Genus— M ICEOCARBO. 
Microcarbo Bonaparte, Comptes Rendus Sci. 
(Paris), Vol. XLIII., p. 577, 1856 . . . . Type M. pygmceus, 
Halieus Reichenbach, Nat. Syst. Vogel., p. vii., 
1852 (not Halimus lUiger 1811) . . . . Tjrpe M. pygmceus. 
Also spelt — 
Haliaeus Bonaparte, Comptes Rendus Sci. (Paris), Vol. XLI.. 
p. 1115, 1855. 
Helieua Gould, Handb. Birds Austr., Vol. II., p. 488, 1865. 
Halietor Heine, Journ. fiir Ornith., 1860, p. 202 . . Type M. pygmceus. 
Melanocarbo Bernstein in Musschenbroek, Dag- 
boek van Dr. H. A. Bernstein’s laatste Reis 
van Ternate, etc., p. 119, 1883 .. .. Type M. melanoleucus. 
Smallest Phalacrocoracine birds with very short bills, long necks, long 
wings, very long tails and short legs and feet. 
The bill is very short, being less than one-sixth the length of the wing 
and shorter than the metatarsus. 
The wing has the primary formula different from any of the preceding 
genera, having the second and third primaries subequal, the third sometimes 
the longest, while the first is exceeded by the fourth. 
The tail, composed of twelve feathers, is very long, about two-thirds 
the length of the wing, and four times the length of the culmen or metatarsus. 
The feet are delicately formed when contrasted with those of the 
preceding genera, though comparatively they agree in their proportions. 
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