The Birds of Pembrokeshire. 59 
the waves. Being unable to make out what it really was, and at 
first thinking it might be one of the bathers in danger, he took a 
boat and went out. Before reaching the object he saw it was a 
large bird, that appeared to be using every effort to rise from the 
water, and yet was unable to do so, its head being held down by 
some unseen weight. With a little trouble he secured the bird, 
and brought it to shore alive. It proved to be an adult Cor- 
morant, weighing between 71% and 734 lbs., and attached to its 
lower mandible was a large oyster ; which was afterwards found to 
weigh between 9 and 10 oz. When the bird was brought me it 
was dead, but the oyster was still attached. It held to about an 
inch of the lower mandible, which in the bird’s fearful struggles to 
get free had broken off short, the only attachment between it and 
the bird being the skin of the throat, which had twisted up like 
a piece of catgut. The Cormorant, when diving for food, must 
have seized the open oyster, which closed on the bill. The bird 
was buoyant enough to bring the oyster to the surface, but was 
unable to rise from the water, and must eventually have been 
drowned, as it could with difficulty keep its head above the 
surface. Mr. A. K. Cunninghame, of Bath, who was on the 
shore at the time, purchased the bird from the man who obtained 
it, and brought it to me to set up.” 
SHAG, Pialacrocorax graculus—A common resident; perhaps, 
even more numerous than the Cormorant. There are small 
colonies on St. Margaret’s Island, and on the Channel side of 
Caldy Island, near Tenby; on Skomer and Ramsey Islands, and 
at various places on the coast. Mr. Dix, who paid a visit to the 
Stack Rocks to see the enormous numbers of Guillemots that 
frequent them in the summer, states that on the west side of the 
Great Stack is a cave, in which Shags breed in safety, as it is 
perfectly inaccessible. 
GANNET, Sw/a bassana.— Resident; only on Grasholm. The 
Pembrokeshire Gannets are supposed to be a colony from 
Lundy Island, whence the birds were driven by the continued 
persecution they sustained at the hands of the channel pilots, 
