he ire to interlock the materiel. The shag smipl the end of a 
pi©©© and irtaerta it into the body of the neat with a typical 
quivering movement looting a second or two. When the male 
brl a ieee of so tonal both ho t his not# u dually groep 
It and »aVe till© ”n© si- quivering” movement with the fragment 
held high in the air. After bolding it for a few seconds on# 
or both ©ay loo© into root and lot It fa . or on® of thorn way 
plaoo It with a. nest qulv ring movement on the neat. This nest 
quivering is of Interest be game e It la used aa & a is; is. com n't 
soil vi ty m will be discus- sod in detail loiter * 
The oariy neat 00 Hooting trips are few and scattered 
but the bouts bo cose longer and longer and more and acre frequent. 
In one of the colonies the pair L, where the female was 
©elected •whenever the rale loft the nest, was very slow in 
ling o moot. The res eon was clearly that the ©ale could 
never istt t aerie a of tripe because the other male, Rooter, 
would tab# possession of th© ledge and have to be driven off. 
Later in th« season ties tor spent leas and less Uoo in the 
colony and only then did the nest of pair L start to grow*. 
An a result of this delay their egga were laid e dayo later than 
m undisturbed ir, although *ir L had been, if anything, 
earner in their first signs of breeding behaviour* 
Rent building and copulation continue until after the 
eggs Have bean laid." Then copulation rapidly dies down but 
atorlai to brought right t ho incubation {period. 
Two or three eggs are laid, probably &t an interval of 
thr@# days* Both sex©® incubate but, at any rat© in the early 
days. In different m portions. Of yc-. oboe rva ti one at intervale 
of not lose than too ©inutea at one nest, showed the male to 
be Incubating and 17 » the female* All these obsermtiona were 
in the waetrs after the first egg was laid. 
During incubation the brooding bird site quietly but from 
time to time vises end bums the sggs. Before rising it JMtU| 
•©rf 3pt?o nest quivering movements • The causes sf this 
ore considered later. Birds Which are brooding are often subject 
to t!i® heat of the sun end pent in consequence, e wing a 
rapid fencing of the throat with bill slightly 0 w©n • rile 
panting frequently alternates with a stretching movement of the 
lower mandible and with another curious posture *hleh otherwise 
occurs only during the pr» no railelwi to regurgitate « pellet. 
3oth the mandible stretching and the other pestwo say be 
displacement activities but it will be difficult to prove this. 
Th© arrival of th© terns out short a further study of the 
reproductive behaviour of the shags. In >&rU«ttiar th© devio 
of the young ie a major gap in ay observe ti one. This wHi bo 
of * •eciai interest because of the early appearance of many of 
the "courtship” aetione which have been reported in th® ecroorent. 
If then© postures result from & conflict between attacb and 
