PHALACROCORAX PYGMJ1TJS. 



(THE LITTLE CORMORANT.) 



Pelecanus pygmceus, Pallas, Itin. ii. App. p. 712 (1773). 



Carlo javanicus, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 197 (1821). 



Graculus pygmams (Pall.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 298 (1849) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. 



Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 272 ; Von Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. ii. p. 1491 (1873); Legge, 



Ibis, 1874, p. 27, et 1875, p. 409. 

 Gracuhts javanicus (Horsf.), Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 863 (1864); Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, 



p. 483. 

 Graculus melanognathus (Brandt), Hume, Nests and Eggs, iii. p. 660 (1875). 

 Phalacrocorax pygmceus (Pall.), Dresser, B. of Eur. pts. 51, 52 (1876) ; Hume, Str. Featli. 



1878 (B. of Tenass.), p. 496, et 1879, p. 116 (List B. of Ind.). 

 See Jcrai, Dutch in Ceylon ; Graya de Mare, Portuguese in Ceylon ; Pankoiva, Hind. ; Niru- 



kaki, Telugu ; Pechuck, Java (Horsf.) ; Fesichah, Arabic ; Eadal Cagam, Tamil, lit. 



" Sea-Crow " (Layard), also Nir kakum. 

 Biya kaiva, Sinhalese. 



Adult male and female. (Ceylon) Length 2O0 to 21*0 inches ; wing 7 - 2 to 7*75 ; tail 5-0 to 6 - ; tarsus 1*2 to 1*3 ; 

 outer toe 2-2, claw (straight) 0-28 ; hind toe 0-9 ; bill to gape (straight) 2-1 to 2-2. India (B. Mus.) Wing 7-8 to 

 8 - l j tail 5*7 to 6 - 5; tarsus 1-29 ; outer toe and claw 2-3; bill to gape (straight) 2 - 2. 



This species has 12 tail-feathers. 



Iris greenish brown, varying to greenish white ; bill fleshy, upper mandible dark brown ; facial and gular skin dark. 



Breeding-plumage ? (Algiers : B. Mus.). Forehead, lores round the eye, gape, and chin black ; head, back and sides of 

 neck, and upper part of throat light earth-brown, darker on the ear-coverts ; rest of plumage deep black, glossed 

 with green ; scapulars, wing-coverts, tertials, and outer webs of secondaries grey, the margins of the feathers and 

 the shafts black ; tail greyish black ; on the under surface and flanks, neck, and back are numerous fine white 

 plumelets, consisting of a fine shaft and white triangular webbed tip ; these overlay, as it were, the plumage, and 

 are quite independent of it ; there are fine plumelets also on the wing-coverts. 



The dimensions of this example are — wing 8'0 inches, tail 6-0, bill to gape 2-0, outer toe 2-3, tarsus 1-2. The shafts 

 of the clothing-feathers are stiff, giving the plumage a spinous character. I have never met with a specimen in 

 Ceylon in this dress ; at the same time, I must admit, I did not shoot any prior to the breeding-season, when this 

 plumage, if it is characteristic of breeding, would have been worn. 



There is a specimen in the British Museum from India, which is glossy black, with the feathers spinous, as in the 

 above ; the throat is whitish, changing by a moult into black, and some tiny white plumelets are appearing on 

 the back, so that the bird appears to be passing into the striated stage. Whether this plumage is changed during 

 the nesting-time, or whether this species breeds sometimes in a different livery, showing signs of immaturity, I do 

 not know ; but the following is a description of a specimen shot at Uduwila at the nest : — Above black, glossed 

 with green on the back, and slightly inclining to brown on the head and upper part of hind neck ; the feathers of 

 the head margined with earthy brown ; lores whitish ; a small whitish patch over the ears, a white streak at the 

 gape ; chin white ; feathers of the shoulders and interscapular region edged like the head ; the scapulars and 

 wing-coverts tinged with silvery grey with a black border, and the extreme margin earthy grey ; quills tipped 

 with the same ; the outer webs of the secondaries tinged with silvery grey ; under surface brownish black, the 

 feathers indistinctly paling into earthy brown on the chest and fore neck ; under tail-coverts and under wing 

 greenish black. 



This bird is probably immature ; but this may be, notwithstanding, the normal non-breeding plumage of the species 

 put on while at the nest. 



