. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Farallon Cormorant The name Shag, from the old Saxon sceacga, hair, undoubtedly refers to the crests, which are so characteristic a feature of many species of cormorants. It is difficult to believe, however, that the name would have become imbedded in the popular imagination if it had not had the support of the cormorant-crown- ed rocks and harbor buoys. The ser- rated appearance often presented by these familiar objects certainly re- minds one
. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Farallon Cormorant The name Shag, from the old Saxon sceacga, hair, undoubtedly refers to the crests, which are so characteristic a feature of many species of cormorants. It is difficult to believe, however, that the name would have become imbedded in the popular imagination if it had not had the support of the cormorant-crown- ed rocks and harbor buoys. The ser- rated appearance often presented by these familiar objects certainly re- minds one of a woolly dog's coat, or the towsled head of a warrior, and is, therefore, for all time, shaggy. Speaking of crests, fashions are various; and in the case of the Faral- lon Cormorant, at least, very vari- able. Note the specifications above: "a tuft of narrow, filamentous feath- ers on each side of crown over and behind eye, all black, or all white, or mixed black-and-white, or wanting" —all the necessary latitude between hobble skirts (from which the good Lord deliver us) and hoop skirts (from which the good Lord has de- livered us). It is no discredit, there- fore, to the brooding mother (shown on page 1939) that she has dis- carded plumes; nor need we, on the other hand, begrudge to "the bride," shown on this page, the beautiful, and rare, adornment of pure white "; It was surely some such rare example as this which led Newton, in speaking of P. graculiis, to declare her "one of the most beautiful of sea ; Beauty, of a sort, this cormorant undoubtedly possesses. The bird's eye is of a handsome blue-green (rather an unusual color among birds); and its hue both matches the "pipings" which border the loral areas and complements the rich orange of lores and gular spaces. When milady yawns one glimpses "linings" of livid blue. Moreover, in spite of the filthy surroundings of her nest, the shag is not
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1923
