THE SHAG, OR GREEN CORMORANT. 



Phalacrocorax graculus (Linna:us). 

 Plate 39. 



This species, also sometimes called the Crested Cormorant, from the tuft of 

 curved feathers on the crown, worn during the breeding season only, is common 

 in rocky places on our western coasts and islands, and along the western shores 

 of Europe from Norway to Spain and Portugal. It breeds on ledges of rock and 

 among boulders, and often chooses a site within a dark and sea-washed cavern. 



The nest is made of bits of turf, seaweed, and other materials, which soon become 

 an evil-smelling mass. The three or four eggs are similar in colour and texture 

 to the Common Cormorant's, and the young likewise are without any down when 

 hatched. 



The habits of the Shag, and its mode of catching fish by diving, are like those 

 of the larger bird ; and both utter a croaking note. 

 The male and female do not differ in colour. 



THE GANNET. 

 Sula bassana (Linnaeus). 

 Plate 39. 



The Gannet is found breeding regularly on certain rocks and islands off our 

 coasts, which it leaves as soon as the young are able to fly, while the rest of the 

 year is spent at sea, where it leads a wandering life. In winter it ranges as far 

 south in Europe as the Mediterranean, while to the north its breeding range 

 extends to Iceland, the Faroes, and also to North America. 



One of the best known breeding stations in Great Britain is the Bass Rock, 

 off the Haddingtonshire coast, others being Suliskerry, some forty miles west of 

 the Orkneys, Sulisgeir, Outer Hebrides, the St. Kilda Islands, and Ailsa Craig, at 

 the entrance of the Firth of Clyde. Off the Welsh coast there is a breeding station 

 on Grassholm, and two others in Irish waters, viz. the Bull Rock, county Cork, 

 and the Skelligs, county Kerry. 



About the end of March or in April the Gannets, or, as they are sometimes 

 called. Solan Geese, collect at their nesting rocks, and construct their nests of sea- 

 weed and grassy material, placing them on a ledge or among boulders. The eggs, 

 like those of the Cormorant, are coated with a chalky substance, under which is the 

 pale bluish-green shell, and number three or four. The young when hatched are 

 blind, naked, and slaty-black in colour, but are soon clothed in thick white down. 



The fish on which the Gannet lives are obtained by diving, and when occupied 

 in this pursuit the birds follow the shoals, flying at a considerable height and then 

 plunging downwards, at first with the wings held partly open, but on nearing the 

 surface they are folded in just before the water is struck, when a jet of spray is 

 thrown upwards. They only remain below for a few seconds, then rise and resume 

 their fishing. 



In the plate a bird in the dark speckled plumage of the first year is shown in 

 the background ; this becomes lighter every season until the bird attains maturity, 

 which, according to Howard Saunders, is in its sixth year. 



69 



