PHALACROCORAX CARBO. 
1183 
Adult female ? (Ceylon). Length 32'5 inches ; wing 12'5 ; tail 6-5 ; tarsus 2-1 ; outer toe and claw 3’8 ; bill to gape 
(straight) 3’5. — Adult males (Burmah). Length 32' 0 to 32 - 7 inches; wing 13 - 3 to 13-6, expanse 51' 0 to 52'0 ; 
tail 6-8 to 7‘5 ; tarsus 2-3 to 2-4; outer toe and claw 3-8 to 4-0 ; bill from gape 3-85 to 3'95 (Oates). — Adult 
males (Kashgharia). Length 32-8 to 33 - 0 ; wing 13-7 to 14-0, expanse 55-5 to 57‘3 ; tail 7-8 to 8 •3 ; tarsus 2-1 to 
2-2 ; bill from gape 3‘8 to 3*9 : weight 4 lbs. 10 oz. to 4 lbs. 2-25 oz. (Sadly). — Adult male and female (Wales, 
ten examples). Length 33‘2 to 36-0 inches ; wing 13 - 0 to 14-5, expanse 55' 0 to 58‘Q ; tail 6 - 54 to 7'0 ; tarsus 
2'4 to 2-7 ; outer toe and claw 3’8 to 4-3 ; bill to gape (straight) 4-0 to 4 - 3 : average weight 6f lbs., varying 
from 6| to 7^ lbs. 
Note. Occasionally very large birds are met with ; one was shot some years ago near Aberystwith weighing 10 lbs., 
and recorded in the ‘ Eield.’ The weight given by Dr. Scully is very low. 
There are 14 feathers in the tail of this species. 
Breeding-plumage. Iris bright emerald-green ; loral skin black, extending about 02 inch below the eye, from which 
line to the gape the skin is orange-yellow ; gular skin black, with pale yellow specks, or yellow-grey with yellow 
specks ; bill blackish, sides of lower mandible flesh-colour, darkening towards the tip ; legs and feet black. 
Male (March; Craig y deru, Wales). Head, neck, centre of the interscapulary region, back, rump, upper tail-coverts, 
entire under surface, and under tail-coverts glossy black, with a greenish hue ; a sharply defined white gorget 
bounding the gape and pouch, and running out into the centre of the latter passes round to the orbital skin, termi- 
nating there, its general width being about an inch ; down the centre of the occiput and nape there is a line of 
elongated feathers about 1^ inch in length, forming a comb-shaped crest ; the front of the crown, as also the sides 
(leaving a narrow streak down the centre of the occiput, on which the crest lies, and a broad space above the eye, 
which passes down beneath the gorget), together with the hind neck and throat for a distance of about 5 inches 
down, are overlaid with a close striation of narrow, silky, filamentous white feathers ; the feathers of the shoulders, 
sides of the chest, the scapulars, tertials, and wing-coverts glossy brownish bronze, with clearly defined black 
margins and black shafts ; primaries black, pervaded with grey ; outer w'ebs of secondaries bronzed greyish, with 
black edges, inner webs blackish grey ; tail black, the shafts of the feathers grey ; overlying the thighs a conspi- 
cuous patch of white feathers ; under wing black. 
In Great Britain and probably throughout temperate Europe the silky neck- and head-feathers, together with the 
white thigh-patch, are donned in February and put off again in May; out of hundreds of birds which I closely 
examined in Wales in June very few had the thigh-patches left, and not very many had more than a few scanty 
white filaments round the throat; none had any on the head, as these commence to be shed first, and are all gone 
by the middle of May ; at the same time the white gorget undergoes an almost complete change of colour, becozn- 
ing brownish grey above the gape and round the edge of the black ; this is acquired by a moult, but also, as far as 
I can observe, by a change in the colour of some of the feathers ; the chin remains white. 
Obs. A specimen which had perhaps acquired this plumage unusually early has probably led Mr. Dresser to figure this 
di’ess as the winter plumage ! 
Note.— This species has 12 tail-feathers. 
“ Iris verdigris-blue ; nude orbits black ; bill dusky brown, reddish beneath ; gular skin yellow' ; feet black.” 
Winter plumage. “ Head and neck shining black ; feathers of the back and wing-coverts bronze-colour, as in the last ; 
throat white, this colour extending towards the eye, and passing into pale brown on the cheeks ; low'er plumage 
deep black.” 
“ In breeding-plumage this Cormorant assumes some white specks on the forehead and above the eyes', and a white 
tuft behind each ear ; the chin, however, is then black.” (Jerdon.) 
Immature (Mt. Aboo, May). “ Length 24-0 inches ; wing 9’75 ; tail 5-5 ; bill at fi-ont 2-25, to gape 3-0. 
“ Iris green ; upper mandible greenish black ; lower mandible fleshy. 
“ Upper parts brownish black, slightly glossed with green ; scapulars and lower hind neck silvery earthy brown, 
having many of the feathers, especially of the scapulars, bordered conspicuously with brownish black and finely 
edged with pale brown ; wings and tail dark ; wing-coverts brown, glossed with green ; chin and upper throat 
