SHAG 5 
SHAG. Phalacrocorax graculus (Linuzus). 
Coloured Figures.—Gould, ‘Birds of Great Britain,’ vol. v, pl. 
53; Dresser, ‘ Birds of Europe,’ vol. vi, pl. 389; Lilford, 
‘Coloured Figures,’ vol. vii, pl. 2. 
The Shag is essentially a sea-bird and is more abundant 
than the Cormorant along those portions of the wild rocky 
coasts of Ireland and Scotland which are washed by the 
Atlantic ; its numbers exceed those of the last species also 
along the south-western sea-board of Kngland and Wales. 
The Shag, unlike the Cormorant, seldom alights on 
sand-flats at ebb-tide in company with hosts of wading- 
birds and gulls, or on gunwalls, piers, poles, lighthouses, or 
buoys. Its favourite perch is a massive rugged rock, jutting 
out of the sea, at no great distance from the land. Here, 
one or several of its own kind, accompanied by a Great 
Black-backed Gull, a small detachment of Oyster-catchers, 
and a Hooded Crow or two, form a familar and interesting 
feature of bird-life on the wild desolate coast. 
The Shag is one of the hardiest of sea-birds; it will 
keep to the water during a raging gale, until driven by tide 
and tempest almost on to the rocks. Then it will rise clear 
of the great rolling billows, and, through blinding showers 
of spray and foam, will wing its way to a wave-swept 
cavern in the beetling cliff. Numbers of immature Shags 
congregate in autumn, on the flat-topped grass-covered 
rocky islands, where they can usually be approached quite 
closely in a boat. They may be seen standing upright 
in a line, like so many soldiers, until the alarm is given, 
when they all take to the water; there they alternately dive 
and swim until they have reached a safe distance from the 
spectator. As in thecase of the Cormorant, the greater part 
of the body of the Shag is under water when it is swimming. 
Thus when several are met with on the water, it is their 
long and slender necks, resembling a number of upright 
sticks, which first attract attention. 
Food.—The Shag feeds on sea-fish, in search of which 
it is capable of descending to a great depth, at times 
even to the sea-bottom. Its mode of progression under 
water is identical with that of the Cormorant, and both 
species when about to descend, at first rise slightly in the 
water, and then plunge, head-foremost, with tightly closed 
wings. The path pursued by both Shag and Cormorant 
under water, appears to be one of almost vertical descent ; 
