THE BIRDS OP AUSTRALIA. 
tiiG margins of the pools, and two that I shot and skinned in 1913 appeared 
to have inflammation of the super-renals, and were in very poor condition.” 
Mr. J. W. Meflor’s notes read: “ A well-known little Cormorant, especially 
on the rivers and inland waters, flying up the streams in small flocks and 
often congregating in large numbers. It breeds in trees, etc., and eggs in 
my collection were taken on the Murray River near the Victorian and South 
Australian border ; they have 3 and 4 to a clutch, and lay in rookeries, the 
nests being set fairly close to one another and composed of sticks, leaves, 
etc. These little shags were fairly common (on the Coorong) and generally 
seen in small flocks, sailing and diving in the water, while at times they would 
sit on the snags and old trees about the water. On one island I noted some 
of their old nests in the low trees and bushes, but the ‘ head hunters ’ had 
apparently driven them away, and none were breeding now.” 
In the Austral Avian Record, Vol. I., p. 87, 1912, I pointed out that the 
correct name for this species was Garbo ater. Lesson, in the Traite d'Orn., 
p. 604, 1831, described a bird as Garbo ater writing : “ Noir en entier ; taiUe 
d’un canard. De la bale des Chiens marins, a la Nouvelle HoUande.” 
When Pucheran reviewed the Lessonian types in the Paris Museum he gave 
a detailed description {Rev. Mag. de Zool., 1850, p. 627) and stated that it 
appeared to be the bird just previously described by Gray as G. chalconotus, 
which he only knew from figure and description. He mentioned that the 
locality disagreed, but suggested that as other species of Phalacrocorax were 
common to the two countries this might also be the case. 
In the Gatalogue of the Birds in the British Museum, Vol. XXVI., 1898, 
Ogilvie-Grant placed the name at the head of the synonymy of P. chalconotus 
Gray, with a query stating that the inadequate description did not deserve 
recognition. Inasmuch as P. chalconotus is confined to New Zealand and is 
very rare there, being probably an evolutionary aberration of P. stewarti 
Grant, some explanation seemed necessary. 
The type of Garbo ater was collected by Peron and Lesueur at Shark’s 
Bay, West Australia. There has been confusion with regard to the type 
localities of some of Peron and Lesueur’ s birds, but this is confined to West 
Australia, South Australia, and Timor. These voyageurs did not touch at 
New Zealand, so that their bird could not be referred to P. chalconotus Gray. 
Looking for a substitute it was quickly seen that the description given 
by Pucheran differed in no material manner from the present species which 
lives at Shark’s Bay, West Australia. 
The bird figured and described is a male, collected at Hermit Hill, 
Northern Territory, on the 7th of August, 1894, and is the type of Mesocarbo 
ater territori. 
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