Female in July. Plate CCLXVI. Fig. 2.
The Female when old is similar to the male. In the state here represented, the plumage in general is similar, but the white feathers of the head and thighs are wanting. The bill, eyes and feet are coloured as in the male, as are the bare parts about the base of the bill, only the part under the eye which is bright red in the male, is bright yellow in the female.
Young Birds unfledged. Plate CCLXVI. Fig. 3, 4.
The inside of the mouth and the gular sac flesh-coloured; the bill dusky, at the base flesh-coloured; the eyes bluish grey. The general colour of their skin is dull livid; the feet purplish-dusky, the webs yellowish-brown.
The following is a description of the smaller individual represented in the plate, and which was about two weeks old. The length is twelve inches and a half; the colour dull livid, the abdomen and breast lighter, the forehead, gular sac, and bases of the mandibles, flesh-colour tinged with yellow, as is the mouth. The head and upper part of the neck are bare, as well as the lower surface of the wings. Over the rest of the body are small down tufts rising in regular series, excepting along an impressed line extending from the anterior part of the thorax to the anus. The apertures of the ears are round, extremely small, being only half a twelfth in diameter; the eyes very small, the iris grey. The aperture of the posterior nares is linear-lanceolate, smooth on the edges, half an inch long. A probe introduced into it passes readily out by the nostril, which is basal, linear, small, two-twelfths long, placed at the commencement of the long groove which separates the sides from the ridge of the mandible, and covered above by the skin, so as to be not readily observed, although it is easily dilatable. Each internal nostril is oblique, much wider below, and has on its inner side a transverse soft ridge, which divides it into two cavities, the posterior deep and funnel-shaped, passing backwards and upwards, the anterior becoming narrower towards the external aperture. The tongue is extremely small, four-twelfths long, elliptical, with a central ridge. The œsophagus is extremely dilatable, and as far as the middle of the neck is of larger diameter than below, but it again dilates as it enters the stomach. Its length is five inches and a half. The inner coat is smooth in its dilated part, but in the rest is raised into numerous longitudinal ridges or folds, which at the lower part are undulated. The stomach is oblong, four and a half inches long, quite membranous, and without apparent central tendons. The gastric glands are disposed so as to occupy two spaces, the one three and a half inches by two, the other a little smaller. The inner coat is soft and without wrinkles. The intestine is five feet two inches long, at its upper part three-twelfths in diameter, gradually diminishing to one-twelfth. At the distance of two inches from the anus are two cœca, three-twelfths long, one-twelfth in diameter, and rounded. The contents of the stomach were fragments of fish, with numerous bones, and a pebble about half an inch in diameter. The heart triangular, much flattened. The liver of two very unequal lobes, the right one two inches and a half long, the other one and a half. The specimen, which I had preserved in spirits, was examined in my presence by my friend Mr Macgillivray. Whether the fact of the anterior aperture of the organ of smell being open in the young Cormorant has been observed by any other person than myself, I know not; but it would seem that the general opinion is, that Cormorants have no external nares in any stage, and although some state that in the adult they exist, and are extremely small, others allege that there are none at all.
A young female, shot in the end of October, on being carefully examined, was found to present the following characters.
The length to the end of the tail was 36 inches, to the end of the wings 29 3/4, to the end of the outer toe 34 1/2; the extent of the wings 55; the weight 5 lb. 10 1/2 oz.
Bill along the ridge and unguis black, the sides brownish-grey; the lower mandible brownish-grey, dusky on the sides at the middle, the bare skin at the base yellow, as is the gular sac. Upper part of the head and hind neck brownish-black; the back greenish-black, its fore part, the scapulars and the wing-coverts brownish-grey, the feathers edged with greenish-black, and an outer margin of brownish-white, most conspicuous on the secondary coverts; the quills brownish-black, the secondaries tinged with grey on the outer edge; the tail greyish-black, the shafts greyish-blue. Upper part of the throat brownish-white; the rest of the neck greyish-white, mixed with brown; the breast and abdomen white, the sides greenish-black; the lower surface of the wings dusky; the lower tail-coverts greyish-brown, the feathers before them brownish-black. The feet greyish-black; the inner edge of the middle claws very slightly pectinated. The foot, when stretched to its full extent, measures, from the tip of the first to that of the fourth claw, 5 10/12 inches.
The tongue is oblong, carinate above, 7/12 long, 3/12 broad. The palatal slit or aperture of the posterior nares is linear, 1 2/12 long, with a soft flap on each side. The mouth is 1 5/12 wide; the bill 3 1/4 along the back, 4 along the edge of lower mandible. The aperture of the ear is circular, only half a line in diameter.
On blowing into the posterior nares no air passes. The internal cavities are separated by a longitudinal membranous dissepiment; each cavity is transversely divided by a membranous partition, but neither of the chambers thus formed has any external communication by the mandible. The lachrymal duct, which is wide, passes obliquely forward and downward into the anterior cavity. On gradually slicing the horny covering of the mandible over the place where the nostril ought to be, its position is found clearly defined, there being a slight discontinuity of the bone at that part; but on cutting farther all traces disappear, the original aperture being closed by ossification.