EGGS AND EGG-COLLECTING. 59 
it is situated in the immediate neighbourhood of the sea, 
and should the original owner or excavator be bold enough 
to dispute the right of proprietorship, this remarkable bird 
is not at all indisposed to do battle for possession of the 
situation her fancy has selected as a desirable place in 
which to carry out the duties imposed by Nature’s law for 
the perpetuation of the species. 
In the absence of a suitable cranny or rift in the rock, 
or the accommodation usually afforded by the presence of 
rabbits, the bird will set to work and excavate a hole some- 
times as much as three feet deep, sticking to her task with 
such assiduity as often to endanger her safety from capture. 
It seems, however, that she takes great care that what- 
ever place is adopted for her nest it shall not be reached 
by even the highest tide. The nest of the Puffin is found 
in great numbers in the Isle of Wight, Puffin Island, 
Scilly Islands, Isle of Anglesea, and many islands on the 
coast of Scotland. The parent bird cannot be induced to 
leave her nest except by force, sitting very closely, and 
determinedly defending it with her singularly constructed 
and formidable beak, with which she bites most severely. 
THE RING OUZEL. 
THE mountainous districts of the North of England and 
Scotland are the favourite nesting-places of this bird, 
which seems most at home in lonely secluded districts. 
It has often struck me that it is to this bird alone 
the mountain ash owes its existence high up in nearly 
every little mountain valley where no other tree is to 
be seen, the Ring Ouzel eating the berries and dropping 
the seed in all sorts of out-of-the-way nooks and corners. 
