430 PELICAN. 



29.— MAGELLANIC SHAG. 



Pelecanus Magellanicus, Ind. Orn. ii. 989. Gm. Lin. i. 576. Forst. Voy. ii. 494. 

 Magellanic Shag, Gen. Syn. vi. 604. 



LENGTH thirty inches. Bill three inches long, black ; sides 

 of the head and the chin bare, and reddish ; but the middle of the 

 last somewhat downy ; the head and neck, as far as the breast, the 

 back, wings, and tail, are deep black; the head and neck somewhat 

 glossy, and the feathers of the first seem full, making that part 

 appear larger than it really is ; but the head is by no means crested ; 

 behind each eye a white spot ; the under parts from the breast are 

 aTso white ; and the side feathers under the wings striped with white; 

 thighs black ; quills and tail deep black ; the last cuneiform, and 

 four inches long ; legs pale brown. 



Inhabits Terra del Fuego ; also Staaten Land, and is gregarious, 

 like others of the Genus. In Christinas Sound build by thousands 

 among the rocks, ch using such places as project over the sea, or at 

 least where they rise perpendicularly, that in case the young fall 

 out, they may take no harm, only dropping into the water. Said 

 to make holes in the rock, suited to their purpose, by their own 

 efforts, or at least enlarging the natural cavities so much, when the 

 rock is not of the hardest sort, as to make room for their offspring in 

 them. Shags, both in this as well as other places, unfrequented by 

 man, are so tame as to be very little frightened at the report of a 

 gun ; for on being fired at, though they seem at first disturbed, they 

 immediately return to the nest ; and they cause no great difficulty t© 

 shoot them on the wing, as they mostly fly heavily.* 



* Forst. Voy. ii. 494, 495. 



