my readers to Graham's ' Birds of lona and Mull ' 

 (Harvie Brown). In certain parts of the Mediterranean 

 the Shag abounds, especially on the islands of the 

 Straits of Bonifacio ; but wherever there are dark caves 

 and fissures in Mediterranean cliffs, there this bird is 

 almost certain to be met with in the breeding-season ; 

 on the ledges of these caves the Shag piles a mass of 

 sea-weeds and grasses, upon which it lays three or four 

 long greenish eggs, covered with a white chalky sub- 

 stance (that may easily be removed), and rears its young. 

 These nestlings when first hatched are about as uncanny 

 in appearance as a bird well can be, being naked, of a 

 dark sooty blue colour, and bhnd. A Shag-cavern, 

 when numerously tenanted in the breeding-season, is, 

 although most interesting to a naturalist, indeed a 

 gruesome, and, as a Highlander would say, " no a 

 wholesome," place : on pushing into one of these caves 

 in a boat, the smell of decaying fish is almost over- 

 powering ; a rush of great dark birds comes forth above, 

 on both sides, and often almost into the arms and faces 

 of the intruders (we always 'backed' in), whilst many 

 of the Shags plunge headlong from the ledges into 

 the sea, and dive under the boat. The real way to 

 see the interior in all its weird horror was to illuminate 

 its recesses by a blue light, when in all probability 

 many old Shags might be discovered still on their nests 

 or on the ledges, twisting their long necks with extra- 

 ordinary contortions, dazed by the light, and uncertain 

 whether to go or " stand by " to defend their young. 

 However they might decide this question, loe generally 

 found the stench so horrible, that after taking in the 



