Careful now. I think Robin has put this interesting comparison forward on the basis ‘shag’ and ‘cormorant’ are synonyms. Certainly early classifiers used the terms as if more or less interchangeable,
which is how some people use them today, and no doubt the origin of the NZ (and WA?) preference. However later workers used them to distinguish different members of the group. That was why the 1978 recommendations chose ‘ shag’ for
Leucocarbo spp. based on G Van Tets ‘Australasia and the origin of shags and cormorants’ Proc XVI Int. orn. Congr. 121-124 which, I find, has been considered in more recent studies also distinguishing ‘shags’ and ‘cormorants’.
From: Robin Hide <>
Sent: Sunday, 7 October 2018 5:56 PM
To: Canberra Birds <>
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] New Zealand bird of the year poll subject to dirty tricks - by Aussies
‘ngram’ searching online books for uses of shag or cormorant may be of interest: After c. 1975, shag more common….Pity one cant restrict it to Australian or similar books.
Robin
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=shag%2Ccormorant&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cshag%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Ccormorant%3B%2Cc0
From: Geoff
Sent: Sunday, 7 October 2018 5:46 PM
To: 'Martin Butterfield'; 'David Rees'
Cc: 'COG List'
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] New Zealand bird of the year poll subject to dirty tricks - by Aussies
Martin
The saying that I have heard is “Like a SHAG on a rock”.
Interestingly “UsingEnglish.com” writes
If someone feels like a shag on a rock, they are lonely or isolated. A shag is an Australian bird that often perches alone on a rock.
(https://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/like+a+shag+on+a+rock.html)
Geoff
From: Martin Butterfield <>
Sent: Sunday, 7 October 2018 5:29 PM
To: David Rees <>
Cc: Geoff <>; COG List <m("canberrabirds.org.au","canberrabirds");">>
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] New Zealand bird of the year poll subject to dirty tricks - by Aussies
Has anyone ever heard anyone in Australia (or NZ) refer to someone being "as lonely as a cormorant on a rock"?
