280 BY THE DEEP SEA. 



resting-places whither the Cormorant and Shag repair to eat 

 and digest the fish they have just captured, two or three miles 

 further along the coast it may be. Similarly you may always 

 tell the situation of their nests on the high ledges of the cliffs, 

 though from the shore no part of the nest itself may be seen : 

 but the streaks of white-wash splashed far down the precipice 

 have only to be followed upward with the eye, and they will 

 b3 seen to end just below a narrow shelf. Upon that shelf 

 the rough nest is placed, and in it lie the four or five bluish- 

 green eggs that afterwards become coated with a white crust. 

 The colouring of the adult is more or less green, with patches 

 of white on the neck and the outer part of the thighs. In 

 winter these white patches become less conspicuous, and the 

 green of its upper parts changes to a rusty black. 



The Shag, Green Cormorant, Crested Cormorant, or 

 Crested Shag, may be distinguished from the other species 

 by its entire green colour and its smaller size. This difference 

 in measurements, etc., may be put into a readily-seen form 

 thus : 



BILL WING TAIL FEATHERS EGGS 



P. carbo. 4! to 5 ins. 14^ ins. 14 4 to 6 



P.graculus 3^ 10 12 3 5 



The two species are very similar in their habits, watching 

 for fish from their favourite rock, and when their prey is seen 

 diving after it. Sometimes they skim the waters and suddenly 

 dive in after fish seen through the water. 



Our other British Pelican is the Gannet or Solan Goose 

 (Sula bassand), whose breeding-places are restricted to certain 

 islets off the north-western coasts, such as the Bass Rock, Ailsa 

 Craig, and some of the jutting headlands of the Hebrides, 

 where they build extensive nests of dry grass, seaweed, and 

 anything else that happens to be handy when they are 

 building. On this they lay their solitary white egg, which 

 must be described as small in proportion to the bird, and 



