420 PELICAN. 



Der Wasserrabe, Bechst. Deuts. ii. 761. Id. Ed. 2d. iv. 762. Naturf. xii. 140. 



Petit Connoran, ou Nigaud, Buf. viii. 319. 



Le Zaramagullon noir, Voy. d'Azara, iv. No. 422. 



Shag, or Crane, Gen. Syn. vi. 598. Will. Engl. 330. pi. 63. Br.Zool. ii. No. 292. 



pi. 102. Id. 1812. ii. 285. Arct. Zool, ii. No. 50S. Bewick, ii. pi. in p. 390. 



Lewin, vii. pi. 264. TValcot, i. pi. 93. Pitlt. Dors. p. 21. Orn. Diet. §■ Supp. 



LENGTH two feet six inches, breadth three feet eight inches; 

 weight four pounds. Bill nearly four inches long, dusky; sides of 

 the mouth and chin covered with a yellow skin, minutely speckled 

 with black on the latter ; the head and neck are black, glossed with 

 green; back and wing coverts the same, edged with purplish black; 

 belly dusky and dull, in the middle cinereous; tail, consisting of 

 twelve stiff feathers, dusky, dashed with cinereous ; legs black, the 

 middle claw serrated. 



The female is smaller, and weighs less by three quarters of a 

 pound. The feathers on the upper part black, though less deep, 

 and without the green gloss, but the margins of the feathers of the 

 scapulars and coverts are black ; under parts of the body dusky 

 and grey mixed ; the legs and toes dusky. 



Shags frequent several parts of Great Britain and Ireland, and 

 like the Corvorant, will now and then build in trees when growing- 

 near the water, but more frequently on the rocky coasts, making a 

 nest like that of the Corvorant. The eggs are long, oval, and 

 white, weighing each about one ounce and three quarters. Is a 

 very stupid bird when on shore, but difficult to shoot while in the 

 water ; swims with the head erect, and body almost immersed in the 

 water, and when a gun is discharged at it, the moment it sees the 

 flash, it darts beneath. It is probable that this bird rarely leaves 

 the rocky shores in search of food, in the fresh or brackish waters ; 

 as it is not often seen in such places, whilst the Corvorant is fre- 

 quently met with far inland.* 



* On September 25, 1794, a Shag was shot on a newly built house of S. Gardner, 

 Esq. at Whitchurch, within seven miles of Reading ; and another the same week near 

 Wallingford, Berks. — Dr. Lamb. 



