SHAG. 



STEGANOPODES. 



151 

 PELECANIDjE. 



Phalacrocorax graculus (Linnaeus*). 



THE SHAG, OR GREEN CORMORANT. 



Phalacrocorax graculus. 



The Shag, also known as the Scart, or Crested Cormorant, 

 is immediately distinguished from the Common Cormorant, 

 when adult, by its prevailing green colour, as well as its 

 smaller size, and the young birds, which are more alike in 

 colour, may always be recognized by the tail-feathers, which 

 are only twelve in the present species, whereas in the Com- 

 mon Cormorant they are fourteen in number. The matured 

 Cormorant and the Shag both wear crests in spring, but 

 neither of them have a crest in winter, while the immature 

 birds of both these species have no crest at either season. 



* Pelecanus Oraculus, Linnreus, Syst. Nat. EJ. 12, i. p. 217 (1766). 



