SHAG. 659 



both in material and smell. I found two young ones, very recently hatched, 

 the broken shell being close by ; they were naked, blind, and dark slate- 

 coloured. The Shag is much more common hei e than the Cormorant. They 

 are clumsy in diving from the rocks, seeming to go into the water anyhow ; 

 one I saw plunge nearly tail first ! It would be hardly possible for an 

 ornithologist to have a finer boating-excursion, at least in Britain, than 

 that round Hoy Head in the breeding-season. 



" Next day I visited the island of Copiushay. Large flocks of Shags 



were wending their way to this island, a flock of twenty or thirty, and then 



a space, and then another twenty or thirty, and so on, all in a line like 



Rooks returning to their roosting- places. There were a few Cormorants, 



which looked giants among the Shags, and generally flew higher than their 



smaller relations. The Shag often flies close to the water, so close that 



its shadow is exactly under it, and yet it never touches the water with its 



wings. The flight is wonderfully steady and straight. When I arrived at 



the island, I had the opportunity of seeing many Shags upon their nests. 



One had two young birds, and all the others, where I was able to see the 



eggs, contained two only. They not unfrequently have three eggs, and 



Mr. Dunn had one nest taken this year with four eggs, which is very 



unusual. I was amused with watching the gambols of the immature Shags 



and others not occupied on their nests. The ledges of Copinshay slope 



downwards to the sea and seem to be singularly ill adapted for the 



breeding-places of Guillemots, though so largely used by these birds. It 



is pitiable, when startled by the sudden discharge of a gun, to see quite a 



continuous shower of Guillemots' eggs fall into the sea. On one of 



these slippery ledges I watched a row of Shags, mostly immature. If 



another bird attempted to alight, he was generally pushed off again without 



ceremony : this was no difficult matter before he got a firm footing; but 



if he managed to withstand the first charge, he would probably have to 



encounter a second attack from two or three more birds on the ledge 



before being allowed to take up a position in peace. Two of them amused 



their small minds by fighting for the possession of a bit of stick, which 



neither in the least wanted ; but each seized hold of an end and pulled 



lustily for possession, letting the stick drop unheeded as soon as the little 



game was over. How very like to some bipeds of higher organization ! " 



The eggs of the Shag, from three to four in number *, do not differ in 

 any respect from those of the Cormorant, except that they are slightly 

 smaller. They vary in length from 2'6 to 2*3 inch, and in breadth from 

 1'6 to 1'4 inch. The Shag often begins to sit on its eggs as soon as they 

 are laid, so that young birds and nearly fresh eggs may be observed in the 

 nest together. The female, it is said, performs the task of incubation. 

 The young are carefully tended by their parents, being fed with half-digested 

 * Collett says that as many as eight eggs are occasionally found. 



