306 The birds of Sussex. 



of Seaford Cliff, and on another occasion saw a person bring 

 home one egg from thence^ but never after heard of them; 

 an old man told him that tbere were a great many before the 

 war^ when the soldiers disturbed them *. 



The Cormorant is easily domesticated, and is often trained 

 to catch fish for its master, especially in China and Japan. 



All the British Pelecanidce or Phalacrocoracidce have the 

 middle toe pectinated. It can be of no use to them for 

 holding fishj and I have no doubt it is given them to plume 

 their feathers and to rid themselves of parasites. 



The Cormorant and the Shag are both known to the Sussex 

 fishermen as the " Scart," Mr. Graham, in ' Birds of lona 

 and Mull ' (p. 177), writing of the former as an article of 

 food, states, " I am extremely partial to scart soup ; it is 

 identical with hare soup." 



SHAG, OR GEEEN CORMORANT. 



Phalacrocorax graculus. 



This bird, known as the "Scart," is very rarely met 

 with on our coast, and I never heard of any other Sussex 

 provincial name for it. Its habits are much the same as 

 those of the Cormorant ; perhaps the greatest exception is, 

 that this species prefers very dark caverns, or crevices in the 

 cliffs, for building its nest ; however, on those of Dorset they 

 breed in company. The Shag in diving, as I have often 

 observed off the Isle of Wight, jumps completely out of the 

 water. The flight is much like that of the Cormorant,, but 

 never so high. It has a very loud cry, generally, when 

 alarmed, resembling " gaw, gaw," hoarsely uttered. It has 

 another note something like " go-a-head," also hoarse. 



* I am told, however, that a few pairs are nesting there at the present 

 time, April 1890. 



