The Farallon Cormorant 



The name Shag, from the old 

 Saxon sceacga, hair, undoubtedly 

 refers to the crests, which are so 

 characteristic a feature of many 

 species of cormorants. It is difficult 

 to believe, however, that the name 

 would have become imbedded in the 

 popular imagination if it had not had 

 the support of the cormorant-crown- 

 ed rocks and harbor buoys. The ser- 

 rated appearance often presented by 

 these familiar objects certainly re- 

 minds one of a woolly dog's coat, or 

 the towsled head of a warrior, and 

 is, therefore, for all time, shaggy. 



Speaking of crests, fashions are 

 various; and in the case of the Faral- 

 lon Cormorant, at least, very vari- 

 able. Note the specifications above: 

 "a tuft of narrow, filamentous feath- 

 ers on each side of crown over and 

 behind eye, all black, or all white, or 

 mixed black-and-white, or wanting" 

 — all the necessary latitude between 

 hobble skirts (from which the good 

 Lord deliver us) and hoop skirts 

 (from which the good Lord has de- 

 livered us). It is no discredit, there- 

 fore, to the brooding mother (shown 

 on page 1939) that she has dis- 

 carded plumes; nor need we, on the 

 other hand, begrudge to "the bride," shown on this page, the beautiful, 

 and rare, adornment of pure white "aigrettes." It was surely some such 

 rare example as this which led Newton, in speaking of P. graculiis, to 

 declare her "one of the most beautiful of sea birds." 



Beauty, of a sort, this cormorant undoubtedly possesses. The 

 bird's eye is of a handsome blue-green (rather an unusual color among 

 birds); and its hue both matches the "pipings" which border the loral 

 areas and complements the rich orange of lores and gular spaces. When 

 milady yawns one glimpses "linings" of livid blue. Moreover, in spite of 

 the filthy surroundings of her nest, the shag is not uncleanly in personal 



Taken on the Farallons Photo by the Author 



THE BRIDE 



THE MOST HANDSOMELY CRESTED SPECIMEN IN THE ENTIRE COLONY 



1941 



