204 Transactions.—Zoology. 
does not seem appropriate. It will be observed that the middle or cleansing 
claw has a slight twist, and the comb differs from that on the middle claw of 
Ardea in the case of the bird under notice ; the comb really appears to be an 
addition carried out to the end of the claw, and is doubtless an useful and 
well-used instrument ; it is flexible to a certain degree, and it would be more 
proper to describe it as a scraping instrument than a comb; in fact it is the 
inside edge of the middle claw produced into a scraper of about sixteen broad 
curved flexible teeth. 
As far as we know the spotted shag dives from the surface of the water, 
not from the heights from which some of the anserine order dash on their prey, 
yet those who examine its structure will note how admirably its anatomy is 
calculated to resist the strain or pressure caused by its manner of obtaining 
food, the coracoid and adjacent bones being not only in themselves of great 
strength, but also firmly attached to the sternum. The eye subject to so much 
exposure is defended in addition to the armature of the lore by a circlet of 
round flexible plates. In life at certain seasons these are of deep turquoise 
blue, and add greatly to the appearance of this bird, 
Perhaps no other species of our Pelecanide is sooner or more completely 
robbed by death of so much of its beauty and character as P. punctatus, the 
evanescent colours of the membranes that decorate as well as protect certain 
parts of its body, and the varying tints of yellow, green, blue, and purple, 
defy the skill of the taxidermist to preserve and fade away into the semblance 
of a mass of leathery wrinkles. 
The changes that take place in the plumage and in the colouration of the 
membranous processes have led some persons to make two species of the 
spotted shag, but a careful study of a large series of Specimens procured at 
various periods of the year, and a tolerably close observation of the bird in its 
favourite haunts, prevents the writer from coinciding in this view. Having 
described the young from the embryo through several of its changes of 
appearance till it is of a size almost to quit the nest we now give some notes 
of its state of plumage at different ages and seasons, 
Young female killed in March. Upper surface dull smoky grey, the apex 
of the seapulars of dull greenish brown ; outer wing-coverts dull brown, edged 
-with pale fawn ; under surface white ; thighs dull brown ; tail-coverts dark 
brown ; tail dark brown, shafts white ; lore and chin yellowish flesh, tarsi and 
feet dull flesh colour, Female killed in August—Upper surface dark smoky 
brown, with a greenish glint on the head and neck, scapulars terminating in a 
deep green spot; back dark brown, changing to dark green; under surface 
