182 THE BIEDS OF OXFOEDSHIEE. 



^S 



THE COMMON" CORMORANT. 



Fhalacrocorax carho. 



The Cormorant is a rare occasional wanderer from the coast, 

 long ago noticed by Plot, who writes, — ' As for birds that have 

 casually flown hither, or come but at certain seasons of the 

 year, by naturalists stiled Aves migratoiia, besides Swalloics, 

 and some well known winter fowl ; The Cormorant has been 

 observed to come hither about Harvest time, whereof there was 

 one killed from St. Marie's steeple (tired with a long flight), 

 An. 1675, and another young one taken up in Arncot-field 

 fallen down in the corn, and brought me to Oxford^ [Natural 

 History of Oxfordshire^ It has been remarked that when the 

 Cormorant and the Shag, the next species to be treated 

 of, come inland, they often settle upon elevated positions, 

 such as church towers, tall chimneys, and the like, situations 

 most resembling their native rocks ; thus a correspondent of 

 the Yield (23rd November, 1880), mentions a Cormorant seen, 

 during a snowstorm, sitting on the steeple of Wheatley 

 Church. Examples have been shot on the water in Kirtling- 

 ton Park, in December, 1845 [Zoologist, p. 2624); at Ridge^s 

 Weir, on the Isis above Newbridge, many j^ears ago (Warner 

 M8^ ; and on Clattercote Reservoir, on the 7th November, 

 1879. ^. 



THE SHAG, OR GREEN" CORMORANT. 



Fhalacrocorax graculiis. 



The Shag is an accidental visitor from the coast, from 

 which it seldom wanders. One was shot on the Isis a few 

 years before 1849 [Zoologist, 2624), and another near Oxford, 

 which was afterwards presented to the Ashmolean Museum 

 [ib. 31 18). In December, 1880, a Shag was shot while sitting 

 on the ridge of a barn roof at Souldern. 



