Potts.— iV^ew; Zealand Birds. 201 



egg, which gives out a rancid sub-musky odour, is white, oval in form, 

 measures 2 in. 6 lines through the axis, with a breadth of 1 in. 6 lines. 



No. B, 131. — Sterna nereis, Gould. 

 Little Tern. 

 We have eggs of this tern from the shore of Lake Ellesmere. 



No. 138. — Phalacrocorax punctatus, Sparrm. 



Kawau. 



Spotted Shag, Ocean Shag, 



Crested Shag, or Flip-flap. 



The spotted shag, or flip-flap, well known to our shore folk, is stated by 

 ornithologists to be peculiar to New Zealand ; its active movements enliven 

 many a bluff headland or rocky inlet of our island coast line. It derives the 

 name of the spotted shag from the grey feathers of its upper surface termi- 

 nating in a dark green spot ; some persons term it the ocean shag from its 

 marine habits ; it is known as the crested shag from the supplementary head 

 feathers assumed in the winter and early spring months ; it is called the flip- 

 flap from its habits when cruising up the harbours following shoals of fish. 



As gregarious as some of its congeners it may be seen flying, swimming, 

 fishing, or nesting, in large companies ; these numbers that thus delight to 

 live together do so peacefully, with an absence of much of the clamour and 

 bickering that often marks the state of living where multitudes congregate. 

 With these assemblies 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. carho. 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 ingulfed in its capacious throat. Not content with exploring the deeps that 

 wash the coast it follov/s 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 flasli 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 divings When the shag's wants are supplied, 

 and its voracity appears almost insatiable, it seeks the rocky shore or cliff, and 



A 1 



