LITTLE BLACK CORMORANT. 
PTialacrocorax stictocephalus Gould, Handb. Birds Austr., Vol, II., p. 495, 1865 ; Ramsay, 
Ibis 1866, p, 335 ; id., Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1877, p. 348 ; A. G. Campbell, 
Emu, Vol. II., p. 18, 1902 ; Batey, ih., Vol. VII., p. 17, 1907. 
Carho squamatus Pelzeln, Ibis 1873, p. 124 : nomen nudum. 
Microcarbo sulcirostris Salvadori, Ucc. Borneo, p. 365, 1874 ; id,, Ornith. Papua, e Moll,, 
Vol. III., p. 408, 1882. 
Carho sulcirostris sulcirostris Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 240, 1912. 
Carho ater sulcirostris Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. I., p. 87, 1912. 
Carho ater ater Mathews, ih. 
Mesocarho ater ater Mathews, List Birds Austr., p. 95, 1913. 
Disthibtjtion : Australia ; Tasmania. 
Adult male. Upper-back, sides of breast, scapulars and wings hoary grey, with black 
margins and black shaft-hnes to the feathers, all of which are very glossy ; lower 
back, rump, and upper tail-coverts uniform blue-black glossed with green ; 
bastard-wing, primary-coverts and quiUs uniform dark brown, the quiUs paler on 
the inner webs and hoary grey on the outer webs of some of the secondaries ; tail 
dark brown ; head and neck all round dark brown with an oily-green reflection, 
darker on the crown of the head and hind-neck, paler and inc linin g to brown on 
the throat and sides of the face ; sides of the face, ear-coverts, and sides of crown 
covered with white tipped plumes ; remainder and entire under-surface blue-black 
glossed with green. BiU : culmen black, remainder of bill and bare skin leaden 
grey ; iris green ; tarsi and feet black. Total length 610 mm. ; culmen 48, 
wing 253, tail 131, tarsus 52. 
Adult female. Very similar to the adult male but smaller and with a few white-plumed 
feathers scattered down the hind-neck. Culmen 42 mm., wing 238, tail 120, 
tarsus 44. 
The immature bird differs from the adult in being more or less brown on the head, 
sides of the face, fore-neck and chest, and the white-tipped plumes on the head much 
less numerous. 
Nest. Constructed of sticks, leaves, etc., and placed in a tree ; in rookeries. 
Eggs. Clutch, three to four ; ground-colour pale green covered with white hme. Axis 
50 to 56 mm., diameter 33-37 (Victoria). 
Clutch, four ; axis 49 to 50 mm., diameter 31 (Port Darwin). 
Breeding-season. August to December (Campbell) ; May and June (Darwin, 1902), 
As with most other Cormorants, very little is known of the life-history of 
this bird. 
r Mr. Tom Carter writes me : “ In April, 1900, considerable numbers of 
this species were seen at a White Gum flat (which had been converted into 
a large swamp after a hurricane) about 25 miles inland from Point Cloates. 
They did not breed there and were not observed in that locality on any 
other occasion. When at Carnarvon in September in the years 1911 and 
1913, large flocks were seen both in the mangrove creeks and at fresh-water 
pools in the bed of the Gascoyne River. The district was suffering from a 
long-continued drought. In each year I picked up several dead birds laid on 
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