PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 355 



The sexes are alike, and there is a slight seasonal change of plumage. (PI. 1 7 1 . ) Length 

 26 in. [660 mm.]. The almost black plumage is glossed with a metallic oil-green. In 

 the spring a recurved frontal crest is developed, but this is lost as soon as incubation 

 begins. There is no white thigh-patch, nor do filoplumes appear in the neck as in 

 the cormorant. The gular pouch is black, spotted with yellow, and the inside of 

 the mouth and gape are orange-yellow ; the iris emerald-green ; and the tarsus and 

 toes are black. The juvenile plumage resembles that of the cormorant at the same 

 stage, but the wing-coverts are greyish brown with oil-green reflections, and the 

 breast is never white. The young in down are of a dark sooty brown, [w. P. P.] 



2. Distribution. The shag breeds locally on the rocky coasts of Great 

 Britain, but is absent from the south coast of England east of the Isle of Wight, and 

 also from the east of England, with the exception of a few pairs in Berwick and 

 Northumberland. On the east coast of Scotland it is not common, but on the west 

 side, as well as in the south-west of England, it outnumbers the cormorant. This is 

 also the case hi Ireland hi the north-west. Outside the British Isles and their out- 

 lying groups, it is also found hi the Faeroes and Iceland ; while on the Continent it 

 breeds on the coast of Norway to within the Arctic Circle, and along the Murman 

 coast of Russian Lapland. It is absent from the Baltic and the flat eastern shores 

 of the North Sea, but reappears in the Channel Isles and the Atlantic coasts of 

 France, Spain, Portugal, and Marocco ; but from the Straits of Gibraltar eastward 

 is replaced by the Mediterranean race. It is a resident species throughout its range. 

 [F. o. B. j.] 



3. Migration. Resident on many parts of the British coasts (see preceding 

 paragraph), and rather more generally distributed in whiter, although rarely occur- 

 ring inland at any season. No longer breeding hi Yorkshire, it is still known as a 

 bird of passage, while to Kent it is an irregular whiter wanderer : a very scarce 

 visitor to Dumfriesshire, but resident hi North Wales (cf. Nelson, B. of Yorks., 1907, 

 p. 379 ; Ticehurst, B. of Kent, 1909, p. 301 ; Gladstone, B. of Dumfries., 1910, p. 223 ; 

 and Forrest, Fauna of N. Wales, 1907, p. 251). A few breed on the east of Ireland, 

 but their numbers are increased hi winter : on the west it is always abundant, and 

 hi whiter flocks of great size sometimes of thousands are formed (cf. Ussher and 

 Warren, B. of Ireland, 1900, p. 154). [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. Although it will at times breed on a cliff ledge like 

 the cormorant or among boulders close to the shore, the shag shows a decided pre- 

 ference for sea-caves where available, and has never been known to breed at any 

 distance from the sea or hi trees. The materials of the nest are chiefly heather 



