SHAG. 659 



both iu material and smell. 1 found two young ones, very recently liatclied^ 

 the broken shell being close by ; they were naked, blind, and dark slate- 

 coloured. The Shag is much more common heie than the Cormorant. They 

 are clumsy in diving from the rocks, seeming to go into the Avater anyhow ; 

 one I saw plunge nearly tail first ! It Avould be hardly possible for an 

 ornithologist to have a finer boating-excursion, at least in Britain, than 

 that round Hoy Head in the breeding-season. 



"Next day I visited the island of Copinshay. Large flocks of Shags 

 were wending their way to this island, a flock of twenty or thirty, and then 

 a space, and then another tw^enty or thirty, and so on, all in a line like 

 Rooks returning to their roosting places. There were a few Cormorants, 

 which looked giants among the Shags, and generally flew higher than their 

 smaller relations. The Shag often flies close to the water, so close that 

 its shadow is exactly under it, and yet it never touches the water with its 

 wings. The flight is wonderfully steady and straight. When I arrived at 

 the island, I had the opportunity of seeing many Shags upon their nests. 

 One had two young birds, and all the others, where I was able to see the 

 eggs, contained two only. They not unfrequently have three eggs, and 

 Mr. Dunn had one nest taken this year with four eggs, which is very 

 unusual. I Avas amused with watching the gambols of the immature Shags 

 and others not occupied on their nests. The ledges of Copinshay slope 

 downwards to the sea and seem to be singularly ill adapted for the 

 breeding-places of Guillemots, though so largely used by these birds. It 

 is pitiable, when startled by the sudden discharge of a gun, to see quite a 

 continuous shower of Guillemots^ eggs fall into the sea. On one of 

 these slippery ledges I watched a row of Shags, mostly immature. If 

 another bii'd attempted to alight, he was generally pushed off again without 

 ceremony : this was no difficult matter before he got a firm footing; but 

 if he managed to withstand the first charge, he would probably have to 

 encounter a second attack from two or three more birds on the ledffe 

 before being allowed to take up a position in peace. Two of them amused 

 their small minds by fighting for the possession of a bit of stick, which 

 neither in the least wanted ; but each seized hold of an end and pulled 

 lustily for possession, letting the stick drop unheeded as soon as the little 

 game was over. How very like to some bipeds of higher organization ! " 



The eggs of the Shag, from three to four in number *, do not difi'er in 

 any respect from those of the Cormorant, except that they are slightly 

 smaller. They vary in length from 2'6 to 2'3 inch, and in breadth from 

 1"6 to 1*4 inch. The Shag often begins to sit on its eggs as soon as they 

 are laid, so that young birds and nearly fresh eggs may be observed in the 

 nest together. The female, it is said, performs the task of incubation. 

 The yoimg are carefully tended by their parents, being fed with half-digested 

 * CoUett says that as many as eight eggs are occasionally found. 



