I70 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs 



quite vanished. In place of the crest feathers, others short and uncrested come 

 in ; but in no other part of the body is there a moult at this season. During 

 the spring, birds of the second year, may be seen with a crest, although they are 

 not 3'et breeding. 



The Shag is less migratory than the Cormorant, and as a rule remains near its 

 breeding places all the 3'ear through. They are to be seen at all seasons sitting, 

 generally in silence, with outstretched wings, on the rockj^ ledges of their home. 

 Thence when alarmed, or urged by hunger, they drop into the water, after a 

 short flight, rather awkwardl}^ sometimes tail first as if falling, and in an instant 

 disappear beneath the surface. Once there, they are in their element ; for their 

 subaqueous powers of progression, in which both feet and wings are requisitioned, 

 (whether used in quest of piscine food, which they bring to the surface to swallow, 

 or to escape from pursuit), rival in agility and speed those of the Penguin. To catch 

 sight of the bird's reappearance on the surface, the eye must keep a wide and 

 clear look out, for it is impossible to predict the — often great — distance it may 

 accomplish, or the direction it may take ; and then it sta3's but a moment to make 

 a frightened and hast}' sun^e}-, before diving again. The Shag apparently dives 

 to great depths, for ]\Ir. Howard Saunders records an instance of an individual 

 being taken in a crab-pot 120 feet down. " When swimming," says Mr. Seebohm, 

 " they sometimes spread out their wings and hold them so for a considerable time. 

 When rising from the water they splash the surface with their wings and feet, 

 seeming to get into the air with difficulty. As evening approaches, the Shags, in 

 silent strings, speed along, just above the surface of the sea, to their roosting 

 places." 



The Shag is rarely kept in captivity, and it does not appear ever to have 

 been trained like its congener, the Cormorant, to catch fish for its owner. 



]Mr. Charles Doncaster, in a letter to the late Mr. Henry Seebohm, 

 describes a coasting excursion made bj^ him, round the cliffs of Hoy, in the month 

 of June, when he saw immense numbers of Shags in every stage of plumage. " I 

 saw one," he saj'S, " upon its nest which looked almost accessible, and, with 

 stockings only on my feet, managed to reach it. The bird when she saw me 

 made most amusing menaces ; she seemed to be trying to throw her head off at 

 me, and erected the little bit of crest which she had remaining from the full 

 spring plumage. The nest, when I reached it, was much like a Cormorant's, both 

 in material and smell. I found two young ones very recently hatched, the broken 

 shells being close by ; they were naked, blind, and dark slate coloured. The Shag 

 is much more common here than the Cormorant. They are clumsy in diving from 

 the rocks, seeming to go into the water anyhow ; one I saw plunge nearly tail 



