■Tfmdd/âJTCBuhta: dél/eùTiàu
Crested Cormorant, or Shag1.
Pelecamu graculus, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 217.
— cristatus, Fab. Faun. Grcenl., p. 90.
Carbo crstatus, Temm. Man. d’Orn., 2nd edit., tom. ii. p. 900, tom. ir. p. 56{
Haltens graculus, Licht. Verz. der Doubl, des zool. Mus. zu Berlin, p. 80.
Phalacrocorax graculus, Leach, Syst. Cat. of Indig. Mamm. and Birds in Br.it
Ilydrocorax graculus, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat., tom. viii. p. 87.
Carbo graculus, Meyer, Taschenb. deutsch. Vög., tom. ii. p. 678.
Phalacrocorax 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. 9
Carlo brachyurus, Brehm, Vög. Deutschi., p. 822.
Graculus Linnm. Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. iii. p. 667, Graculus, sp
It is not solely amongst
scattered her gifts o£ orna
¡ered denizens <
Auks,
’ either
engunis, and the Cormorants—birds inhabiting the
_ here. What would this world be without ornament
aiwj variety ? woatd 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 o f this
genus have an extensive tuft o f feathers springing from the forehead, o f which the bird here figured may be
cited as an example ; others, again, have numerous white striae down the sides o f the neck and chest, as seen
in our well-known common Cormorant ( Phalacrocorax carbo) ; while some o f the foreign kinds have
lengthened floating hair-like plumes springing from various parts o f thè body, as in the New-Zealand P .
punctatus. I have long been o f opinion that such ornaments are not given only for the purpose o f 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 per
their finest colours, and often (as, indeed, in the present instance) n
It is time, however, to turn to the bird here represented, and to si
: I say resides ; for it is really a resident, scarcely ever ren
has taken up its abode, either in winter or summer. At on
ting specimens for the due illustration o f my * Birds o f Europe
Isle o f Wight ; but in that most'southern and charming part of c
hat such adornments are present i
mfincd to one sex.
British Island
which it
e in what part o f th
ving from the district or r
time (even so recently as w
the bird was common at the
south coast it does not r
does, it is hut sparingly ; nor is it more plentiful along our southern and south-western cm
?r hand, it is as numerous as it has ever been in the northern parts o f Scotland, in the Heb
and elegant writ
i l i
The mpso
•counts furnished by those excellent obs
o f whom says :—
s generally distributed along c
ml northern islands, is a const
mfrequented islands. It rep«
,being of a social disposition,
em à& m em by the great ui
fissures o f the iwfcy headlands ami »t
o f the rocks, often to great numbet*,
roosting-places are always rendered
crusted. It is pleasant to see them e
wing their way in files toward« tbei
keeping at an inconsiderable height, <
some sandy bay or shallow strail, tl
selves, and commence their search I
forward in a curve, rising out o f th
astonishing; and it often remains sub
ed
f the caves and
ms or on shelves
jther birds. Its
i which they are
rise, and silently
i o f their wings,
however narrow. On arriving at
vily upon the water, shake them-
eiving an object, the Shag darts
L Its agility in this element is
ey alight in succession,
v immersing their heads
water, and then pluugti
nerged from one to two
head Ion
* two minutes. Its food consists o f small fishes,
fis the young o f the coal-fish (Gadus carbonarius), which are extremely abundant on all pur northern
i, ami among which it commits great havoc; the time o f fishing is chiefly at the ebb. It is not nearly
f as the Cormorant; and I have seen it pursuing its prey almost in the immediate neighbourhood
my persons who were fishing with small nets for the fry above mentioned; but even in such cases
*ps deep in the water, and is easily frightened away. It resorts in great numbers to the maritime