SHAG. J 53 



emitting a horribly foetid smell. In this country eggs up 

 to five in number are frequently found ; but, according to 

 Mr. Dresser, Mr. Collett says that occasionally as many as 

 eight eggs have been found in the same nest in the north of 

 Norway, where the species breeds in large numbers, in com- 

 pany with Eiders, Kittiwakes, and other sea-birds, though 

 seldom with the Cormorants. The eggs, which are laid from 

 May to June, are pale blue encrusted with chalky white, like 

 those of the Cormorant, and are subject to considerable 

 variation in shape, some being roundish, others pointed at 

 one end, whilst some are long and narrow ; average mea- 

 surements 2*4 by 1*4. Mr. Chichester Hart says that in 

 one nest of the Shag he found an egg nearly fresh, a young 

 bird just hatched, and another apparently about a week old. 

 The young nestlings are bare and of a purplish-black colour ; 

 afterwards they are covered, excepting the head, part of the 

 neck and the abdomen, with brownish-black down. As 

 observed by Mr. Harting on the Dorsetshire cliffs (Zool. 

 p. 9676), they feed themselves from the crop of the parent, 

 like the Cormorants. 



Shags live principally on sea-fish, in pursuit of which 

 they exhibit all the skill of their congener, and have a simi- 

 lar serrated claw, but as neither of them are observed to 

 attempt to catch, or to hold fish with their feet, it would 

 seem that their serrated claw is not used to enable them to 

 retain a slippery prey ; while from some remains of down 

 and feather found adhering to the serrations in one of the 

 Bitterns, it would rather appear that the pectinated claw 

 was used to dress and arrange the plumage, and to free the 

 bird from parasites. The Shag has been caught in a crab- 

 pot fixed at twenty fathoms below the surface, which will 

 give an idea of the distance to which it dives. Its mode of 

 diving is by a spring out of the water ; and it has been 

 stated that neither this species nor the Common Cormorant 

 use their wings under water, but propel themselves entirely 

 by their feet ; this, however, is denied by Macgillivray, who 

 says that in deep water he has frequently seen the Shags 

 rapidly wending their way under the boat, using their out- 



VOL. IV. X 



