It is also common to find the crested mature birds associating
and breeding in one locality, and the non-crested
immature birds congregating, but not breeding, in another.
The Shag is essentially a marine species, very seldom
wandering even for a short distance inland, or being found
on fresh water. Thompson cites two exceptional occurrences
where exhausted individuals were captured twenty and thirty
miles from the sea. It is more local than the Common
Cormorant; its favourite haunts being rugged coasts, honeycombed
with caves ; or islands, margined with fallen rocks
and large boulders, amongst which it often makes its nest.
It also selects ledges in the cliffs, like its larger congener;
hut it shows a distinct partiality for caves; the nests being
frequently placed on ledges near the summit, and so far
in that the sitting birds can scarcely he discerned amidst
the gloom. In such situations, which predominate on the
west coast of Scotland and its islands, and along a great
extent of Ireland, the Shag is, on the whole, the more
abundant of the two species. It is well to remember that
by fishermen and sea-side folk the names ‘ Shag ’ and
‘ Cormorant ’ are frequently interchanged.
The range of the Shag is far more restricted than that of
the Common Cormorant, and westward it does not appear
to extend beyond Iceland. The species is common in the
Faeroes, and on the coast of Norway; but it is scarcely
known to enter the Baltic, and it appears to be rare on the
German shores of the North Sea. It breeds in the Channel
Islands and along the north-west and western coasts of
F ran c e a lso on the Atlantic coast of Spain and Portugal,
and in north-west Morocco. Throughout the Mediterranean
is found a form with generally brighter colours, which has
been distinguished by the specific name of P. desmaresti,
and is said to have no crest at any season of the year; but
such is not the Editor’s experience, nor does he consider
the species a valid one. In South Africa is found a closely
allied species, P. capensis.
Shags pair early in April, and the nest is formed of seaweeds,
twigs, and grass, matted and plastered together, and
emitting a horribly foetid smell. In this country eggs up
to five in number are frequently found ; but, according to
Mr. Dresser, Mr. Collett says that occasionally as many as
eight eggs have been found in the same nest in the north of
Norway, where the species breeds in large numbers, in company
with Eiders, Kittiwakes, and other sea-birds, though
seldom with the Cormorants. The eggs, which are laid from
May to June, are pale blue encrusted with chalky white, like
those of the Cormorant, and are subject to considerable
variation in shape, some being roundish, others pointed at
one end, whilst some are long and narrow; average measurements
2’4 by D4. Mr. Chichester Hart says that in
one nest of the Shag he found an egg nearly fresh, a young
bird just hatched, and another apparently about a week old.
The young nestlings are bare and of a purplish-black colour;
afterwards they are covered, excepting the head, part of the
neck and the abdomen, with brownish-black down. As
observed by Mr. Harting on the Dorsetshire cliffs (Zool.
p. 9676), they feed themselves from the crop of the parent,
like the Cormorants.
Shags live principally on sea-fish, in pursuit of which
they exhibit all the skill of their congener, and have a similar
serrated claw, but as neither 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 the pectinated claw
was used to dress and arrange the plumage, and to free the
bird from parasites. The Shag has been caught in a crab-
pot fixed at twenty fathoms below the surface, which will
give an idea of the distance to which it dives. Its mode of
diving is by a spring out of the water; and it has been
stated that neither this species nor the Common Cormorant
use their wings under water, but propel themselves entirely
by their feet; this, however, is denied by Macgillivray, who
says that in deep water he has frequently seen the Shags
rapidly wending their way under the boat, using their outvol.
iv. x