440 



VIOLET-GREEN CORMORANT. 



~f Phalacrocorax resplendens, Aud. 



PLATE CCCCXIX.— Adult. 



This Cormorant, the most beautiful hitherto found within the limits of the 

 United States, was obtained by Mr. Townsend at Cape Disappointment, 

 near the entrance of the Columbia river. The specimen from which the 

 figure in the plate was taken, was transmitted to me by that zealous student 

 of Nature. The beautiful gloss of its silky plumage suggested the specific 

 name which I have given to it. 



Violet-green Cormorant, Phalacrocorax resplendens , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 148. 



Female, 27; wing 10; tail 5^. 



Cape Disappointment, near Columbia river. Abundant. 



Adult. 



Bill about the length of the head, slender, cylindrical, enlarged at the 

 base, and compressed toward the end, straight. Upper mandible with the 

 dorsal line very slightly concave, until on the unguis, where it is decurved, 

 the ridge convex, flattened toward the end, separated from the sides by a 

 narrow groove, the sides convex, the edges sharp and straight as far as the 

 unguis, which is decurved, convex above, acute, its tip not extending 

 beyond the level of the dorsal outline of the lower mandible. No external 

 nostrils. Lower mandible with the angle long and very narrow towards the 

 end, filled up by an extensile membrane which does not extend beyond the 

 level of the eye, its very short dorsal line considerably convex, the sides 

 erect and very convex, the edges sharp and inflected, the tip compressed and 

 truncate. 



Head small, oblong. Neck long and slender. Body rather full, elongated, 

 and depressed. Feet short, stout, placed far behind; tibia feathered in its 

 whole length; tarsus very short, strong, much compressed, covered all round 

 with scales, of which a series on the inner side anteriorly, and another on the 

 outer, are scutelliform, the posterior very small and roundish. 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, 



