SHAG. 



STEGANOPODES. 



151 



PELECANlDAf. 



^ 





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, b}^ 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 Graculus, Linnseus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 217 (1766). 



