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by the natives, each colony of nests having its own proprietor, who exercises all the rights of owner- 
ship, visiting the ground at the breeding-season for the purpose of collecting the young birds, which 
are potted in the usual manner and are considered a great dainty. Captain Mair accompanied one 
of the Shag parties to the Tauranga river, at. Lake Taupo, and saw 400 young birds collected in the 
course of a single day. Both the White-throated and the small Black Shag, he states, breed together 
in these localities, although apparently never pairing. 
I visited one of these colonies at Matapiro (in the Hawke’s Bay district) on Jan. 29, and found 
nests in every stage of breeding. We saw naked young birds just extruded from the egg, looking 
like little leathery sacs of a flesh-brown colour, their sensitive young bodies full of tremor even in 
the strong sunlight ; in other nests were young birds a stage more advanced, the whole surface of the 
body, with the exception of the head, blackened like the skin of a negro ; in some nests two such 
little niggers ” were lying side by side with two unhatched eggs , in others, again, the black skin 
was covered with a dense, short growth of sooty-black down, the whole of the head and cheeks being 
entirely bare and flesh-white, darkening on the nape and then passing into black, with a gradual 
development of down on the neck, the bill and feet being black. In the most advanced state, the 
young birds had a thick-set growth of short down right up to the crown of the head, where it pre- 
sented a well-defined outer margin, the whole covering being sooty black, with a sprinkling of white 
down along the margins of the wings, upon which the quill-feathers were just appearing; the naked 
skin of the crown, sides of the face, cheeks, and chin perfectly smooth and of a clean flesh-white, 
excepting only a narrow line of dark brown passing from the base of the upper mandible through the 
eyes, and becoming still narrower behind ; bill and feet perfectly black. 
In association with the nests of this species were two belonging to the Black Shag, and 
presenting a far more substantial appearance. One of these was empty ; the other contained two 
young birds, of large size and covered with thick black down, the bare skin on the sides of the face, 
cheeks, and chin being bright lemon-yellow. These birds craned up their lanky necks as we 
approached them with a snare at the end of a long rod, took the situation in at a glance, clambered 
over the sides of the nest, and tumbled hurriedly into the stream below, thus beginning a new epoch 
in their lives ! 
In the Canterbury Museum there are two nests of the White-throated Shag, diff'ering entirely in 
their construction. One of them is very compact, rounded in form, with a diameter of more than a 
foot, and a thickness of five inches, presenting only a slight depression for the eggs, and com- 
posed of weeds, grasses, and dry flags, on a foundation of broken twigs. The other is formed entirely 
of broken twigs, with the leaves attached, closely interlaced together, with a deep cavity for the eggs, 
the whole being securely placed in the fork of a small tree ; it is, in fact, a compact structure, of a 
round symmetrical form, and very firmly put together. Each of these nests contains three eggs, all 
of which have the surface much soiled. 
The eggs of this species exhibit much variety in shape and size. I have now before me a large 
series of specimens from my son’s collection, varying from the typical ovoid to a narrow elliptical 
form. The former measures 2 inches in length by 1T5 in breadth, and is of a clear pale green, with 
only a thin yellowish film over a portion of its surface; the latter measures 1'7 inch in length by 
1-2 in breadth, and is of a paler green, thickly incrusted in places with chalky matter and stained 
over a great part of its surface to a dark yellow colour. Between these extremes there are numerous 
individual variations. An example received from Mr. Walter Shrimpton is both small and elliptical 
in form, measuring 1-8 inch in length by IT in breadth; it is greenish white, with a faint gloss, 
the coating of chalky matter on the surface being thin and even. 
