174 



shaft tipped with a white tuft; bill black; iris brown; legs black. Total length about 21 inches, 

 culmen l - 35, wing 8"0, tail 6 - 5, tarsus l - 3. 



Female. Resembles the male, but is rather smaller in size, less rich in coloration, and is less profusely 

 marked with the peculiar white spots. 



Young (Butrinto, October). Crown, nape, and hind neck dull brown with a rufous tinge; upper parts 

 generally blackish grey with a faint gloss, darker towards the margins of the feathers, which are 

 narrowly edged with light brown ; rump blackish with a faint greenish gloss ; tail as in the adult, but 

 duller ; chin white ; throat and breast brown, the feathers tipped with dull white ; rest of the under- 

 pays dull white intermixed with light brown, except the lower flanks and under tail-coverts, which are 

 black ; bill yellowish ; iris lighter than in the adult ; legs blackish. 



Young in down {fide Naumann). Covered with short, close, sooty down; bill blue with white tip; edge of 

 gape and throat flesh-coloured ; feet flesh-coloured, except on the outer portion, where they are blue. 



Obs. According to Naumann it has a summer plumage which differs essentially from the above-described 

 spring dress. In this plumage the upper throat is white, the brown on the neck extends onto the 

 breast, and the peculiar white-tufted feathers which form the spots so conspicuous in the spring 

 plumage are wanting. This spring plumage, as I have called it, however, is (like the rich plumage of 

 some of the Ducks) worn in the winter, and retained until the female is incubating, when it is exchanged 

 for the true summer plumage, which is only worn for a short time. 



The present species, the smallest of our European Cormorants, inhabits Southern, and more 

 especially South-eastern Europe, North Africa, and Southern Asia, as far as Java and Borneo. 

 It has not been met with in Northern Europe ; and though Herr Johann von Fischer speaks of 

 it (J. f. O. 1872, p. 390) as being extremely scarce in the St.-Petersburg district, I cannot help 

 thinking that this gentleman may have been mistaken. Mr. A. von Homeyer writes (J. f. O. 

 1870, p. 231) that one was shot some years ago near Gorlitz, on the Leopoldshainer Lake, and is 

 in the Museum at Gorlitz ; but I find no record of its occurrence in other portions of Central or 

 Northern Europe, and it does not inhabit France, Portugal, or Spain. In Italy, however, it is 

 recorded by Salvadori as of very rare and accidental occurrence, having been observed in Venetia, 

 Tuscany, and Naples; and he obtained one of two individuals shot on the Tenna on the 28th 

 October, 1866. Three specimens have been obtained in Sardinia; but there is no actual record 

 of its occurrence in Sicily, though it might be expected to visit that island. In Southern 

 Germany it becomes more common. Naumann says that it has occurred once or twice on the 

 Neusiedler lake ; and in Hungary it is very generally to be met with in suitable localities. In 

 Transylvania, Messrs. Danford and Harvie-Brown write (Ibis, 1875, p. 431), it is "not very rare. 

 It generally appears in large flocks, and has been met with on the Alt and Strell. On the latter 

 two young birds were killed in December at Brettye." 



When travelling down the Danube I frequently observed this little Cormorant, and was told 

 that it breeds not unfrequently on the islands in that river. From Belgrade downwards it 

 appears to be by no means a rare species. I passed through the countries skirting the Danube, 

 too early, however, to obtain the eggs of this bird myself, and have never had an opportunity of 

 seeing its nest. It is a cold-weather visitant to Greece. Dr. Kriiper says that during the 



