The Shag.'] OF ORKNEY. 147 



the throat, retires to some point where it sits till hunger com- 

 pels it to the water again. A female corvorant weighs seven 

 pounds and a half. 



Species 2. — The Shag. 



The Shag, called in the north of England the Crane, Wil. Orn. 330. Corvus 

 aquaticus minor, Graculus palmipes dictus, Rait Syn. Av. 123. Pelecanus 

 graculus, Lin. Stjs. 217. Brit. Zool. 478, Brit. Zool.lllus. tab. 25. Ore. 

 Scarf. 



The general appearance of this bird is the same with the 

 former, only it is much less in every proportion, and this has 

 but twelve feathers in the tail. The whole bird is black *; the 

 back has a greenish cast ; the belly dusky ; in females and 

 young birds the whole body is of a dusky brownish black ; 

 the legs are black. 



The manners, the haunts, and every part of the history of 

 these two birds is the same, but the shags are much more nu- 

 merous : I have observed sometimes five hundred in a flock, 

 especially where they had fallen in among a school or shoal 

 of small fish. 



They build like the former in the rocks, making a large 

 nest of tang, and lining with softer materials ; lay from four 



* There is a variety in Orkney pretty frequent, with a white belly; in other par- 

 ticulars, as far as I can observe, not different from the former. A grown scarf 

 weighs four pounds. 



