SHAG 347 



gullets, an instance having been recently recorded where a three-quarter- 

 grown cormorant was choked by one of these fishes. 



One of the favourite British nesting-resorts of the cormorant is the 

 Fame Islands, off the Northumberland coast. Here the exceedingly 

 evil-smelling and filthy nesting-colony is situated on a low reef not 

 more than about a dozen feet above high-water mark on its highest 

 side. The huge nests of seaweeds, plant-stems and turf are situated 

 on ground almost bare of vegetation ; and receive their complement of 

 elongated pale-green eggs towards the latter part of March or early in 

 April. The period of incubation appears to be about four weeks ; and 

 both birds take their turn at brooding. This, by the way, may suggest 

 that the assumption of a special breeding-plumage by both sexes may 

 have some connection with the sharing of the duties of incubation. 

 When in the nest, the eggs are so thickly coated with a layer of chalk 

 and filth that their true colour is more or less completely concealed. 

 In Great Britain the number of eggs is given by one writer as two or 

 three, and by a second as three or four ; but in India the number is 

 said to range from four to six, or even seven. From 2^ to 2^ inches 

 is the usual length of the eggs, which are only a little over i^ inches 

 in width. 



Shag- ^'^ smaller bird than the cormorant, the shag, or 



(Phalaeroeorax b^'een cormorant, does not exceed 30 inches in 

 eraculus) length, and weighs from 5 to 6 lbs. It is, however, 



more specially distinguished by having only twelve 

 tail-feathers. In the breeding-plumage, worn from February to Ma\'. 

 the head is ornamented with a partially erect crest ; in colour the 

 plumage of the head, neck, and under-parts is dark bottle-green with 

 reflections of bronzy green, while the feathers of the back, together with 

 the scapulars and wing-coverts, disj^lay the same tints, but are bordered 

 with velvety black ; the gape and interior of the mouth are orange- 

 yellow ; the bare skin of the throat is black with yellow spots, and the 

 eye emerald-green. The orange-yellow of the mouth presents an 

 analogy with the glistening white of that of the sperm-whale, which is 

 known to act as a lure in attracting fishes to their doom ; and one 

 cannot help wondering whether the same may hold good in the case 

 of the shag. At the close of the breeding-season the head-crest 

 disappears, and the feathers surrounding the bare throat-patch are 

 replaced by white ones. In young shags the feathers of the upper- 

 parts are brown, darker on the edges than elsewhere, glossed with 

 green ; while those of the lower surface of the body are brownish ash 



