Order PELECANIFORMES. 
No. 132. 
Family PH A LA CROCORA DIDJE. 
HYPOLEUCUS CHALCONOTUS. 
BRONZE SHAG. 
(Plate 98.) 
Graculus chalconotus Gray, Voy. k ‘ Erebus and Terror,” Birds, pt. x., p. 20, pi. xxi.*, October 
1845 : Otago, South Island, New Zealand. 
Graculus chalconotus Gray, Voy. “ Erebus and Terror,” Birds, pt. x., p. 20, October 1845. 
Phalacrocorax glaucus Pucheran, Voy. Pole Sud., Vol. III., p. 127, pi. 31, fig. 1, (before October 10th) 
1853 : Otago. 
Phalacrocorax chalconotus Buller, Birds New Zeal., 1st edn., p. 334, pt. v., April, 1873 ; id., 2ndedn., 
^ol. II., p. 162, 1888; id., Suppl., Vol. II., p. 33, 1905; Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. 
Mus., Vol. XXVI., p. 369, 1898 (pref. Sept. 30th) ; Mathews and Iredale, Ibis, 1913, p, 413, 
July ; Mathews, Syst. Ay. Austral., p. 227, June 13th, 1927 ; Oliver, N.Z. Journ. Sci. Tech., 
Vol. VIII., No. 6, p. 326, Dec., 1926; Falla, Rec. Auck. Inst, Mus., Vol. I. No. 3, p. 148, 
Sept., 23rd, 1932. 
Distribution. New Zealand, south of South Island. Breeding near Steward Island. 
Adult (in breeding-plumage) . Fore-head, crown of head and a long occipital crest black, glossed 
with bottle-green ; a few long (38 mm.) silvery-white plumes on each side of the head above 
the eyes ; mantle, back and scapulars bronze-green, bordered with metallic-green ; lower 
back, rump and upper tail-coverts glossy xmrplish-blue, shading into blackish on the longer 
upper tail-coverts ; wing-coverts like the back ; tail-feathers black, with the basal portion 
of the shafts ivory-white ; sides of face, ear-coverts, cheeks, chin, throat, sides of neck, 
fore-neck and upper chest glossy purplish-violet; remainder of the under-parts glossy 
bottle-green, shading into purple on the sides of the body and vent; eyes green ; bill 
greyish-brown, darker on the ridge ; legs and feet dull yellow. Total length about 700 
mm. : culmen 55, wing 300, tail 127, tarsus 68. Snares Island. 
The sexes are alike, and in the non-breeding season are devoid of the silver-white plumes. 
Nestling. Covered with extremely thick, long, woolly down of a dull sooty-brown colour; bill 
dark brown, yellowish on the under mandible; lores, cheeks and sides of the chin perfectly bare 
and dark coloured ; on the membrane at the base of the lower mandible on each side a 
triangular spot of orange extending from the angle of the mouth to the strip of down which 
passes up between the crura of the lower jaw ; over the oil-gland a tuft of rather stiff fila¬ 
mentous feathers of the same colour as the down. 
This form breeds with stewarti and is thought to be a colour-phase of it. 
Chick covered with dark brown down like a Petrel; this is cast and the immature is brown, chin 
lightest; nape, back and rump showing the gloss of the adult. 
In the adult a bunch of white breeding-plume springs from above and behind the eye. 
One adult skin had many white feathers intermixed with the glossy green one, on the under¬ 
surface, in the part of huttoni that is white. The specimen came from Stewart Island. 
Nest. Saucer-shaped, constructed of sticks, etc., and covered with guano. 
Eggs. Clutch two to three. Elliptic in shape ; pale blue-green with chalky covering. 59 mm. 
by 42. 
Breeding-season. Generally October and November, but eggs have been taken earlier and later. 
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