XII. 



G E N US P H A LAC RO C O R AX (Brissan ) . 



CORMORANTS are found in every part of the world, and five species of the genus inhabit Australia. 

 Like the Darters, they also show the peculiarity, among aquatic birds, in their habit of perching. 

 In captivity they are easily tamed, and in them the old custom of hawking is still paralleled, for in parts 

 of China these birds have had their powers of catching- fish turned to the advantage of man. It has 

 been described by travellers as a most entertaining sight to see the proprietor of some of these trained 

 birds row out in the morning, his workers obediently perching on the edge of the boat. When the 

 fishing-ground is reached, the birds dive in at a signal from their master and bring up the results 

 of the quest. They are so well trained that no precaution is necessary for preventing them from 

 swallowing the fish. Early records speak of this method of utilising the Cormorant as having been 

 followed in England, but there it was necessary to fix a ring on the bird's throat to prevent it 

 appropriating the fruits of its labours. 



By some authorities, these birds have been divided into several genera. Various terms are 

 applied to the different species from their leading characteristics, the term Phalacrocorax being used to 

 distinguish the largest of the tribe only. 



P II A LACKOCOBA X P U NCTATUS (Steph.) . 



SPOTTED CORMORANT. Genus: Phalacrocorax. 



h()l T this variety less information has been collected than about any other member of the genus. 

 Not many specimens are to be found in existing collections and little is known of its habits. It 

 is a native of New Zealand: Latham states that it is frequently to be seen in Queen Charlotte's Sound, 

 where it nests on the rocks and sometimes on the limbs of trees dose to the water. It is one of the 

 most beautiful of its tiibe, and wherever seen its remarkable head-plumes and handsome colouring mark 

 it for observation. 



Plumes on crown and back of the head and feathers of the throat, black ; sides of the head, 

 breast and under surfaces, light ashen-grey : mantle, scupularies and wings, rich purple-grey, all the more 

 prominent feathers being marked with a black spot at the tip : at the base of the neck and on each side 

 of the central feathers of the back, green : under tail-coverts and tail, black. Numerous soft plume-like 

 white feathers grow on the black patch of the throat and at the back of the neck, and smaller plumes 

 of the same description rise from the thighs and flanks: hides, green; bill, ash-grey; legs and feet, 

 yellow : nails, black : webs, greenish. 



1 1 abitat : New Zealand. 



