244 The Zoologist — June, 1866. 



in their younger years, and as to naming the age of a young bird it is 

 quite a mystery to them. 



These men, book and cabinet naturalists, of course, pooh ! poohed! 

 the subject, and quite agreed that the plumages were so various as to 

 be needless to describe, devoid of all interest, or, in fact, of no conse- 

 quence to know. Now the plumages of the sea-fowl are not so very 

 various ; true they are generally three years in attaining the mature 

 dress, but then each spring and autumn brings its changes as regidarly 

 as the birth and death of the leaf, and, if birds can be procured at the 

 desired times, link fits link without any difficulty ; but many a weary 

 month and year may be spent in search of one link, till the subject is 

 almost thought hopeless by any but the stubborn votary of Nature, 

 who forces Dame Fortune to give up her treasures, not the less sweet 

 for their difficulty in attaining. That the subject is of little conse- 

 quence may have two parties, one for and one against, yet I know 

 where the true ornithologist will place himself, and will agree with me 

 that a knowledge of a bird's immature plumage, and the lime it 

 remains iuunalure, is of just as much consequence as a knowledge of 

 the adult dress. The great men of Ornithology, who know the names 

 of thousands of foreign birds (skins, perhaps 1 should say) may smile with 

 their confreres at the humble aspirations of the British naturalist who 

 likes to know all that he can of the habits of the birds of his native 

 land. I would say to those who may have met, perhaps, o])positiou 

 and slight on the subject, that if their lives were twice ten hundred 

 they would have still to learn from the birds of their own dear country, 

 and also I would tell them to try and find out little things, and never 

 to let them be lost again if once found out, and never to despair. 



I am happy in being able to say that for tlie last few years I have 

 preserved many immature birds to illustrate these papers, and though 

 I may not at the present time be able to show every change, yet in a 

 year or two I hope to have perfect illustrations of any paper 1 write. 

 Every plumage is taken from the bird in the flesh, and shoidd I at any 

 tiu)o have occasion to use a foreign skin I shall mention it. 



Habits of the Shoe/. — The shag is both gregarious and solitary in 

 autunni, winter and spring; generally gregarious in summer, many 

 breeding in company'. With the dawn, along most of our rocky coasts, 

 the shag may be seen winging his way to some favourite rocky bottom 

 to fish (it prefers rocks to any other bottom). In the early twilight, 

 flying a foot above the water of a calm autumnal sea, — no soinid 

 breaking the stillness save the rippling of the water on the rugged 



