168 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS 
Family—PHALACROCORA CIDA. 
THE SHAG. 
Phatacrocorax graculus, LINN. 
HE Shag, which is a considerably smaller bird than the Cormorant, has a 
much more restricted geographical distribution. It may be said, generally, 
to occur in Iceland and the Feroes, and, with the exception of those of the 
Baltic, all round the coasts and Islands of Western Europe, especially where they 
are rocky. It occurs in eastern Morocco, along the northern shores of the 
Mediterranean, and on the coasts of Asia Minor, but it rarely makes its appearance 
in the Black Sea. 
In the United Kingdom, it is specially numerous in the Orkneys, on the 
western shores and islands of Scotland, and in the Hebrides. In the Isle of 
Man, the Channel Islands, and the Farne Islands, the Shag is found in large 
numbers. On the English mainland it is abundant on the rocky coasts of 
Northumberland and Durham; but it is absent from, or rare on, the south 
coasts of England. In Ireland, it is found round all the coasts, especially on 
the rocky and cave-indented cliffs of its northern shores. 
The Shag is truly a marine species, keeping to the sea coast, being very 
rarely seen far inland, or by fresh water lakes, or even rocky and fish-abounding 
rivers. It is not so gregarious a bird as the Cormorant, and its colonies, where 
it is a permanent resident, are smaller; it is much more local also in its distri- 
bution, occurring here and absent there, for no apparent reason. The haunts of 
its choice, are the caves and fissures of rocky headlands, and unfrequented islands, 
on whose ledges it loves to sit and to nest. 
Though very similar in general appearance and in habits to the Cormorant, 
it is easily distinguished by its smaller size and its shorter wings. The bare skin 
of the face is rich yellow; the eyes are sparkling bronze green; and the general 
colour of the plumage is dark, and of a rich glossy bronze and green, richer 
on the head and neck than elsewhere. This rich gloss, however, fades rapidly 
from the plumage after death. The margins of the back feathers are deep velvety 
black; and the tail has twelve feathers in place of fourteen, as in the Cormorant. 
In the breeding season, while it does not assume white filamentary plumes on the 
