p e l e c a n i d æ .
THE SHAG, o r GREEN CORMORANT.
P elecanus cristatus, Shag Cormorant,
>> » Crested g m ■
■MK ■ gr_aculus,_iJIhe Shag, ,
,, cristatus, * Crested Shag,-'
,, ; graculus, The
Phalacrocorax,■ „ - Common : ,,.
.... „ . cristatus, Crested „
■>■> r> T)
>> , ,
P enn. Brit; Zool. vol. ii. p» 28.5,
» • 284;• ;
MoNT. Ojrnith'. Diet. ^
Bewick, Brit. Birds, ‘yol2 ii. p. 405,
FLEM.;'Brit.'An. p. 117,'
, , , , , , 118.
. Selby, Brit'. Or‘nith.' ii. p. 450’.
J enyns, Brit. Vert. p„:2.62-. i.ti
Goüed, Birds of Europe, pt. x.
Temm. Man. d’Örnith.Carbo Cormoran largup, vol. ii. p. 900.
T he adult Shag is immediately distinguished from the
Cormorant at any season by its prevailing green colour, as
SHAG. 379
well as its smaller size, and this difference in size is a sufficient
distinction between them, when as young birds they
are more alike in colour. The matured Cormorant and the
Shag both bear crests* in spring, and the early part of sum-
méi^Mft neither Of them havé a crest in winter, while the
young and immatüre birds of both these species have no crest
either 'in winter or Summer. I t is also common to find the
crested mature biïdê associating and breeding in one locality,
and the non-creSted immature birds congregating, but not
breeding in another;? &
In the localities^ visited, pr in the habits of the Small, or
^fepin Cormorant, a^Oornpared with those of the larger and
darker-coloured bird, there are but, few points of difference.
The Shag,: it % said, iieVer quits the salt water to follow the
.course c f a’ river, rr©^J. ^ ^ it settle" on trees like the Cormorant.
They generally build lower down on the rocks, nearer
the watei^than the Cormorants, but in companies like them ;
and Montagu siy p h e ha*s seen thirty nests close together on
"a ifmaïl ! The nest is formèd-of sea-wêed, the'eggs, three
or four in number, in shape and colour like those of its
generic companion, but they. measure only two inches five
u&es in length, by one -inch and five lines in breadth. These
ibirds"Idve on fish, in pursuit of which theylexhibit all the skill
of the Cormorant, and have a similarly.serrated claw, but as
whither of them are observed to attempt to catch, or to hold
fish with their&feet,> it- would seem'that their serrated claw is
not used to enable them to retain a slippery prey ; while from
some remains-of down and feather found adhering to the
serrations in one of the Bitterns, it would rather appear that
^ e , pectinated • claw was-used to dress and arrange the
plumage.
The geographical range of this bird in the north is very
similar to that of the Cormorant, but the Cormorant goes to