NOTES ON THE GHAY SHRIKE, ETC. 269 



mentioned in The Naturalist) annually built tlieir nest under tlie arch of a 

 railway bridge wliicb crosses a small brook, undeterred from their enterprise 

 by the almost deafening noise occasioned by trains passing ovoiliead, and 

 regardless of the persecution to which I am soriy to say they have been 

 subjected. There are, I suppose, in every town, persons who collect birds 

 and eggs merely that they may have a collection, without taking the least 

 interest in the habits, &c., of the birds themselves ; my own neighbourhood 

 is not free from persons of this class, and the poor Dippers know it to their 

 cost. In 1852, the birds were three times plundered of their nest, contain- 

 ing, on each occasion, five eggs ; this was repeated in the two following years; 

 the same pair of Dippers, although unsuccessful in their attempts to bring 

 off a single brood, returning every spring to the bridge ; this year, 1855, 

 wishing to procure some eggs for a fi'iend of mine, I visited the brook 

 towards the end of March, and found the nest containing three eggs ; these 

 I removed, as the birds seldom if ever desert the nest, even if their full 

 number be laid ; a few days aftenvards I again looked into the nest, and it 

 then had four eggs. These, as I afterwards heard, were taken, and the bird 

 laid live more in the same nest, which was again removed, together with its 

 contents. Let it suffice to say, that this persecuted creature has, vip to this 

 period, May 15th, constructed five nests, from which 23 eggs have been 

 obtained, and she is now sitting on two others, which Avill, I am afraid, 

 share the fate of the others. When paying my daily visits to the nests, I 

 found the birds to be extremely tame ; by approaching cautiously, so as not 

 to startle them, I have frequently seen the male bird seated on a stone 

 which projected from the water immediately below the nest ; from this he 

 frequently dived, and after remaining under water for a few moments, would 

 again emerge, and shake himself, just as a dog would have done under 

 similar circumstances, covering the stone with drops of water. Although I 

 ■watched attentively, I never saw any of the birds actually Wiilking under 

 water, but I do not at all deny that this may be occasionally done. The 

 female often allowed me to approach within a foot of the nest before she left 

 it; when she did so, it was with a cry similar to that which a Blackbird 

 would have uttered in a similar position. The eggs, when fresh, have a 

 beautiful pink hue, which I have not observed in those of any other species ; 

 this, however, fades away immediately on their being blown, and tlio shell 

 loses in a few days a great deal of its former transparency. As I afterwards 

 found that the eggs I had taken were not required, I shall be very happy to 

 send specimens to any of your readers who may be in want of them, and will 

 Avrite to me on the subject. 



The Chough, (Fregilus graculus.) One of the most interesting of our British 

 Birds, in my opinion, is the Chough, {Fregilus graculus,) of modern authors. 

 Unlike the rest of its familj^, it confines itself almost exclusively to the sea 

 coast; I say unlike the rest, for although the Kaven, Hooded Crow, and 



