PHALACROCORAX MELANOLEUCUS, v ie iii.
Pied Cormorant.
Phalacrocorax melanoleucus, Vieill.
Go-gOrgo, Aborigines of the lowland districts of Western Australia.
Little Shag, Colonists of Swan River.
T h is is the least o f the Cormorants inhabiting Australia, over every part of which conntry it is dispersed,
wherever a locality suitable for its existence occurs : my own observation would tend to show, that how-
ever universal its range ,s fo u n d |ib e , it is nowhere very abundant. It evinces-a greater preference for
deep annlets o f the sea, inland rivers and lagoons, than for the rocky shores o f the coast. Both in Van
Diemen s Laud and New South Wales, and also in South Australia, I observed it far inland, wherever there
was sufficient water to afford it a supply o f food, a;sbUtary individual, or at most'a single pair being aU that
was tp be. s e e n || an, one district ; here it may be seen perched erect on its favourite snag o f some
tree resting, on the bed of the river, or on the leafless branch of a Eucalyptus bordering the
H , . yn6SS o f ltS dlsP°siti™ « > * « « it wry difficult o f approach, particularly, if its natural
timidity has been increased by the discharge o f a gun in the immediate neighbourhood o f its haunts.
Its food consists of fish and insects. I once observed several individuals on a new-formed lagoon, occasioned
bythe abundance of rain that had fallen a few days before, busily employed in feeding upon the
insects and their lame, which the united agency o f the warmth and moisture had brought into life ; from
he muddy state of the water, they had so soiled their silvery neck and breast during the feast as to
be scarcely recognisable This was ,n the spring when the feathers are prolonged, and form the dress
commonly put on about,the pairing time and worn throughout the early part of the summer
At fo rt Essington this species islsaid to construct its nest and rear its young in the tea-trees (Mela-
W ) bordering the rivers near the coast, seven or eight pairs associating for the purpose in a single tre e ;
at this time they are exceedingly pugnacious. The eggs are said'to be six in number '
The sexes are precisely alike in colouring, and I suspect that the young assume the white plumage of the
under surface from the period o f their leaving the nest, as I have never met with a specimen in which that
part was of any other colour.
Cro™ ° f lbe' head- » broad l!"e dowu ‘he back o f the neck, hack, rump and flanks deep shining steel
bluish black; wing-coverts and scapularies greyish black, each feather margined with deep black; primaries
and tad black; sides of the face, throat and all the under surface pure white; irides greyish iviiite; bill
feetbl’ack I dark bom'Colour! ° rbits dnl1 reddisb br0™ i ‘hroat yellow; legs and
The figures are those of the two sexes of the natural size.