SHAG. 353 



Swan. This same curve is seen v/hen the bird is swimming, 

 though the bill is carried pointing up at an angle ; the body "is 

 often awash. When the bird rises to the surface after a dive it 

 frequently raises the head and neck, looking round cautiously, 

 before exposing the whole back ; if it suspects danger it at once 

 dives again, but without the graceful curving leap out of the 

 water. It leaves the water with some difficulty, splashing with 

 its wings and feet, but when once on the wing flies with steady 

 beats close to the surface. Fish of various kinds are captured by 

 speed under water, the method of progression being the same 

 as in the Cormorant. It is voracious and will kill and devour 

 large-sized fish. I saw one struggle with an eel which was 

 thicker than its neck and considerably longer than its body ; it 

 held it by the head and shook it savagely, though the fish 

 twisted round its neck and body. Unfortunately it sighted me 

 and dropped its prey, so that I cannot say how the contest 

 would have ended. 



The Shag is a gregarious nester, building at times on clifif 

 ledges but usually in wave-washed caves. The nests are built 

 of wet, rotting and malodorous seaweed ; the eggs, two to five 

 in number, resemble those of the Cormorant except in size, 

 and are like them, blue beneath their rough chalky covering. 

 The sitting birds are difficult to dislodge ; they sit on the 

 ledges, swinging their heads from side to side if approached, 

 and croak dismally. April is the usual month for eggs, but 

 second broods are common. The young in their sooty brown 

 down, after their naked stage, are quaint little objects 

 (Plate 154). 



The adult is glossy oil-green, darkest on the head and neck ; 

 the black gular pouch is spotted with yellow, and the skin at 

 the base of the bill varies from chrome yellow to orange. The 

 bill is black, paler on the under mandible and yellow at the 

 gape ; the legs are black, the irides emerald green. In the first 

 plumage the general colour is brown above and white beneath 



Se7-ies I. 2 A 



