AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 215 



August 3rd, 1894, and brought to Lilford alive on 

 6th, but only lived for a few days. 



In general habits the Shag much resembles the 

 Cormorant, and there is a certain similarity in the 

 plumage of the immature birds of the two species ; 

 but the present bird is always to be distinguished 

 from the Cormorant by its smaller size, and the fact 

 of wearing only twelve tail-feathers, whilst the Cor- 

 morant sports fourteen of these steering appendages. 

 The adult plumage of the two species differs suffi- 

 ciently to prevent any possibility of confusion, and the 

 crests borne by both (as a rule) for a few weeks in 

 spring and early summer are entu'ely different in 

 form and position, that of the Cormorant consisting 

 merely of an elongation of the feathers of the occiput, 

 whilst the Shag wears a veritable " top-knot " of 

 feathers springing from the forehead and curving 

 forward. I am much more intimately acquainted 

 with the present species in its native haunts than 

 with the Cormorant, though I can claim a certain 

 amount of familiarity with the latter bird ; the Shag 

 being by far the most abundant of the two in the 

 Mediterranean, where most of my " sea-faring " has 

 been done. For breeding purposes the present bird, 

 in my experience, certainly seems to perfer dark 

 caverns and crevices in sea-cliffs to the open ledges 

 on the cliff-face so frequently occupied by the 

 Cormorant, although I have occasionally found a 

 nest or two of Shag in these latter localities. On 

 firing a shot from a boat at the entrance of one of 

 these Shag-haunted sea-caves, during the breeding- 

 season, it is no uncommon thing to see several dozens 

 of the birds drop head foremost from the recesses 

 of the cave into the water, and dive out to sea under 



