146 
Obs. In some examples (apparently very old birds) the white spreads over the abdomen. 
Young. Upper parts brown with a greenish gloss, deepening into greenish black on the lower part of back and 
rump ; mantle and wing-coverts dingy coppery brown with darker margins, the longer coverts tipped with 
creamy white ; throat pale buff j sides of the head, front and sides of the neck dark brown mottled with pale 
buff j centre of the breast and the abdomen yellowish white ; the sides of the body largely mottled with 
brown, varied more or less with greenish black ; quills and tail-feathers black. 
Nestling. The nestling attains to a considerable size before the downy covering makes its appearance. This is 
of a uniform sooty brown, and as the bird advances becomes thick and woolly. 
Albino. Among birds of this class it is a rare thing to find any conspicuous departure from the ordinary plumage. 
The following is the description of a fine albino obtained at Sumner, near Christchurch : — General upper 
surface dark cream-colour ; the crown, hind neck, lower part of back, and flanks stained and shaded with 
brown ; the scapulars and wing-coverts broadly margined with yellowish brown j sides of the head, throat, 
fore neck, and all the underparts pure white ■, the wing-feathers are yellowish white, more or less clouded 
and freckled with browm ; the old tail-feathers are yellowish white, the new ones ashy ; and interspersed 
w'ith the plumage of the upper parts there are numerous new feathers of a brownish ash-eolour with darker 
edges, thus indicating a transition to a darker state of plumage. The bare facial membrane is flesh-coloured, 
with an obsolete yellow spot in front of the eye ; bill black ; legs and feet dark brown. 
Note. In my “ Further Notes on the Ornithology of New Zealand,” read before the Wellington Philosophical 
Society on the 12th of November, 1870, and published in the ‘ Transactions of the New-Zealand Institute ’ 
(vol. iii. pp. 36-56), I stated my reasons for adopting the generic title of Phalacrocorax (Brisson) in pre- 
ference to Graculus ; and a further consideration of the question has only tended to confirm me in that 
decision. I have thought it right to make this statement, inasmuch as I find the latter name adhered to 
both in Dr. Finsch’s latest revision of the nomenclature in the ‘ Journal fur Ornithologie ^ (July 1872) and 
in Professor Hutton^s ‘ Catalogue.’ Not only is Phalacrocoraw the older title, and therefore entitled to 
recognition; but, as I have already pointed out {1. c.), there seems to be no finality about the other name. 
In Mr. G. E. Gray’s first list (App. to Dieff. N. Z. vol. ii. p. 201) it was written Graucalus, in his “ Birds 
of New Zealand ” (Voy. Ercb. and Terr. p. 20) it was changed to Gracalus ; and in his later list (Ibis, 1862) 
it became Graculus, a term originally applied specifically by Linnaeus to the Green Cormorant of Europe, 
Pelecanus graculus (Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 217). 
1 STATED in my former edition of this work that, after comparing a large numher of specimens, I felt 
no hesitation in keeping this form distinct from the well-known Phalacrocorax carlo of Europe, 
althouo'h the two species were closely related and had doubtless sprung from a common ancestor. In 
thus separating it, I was supported by the late Mr. Gould, who had enjoyed frequent opportunities of 
investigating the subject in Australia and Tasmania, where this bird is very generally dispersed. The 
same view was taken by the late Mr. G. R. Gray in his latest arrangement of the group (Hand-list of 
Birds, 1871); and Mr. R. B. Sharpe afterwards adopted it in his classification of the specimens in the 
British Museum *. Dr. Finsch, on the other hand, adhered at that time to his opinion that the 
New-Zealand bird was not separable from the European form ; and I am not aware that he has since 
changed his views. Professor Hutton has declared himself of the same opinion. 
The Black Shag is very common on our coasts and Avithin the mouths of our tidal rivers. Along 
the ocean-beach it is generally dispersed singly or in pairs, but on the sand-banks it often congregates 
* Captain Mair states that this species is rarely seen in the Bay of Plenty. But he distinguishes from this what he terms 
the “ Large Brown Eiver Shag,” the Mapo or Matapo of the Maoris. He describes this bird as “ brown all over with a yellow 
tinge on the throat,” and says that it frequents lakes and the upper courses of rivers and is never met with on the sea-coast. A 
colony of them, numbering about a dozen individuals (exclusively of this kind), breed every year in a kahikatea forest near the 
shores of Lake Eotorua. 
