The Brandt Cormorant 



of a reluctant public. The "operation" takes place in the parental throat, 

 down which the youngster thrusts his serpent-like head. Do not, there- 

 fore, accuse the gentle shag of cannibalism when you detect it in the act 

 of swallowing the first six or eight inches of its infant's anatomy. Baby 

 has been invited to help himself, and he will presently emerge from those 

 fish-lined depths in radiant if dishevelled triumph. 



Dr. Brewer says 1 of an allied species, nowise different in this respect: 

 "The eggs have a very strong and disagreeable flavor, and they cannot 

 be made to coagulate by boiling." As to the latter point I cannot say; 

 I have always taken mine fried, with a bit of bacon, and believe me, 

 they are delicious. Tut, tut! what am I saying? Avaunt, savage seduc- 

 tive memory! we are civilized now, and we must not under any circum- 

 stances rob the poor birdies. No one but an Indian should be allowed 

 to eat a Shag's egg, and he should have a warden posted on either hand 

 to see that he does not take two. But it is to laugh — that hoary, pious, 

 fraudulent tradition about the eggs of sea-birds being "fishy," or "musky," 

 or having "strong disagreeable flavors." The Doctor must have got hold 

 of an overripe one. 



The winter chronicle of the Steganopodous sea-front has not yet been 

 written. We only know in a vague way that there is a considerable re- 

 distribution of shags at that season. Perhaps it is merely because the birds 

 are released from family cares that we see a good deal more of them in- 

 shore. A school of herring occasionally seeks refuge in the shallows, and 

 they are as likely to invade the waterfront of some coastal town as remoter 

 spots. Thus, on the 24th of December, 1917, the guests of the Potter 

 Hotel saw a mixed flock of about 2,000 birds, chiefly shags, crowding the 

 nearer reaches of our little bay and bewailing the bashful herring. 



Two days later, at a protected spot six miles west of town, a com- 

 panion and I stumbled upon a scene which seemed like a chapter from the 

 elder world. We had appeared unexpectedly at a very low tide around the 

 foot of the usually impassable cliff at Moore's Point. On the beach of the 

 embayment just east of the black and white cliffs (asphalt and shag- 

 shearn) we discovered an immense company of sea-fowl, chiefly shags, 

 sunning themselves. They took alarm at our distant approach, but were 

 presently reassured when we seated ourselves in the shadow, and pro- 

 ceeded to re-form themselves into a line for landing. This was altogether 

 one of the most interesting operations I have seen among the sea-birds. 

 The landing line, consisting of several birds abreast, extended out from 

 shore nearly half a mile, all of the intending immigrants swimming slowly 

 toward shore. It was interesting to watch the landing itself. The shags 

 allowed the surf, which is very gentle here, to wash them ashore, and then 



1 Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, "The Water Birds of North America," Vol. II.. p. I53» 

 1954 



