258 Mr. R. Svvinhoe 07i the Birds 



various parts into chasms and crevices. In sucli a spot nature 

 has offered to the Jackdaw a secure retreat, and the bird seems 

 fully conscious of the blessing. Thousands of them all day long 

 flock in and out with food for their young, who keep up a con- 

 stant clamour within their secure strongholds. We landed on 

 the island, and having clambered up on the other side, stood 

 over the Jackdaw site. The birds soon observed the intruders, 

 and contrived a good many dodges to go in and out of their nests 

 unnoticed ; some would quietly steal round the rocks and sud- 

 denly slip into their holes, others would dash by in parties and 

 in an instant disappear in all directions on the rock face. 

 Again, in flying out from their nests, instead of starting off 

 direct, they flew first towards one side then towards the other, 

 describing a series of angles until they tu)-ned the corner. But 

 finding our intrusion at last irksome, they assembled in large 

 flocks aloft, and kept hovering over our heads, uttering the pecu- 

 liar cracked note of the Jackdaw. 1 managed, with the assist- 

 ance of the boat's crew, to get down the rock some little way, 

 and to examine one of the nests placed in a creviced ledge. The 

 nest was a rude open construction of straw, grasses, and other 

 materials hastily collected together, and lined profusely with 

 feathers. It contained two newly-fledged young. The insides 

 and angles of their mouths were bright yellow, their eyes greyish, 

 and the light portion of their plumage was of a sullied grey. 

 Their cry for food consisted of a strange yerking note. When 

 the young birds are able to fly, their parents conduct them to 

 the trees in the neighbourhood, where they roost, and whence 

 they can easily explore the plains. The note of alarm employed 

 by these birds consisted of nasal " caws," very diff"erent from 

 the ordinary falsetto cries. The old birds were in bad plumage, 

 so I did not procure any specimens ; but I shot two full-grown 

 young, of which I subjoin a description. 



Yearling. Bill black, with a light-coloured tip. Legs black, 

 with light soles. Eyes blackish brown. Inside of mouth pale 

 yellowish. The general colour of the plumage is a dull black, 

 enlivened somewhat on the head, quills^ and tail with a gloss of 

 dark green, more vivid on the two latter ; the wing-coverts and 

 tertiary quills have, on the other hand, a lively gloss of purple. 



