Vol. VIII, 



J Stead, The Black Cormorant in New Zealand. ^3 



me, and see what good fishing I have." Off together they went, 

 and settled out at sea. " Fish," said the sea Shag. " No," 

 repHed the other, " I have come to watch you fish." Down went 

 the sea Shag, and presently came up with a schnapper. 

 " Swallow it," said the land bird. His acquaintance did so, 

 taking the fish head first. " Now disgorge it." The sea Shag 

 made the attempt, but the spiny dorsal fin of the fish stuck in 

 his throat and he was choked to death. The onlooking sea 

 birds realized from this incident that the land birds had better 

 feeding grounds, and thus came about the battle between them. 



The same objections as apply to the schnapper also apply in 

 a lesser degree to trout as a form of diet. 



The Black Shag breeds in colonies, usually in trees or on 

 cliffs overhanging the water, but often at a considerable distance 

 from its feeding grounds. The young do not, unless disturbed, 

 leave the nest until they are well able to fly, which is about six 

 weeks after they are hatched. During this period they are fed 

 by regurgitation by both parents. At first this requires no 

 especial effort, the old birds delivering a small quantity of wholly 

 digested food to the young. Gradually, however, as the off- 

 spring grow and their appetites increase, the old birds present 

 their food in a less and less digested condition, at the last giving 

 it up quite whole. Here is where the eel is most appreciated 

 over the trout as a form of diet, the greater quantity which can 

 be carried at a time and the marvellous ease with which it can 

 be disgorged making it practically the staple nourishment of the 

 young Shags in districts where it can be obtained. Nor is the 

 presence of dead small trout in Shags' nests to be taken as a 

 refutation of this argument, but rather in support of it. The old 

 birds always swallow their prey head first. Thus a fish which is 

 too long to be turned inside the bird has to be taken by the 

 young bird tail first and swallowed that way. In the 

 case of an eel this would make little or no difference, but 

 with a trout it would, more especially if the parent, as 

 it naturally desires to do, brings large fish to the nest. 

 The result is that the fish, jamming in the young bird's throat, is 

 rejected. As an example I would take the colony of Black 

 Shags on the cliffs beyond Lake Forsyth. These birds largely 

 use as their feeding ground Lakes Forsyth and Ellesmere. 

 Arriving on the latter lake at the earliest streak of dawn, they 

 immediately begin to fish in the shallows at the mouths of the 

 streams that flow into it, or in the comparatively shallow water 

 along the shores. Eels, common as they are throughout the 

 whole lake, absolutely swarm in these particular places, and the 

 relative number of eels to trout taken in these localities would 

 be, I should think, at least 50 to i. I may be wrong, but it 

 seems to me that there are many more eels at the mouth of 

 the Selwyn now than there were ten years ago when I first 



