A young bird has the upper mandible dark brown, the
lower one pale brown ; irides brown during the first year,
then pale bluish-green, changing to emerald-green at the
end of the second year ; forehead, hind neck, back, wings,
and tail dark brown ; chin, throat, and neck in front dull
white, mixed with pale wood-brown ; lower part of neck in
front darker brown, mottled with white; under surface of
body dull white, varied with a little brown ; sides and flanks
dark brown; legs, toes, and membranes nearly black.
A female with white on three of the tail-feathers is recorded
by Mr. T. H. Nelson (Zool. 1880, p. 366); and
Saxby states that during the years 1869 and 1870 two pure
albinos, with light-coloured feet and bills, were observed
about the west coast of Unst.
STEGANOPODES. PELECANIDjE.
P halacrocorax g r a c u lu s (Linnaeus*).
THE SHAG-, OR GREEN CORMORANT.
Phalacrocorax graculus.
The S hag, also known as the Scart, or Crested Cormorant,
is immediately distinguished from the Common Cormorant,
when adult, by its prevailing green colour, as well as its
smaller size, and the young birds, which are more alike in
colour, may always be recognized by the tail-feathers, which
are only twelve in the present species, whereas in the Common
Cormorant they are fourteen in number. The matured
Cormorant and the Shag both wear crests in spring, but
neither of them have a crest in winter, Avliile the immature
birds of both these species have no crest at either season.