SCRAPS OF NATURAL, HISTORY.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14349, 8 May 1912, Page 12

SCRAPS OF NATURAL, HISTORY.

SHAG. 'THE SWALLOWER."

(By Caxtebbvrt.)

(specially wkitte.v ion "the itiks.")

XXII.

! There lio swam, his top-deck half awash in the broad pool; when I caino stealthily through the gorse, to th'O riverside. I had expected, that sonio ducks would have been feeding about tho backwater leading to the outlet of a weedy meek, but instead I found "Shag, The Swallower," brazenly fishing out of season, in the fancied security of an unfrequented place. Cruising alertly on tho still surface, at the current's furthest eddy, ho gave i one tho impression of a savage pirate J craft, watching from some haven for' ! the approach of defenceless prey. Presently, down went his wicked-looking head, and for seconds which seemod unending ho remained below; to reappear a chain away, beak straight In. air and snaky neck working in gulp*, while something else, went down. Doubtless it was a trout; and he shook i his bead vigorously as though it had been only v little one, smaller than iio had hoped and not much help towards a meal. A stroko of his paddles took him :i yard ahead, "Shag The Shallower," all ready for the next fish; but as ;ui slewed inshore 1 stood upright. Nevyr was a more astonished evil-doer —"ev.ldoer " according to tho ideas of man— Though after a flurried swerve, he dived under, quick as a flash. If only for curiosity, 1 wanted to see insidl* that cormorant, so I kept a watch en the open river whero it seemed likeliest he would come up- By chance ho chose exactly that direction, and h shag being a clumsy bird off t}.V_> water, a charge of shot overtook him as ho flapped heavily away. Then mi unpleasantly smelly investigation revealed four trout, of which a couple would liavo weighed nearly half :i pound each, and tho last one with, which he had teemed so dissatisfied, was a "sprat" about five inches long. A frieud informs mc that ho once shot a cormorant, which contained seven trout, all weighing about haUf-a-pound, so evidently this particular bird of mine, could not have completed his meal. The lato Captain if. H. »Salvin kept several trained cormorants for fishing, and found that they required from ten to twelve pounds each daily, of-fvafious fish, to keep them in good 'Korilth and fit for work. At feeding time, his two favourite birds received a largo zinc paiL full of cut-up or wholo tish; of which they dtsposeel in a few 7noments, "and apparently they were for more.' . One might itiiagino mi interior of .such stretching capacity :is that would Ik* most valuable to eorj tain of tho raco of human boy ; but if it is o fair estimate of a cormorant'M usual appetite, ho must consume even v.iure of our trout than a fairly .sue-. I ivsstui fisherman cr.n land in a whojo. I season. However, he sometimes disi [ covers that his neck is not quite' equal !to tho task he gives it to perform, and i i havo a photo of a t-haz who was j choked by a big spa-wrasse-Lnbius I Maculatus, which, as usual, he had at- [ tempted to surround. Tho wrasse I weighed two pounds, and measured ; nearly sixteen inches length, m> it Is ; hard to see how that stupid bird could I havo expected any different result; I naturally enough, ho ivns found ou tho beach at tSt. i>larv's in tho Sciliy Jslcs, with a spino of the wrasse's dorsal fin Jixed protestingly in his gular pouch. Certainly "Shag tho Swallower" is a voracious bruto, but to do him justice, ho is plucky in moments of need, and I I have seen him put up a very intprj esting fight with a black swan, avlio at { last sheered off, with loud notes of disi approval, across the lake At another timo I was entirely routed by tho sud- , don attack of a wounded bird. He had j been shot, and had fallen hard on tho J tussoeky rise behind our tent; when j thinking that was the end, I went J carelessly to pick him up. As it happened only a stray pellet had gone straight, breaking the tip of his •wingbone, and as I went uphill he came down, very full of war and fury at that. I havo had hold of a wounded shag before, whose beak cut my fingers liko shears, and having no strong -wish to repeat the experience, I retreated in j disorder. "Timon," my friend, says. I "yon ran liko blazes, and the bird efter i you open-beaked," but however this may bo, I got a tent-peg, and ended tho business he had begun so unskilfully.