Abstract

The previously acknowledged first British record of ‘Continental Cormorant’ Phalacrocorax carbo sinensisconcerned a specimen from Christchurch, Dorset, in February 1873. Upon review, the specimen was reidentified as being of the nominate form P. c. carbo. A specimen from Orkney in March 1873 meets the recognised criteria for P. c. sinensis and becomes the first British record of this subspecies.Introduction One part of the remit of the British Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee (BOURC) in administering the British List is to determine, where possible, the first accepted records of species and subspecies in Britain. Such determinations are published in the British List as part of the formal record.