58 J. D. MarsHaut on the Statistics and 
same opportunities of seeking their food as a low, sandy, or gravelly beach. They 
breed on the lofty cliffs overhanging the sea; the eggs are of a whitish colour, 
speckled at the larger end with brown. ‘The chough is of a restless active disposition, 
hopping or flying about from place to place; it is also very shy, and can be with diffi- 
culty approached. ‘Temminck says that the legs of this bird, before the first moult, 
are of a dark colour, while Montagu affirms that they are orange-coloured from the 
first. ‘The young which I examined were about six weeks old, and m them the bills 
were of a brownish orange ; not of that brilliant colour which marks the adult plumage, 
but certainly exhibiting enough of the orange to lead us to conjecture that they would 
become completely of that colour after the moult. The legs could not be called 
“ orange-coloured,” for although there was a tinge of that colour, yet the brown pre- 
dominated. I should, therefore, agree with Temminck in stating the legs and feet to 
be ‘‘dark-coloured” in the young birds. 
Sranyine. (Sturnus vulgaris.) This is one of the most common birds in Rathlin. 
It is found over the greater part of the island, but principally about Church bay, 
where the houses are more numerous, and where there are a few trees and shrubs. 
In July they were assembled in flocks of one or two hundred, dispersing themselves 
over the fields and along the sea-shores. They frequented the more rocky parts of the 
pasture fields, and seemed busy picking among the loose stones, both here and on the 
shore, for insects of various kinds. Mr. Low, in his ‘‘ Fauna Orcadensis,” says, that 
in the Orkney Islands they feed, during the severity of winter, on the sea-louse, 
(oniscus marinus,) which they obtain by turning over the small stones on the beach 
with their bills. It is more than probable that this insect constitutes part of their 
food in Rathlin, when the small and inefficient supply of berries and grain has been 
consumed ; but I regret that I did not make the matter certain, by examining the 
contents of the stomach in my specimens. ‘The cry uttered by this bird was a kind 
of chatter, which, when coming from a number assembled together, was rather harsh 
and grating to the ear. They build among the rocks; the young are of a brown 
colour, lighter on the belly and throat. 
Cuckoo. (Cuculus canorus.) ‘This well-known bird annually visits Rathlin for 
two or three weeks in May, when her pleasing note is occasionally heard. Her eggs 
must be deposited here, as in other places, in the nest of the tit-lark, or some other of 
the smaller birds, but, so far as I could learn, it has not yet been discovered. 
Cummney Swatitow. (Hirundo rustica.) This bird is not very common on the 
island, being only occasionally seen in the vicinity of the houses in Church bay. 
Martin. (Hirundo urbica.) This swallow is very generally distributed, being 
found in all parts of the island, as well inland as along the cliffs which overhang the 
sea. It is the most numerous of the genus in Rathlin. The situations it selects for 
the purposes of incubation are the out-houses in different parts of the island, and the 
lofty precipices near the sea. The latter it does not select without regard to eligibility 
