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37 



Dr. Finsch has thus described the soft parts : " Iris, pale green ; bill, dark brown ; naked 

 skin round eye and on throat, purplish-grey (?) ; legs and feet, orange-yellow." 



In the Otago Museum there is a specimen presenting a splendid incurved frontal crest, 

 as well as an ample occipital crest, of metallic black feathers. 



Dr. Forbes states that the eggs of this species are quite similar to those of the allied 

 forms, varying from ellipso-ovoid to cylindrical ovate in shape, and differing slightly in size, those 

 he collected having a range of from 2'25 X 1*35 in. to 2*40 X T50. 



Order PELECANIFORMES.J 



[Family PHALACROCORACID^. 



PHALACEOCORAI ONSLOWI. 



(ONSLOW'S SHAG.) 



Phalacrocorax imperialis, King; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 153. 

 Phalacrocorax onslowi, Forbes, Ibis, 1893, p. 533. 



In my account of this species (vol. ii., p. 154), I said: "After a careful investigation of the 

 subject, and a comparison of all the specimens within my reach, I have decided to treat the 

 crested bird from the Chatham Islands as the true Phalacrocorax imperialis, and the uncrested 

 New Zealand form as Gmelin's P. carunculatus. It would perhaps be safer to give to this 

 form a new distinctive title ; but I am unwilling to add another name to the already somewhat 

 tangled synonymy of this species and its allies. I am aware that it is 'a long cry ' from the 

 Straits of Magellan to the Chatham Islands ; but experience teaches us that it is impossible 

 to lay down any strict geographical rules of distribution for birds of this class." 



Dr. H. 0. Forbes afterwards (' Ibis,' 1893, p. 533) took the " safer" course I had indicated, 

 and described the Chatham-Island bird as a new species, dedicating it to the Earl of Onslow, 

 a former New Zealand Governor; and I have great pleasure in following him in this, for 

 no one appreciates more than I do the active steps taken by his Lordship, during his 

 term of office, for the protection of the New Zealand avifauna and the conservation of the 

 native flora. 



I notice that the University of Cambridge, in its Museum report for 1902, adopting my 

 nomenclature, has distinguished this bird as Phalacrocorax imperialis, but it is enrolled 

 in Sharpe's ' Handlist ' as Phalacrocorax onslowi ; so we may now consider the matter 

 definitely settled.* 



* Crested Shag from Chatham Islands (collected by Mr. Henry Travers), now in Colonial Museum. Phalacrocorax 

 onslowi, Forbes. 



Head, neck, back, and rump deep metallic blue-black ; scapulars and- mantle with glossy green reflections ; 

 alar bar very distinct ; dorsal spots present, but inconspicuous. Total length (skin) 27*5 ; wing, 10-75; tail, 5; bill, 

 along culmen, 2-25 ; along edge lower mandible, 3 ; tarsus 2-25 ; longest toe and claw 4-25. 



According to Travers, this bird was a female. It was taken at Pitt Island on August 21st, 1871, and is well crested. 

 (See my figure in Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. ix., pi. xiv., fig. 1.) 



