38o THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



under the heading of " Shag," he stated that, at Flamborough 

 Head, " this variety with a crest is very rare." 

 Thomas Allis, in 1844, wrote : — 



Phalacrocorax cristatus. — Shag or Green Cormorant — A. Strickland 

 reports that " This bird used, some years ago, to breed in considerable 

 numbers on the rocks off Flamborough, but now seems quite banished 

 from there ; I do not believe a single pair is now to be found there." 



This bird, sometimes called the Crested Cormorant, is 

 not so abundant as the preceding, and, though it formerly 

 nested on the Yorkshire cliffs, it is now but a periodical 

 visitant on its passage to and from its breeding quarters. 

 The allusion contained in Pennant's " British Zoology," 

 quoted above, shows that the Shag was not unknown to that 

 author in 1770. Bewick's figure was drawn from a specimen 

 belonging to Marmaduke Tunstall, who had a Crested 

 Cormorant out of Holderness in 1775, which was full of eggs 

 (Fox's " Synopsis," p. 100). Charles Waterton, in his " Essays 

 on Natural History " (p. 408), stated that it inhabited Rain- 

 cliffe ; Arthur Strickland also referred to it as formerly 

 breeding in considerable numbers at Flamborough, but there 

 is no evidence that it has done so, except in isolated instances, 

 within the memory of living man. Odd pairs visit the cliffs 

 in spring, and would, doubtless, breed if unmolested ; their 

 latest appearance at this period was in 1892 when two birds 

 arrived, but they were promptly " acquired " by the fisher- 

 men. At Kettleness, in 1878, J. Kitching saw a pair flying 

 in and out below the Great Cormorants' nesting colony, and 

 lower down than the Herring Gulls' ledges, which points to 

 the possibility of their having nested there. 



With reference to its connection with Cleveland, J. Hogg 

 {Zool. 1845, p. 1 1 81), mentioned the Shag as " Common 

 on our rocky coast " ; though my experience leads me to 

 believe that, generally speaking, the bird is rare on the York- 

 shire seaboard. In the Redcar district I have known only 

 four occurrences, viz., in the winter of 1874 ; on 14th February 

 1889 ; on loth January 1896, three being seen and two killed 

 near Coatham Pier ; and on 4th February 1905, when one 

 was reported from the Teesmouth. At Whitby a specimen is 



