SHAG 5 



SHAG. Phalacrocorax graculus (Linnaeus). 



Coloured Figures. Gould, 'Birds of Great Britain,' vol. v, pi. 

 53 ; Dresser, ' Birds of Europe,' vol. vi, pi. 389 ; Lilford, 

 ' Coloured Figures,' vol. vii, pi. 2. 



The Shag is essentially a sea-bird and is more abundant 

 than the Cormorant along those portions of the wild rocky 

 coasts of Ireland and Scotland which are washed by the 

 Atlantic ; its numbers exceed those of the last species also 

 along the south-western sea-board of England and Wales. 



The Shag, unlike the Cormorant, seldom alights on 

 sand-flats at ebb-tide in company with hosts of wading- 

 birds and gulls, or on gunwalls, piers, poles, lighthouses, or 

 buoys. Its favourite perch is a massive rugged rock, jutting 

 out of the sea, at no great distance from the land. Here, 

 one or several of its own kind, accompanied by a Great 

 Black-backed Gull, a small detachment of Oyster-catchers, 

 and a Hooded Crow or tw r o, form a familiar and interesting 

 feature of bird-life on the wild desolate coast. 



The Shag is one of the hardiest of sea-birds ; it will 

 keep to the water during a raging gale, until driven by tide 

 and tempest almost on to the rocks. Then it will rise clear 

 of the great rolling billows, and, through blinding showers 

 of spray and foam, will wing its way to a wave-swept 

 cavern in the beetling cliff. Numbers of immature Shags 

 congregate in autumn, on the flat-topped grass-covered 

 rocky islands, where they can usually be approached quite 

 closely in a boat. They may be seen standing upright 

 in a line, like so many soldiers, until the alarm is given, 

 when they all take to the water ; there they alternately dive 

 and swim until they have reached a safe distance from the 

 spectator. As in the case of the Cormorant, the greater part 

 of the body of the Shag is under water when it is swimming. 

 Thus when several are met with on the water, it is their 

 long and slender necks, resembling a number of upright 

 sticks, which first attract attention. 



Food. The Shag feeds on sea-fish, in search of which 

 it is capable of descending to a great depth, at times 

 even to the sea-bottom. Its mode of progression under 

 water is identical with that of the Cormorant, and both 

 species when about to descend, at first rise slightly in the 

 water, and then plunge, head-foremost, with tightly closed 

 wings. The path pursued by both Shag and Cormorant 

 under water, appears to be one of almost vertical descent ; 



