TOWNSEND'S CORMORANT. 439 



scutelliform. Toes all placed in the same plane, connected by reticulated 

 webs, and covered above with numerous broad but very short oblique 

 scutella; first toe smallest, fourth longest. Claws rather small, strong, 

 compressed, acute, convex above, arched, that of the third toe pectinated on 

 its inner edge. 



Plumage soft, generally blended, compact on the back and wings, glossy 

 on the head, hind neck, and rump; the feathers on the head and neck oblong, 

 on the back ovato-elliptical. The small gular sac, and the space before and 

 beneath the eye, with the eyelids, bare. Wings of moderate size, broad; 

 primaries curved, pointed, the first, second, and third with the inner web cut 

 out toward the end, the first three and a half twelfths shorter than the 

 second, which is longest, but exceeds the third only by one-twelfth; secon- 

 daries long and rounded. Tail of moderate length, very narrow, much 

 rounded or cuneate, of twelve narrow strong-shafted feathers. 



Bill yellow, with the ridge brown; gular sac and bare skin about the eyes 

 orange. The upper part of the head and hind neck are dusky, tinged with 

 green, the hind part of the back greenish-black; the rest of the upper parts 

 brownish-grey, each feather margined with black. The quills are also 

 brownish-grey, edged with black, the outer primaries and the tail-feathers 

 black. The sides of the head, the fore part of the neck, and the breast light 

 yellowish-brown, the middle of the neck in front darker, the sides, abdomen, 

 and tibial feathers, shaded into brownish-black, tinged with green. On the 

 sides of the neck and on the hind part of the sides of the body are a few 

 scattered white piliform feathers with a terminal pencil of filaments. 



Length to end of tail 35 inches; bill along the ridge 2-|; along the edge of 

 lower mandible 3^ wing from flexure 12^; tail 6 T 9 2-; tarsus 2-|; first toe 1, 

 its claw ■£%; second toe l|f, its claw T y, hind toe 2^, its claw T 6 2; fourth 

 toe 2>\, its claw ^. 



Another individual, apparently a bird in its first plumage, has the head 

 and upper part of the fore neck darker, the middle of the breast lighter, the 

 feathers on the back margined with greyish-brown and an inner band of 

 dark brown. Its bill is longer, but more slender, the unguis less curved, the 

 feathers not entirely obliterated from the space before the eye, and extending 

 farther on the gular sac. It is obviously however of the same species. 



