22 



surface yellowish-white ; wings dark olive-brown, marked along the outer edge and longitudinally 

 on the under-surface with yellowish-white. Bill very dark olive, shaded with brown on the 

 ridge, the terminal shield on both mandibles reddish-brown, with a polished surface ; legs 

 and feet dull olive-brown, paler on the toes, the interdigital webs darker, and the claws yellowish- 

 brown. It must be noticed that the toothed character of the mandibles is well developed even 

 in the nestling. 



At a meeting of the Zoological Society, in January, 1881, Baron A. von Hugel's specimen 

 from the Auckland Islands (now in the Zoological Museum at the University of Cambridge) 

 was exhibited. Dr. Sclater remarked that the colouring of the plate in the ' Yoyage au Pole 

 Sud' seemed rather too bright. He further observed ('Proc. Z. S.,' 1881, p. 1): " Mergus 

 australis appeared to come nearest to Mergus brasiliensis, as already indicated by Hombron and 

 Pucheran, but differed in its brown head, the longitudinal (not transverse) markings below, 

 and longer bill. As regards the form of the tail, commented on by Hombron and Pucheran, 

 there seemed to be little difference between the two species." 



Order PELECANIFORMES.] 



[Family PHALACROCORACIDiB. 



PHALACROCORAX N V JEK OL L A N D IJE . 



(SEA SHAG.) 



Phalacrocorax novae- hollandiaB (Steph.), Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 145. 



This Shag, which is so abundant further North, is extremely scarce in Foveaux Strait and in 

 Stewart Island. My collector sent me a specimen, as a great rarity, among a lot of Phalacrocorax 

 huttoni and P. chalconotus. This was marked " female," and it had a mdre pronounced nuchal 

 crest (or " mane," as the collector termed it) than I had ever before noticed. It had the naked 

 face, or lores, of a uniform dull yellow ; the irides pale green ; membrane behind the eye 

 and covering the base of the lower mandible, bright yellow ; culmen black ; sides of upper 

 and the whole of lower mandible, very pale grey ; legs and feet black. The tawny throat indicated 

 the sex. 



In the Canterbury Museum is preserved a sea-trout (Salmo fario) taken from the gullet 

 of one of these Shags when shot on the coast. The fish measured 14*5 inches in length, with 

 a girth of 7*75 in., and the weight was 1\ lb.* 



* In October, 1893, the following paragraph appeared in ' The Globe ' newspaper, relating to the closely related 

 P. carlo, of Europe, or, as some ornithologists hold, the same species as ours : 



" The Cormorant who took up his abode on the weather-cock of Newark Church, at the beginning of the month, 

 is, says a correspondent, still there. By day he remains motionless, like Patience on a monument, or St. Simeon 

 Stylites ; by night, it is conjectured, he flaps his way to the neighbouring Trent for food. It is satisfactory to know 

 that the men of Newark have kept their fingers from pulling the trigger. Let them continue to do so, lest the doom 

 of the Ancient Mariner be upon them." 



