152 PELECANID^. 



It is also common to find the crested mature birds asso- 

 ciating and breeding in one locality, and the non-crested 

 immature birds congregating, but not breeding, in another. 



The Shag is essentially a marine species, very seldom 

 wandering even for a short distance inland, or being found 

 on fresh water. Thompson cites two exceptional occurrences 

 where exhausted individuals were captured twenty and thirty 

 miles from the sea. It is more local than the Common 

 Cormorant ; its favourite haunts being rugged coasts, honey- 

 combed with caves ; or islands, margined with fallen rocks 

 and large boulders, amongst which it often makes its nest. 

 It also selects ledges in the cliffs, like its larger congener ; 

 but it shows a distinct partiality for caves ; the nests being 

 frequently placed on ledges near the summit, and so far 

 in that the sitting birds can scarcely be discerned amidst 

 the gloom. In such situations, which predominate on the 

 west coast of Scotland and its islands, and along a great 

 extent of Ireland, the Shag is, on the whole, the more 

 abundant of the two species. It is well to remember that 

 by fishermen and sea-side folk the names ' Shag ' and 

 * Cormorant ' are frequently interchanged. 



The range of the Shag is far more restricted than that of 

 the Common Cormorant, and westward it does not appear 

 to extend beyond Iceland. The species is common in the 

 Faeroes, and on the coast of Norway ; but it is scarcely 

 known to enter the Baltic, and it appears to be rare on the 

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

 Islands and along the north-west and western coasts of 

 France ; also on the Atlantic coast of Spain and Portugal, 

 and in north-west Morocco. Throughout the Mediterranean 

 is found a form with generally brighter colours, which has 

 been distinguished by the specific name of P. dcsmaresti, 

 and is said to have no crest at any season of the year ; but 

 such is not the Editor's experience, nor does he consider 

 the species a valid one. In South Africa is found a closely 

 allied sjiecies, 1\ caiiensis. 



Shags pair early in April, and the nest is formed of sea- 

 weeds, twigs, and grass, matted and plastered together, and 



