22 BlilTfSH BIBDS' NESTS. 



tliey are darker, fewer, and larger than those found 

 upon the eggn of the Willow Wren. Size ahout 

 •6 by -48 in. 



Time. — April, May and June. 



Bemarls. — Migratory, arriving in March and 

 departing in October. Notes, c/iiff-chaff, which has 

 also been represented as cliip-eliop, cliivy-chavy, 

 clioice and cheap. Alarm note, wlioo-kl or wlioo-it. 

 Local and other names : Least Willow Wren, 

 Lesser Pettychaps, Choice and Cheap. A close 

 sitter. 



CHOUGH. 



Description of Parent Birch. — Length about 

 sixteen inches. Bill rather long, slightly curved, 

 and orange-red. Lides hazel. The whole of the 

 plumage is black, glossed with purple ; legs and 

 toes red ; claws strongly hooked, and black. 



The female is not as large as the male, and 

 her bill is shorter. 



Sitiiatioii and LocaJitij. — In clefts and fissures 

 of sea cliffs, holes in old ruins, and in caves. It 

 breeds now very sparingly in Cornwall, Devonshire, 

 Lundy Island, along the Welsh coast. Isle of Man, 

 and more plentifully on the West coast of Scotland, 

 and some parts of Ireland ; but everywdiere seems to 

 be on the decrease — a distressing fact wdiich it is to 

 be hoped all British ornithologists will assist to stop. 



Materials. — Sticks, dead heather stalks, dry 

 grass, wool, and occasionally hair. 



Eggs. — Four to five, occasionally six. Dirty or 

 creamy wdiite, sometimes faintly tinged with green 

 or blue, spotted with light brown and ash grey. 

 Markings variable, both in regard to size and dis- 

 tribution. Size about 1'52 by I'l in. 



