26 





and towards the angles of the mouth, and shading into bluish-grey towards the base of the lower 

 mandible. The naked gular sac or pouch, divided by a feathered stripe running to a point near 

 the junction of the rami, has a streaky appearance, being of a dark greyish-green colour. The 

 legs are fleshy-white, the hind part of the tarsi and the under-surface of the toes being dull 

 blackish-brown ; claws dark-grey. 



This bird proved on dissection to be a male; and, although killed in the height of the 

 breeding-season, it exhibited nothing in the form of a crest, not even a lengthening of the coronal 

 and occipital feathers. This confirms, I submit, the view put forward by me in the ' Birds of 

 New Zealand ' (vol. ii., pp. 153-160), in opposition to Dr. Sclater and other leading authorities, 

 that this species is the true P. carunculatus of Latham, and must not be confounded either with 

 the crested Chatham Island form, or with P. cirrhatus, Gmelin, from Magellan Straits.* 



I received at the same time two immature birds — in the first year's plumage, which is very 

 different from that of the adult. The alar bar of white is absent, and there are no dorsal spots. 

 The blue orbits are wanting, and there is no appearance of caruncles on the side of the forehead ; 

 added to which, the loral space, which is bare in the adult, has its surface covered with extremely 

 minute feathers. The hides are dull greenish-grey ; the sides of the lower mandible and the 

 naked gular pouch, as well as the legs, are fleshy- white. 



The breeding season of this species appears to extend over several months. In July, 1892, 

 Captain Fairchild visited the White Bocks, and found both eggs and young in the nests. Of the 

 latter he brought over about half a dozen, which were forwarded by His Excellency the Governor 

 to the Zoological Society of London. On a more recent visit (some three months later) he again 

 found both eggs and young. Of the former he has given me specimens. 



They are of a delicate pale-blue colour, and a perfect ellipsis in shape, measuring 2*5 in. 

 in length by 1'5 in. in breadth. 



At a later date, in 1894, he brought me four young birds of different sizes, clothed in thick 

 down. I sent them up to the Papaitonga Lake, hoping that they would thrive there and ultimately 

 breed, but they did not long survive their change of home, being probably too young for the 

 experiment. Two old birds, both females, had been shot by the crew of the ' Hinemoa ' and the 

 skins preserved. I had an opportunity of examining one of these. The pad of orange 

 caruncles on the brow, on each side of the head, is very prominent, and as it is entirely absent in 

 some examples, I take it to be a feature peculiar to the breeding season. There is no appearance 

 whatever of a crest, or even an elongation of the coronal feathers. The white alar bar is very 

 conspicuous ; so is the dorsal double patch of white. The naked space around and in front of the 

 eyes is entirely dark-blue ; and the feet are flesh-coloured. 



Nestling. — Covered with sooty down. Fore part of head, face, and throat, perfectly bare ; 

 the skin, which is jet-black, presenting a granulated surface, and having the appearance of kid- 

 leather. Upper mandible brownish-black ; the under mandible, except at the tip, as well as the 

 skin at its base, in a straight line from the angle of the mouth, bluish-white, the black colouring 

 of the skin beyond, however, being continued, in a tapering streak, to a point within the rami. 

 Under each eye there is a minute round spot of white. Legs and feet dark-grey, the webs 

 lighter. 



In my specimens of the female the caruncles are very minute and inconspicuous. I have 

 not yet ascertained whether this is a sexual or only a seasonal character. 



The only colony of these Shags of which we have any positive knowledge is that inhabiting 



* Dr. Kidder refers a Shag he brought from Kerguelen Island to P. carunculatus, Gmelin, of which he makes 

 P. cirrhatus, Gmelin, a synonym. But he states that - during the breeding-season the bird carries an erectile crest of 

 about a dozen small plumes upon the top of the head ; tarsus and foot yellow." Is not Kidder's bird the true 

 P. cirrhatus or " Tufted Shag " of Gmelin? 



