3 
the egg# were laid because of the arrival of the t*ms f tie 
©a in object of ©y .visit to the Island* 
I bad hoped to collect ©or# general observation# on th# 
brooding biology of th# shags, such as th# interval b# tween 
laying successive eggs, th© pe rind s of Incubation ant fledging. 
Thin turn# 1 ? out to be ©or# difficult than I had axpaota l and 
I toon » to h pod trying because th® shags can b close sitter® 
on tti® 1 r eggs or young and barring gull# became 
too Interested In ®y activities* Notwithsban. , clutch#® 
disai t®r#d in both y#ars, Fart of th# losses ease was due 
to a heavy southerly swell at th* cams time as a spring tide, 
a coincidence which occurred la both y#ar#* Each La# we watched 
hel plessly as on® of th® low# at* neats was washed off, In th® 
first year dwa it had eggs, in th# second year just after th# 
young had hatched* A few of th# n#ata near th# top of th® cliffa 
also suffered from *gg-»at#allng« In th# on# or two oases wh#r# 
there was relaying I could never be sure that it was th® a#©* 
pair, th# rearing of th® young Is so lengthy a business 
that there is no question of a second brood following th® 
successful raising of th# first. (At cm# n#«t It was 92 lays 
between the laying of th® first ®m and th# flying of th® young, ) 
Further the young ' eontlnu# to b« fad on th# ©a. tar and .aahor# 
even after they can fly* 
Since only a few nest® could he leapt under day to day 
observation a® was necessary. y observations in gaffe y#«r 
war# based mainly on rather few individuals, probably not ©ora 
than 20 principal characters in all* These bird® shwed 
considerable individual variation in character but it was 
generally possible to difcntagla whrt ms typical for the soccios 
and what was th® ldiocynchrasy of the Individual* But some 
such inaccuracy ©ay have crept in. In any case I have tried 
to avoid using the word® "never* and "always", 
then we arrived at th# beginning of Sferoh the shags were 
hardly interacted in their nesting ledges and there was little 
other signs of re •reductive activity. In th# next wetfc or two 
they spent nor# and sore ti»# at the ledges and for & few hours 
in th# raomtng# and evenings they Sight show a certain amount of 
display, punctuated with long period# when they sat inactively. 
At the time of our arrival most of the shags on th# island 
were apparently root ting on the Meg# tone* They were absent at 
night but returned in the morning before it was light* Those 
who were most advanced would visit their ledges for perha ?# hr if 
an hour or so and then would leave and not return to than again 
until the evening. An It became darte all th® birds around the 
island would fly 'off in ones and twos and could, under favourable 
conditions, be followed until they landed m the Megs tone. _ This 
evening flight from th# Fame enabled one to discover how fast 
