SHAG. 
473 
NAT A TORES. . PELICANIDJS. 
SHAG, 
GREEN CORMORANT. 
Phalacrocorax CRISTATUS. 
PLATE CXXX. FIG. I. 
In its habits and nidification, the Shag greatly resem¬ 
bles the cormorants; like them, it is sometimes found 
breeding in society upon the top of a rock surrounded 
by the sea; but more frequently in solitude, preferring 
for its nest the ledges and apertures on the face of some 
lofty cliff, where it may be seen, here and there, perched 
upright upon its nest, and sometimes only a few yards 
above the water; at other times upwards of a hundred 
feet in height, and usually in places exceedingly difficult 
of access. I have many times, when climbing for its 
eggs, been sadly tantalized by seeing them within a few 
yards of me, without a possibility of obtaining them. 
They are, like those of the cormorant, outwardly of a 
soft chalky substance, which is easily scraped off, leaving 
a hard greenish shell beneath. When fresh laid they are 
white, but soon become daubed and stained all over, like 
the eggs of the grebe, by the materials of which the nest 
is formed : they are four or five in number. The nest is 
formed of a considerable quantity of sea-weed, lined with 
the finer species and dry grass. 
