SHAG 145 
thing remained to disturb them. One of a pale grey 
colour mingled among the other dark birds, and was an 
object of request; but our perseverance was unavailing, for, 
not breeding, it took to the open sea when much annoyed.’ 
(In recent times, however, Mr. Graves has seen seventy 
together on low rocks near the ‘Ladder, and I have 
counted more than one hundred on tidal skerries at Stroin 
Vuigh.*) 
On the Calf also Shags are numerous, and they nest in 
smaller numbers on Bradda, Between Fleshwick and Dalby 
there are also many nests, sometimes, as at the Boe and 
Stroin Vuigh, in something like little colonies, but most 
are irregularly scattered along the broken coast. Indeed, 
though a convenient locality may bring into proximity a 
number of pairs, the Shag cannot be said to form, in 
Man at least, true colonies like the Cormorant. Between 
Glenmay and Peel nests are again numerous, especially at 
and near the ‘Ladder. North of Peel we know of no 
breeding place on the west coast, though a good many 
birds may be seen on tide-rocks in the north part of 
German. 
The situation of Shags’ nests is somewhat varied, usually 
more or less sheltered, but not always, nor in the Isle of 
Man generally, in a cave. They are commonly difficult of 
access, but on the Calf we saw a number under the boulders 
of a broken hillside at some distance from the water, where 
the ground was easy to walk on. At Contrary Head a 
nest is annually placed on a ledge in a large cavern, little 
above high water, and similar localities are selected in the 
dark and roomy caves of the southern cliffs and elsewhere, 
which are always filled by the sea. Other nests occupy 
fissures in sheer rock walls overhanging, or are pocketed 
1 This name is so written on the ordnance sheets, and this makes intelligible 
Manx (= Yellow Ness) ; but locally it is now at least spoken as ‘ Tring Vuigh,’ 
K 
