BLACK CORMORANT. 
An April bird procured in India shows the same kind of “ filamentous ” 
feathering on the neck, and it seems certain that this is seasonal and probably 
juvenile. I conclude that only one form of P. carbo is found in China and 
Japan, and that “ P. filamentosus Ogilvie-Grant ” is non-existent as a species. 
To revert to P. carbo recognised by Ogilvie-Grant ; his remarks read : “ Birds 
from the Faroe Islands, Great Britain, etc., are distinctly larger than those 
from India, etc., the bill being, as a rule, conspicuously larger and stouter. 
No great importance need, however, be attached to this difference, for the 
largest Indian specimens are not appreciably smaller than some of the birds 
from northern latitudes.” Then follows a table giving measurements of 
specimens which show that Indian birds are relatively smaller throughout 
than European specimens. No difference in coloration is given by Ogilvie- 
Grant, though such is apparent when series are criticized. 
OgQvie-Gr ant’s description of the coloration of P. carbo reads : “ General 
colour black, glossed with dull purplish or bluish oil-green.” 
The birds from the Faroe Islands, as well as being very large are of the 
deepest purplish gloss throughout. Northern Scotch birds agree closely and 
British birds are very similar in the depth of the gloss. A specimen from 
the South Danube is still purplish, but a little paler with a tinge of blue 
throughout. Indian birds show a coloration which is better described as 
bluish-green with a slight purplish tinge. The Chinese and Japanese birds 
show, as described by Ogilvie-Grant, a deep oily-green coloration, but some 
show a purplish tinge. Australian and Neozelanic specimens are also deep 
oily-green, purplish-blue being only observed in rare instances. 
The breeding-plumage of the British birds, according to Ogilvie-Grant, 
“ is generally assumed by the end of February and lasts till the beginning 
of April.” This agrees with the specimens under consideration. This nuptial 
plumage consists of white feathering on the head, neck and flanks, described 
by Ogilvie-Grant thus : “ Top of the head and greater part of the neck 
covered with long, narrow, white feathers which often hide the shorter black 
plumage beneath and give these parts a nearly white appearance : a large 
patch of white feathers on each flank.” Such a description is not applicable 
to the Australian bird which Ogilvie-Grant confused under the name P. carbo, 
as he also adds : “ The white flank-patches are retained till the middle of 
June and do not disappear till the end of July.” 
Though Gould and Buller had clearly stated the differences between the 
Australian and New Zealand birds and the European one, and though these 
, differences were obvious in the specimens he examined, Ogilvie-Grant ignored 
them, yet recognised P. filamentosus on characters of no value, as seen in his 
own series. Yet such action has been accepted by systematists because it 
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