364 SHAG, OR GREEN CORMORANT. 



Westward of Iceland the Shag has not yet been found, and, 

 although it is common in the Faeroes and on the coast of Norway, 

 as well as on the islands along the Murman coast of Russian Lap- 

 land, it is scarcely known to enter the Baltic, and is rare on the 

 German shores of the North Sea. It breeds in the Channel 

 Islands, and along the Atlantic coasts of France, Spain, Portugal, 

 and Morocco ; while a somewhat brighter form, found throughout 

 the Mediterranean and known as F. des/iiaresti, does not appear to 

 me to be specifically distinct. 



The nest, formed of sea-weed and grass matted and plastered 

 together, and emitting a horribly frctid smell, is often placed in cliffs, 

 or among fallen rocks and large boulders ; but frequently it is on 

 a ledge near the roof of a cave, and so far in that the sitting bird 

 can scarcely be discerned amidst the gloom and spray-mist. The 

 3-4 eggs — like those of the Cormorant in colour and texture, but 

 smaller, and more variable in shape — are laid in April on our south- 

 west coasts, and Mr. Ussher has found young birds as early as the 

 14th of May; but in the north incubation is later. The nestlings, 

 at first bare and purplish-black in colour, are afterwards partially 

 covered with down, which is of a browner black than that of the young 

 Cormorant. The mode of feeding is identical in the two species. 

 The Shag lives principally upon sea-fish, for which it dives; the action 

 beginning with a spring out of the water ; and it has the power of 

 descending to a considerable depth, for it has been caught in a 

 crab-pot fixed at twenty fathoms below the surface. The note is 

 kroak, kraik, kroak. 



The adult has the bill black, the base of the under mandible and 

 inside of the mouth chrome-yellow, and the naked skin about the 

 gape black, thickly studded with small round yellow spots ; irides 

 green ; the forehead bears a crest which curves forward, assumed in 

 January and lost by the beginning of May ; crown, neck, and under 

 parts rich dark green with purple and bronze reflections ; feathers of 

 the mantle dark green with blackish margins ; quills and the twelve 

 tail-feathers black, as are also the legs, toes, and their membranes. 

 Length 27 in. ; wing io'75 in. The sexes are alike in plumage, but 

 the male is the larger. The young bird has a very slender bill, with 

 yellow lower mandible ; the upper parts brown, tinged with green ; 

 the under surface brownish-ash, mottled with brown. 



A male example of the American Darter, Plotus anhinga^ is said to 

 have been shot near Poole, Dorset, in June 1851, as recorded by 

 the Rev. A. C. Smith (Zool. [1852] p. 3601 fig. and p. 3654). 



