PHALACROCORAX GRACULUS. 
Crested Cormorant, or Shag-. 
Pelecanus graculiis, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 217. 
crisfatus, Fab. Faun. Groenl., p. 90. 
Carlo cristatus, Temm. Man. d’Orn., 2nd edit., tom. ii. p. 900, tom. iv. p. 565. 
Halieus graculus, Licht. Verz. der Donbl. des zool. Mus. zu Berlin, p. 86. 
Pludacrocorax graculus, Leach, Syst. Cat. of Indig. Mamm. and Birds in Brit. Mus., p. 34. 
Hydrocorax graculus, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat., tom. viii. p. 87. 
Carlo graculus, Meyer, Taschenb. deutsch. Vbg., tom. ii. p. 578. 
Plialacrocorax cristatus, Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xiii. p. 83. 
Pelecanus leucogaster, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat., 2nd edit., tom. viii. p. 90. 
Carlo Irachyurus, Brehm, Vbg. Deutschl., p. 822. 
Graculus Linncei, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. hi. p. 667, Graculus, sp. 6. 
It is not solely amongst the feathered denizens of the calm and beautiful tropical forests that nature has 
scattered her gifts of ornamentation with unsparing hand ; but in an im})artial spirit has she also j)rofusely 
adorned such groups as the Grebes, the Auks, the Penguins, and the Cormorants — ’birds inhabiting the 
watery wastes and surge-washed rocks of either hemisphere. What would this world be without ornament 
and variety? Would it not be tame and wearisome? Would even the two Cormorants which inhabit this 
island be half so interesting were their distinctive characteristics less conspicuous ? Some species of this 
genus have an extensive tuft of feathers springing from the forehead, of which the bird here figured may be 
cited as an example ; others, again, have numerous white strim down the sides of the neck and chest, as seen 
in our well-known common Cormorant {Plialacrocorax carlo') ; while some of the foreign kinds have 
lengthened floating hair-like plumes springing from various parts of the body, as in the New-Zealand P. 
pimctatus. I have long been of opinion that such ornaments are not given only for the purpose of attraction 
between the sexes, but that their presence is due, and consecutive, to certain physiological conditions 
connected with the pairing-season — Inasmuch as it is during that period that such adornments are present in 
their finest colours, and often (as, indeed, in the present instance) not confined to one sex. 
It is time, however, to turn to the bird here represented, and to state in what part of the British Islands 
it resides : I say resides ; for it is really a resident, scarcely ever removing from the district or rock upon 
which it has taken uj) its abode, either in winter or summer. At one time (even so recently as when I was 
collecting specimens for the due illusti'ation of my ‘ Birds of Europe’) the bird was common at the Needles, 
in the Isle of Wight ; but in that most southern and charming part of our south coast it does not now exist ; 
or if it does, it is but sparingly ; nor is it more plentiful along our southern and south-western coasts. On 
the other hand, it is as numerous as it has ever been in the northern parts of Scotland, in the Hebrides, and 
in Ireland, as will be seen by the accounts furnished by those excellent observers and elegant writers, Mac- 
gillivray and Thompson, the former of whom says : — 
“ The Crested Cormorant, which is generally distributed along our coasts and very abundant in many parts 
of Scotland, especially the western and northern islands, is a constant inhabitant, frequenting the caves and 
fissures of the rocky headlands and unfrequented islands. It reposes at night in these caverns or on shelves 
of the rocks, often in great numbers, being of a social disposition, but keeping apart from other birds. Its 
roosting-places are always rendered conspicuous by the great quantity of white dung with which they are 
crusted. It is pleasant to see them emerge from their abodes on some wild coast before sunrise, and silently 
wing their way in files towards their fishing-grounds. They fly with uninterrupted beats of their wings, 
keeping at an inconsiderable height, and scarcely ever crossing an isthmus however narrow. On arriving at 
some sandy bay or shallow strait, they alight in succession, coming heavily upon the water, shake them- 
selves, and commence their search by immersing their heads. On perceiving an object, the Shag darts 
forward in a curve, rising out of the water, and then plunging headlong. Its agility in this element is 
astonishing ; and it often remains submerged from one to two minutes. Its food consists of small fishes, 
such as the young of the coal-fish {Gadus carhonarius), which are extremely abundant on all our northern 
coasts, and among which it commits great havoc ; the time of fishing is chiefly at the ebb. It is not nearly 
so shy as the Cormorant ; and I have seen it pursuing its prey almost in the immediate neighbourhood 
of many persons who were fishing with small nets for the fry above mentioned ; but even in such cases 
it keeps deep in the water, and is easily frightened away. It resorts in great numbers to the maritime 
