150 
TOWNSEND’S CORMORANT. 
scutelliform. Toes all placed in the same plane, connected by reticulated 
webs, and covered above with numerous broad but very short oblique 
scutella ; first toe smallest, fourth longest. Claws rather small, strong, 
compressed, acute, convex above, arched, that of the third toe pectinated on 
its inner edge. 
Plumage soft, generally blended, compact on the back and wings, glossy 
on the head, hind neck, and rump ; the feathers on the head and neck oblong, 
on the back ovato-elliptical. The small gular sac, and the space before and 
beneath the eye, with the eyelids, bare. Wings of moderate size, broad ; 
primaries curved, pointed, the first, second, and third with the inner web 
cut out toward the end, the first three and a half twelfths shorter than the 
second, which is longest, but exceeds the third only by one twelfth ; secon- 
daries long and rounded. Tail of moderate length, very narrow, much 
rounded, or cuneate, of twelve narrow strong-shafted feathers. 
Bill yellow, with the ridge brown ; gular sac and bare skin about the eyes 
orange. The upper part of the head and hind neck are dusky, tinged with 
green, the hind part of the back greenish-black ; the rest of the upper parts 
brownish-grey, each feather margined with black. The quills are also 
brownish-grey, edged with black, the outer primaries and the tail-feathers 
black. The sides of the head, the fore part of the neck, and the breast light 
yellowish-brown, the middle of the neck in front darker, the sides, abdomen, 
and tibial feathers, shaded into brownish-black, tinged with green. On the 
sides of the neck and on the hind part of the sides of the body are a few 
scattered white piliform feathers with a terminal pencil of filaments. 
Length to end of tail 35 inches ; bill along the ridge 2\ ; along the edge 
of lower mandible 3 T 4 2 ; wing from flexure 12h ; tail 6 r V; tarsus 2\ ; first 
toe 1, its claw ^ ; second toe 1-j-f, its claw ; hind toe 2 its claw W ; 
fourth toe 3£, its claw T V 
Another individual, apparently a bird in its first plumage, has the head 
and upper part of the fore neck darker, the middle of the breast lighter, the 
feathers on the back margined with greyish-brown and an inner band of 
dark brown. Its bill is longer, but more slender, the unguis less curved, 
the feathers not entirely obliterated from the space before the eye, and 
extending farther on the gular sac. It is obviously however of the same 
species. 
