144 LITTLE GOBMOBANT. 



than probable that the young of the Shag has been taken for it, 

 and hence may have arisen the statement of its having been captured 

 in Great Britain. 



This bird differs in plumage according to age and season more 

 than sex. The male and female have all the plumage of a lustrous 

 greenish black; the border which surrounds the feathers of the back 

 and wings of a brilliant black, which seems highly polished; very 

 fine white streaks appear on the neck, head, and thighs; these are 

 the shafts, and are only feathered at their end, so that they form 

 upon all the indicated parts very small whitish dots. These partially 

 barbed feathers are only seen during the period of reproduction ; they 

 disappear before the autumnal moult. The occipital plumes are 

 elongated into a crest, like the Cormorant or Shag. Primaries and 

 tail feathers of a dark greenish black; beak, naked parts of the eyelids, 

 and throat black ; feet blackish grey. 



In winter there is no crest or white feathers about the head, neck, 

 and thighs, but there are some white points about the eyebrows. 



The young of the year have the head, nape, and back of the neck 

 blackish grey, darker inferiorly; centre of the back and scapularies 

 greenish black, while the sides of the back and the wing coverts are 

 light grey, each feather broadly tipped with black, and finely edged 

 with white; upper tail coverts glossy black; primaries, secondaries, 

 and tail greenish black; the naked parts in front of the eyes and on 

 the throat yellow; the rest of the throat and the abdomen white; front 

 of the neck mottled grey; flanks and under tail and wing coverts 

 black; beak yellow, with zigzag transverse brown markings; feet brown. 



The young (light coloured) is from a female specimen sent me by 

 Mr. Tristram. The male bird and egg are from the Dobrudsha, and 

 are in my own collection, having been sent to me by Dr. CuUen. 



The bird has also been figured by Savigny, in his work on the 

 Birds of Egypt, pi. 8, fig. 1; Gould, B. of E., pi. 409; Dubois, 

 Oiseaux de la Belgique, part 111, young and adult. 



In the "Annales des Sciences Naturelles" for August, 1806, p. 

 460, M. Payraudeau described what he called a new species of this 

 genus, under the name of Phalacrocorax desmarestii. Many writers 

 have considered this a distinct species, under the name of the 

 Mediterranean Shag, as it seems to be located only in the northern 

 part of that sea. Temminck, however, in the fourth volume of his 

 ^' Manuel," says that he could not find a single constant variation 

 from Carho cristatus (C. graculus of authors,) to our Common Shag. 



