GREAT NZ SHAG DEBATE

The great NZ Shag debate continues. The first part of the debate relates to members of the early aclimatisation Societies placing a bounty on Black Shags as they believed they were devastating their introduced fish stock of Trout and Salmon. - It was slaughter at the Rookeries as each shot shag got a 2/6d bounty.

The next part of the debate relates to the name of them. Some think they are Cormorants - but in NZ the pied Shag '(Phalacrocorax Various') and its cousin the Black shag ('Phalacrocorax Carbo') are called SHAGS!!

Wikipedia goes some way to explaining this difficulty -
" the names Cormorant or shag were originally the common names of the two species found in Great Britain. Shag refers to the bird's Crest which the British forms of the great cormorant lack. As other species were discovered by english speaking sailors and explorers some were called cormorants and some shags.
The great cormorant in NZ is called the Black Shag ( phalacrocorax carbo ) ( the birds is Australasia have a crest that is absent in European members of the species.)

Its not ( as someone tried to tell me yesterday ) to do with the colour of their feet or whether they have oil glands and get water logged - thats another lesson for another day.

Meantime Blippers enjoy this Picture - much more interesting than the Great NZ Shag Debate !!

rgds pooba.