426 PELICAN. 



25— RED-FACED SHAG. 



Pelecanus Urile, Ind. Orn. ii. 888. Gm. Lin. i. 575. 



Urile, or Sea Raven, Hist. Kamtsch. 117. Phil. Trans. Ii. 481. 



Red-faced Corvorant, Arct. Zool. ii. 514. C. 



Red-faced Shag, Gen. Syn. vi. 601. 



LESS than the Corvorant; length two feet ten inches. Bill 

 three inches and a half long; the base reddish green, the end 

 black ; round the eye a bare reddish skin ; head and neck dark 

 blackish green ; on the middle of the neck before a few slender 

 narrow white feathers, thinly interspersed among the others, many 

 of them two inches and a half in length; back and wings dusky 

 black, but glossy, with a lustre of green, as well as copper, on the 

 back in some lights, and here and there a slender white feather; 

 the belly black; on each side of the rump a large patch of white; 

 tail six inches long, consisting of twelve feathers; quills and legs 

 black. 



Inhabits Kamtschatka, chiefly about the rocky and craggy 

 places on the sea coasts, where it builds the nest in June; the eggs 

 the size of those of a Hen, green, and very ill tasted, yet the natives 

 venture to climb the rocks for them at the hazard of their lives; feeds 

 on fish, swallowing them whole : they fly well and swiftly, but rise 

 with difficulty from the ground ; while sitting on the rocks are stupid, 

 and not easily roused, hence the natives catch them easily, by nets 

 thrown over them, or nooses at the ends of long poles, and not 

 unfrequently these silly birds suffer themselves to be taken, one after 

 another, to the very last. As food, every one but a Kamtschadale 

 must abhor it, yet these people think it very tolerable; whether owing 

 to the method of cooking or not, does not seem certain ; their method 

 is to roast it in holes in the earth, whole, without plucking off the 

 feathers, or taking out the entrails, and when done enough, they 



