Plate CCCCXXII. Fig. 1. Female.
Bill scarcely as long as the head, slender, dusky; tail of twelve
feathers; gular sac and bare skin on the head, bright orange; plumage
silky and splendent, deep green, seeming black in some lights and
bright green and purple in others, the somewhat compact feathers of
the back edged with dark purple; along the sides of the neck and the
hind part of the sides of the body, numerous white piliform feathers
terminated by a pencil of filaments; quills and tail-feathers
brownish-black and less glossy. This description from an individual
shot in October.
_Female_, 27; wing 10; tail 5-1/2.
Cape Disappointment, near Columbia River. Abundant.
Violet-green Cormorant, Phalacrocorax resplendens, Aud. Orn.
Biog. v. v. p. 148.
GENUS II. PLOTUS, Linn. ANHINGA.
Bill about twice the length of the head, almost straight, being very
slightly recurved, rather slender, compressed, tapering to a fine
point; upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly declinate, very
slightly convex, the ridge convex, gradually narrowed, the sides
sloping, the edges sharp, and beyond the middle cut into minute
slender-pointed serratures directed backwards, the tip acuminate;
lower mandible with the angle very long and narrow, the dorsal line
beyond it straight and ascending, the sides sloping slightly outwards,
the edges sharp and serrated, the point extremely narrow; gape-line
ascending towards the end. No external nostrils in the adult. Head
very small, oblong; neck very long and slender; body elongated and
slender. Feet very short and stout; tibia feathered to the point;
tarsus very short, roundish, reticulated; toes all connected by webs,
the first of moderate length, the fourth longest, the first toe and
the first phalanges of the rest with transverse series of scales; the
rest of their extent scutellate. Claws rather large, very strong,
compressed, curved, very acute, the third with parallel slits on the
inner edge. A bare space at the base of the upper mandible, including
the eye; skin of the throat bare and dilated, as in the Cormorants.
Plumage close, blended, silky, the feathers oblong; scapulars
elongated, lanceolate, compact, the outer web of the largest
undulated. Wings of moderate length and breadth; third quill longest,
inner secondaries elongated and resembling the posterior scapulars.
Tail very long, narrow, of twelve straight feathers, having very
strong shafts, and increasing in breadth to the end. Tongue a slight
oblong knob; œsophagus very wide; proventricular glands placed on
the right side in the form of a globular sac; stomach roundish, of
moderate size, rather thin, with its inner coat soft and smooth; a
large roundish pyloric lobe; intestine long and very slender; no
cœca, but a small rounded termination to the rectum.