159 
On the other hand, Mr. Liardet, of Wellington, who has shot these birds at Queen Charlotte 
Sound at all seasons of the j ear for the purpose of couverting their beautiful skins into ladies’ muffs, 
assures me that he has never seen a crested one. The three specimens which I purchased from him 
(all of them apparently in bright summer plumage) were certainly without the slightest indication of 
a crest or occipital tuft of any kind. 
Of the Kerguelen-Island bird Dr. Kidder gives the following account (Bulletin of the U.S. 
National Museum, 1875): — “Only a single adult skin of this Cormorant was preserved and brought 
home, a female in nuptial plumage. There is no better reason, I am afraid, for this omission than 
the fact that the birds were exceedingly plentiful, and the preparation of the skins a very tedious 
job, so that it was put off from day to day for rarer specimens, until, in the haste of an unexpectedly 
hurried departure, it was omitted altogether. From memory I can only say that the young birds were 
of much more sober plumage than the females, destitute of the crest and brilliant blue eyelid, and 
generally rather smaller. All had white breasts and bellies ; but there were many minor variations 
in plumage, which I suppose went to indicate differences in age They do not differ materially 
in habits from other species of Cormorant, diving and swimming well, feeding entirely on fish, and 
often congregating for hours upon a projecting rock or headland, where, in pairing-time, they enact 
various absurd performances, billing and curvetting about one another in a very ridiculous manner. 
The note is a harsh croak, which never varies, so far as 1 have observed. They seem to be on parti- 
cularly good terms with the Chionis, and are often joined by Gulls when sunning themselves. They 
build upon shelves, for the most part in the precipitous faces of cliffs overlooking the water, the base 
of the nest being raised sometimes as much as 2 feet, and composed of mingled mud and excrement. 
Upon this pedestal is constructed a rather artistic nest of long blades of grass. Apparently they con- 
tinue to use the old nests year after year, adding a new layer each season, and thus building the nest 
up. The first eggs were found November 5th, there being sometimes two and sometimes three in a 
nest. They were procured at first by the kind assistance of Mr. Stanley, and a length of rope which 
tied us together, one end being knotted round the waist of each. One would then remain above and 
hold on, while the other clambered a little way down the face of the cliff and secured the eggs. After 
a time, however, I discovered a lot of nests, near a ‘ rookery ’ of Kock-hopper Penguins, accessible from 
below, where (on December 4th) the young birds were first observed. Eggs green, with white chalky 
incrustation. The young are most ridiculous-looking objects, being pot-bellied, naked, and perfectly 
black, and seem to be less advanced in development at the time of hatching than most birds, the bones 
of the tarsus and foot being not yet ossified. Small fish were generally lying by the nests. The old 
birds were very solicitous about their young, hissing and stretching out their necks, and refusing to 
leave their nests until pushed off. Yet, when I took one of the young away from the nest, and placed 
it close by on the rock, the mother seemed neither to recognize its constant chirping nor to be aware 
that one of her brood was missing. Certainly she paid no attention to it.” 
I am indebted to Mr. Percy Seymour for the following notes on the breeding-habits of this and a 
closely-allied species : — 
“ Fhalacrocorax cirrhatus * and P. clialconotus . — A large colony of these two species in company 
have built on a terrace at the foot of a small cliff on Otago Peninsula. The nests and eggs of the two 
species can only be distinguished by observing the birds sitting on the nests. The latter are con- 
structed of tussock-grass, but the outside of the nest soon becomes plastered over with the excrement 
of the old and young birds. This hardens into a substance resembling stucco, which protects the nests 
against the destructive influence of the weather, and gives them the appearance of having been con- 
structed of clay. By the accumulated layers of successive seasons, the nests are raised in some cases 
* Fhalacrocorax carunculatus of the present edition. 
