344 OUR RARER BIRDS 



watch the Shag as the sun draws near the western horizon. 

 He swims along close inshore, and every now and then springs 

 almost out of the water, arches his long neck, and dives head 

 first into the sea. In a few moments he reappears with a 

 struggling fish, which often glitters like molten silver, in his 

 bill. This is swallowed as he floats upon the sea, and then 

 he swims along again, diving every few yards, but not always 

 returning with a fish. He wanders thus for a mile or more, 

 all the time not going twenty yards from land ; and you will 

 find that he rarely stays long where the beach is sandy, always 

 preferring the deep water near the rocks. Almost every 

 evening at St. Kilda I used to wander down to the rocky 

 shore to observe the habits of this dusky-feathered fisherman. 



The food of the Shag is composed of small fish, and the bird 

 often gorges itself to such an extent as to be unable or unwill- 

 ing to fly. Like the Gannet, the Shag never conveys a fish 

 to the rocks in its beak, but always swallows it and disgorges 

 it afterwards, to be eaten at leisure a fact which is proved 

 by the quantities of fish strewed about the nesting-place. 



The nesting season of the Shag is in May ; and from what 

 I can learn respecting the matter, I pronounce this bird to be 

 a life-paired species. Its breeding-places are confined to the 

 rocky coasts, where it usually selects some cave or rock fissure 

 in which to build its nest. Here, for instance, is a cave in the 

 sea-girt rocks, into which the water is ever dashing, filling the 

 place with a boom like thunder, and sending the spray in 

 showers far up the wet slippery sides. In this gloomy cavern 

 numbers of Shags are nesting, and as our boat is pulled under 

 the frowning entrance several sombre-coloured birds fly from 

 the darkness and speedily go out to sea. The dusky forms of 

 others may be seen on the ledges and shelves craning out 

 their long necks and swaying their bodies from side to side, 

 as if undecided whether to take wing at once or stay and 

 guard their treasures. One by one they quit the rocks, how- 



