152 
their long necks, first to one side then to the other, with a never-ceasing cry as if in great bodily 
distress. Poor little Shags ! 
This breeding-colony consisted exclusively of P. varius *. I noticed a single Spotted Shag 
(P. functatus) consorting with the fiock, but none of any other species. 
At a place called Whakarewha, near Matata on the East Coast, there is a colony of the Pied 
Shag where many hundreds of them breed together. The nests are crowded together on the branches 
of a clump of pohutukawa trees growing on the cliff; and at the commencement of the breeding- 
season, when the Shags assemble to refit their nests, the old birds may often be seen fighting fiercely 
for the possession of a dry stick or piece of seaweed, required for building-purposes, or endeavouring 
to dispossess each other of nests already made. Owing probably to the crowding, the young birds 
are not unfrequently knocked out of the nests, and numbers of dead ones are found lying on the 
beach at the base of the cliff. The Harrier {Circus goiUdi), attracted by these dead bodies, hovers 
about this breeding-place and makes an occasional attempt to carry off a young Shag from the nest 
by boldly attacking it ; whereupon numbers of the old birds sally forth with loud guttural cries and 
chase the intruder to a considerable distance. 
Captain Mair visited a similar shaggery on Whale Island, on the 10th November, and sent me 
the following report: “I found the young in every stage, from partly developed ones in the egg to 
young birds just ready for flight.” 
The eggs, which are elliptical in form, and greenish white, are generally two in number ; but 
there are sometimes three, and Mr. Eeischek informs me that he has occasionally found as many as 
four in one nest. 
* As far back as 1841 tbe Kev. Mr. Colenso wrote : — “ On a tall, branching pohutukawa tree {Metroskleros tomentosa), 
which grew on the rocky cliff at the northern end of the beach at Owae (a small village in Wangaruru Bay), I observed several 
Cormorants had built their nests. These birds had inhabited this tree for many years ; yearly increasing the number of their 
nests, which they build of dry Algce, sticks, and small plants. Their social habits and large nests forcibly reminded me of an 
English rookery. Two species inhabit these shores ; one, with entirely black plumage, which the natives call Kawau— the other 
with white fore neck, breast, and beUy, and olive-black neck, back, and wings, called by them Karuhiruhi ; this last is the 
most common.” 
Shag feeding young. 
