4016 The Zoologist — June, 1874. 



of the clamour and bickering that often marks the state of living 

 where multitudes congregate. With these assembUes life passes in 

 alternate periods of restless activity and restorative repose; birds 

 fly from one favourite fishing-ground to another, usually at a low 

 elevation, keeping just above the curl of the wave; in these short 

 trips the flight seems more direct, and the aim more decided, as to 

 the point to be reached, than in the case of its congener, P. Carbo. 

 If disturbed, as by a boat, it often, after taking wing, makes a 

 circuit; sometimes this tour is repeated twice or thrice, never at a 

 great height : this habit is so much a matter of course that we have 

 often observed people calling out, " come back, come back," under 

 the notion that the flip-flap will sail round once more. At the 

 fishing-ground its wonderful powers of diving insure an ample food 

 supply, and its take of fish must be astonishingly great, as a half- 

 pound moki is soon engulfed in its capacious throat. Not content 

 with exploring the deeps that wash the coast, it follows shoals of 

 fish up the smoother waters of the harbours; in calm autumn days, 

 often have we watched the still waters of our shallow bays flash 

 with the swift motions of the flip-flap. Sometimes a solitary fisher 

 may be noticed cruising about; when diving no particular course 

 appears to be taken, but only the fish pursued, as one may guess 

 from noting the places where the bird reappears after diving. When 

 the shag's wants are supplied, and its voracity appears almost 

 insatiable, it seeks the rocky shore or cliff", and basks on the sunlit 

 crags till its rapid digestion relieves it from temporary repletion, 

 and it is once more ready for sea; when on the rocks it may be 

 noticed drying its plumage, with outstretched wings, just in the 

 same manner as does P. Carbo. This shag swims low in the water; 

 the tail is kept about level with the surface, and appears to afford 

 great help to the bird when it essays to rise on the wing from the 

 water : this feat is accomplished by a slow ungraceful action, three 

 or four leaps or bounds being necessary, with the body held partly 

 upright, before it is fairly launched in flight. When perched, the 

 tail affords help in maintaining the almost perpendicular attitude 

 the bird then assumes, and it keeps its equilibrium on the steepest 

 cliff's as firmly as if supported by a self-adjusting tripod. 



The site of a nesting-place is often in some sheltered nook 

 in the cliffs, where perhaps whole rows of their structures may 

 be observed in close neighbourhood, and frequently the position 

 chosen is almost, if not entirely, inaccessible. Both males and 



