THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
was published in the Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. I have 
before intimated how that publication has been allowed to prejudice the 
better judgment of American ornithologists, and here is another extraordinary 
instance. Ogilvie - Grant included North America in his range, and all 
American references were included under P. carbo, but he does not catalogue 
a single American specimen. 
Yet, without comment, P. carbo, without any subspecies indicated, is 
included in the American Ornithological Union’s Checklist, 3rd ed., 1910, the 
range given being the same as that prepared by Ogilvie-Grant. Yet on 
the same page (p. 62) Phalacrocorax auritus (Lesson), an endemic North 
American bird, is divided into four subspecies. Re-consideration of P. carbo 
is indicated, especially as Reichenbach and Bonaparte both separated and 
named the North American bird. 
Probably many subspecies are separable when long series are available, 
but owing to its common occurrence such are not generally collected. 
As to the Australian form, it has been noted and described by nearly 
every Australian writer since Gould’s time as distinct, the green coloration 
of the under-surface, etc., being clearly written. Thus Gould writes : “ deep, 
glossy, blackish-green,” and Hall, though basing his diagnoses on the 
Catalogue of Birds, was compelled to state : “ glossed with dull green.” 
BuUer, in the History of Birds New Zealand, p. 325, 1873, recognised the 
New Zealand bird as distinct from the European one, giving as coloration 
“ shining greenish-black,” and wrote : “In summer the male is adorned 
with numerous white linear feathers, scattered over the throat and neck, and 
extending about half an inch beyond the permanent feathers ; but these 
white plumes never assume the dense character exhibited in the summer 
plumage of P. carbo, in which these parts, as well as the crown, appear almost 
entirely white.” In the Supplement, 1906, he still maintained this opinion 
in spite of Ogilvie-Gr ant’s “ lumping.” 
In general characters the Neozelanic bird agrees with the Australian and 
was separated by Iredale and myself in the Ibis, 1913, p. 411, as Carbo carbo 
steadi. The Australian form, then, differs appreciably from the European in 
coloration ; further in the nuptial ornamentation, the neck feathering is never 
as dense as in the latter, and does not appear on the top of the head and 
is only worn for a very short time : the white flank patch is very much 
smaller in the Australian form and disappears quickly so that very rarely is it 
observed at all ; in many specimens it is gone before the neck feathering, 
while in European birds it lasts much longer, as noted by Ogilvie-Grant. 
The Indian birds are somewhat intermediate, as they show a purplish 
tinge through the green, and this in conjunction with their smaller size 
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