BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 243 



Eggs. — Six to nine, pale greyish-buff or yellowish- 

 white, sometimes slightly tinged with green, smooth 

 sm-faced. Size about '2' 5 by 1-78 in. 



Time. — May and June. 



Bemarls. — -A winter visitor principally. Is said 

 not to breed until it is two years old. Notes : call, a 

 grating Ixr-hr-Jcr. One authority represents the call- 

 note of the male' as tii-til-tii-til, and the response 

 of the female as re-re-re-re-re. Local and other 

 names : Black Duck, Black Scoter, Black Diver. 

 Sits closely, and covers its eggs when lea^dng 

 them voluntarily. 



SCOTER, BLACK. See Scoter, Common. 



SHAG. 



Description of Parent Birds. — Length about- 

 twenty-seven inches ; bill rather long, hooked at 

 the tip, and black. The gape extends behind the 

 line of the eye, and the naked skin about it is 

 black, spotted with chrome -j^ellow. Irides green, 

 The forehead bears a curved-forward kind of crest, 

 which makes its appearance early in the spring. 

 Head and neck, all round, rich dark green, glossed 

 with purple and bronze sheen ; back and wing- 

 coverts dark green, with a more intense margin of 

 the same colour round the border of each feather ; 

 wings and tail black ; breast, belly, and under-parts 

 generally the same as the head and neck ; legs, 

 toes, and claws black. 



The female resembles the male. 



Situation and Locality. — Crevices, fissures, and 

 caves in sea cliffs ; sometimes on ledges or amongst 



