96 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vn. 



circumstances, and did not nest till the snows of the Alps 

 and Carpathians had melted and flooded the country 

 round the breeding-place. However, when I visited the 

 same district at the beginning of April, 1910, hundreds 

 of birds were sitting on eggs, which varied in number 

 from one or two to six, and by April 29th many young 

 were already hatched. Where the nests had been robbed 

 by the peasants fresh eggs were still obtainable nearly 

 a month later, and probably some birds would still be 

 breeding in June. On the whole it is evident that the 

 breeding-season of the Cormorant is very regular, varying 

 normally from the end of March and early April in southern 

 Europe to the latter part of April and early May in 

 England and Ireland, and shghtly later in Scotland, 

 while in the Shetlands it breeds from mid-May onwards. 

 Although Dixon and others describe it as single-brooded, 

 there seems no doubt that in some locahties at any rate 

 two broods are reared. The number of eggs in the 

 clutch varies considerably. In some northern districts 

 three is the normal clutch, and a set of four is exceptional, 

 but both Mr. Ussher and I have frequently met with sets 

 of five in Ireland, where four is the usual number, and 

 they have also been recorded from the EngHsh, Welsh, 

 and Scotch coasts on many occasions. Mr. H. E. Forrest 

 (Fauna of N. Wales, p. 250) states that six have been 

 recorded ; Mr. G. Bolam [Birds of Northumberland, etc., 

 p. 311) mentions two clutches of six each and several 

 of five on the Megs tone in 1908 ; I have seen a clutch 

 of six taken from the Yorkshire coast, and found one in 

 Roumania in 1910, all of which were remarkably small, 

 and undoubtedly laid by the same ])ird. 



The Shag, Phalacrocorax graculus graculus (L.). 



The Shag is strictly marine in its habits, unlike the 

 Cormorant, and though it far outnumbers the Cormorant 

 in the north and west of the British Isles, is absent from 

 the south-east and eastern coasts of England as a breeding 

 species. No inland breeding-places exist. As a nesting 



