Plate CCLI. Male.
Tail of twelve feathers. In summer an elongated series of about forty
linear feathers directed backwards, commencing behind the eye, and
extending to the length of an inch and a half on each side; upper
mandible black, along the basal margin bright blue, lower bright blue,
spotted with white; bare space on the head and gular sac rich orange;
plumage greenish-black, strongly glossed with green; imbricated
feathers on the back and wings greyish-brown, tinged with purple,
their fringe-like margins greenish-black; primary quills
brownish-black, secondary like the other feathers of the wing; tail
brownish-black; shafts of all the feathers brownish-black. Female
similar to the male. After the breeding season the tufts disappear.
Young after the first moult with the bill dull yellow, the ridge of
the upper mandible dusky, naked parts of the head rich yellow; upper
part of the head and neck brownish-black, tinged with green, throat
grayish-white; fore neck and anterior part of breast variegated with
pale brownish-grey and black; the rest of the plumage as in the adult,
but the imbricated feathers of the upper parts lighter. This species
differs from the last, chiefly in being smaller, and in having the
elongated feathers behind the eye more slender and directed backwards
instead of being recurved.
_Male_, 29-1/4, 46-1/2.
Constantly resident in the Floridas and their Keys, and along the
coast to Texas. The young in summer pass up the Mississippi and Ohio,
returning in autumn to the sea. Abundant. Breeds on trees only.
Phalacrocorax Floridanus, Florida Cormorant, Aud. Orn. Biog.
v. iii. p. 387; v. v. p. 632.