OCCASIONAL NOTES. 308 
district more particularly referred to by Mr. Harting, where are three 
breeding-places of the birds in question: two of them close together, on the 
high cliffs by Arishmill Gap. One of these consists entirely of crested birds ; 
the other and larger colony of the Common Cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo, 
but whether exclusively, or not, I am not quite certain, for the nests here 
are so high up that a mistake might easily be made. I should say that the 
colony of P. cristatus consists of about twenty-five birds; it is situated on a 
peculiarly-formed jutting out of the chalk, with a cave beneath it; the nests 
are low down, and within easy gunshot of the water. I fancy the Lulworth 
fishermen would not be very particular as to the species they call “ shags,” 
—they would, probably, not know the immature birds apart,—and an adult 
crested bird should be designated a “green shag” rather than a “black” one. 
To the westward of Lulworth, about two miles off, is another breeding- 
station, on a moderately low line of chalk cliffs enclosing a bay with a nice 
beach that has no approach except by means of a boat or a rope from above. 
At this place a great number of the larger birds have their nests, and a few 
—very few, I may say—of the crested species. To give a good idea of the 
relative numbers of the two species near Lulworth, I may mention that 
some four years ago, being requested by some of the eel-pickers and 
fishermen of the Poole estuary to do something to lessen the number of 
Cormorants that infested the harbour, I went to Lulworth during the 
breeding-season. and shot some sixty of these birds; out of this number 
not more than eight or ten were P. cristatus, and of these, nearly the whole 
number were obtained at the colony I have mentioned as being on the cliff 
to the eastward of Lulworth. At the large colony to the westward, where 
we obtained over forty birds, only one of the small crested species was 
included. I have since been informed that the Cormorants partially 
deserted this place in consequence of the slaughter we then effected,— 
resorting to the higher and more inaccessible station at Arishmill. On the 
whole, my experience tends to show that Phalacrocorax carbo outnumbers 
P. cristatus in the proportion of ten to one, at least, on the Dorsetshire 
coast, and I may add that I have had good opportunities for observation.— 
T. M. Pixs (Westport, Wareham). 
Cormorants ON THE DorsersHiRE Coast.—The fishermen of the 
coast eastward of Lulworth Cove, a district I am well acquainted with, 
distinguish the two species of Phalacrocoraz by designating the smaller 
one the “ Black Shag,” and the larger the ‘* French Cormorant,” or ‘* Watch- 
pocket,” from the white oval patch on each thigh. Both breed on the 
chalk cliffs which divide the Worbarrow and Mupes Bays. I have observed 
a peculiarity between the two species there which I have never seen noticed 
by naturalists, and may not therefore be general. The Cormorant builds 
her nest upon the exposed open ledges of the cliffs, high up and out of 
