320 ANSERES. PELECANID.E. 



ately long, the third quill the longest; the tail 

 stiff and rigid. 



These voracious birds are of dark, but often 

 rich colours, they undergo a seasonal change of 

 plumage, and the young differ from the adults. 

 In winter they perform a partial migration inland 

 to the lakes or rivers ; they habitually perch on 

 trees, or sit on the ledges of precipitous sea-ward 

 rocks, on which they make large nests and breed. 

 They are susceptible of domestication, and in 

 some countries still, as in our own formerly, are 

 trained to catch and bring in fish. 



The Green Cormorant, or Shag (Phalacracorax 

 cristatus, STEPH.), is abundantly t distributed around 

 the British coast, and that of the north of Eu- 

 rope : it was also found at the Cape of Good 

 Hope by Dr. A. Smith. The adult male in his 

 winter dress has the whole plumage of a rich, 

 dark, and lustrous green ; the upper parts finely 

 bronzed, and each feather margined with a border 

 of fine velvety black ; the tail is of a dead black ; 

 the base of the beak and small throat-pouch are 

 of a fine yellow hue ; the iris of the eye clear 

 green. During the spring a fine tuft or crest of 

 wide and outspread feathers, about an inch and a 

 half high, capable of erection, rises from the crown 

 and hind head, which is lost after the breeding 

 season. 



The habits of the Shag are decidedly maritime : 

 it rarely quits the sea to follow the course of a 

 river, nor does it perch on trees, like the other 

 Cormorants. It makes a large nest, composed of 

 sea-weed, in the fissures, and on the ledges of 

 rocks ; many associating together ; Col. Montagu 

 says he has seen thirty nests close together on a 



