name of its discoverer. 



Phalachocorax Towksendi. 



Male. Plate CCCCXII. Fig. 2. 



Bill about the length of the head, rather slender, nearly straight, 

 compressed toward the end. Upper mandible with the dorsal line con- 

 siderably concave, until on the unguis, where it is decurved, the ridge 

 convex, flattened toward the end, separated from the sides by a nar- 

 row groove, the sides convex, the edges sharp and nearly straight as 

 far as the unguis, which is decurved, convex above, acute, its tip ex- 

 tending nearly a quarter of an inch beyond the level of the dorsal out- 

 line of the lower mandible. No external nostrils. Lower mandible 

 with the angle long and very narrow towards the end, filled up by an 

 extensible membrane, which extends to the level of the angle of the 

 mouth, the outline of the crura very slightly convex, that of the ter- 

 minal part descending and slightly convex, the sides convex, the edges 

 sharp and inflected, the tip compressed, with its marginal outline de- 

 curved. 



Head rather small, oblong. Neck long, and rather thick. Body 

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

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

 compressed, covered all round with angular scales, of which the ante- 

 rior are larger, a series on part of the inner side anteriorly, and ano- 

 ther on the lower part of the outer, scutelliform. 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. 



Plumage soft, generally blended, compact on the back and wings, 

 glossy on the head, hind neck, and rump ; the feathers on the head and 

 neck oblong, on the back ovato-elliptical. The small gular sac, and 

 the space before and beneath the eye, with the eyelids, bare. Wings 

 of moderate size, broad ; primaries curved, pointed, the first, second, 

 and third with the inner web cut out toward the end, the first three 

 and a half twelfths shorter than the second, which is longest, but ex- 

 ceeds the third only by one-twelfth ; secondaries long and rounded. 



