SHAG 147 
scattered about the crags, bright with orange lichen, from 
which the place derives its name, and the nesting sites of 
Shags are conspicuous at various heights. Inside, the cliff 
recedes a little, and a kind of cove is formed, into which 
the green brows, peopled by the ubiquitous Herring Gull 
and a few pairs of Larus fuscus, suddenly drop in black 
broken steeps, torn by recesses full of herbage, and out of 
which water drops and trickles. From these fissures also 
the Shags stretch out their long necks, anxious at the 
proximity of the intruder, yet indisposed to take to flight 
till the last moment. On the little stacks and jutting 
pinnacles rising from the sea below rests a motley as- 
semblage of their fellows, adults with the characteristic 
sharp crest, adults which have already lost that appendage, 
but retain the rich dark lustrous plumage of the mature 
bird, brown immature specimens, and others still duller 
coloured and uglier, which have scarcely yet acquired the 
power of flight, but already dive with much of the facility 
of their parents. In full plumage, with its horn-like crest, 
yellow face, and shining velvety dark green plumage, the 
adult Shag is a beautiful though odd-looking bird. 
Mr. Graves says that the Shag is at present in great 
disfavour with the fishermen at Peel, and an endeavour to 
reduce its numbers is being made. 
The Shag, in Britain a western species, is generally com- 
mon on the wilder Irish coasts; but between Antrim and 
the Saltees Mr. Ussher thinks that a few breed only on 
Wicklow Head and the islets of Co. Dublin. It is said to 
breed on Burrow Head and the Mull of Galloway, but 
not in Kirkcudbrightshire, where, as on the north-west 
coast of England, it is at all seasons scarce. There are 
nesting stations on the Carnarvonshire coast and islands. 
It is a characteristic bird of the more remote isles of 
Scotland. 
