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to the number of twenty or thirty. It walks with an awkward waddling gait, supporting itseli in 
part with its tail, which is moved alternately to tiie right and left at every step. It has a very fetid 
odour ; and a person approaching a flock of these birds on the leeward side is made sensible of this 
at a hundred yards or more. Its usual attitude on the beach is one of repose, with the body inclined 
forward, the tail resting at full length on the ground, and the head drawn in upon the shoulders. 
When disturbed, it instantly stretches up its neck, listens, and watches attentively for a short time, 
and then, after a few ungainly steps, shoots its white ordure along the sands, then rises into the aii 
with a laboured flapping of its wings, and flies off in the direction of the sea, into which it speedily 
plunges. For some yards’ length after rising it almost strikes the ground with the tips of its quill- 
feathers, and I am assured that it may easily be captured by a kangaroo-dog or greyhound before it 
fairly takes wing. When associated in pairs, they rise simultaneously and fly off in company. 
Sometimes a large flight of them may be observed high in the air, performing apparently a migratory 
passage, and deployed in the form of a wedge, like a flight of Swans. 
Like all the other members of the group, the Black Shag is an accomplished diver, and obtains 
all its food in this manner. Twenty-flve seconds appears to be the average duration of each dive, 
although the bird is capable of remaining under water for a much longer time. It is interesting to 
observe it facing a strong rolling surf and diving under the breakers to avoid their force. When 
swimming in smooth water, it sometimes amuses itself by slapping its broad wings upon the surface, 
producing a sound that may be heard to the distance of half a mile. It rises from the water with 
apparent difficulty, and till it is fairly in the air it continues to strike the surface violently with the 
tips of its wings ; this will doubtless account for the ragged appearance often presented by the ends 
of the primaries. It subsists on flsb of various kinds ; and I have observed one capture a good-sized 
flounder, and after killing it by nipping with its bill, and battering on the water, swallow it whole, 
the throat of this bird being capable of great expansion. 
There is an interesting mounted group in the Canterbury Museum, illustrating the gular 
capacity of this Shag. The principal figure is that of a bird holding in its bill a brown trout which 
had actually been taken from its throat when shot in the Avon river ; the fish measured 14|^ inches 
in length, with a girth of 7f, and weighed IJlb. 
A Canterbury sportsman records another instance of the kind as follows : — “ Some idea of the 
size of the fish a Shag can provide accommodation for will be gained when it is mentioned that a few 
days since one of a trio of Rangiora sportsmen out shooting at the Ashley river killed a bird of the 
species, which, on being picked up, dropped from its gullet an eel 21 in. long, and within an ounce 
or two of a pound in weight ” *. 
The stomach of another which I myself opened contained an eel 27 inches in length and measur 
ing 5 inches in circumference in its thickest part. 
On the occasion of a visit which I paid to Sir George Grey in his lovely island home at Kawau, 
he led me to a small promontory from which you look down upon a shell-beach of exquisite beauty, 
fringed to its very edge with pohutukawa trees covered with a mass of crimson flower. From this 
beach, for some fifty yards or more, the water is so shallow that the pebbly bottom is clearly visible, 
and Sir George told me that from this point of observation he has often watched this Shag in its 
fishing-operations coursing like a greyhound under the surface, and using its wings and tail as pro- 
pellers. He also told me an interesting story of one he obtained from the nest and succeeded in 
* The following appeared in one of the local newspapers : — “ Shags are stated to he more than usualty destructive to young 
fish in the TVairarapa district this year, and it would bo well if the local bodies offered a reward per head for each of these birds 
before they decimate the creeks of the valley. On Friday last, Mr. F. Liardet found a dead Shag on the beach with an eel in its 
beak. The fish, which was a very large one, had been partially swallowed, and the head being too large for the gullet had stuck 
in the Shag’s maw, through which it crawled. When found, the eel had formed a complete circle round the bird s beak. ’ 
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