BIRDS 219 



from early autumn until the beginning of summer frequents our 

 estuaries, from Morecambe Bay and the north end of Walney to 

 Eavenglass and the flat sands of the Solway Firth. Its food 

 consists largely of flounders, but it probably consumes some 

 trout and a good many eels. So familiar is its presence on the 

 Solway that the fishermen call it the ' Water crow.' Sometimes 

 a score of these birds voluntarily associate together as a fishing 

 community. You may often see a dozen of them at once, even 

 in December, sitting bolt up in a long line at the edge of the 

 ebbing waters, drying their stiffly-extended wings, and looking 

 for all the world like so many scarecrows. They are methodical 

 in their habits. Those which haunt the estuary of the Irt and 

 Mite at Eavenglass fly every evening to St. Bees, to roost upon 

 one of the lower ledges of the headland, returning to their 

 fishing ground soon after daybreak. They are strong, if heavy, 

 fliers, and generally contrive to keep out of shot even when 

 travelling across country to some favourite pool. Among stories 

 of this bird, few probably are better known than Dr. Heysham's 

 tale of the Cormorant which was sacrilegiously shot upon 

 Carlisle Cathedral about the year 1766. 



SHAG. 



Phalacrocorax graculus (L.). 



Dr. Heysham pronounced the Shag to be * a scarce bird ' in 

 Cumberland. It is in fact of rare occurrence on the coast of 

 Lakeland, and does not breed even at Sandwith. Mr. Hindson 

 records in his MS. notes a bird killed on the Lune at Kirkby- 

 Lonsdale. Stragglers have been killed to my knowledge in 

 Morecambe Bay, but I have only once seen a Shag in the waters 

 of the English Solway — on January 6, 1885. It has neverthe- 

 less strayed up our rivers in a few isolated instances. For 

 example, a young bird was caught upon the Caldew, near 

 Carlisle, Oct. 2, 1856, its chase affording no little amusement to 

 the operatives at Holm Head. Mr. E. Service includes the 

 Green Cormorant as ' very scarce ' on the coast of the Scottish 

 Solway. Mr. Armistead, another excellent Scottish observer, 

 assured me in conversation that he had only once seen and shot 



