The Zoologist— June, 1866. 245 



granite coast, so incessant and ceaseless that the sound is scarce 

 known, — the shag is like some evil spirit conning upon you from the 

 mist, his body looming tremendous in the fog. So near uill he fly at 

 these times that the sharp hissing of his wings is clearly audible, but 

 then, the poor fellow, how wildly he will stare, and twist his snake-like 

 neck from side to side, when he sees you, for he dreads man's 

 presence, and alas ! rightly, too. In his hurry to turn he will throw 

 himself upon one side nearly belly up, and then make away at right 

 angles to his former flight, casting furtive glances over his quick 

 beating wings. We go on a little further, and perhaps ten or more are 

 flying in a string about twelve yards in the air ; they pass over the 

 boat, with the feet stretched out beneath the tail, the wings beating 

 quickly, and then sailing with a light gliding flight, for the leader 

 proposes to fish, and gradually they fall to the Mater; the feet touch 

 first and then the body falls upon it, the wings beating three or four 

 times before closing. For some seconds they seem to rest ; one then 

 jumps out of the water and dives head foremost, the rest follow, and 

 an incessant diving is kept up, the birds gradually and unitedly fol- 

 lowing the same direction. Nothing can be more interesting than a 

 sight of this kind. They are now all beneath ; a i'ew good strokes 

 bring us into their midst : one pops up a yard from the boat, and is 

 down as quick as up ; another rises some yards distant, eyes us, dips 

 his bill in the water, utters his call note " go away," till all have risen 

 to the surfiace, and then, in an indiscriminate mass, they rise from the 

 water, making a tremendous commotion with their wings and feet (the 

 shag strikes the water with wings and feet for some yards before he gets 

 fairly on the wing). One has risen after all the rest had flown, with a 

 good sized " brame " (wrasse) in his mouth, and the poor hungry 

 fellow will not drop it to follow his companions, but makes fiuious 

 efforts to swallow it, dipping it in the water, shaking it, and bolting 

 at it, till at last he does succeed in getting it down, and shakes his 

 head with satisfaction. I have never known a shag to tear a fish, to 

 hold it in the foot, or to throw it up in the air and catch it head fore- 

 most, as some describe, though I know them in nature and confine- 

 ment: the fish is always bolted entire. "What a fiue crest that fellow 

 has ! " says Fred ; " shall we get him ? " " All right." " Pull a stroke 

 nearer." Quickly the little boat darts ahead, and the shot tears up the 

 water all around him : still he has dived, for no grains struck him in the 

 head or neck, or if they did were only skin wounds, and the back is 

 never pierced except the shooter is well above the bird. An Ely's 



