1192 PHALACEOCORAX PYGMJETJS. 



Nestling in down. Iris grey ; bill blackish, the skin of the forehead and the tip of the lower mandible whitish, covered 

 with blackish down. The clothing-feathers, when they appear, are blackish brown. 



I m, nature in first year. Iris hazel- brown, with a white outer circle; upper mandible and pouch brown ; the lower 

 mandible and the margin of the upper from the gape to the tip whitish ; legs and feet black. 



Chin and gorge whitish for nearly 1 inch from the base of the bill ; head and neck pale earthy brown, the centres of 

 the feathers being blackish brown and the margins ochreous grey ; feathers blackish on the forehead ; shoulders 

 and interscapular region black-brown, conspicuously margined with fulvous grey ; scapulars, wing-coverts, and 

 secondaries pervaded with dull silvery grey, with a dark pale-margined border ; back and rump black, the feathers 

 indistinctly pale-tipped on the rump : tail tipped with earthy brown ; neck and chest ochreous brown, tipped with 

 fulvous grey, passing on the flanks and abdomen into greyish. 



Distribution. — This species is very abundant in Ceylon, and is widely distributed, for though it is chiefly 

 confined to the tank-districts in the northern, eastern, and south-eastern parts of the island, it is also found 

 in brackish waters in the western province and southern provinces. In the latter region it is often met with 

 in the non-breeding season on the Amhlangoda, Bolgodde, and other lakes, and even visits the Kotte lake 

 occasionally. It is plentiful in the Kuruncgala district, breeding at Nikaweratiya tank, where it is, as at 

 mauy r other extensive sheets of water further north, a permanent resident. In July I met with enormous 

 numbers at Minery Lake, and have seen large flocks on Kanthelai tank at the same time of the year. It is 

 plentiful at Rugam, Devilane, Ambare, and Irrukkamam tanks, and in the Hambantota district affects Tissa 

 Maha Rama and other extensive waters. Except when on passage up the eastern coast to its breeding-haunts, 

 I have never seen it affecting the sea-shore like the larger Cormorant. 



In India it is very abundant, frequenting inland waters all over the country. In the Deccan Messrs. 

 Davidson and "Wenden say that it is very common, and Dr. Fairbank noticed it along rivers there. Mr. Ball 

 records it from Lohardugga, Singhbhum, Sambulpur, Orissa, Nowagarh, and Karial, and elsewhere remarks 

 that it is very common all over Chota Nagpur. It is also found in the adjoining state of Raipur. Mr. Hume 

 informs us that it sold abundantly in the Calcutta bazaar as " Black Duck \" so that it must be plentiful in 

 the neighbourhood. In Furreedpore and in Cachar it is likewise very common, extending eastwards into 

 Arrakan, Upper Pegu, and Burmah, and breeding in "incredible numbers," according to Mr. Oatcs, at the 

 Myitkyo swamp in the latter country. In Tenasserim it is plentiful throughout the province ; and although 

 it is not yet recorded from the Malay peninsula, it no doubt inhabits that region, as it is found further south 

 in certain islands of the archipelago, among which Java may be cited, where Horsfield procured it and described 

 it as Carbo javaniats. I do not find it recorded from the Philippines, nor is it included in either 

 Mr. David's or Mr. Swinhoe's Chinese avifauna ; so that it does not appear to have an easterly range beyond 

 Burmah. It likewise is omitted from Prjevalsky's Mongolian birds. 



Returning to India, it does not appear to occur in Nepal, but ranges westward as an inhabitant of the low 

 hinds to Rajpootana, Sindh, and the surrounding regions. It is uncommon at the Salt Lake at Sambhur; 

 but in Sindh Mr. Hume met with it in the interior in vast flocks; and I find Captain Butler speaking of it as 

 not uncommon in Guzerat, though it rarely occurs at Mt. Aboo. Passing north, Severtzoff speaks of it as 

 breeding rarely in the north-west of Turkestan ; but it does not appear to range into the uplands of Kashgharia. 

 It extends through Persia into Palestine, where Canon Tristram observed it on the Leontes and other streams 

 flowing into the Mediterranean. It has been met with not uncommonly in Asia Minor; and, as regards 

 Turkey, is said by Messrs. Elwes and Buckley to be common in Macedonia, being also found on the Danube, 

 where it breeds in large colonies in the willow- and poplar-covered islands. It ranges eastwards to Dalmatia, 

 occurring also in Italy, and rarely visiting Sardinia. It has not been observed in Spain ; and, in fact, belongs 

 (illy as a resident to South-eastern Europe, ranging into Hungary, Transylvania (where it appears in large 

 flocks;, and Southern Russia, as far north as the Caspian. It is more common in Germany than in Italy, but 

 does not extend as far north as the Baltic. Lord Lilford writes that it is very abundant in winter in the 

 Epirus. 



On the continent of Africa it occurs in Egypt in the Fayoom, where Captain Shelley found it not 

 uncommon on the great lake of Birket el Korn. Von Heuglin also states that it is common as a winter 

 tor on the lagoons of Lower Egypt ; but he never encountered it on the Nile. 



