NESTING-SERIES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 191 
and concealed by growing reeds and aquatic plants. From seven to 
ten greenish-drab eggs are laid in May, and embedded in greyish-brown 
down, taken from the breast of the female. 
Norfolk, June. 
Presented by Lord Walsingham. 
No. 147. GREY LAG-GOOSE. (Anser ferus.) 
This is the only species of Wild Goose which nests within the 
British Islands, and is the source from which our domestic race has 
sprung. Though not so plentiful as some of its allies during the 
winter months, a good many pairs remain to breed in the northern parts 
of Scotland and in the Hebrides, especially in the outer islands ; while in 
Treland a colony is resident on the lake at Castle Coole, Co. Monoghan. 
The nest, composed of reeds, moss, dry heather, ete., is generally placed 
among coarse grass and rushes or in deep heather near the edge 
of a loch or on an island. The yellowish-white eggs are usually 
from four to seven in number, and surrounded by down plucked from 
the breast of the female. The males take no part in the incubation, 
but associate in flocks on the nearest water. 
Sutherlandshire, May. 
Presented by Captain S. G. Reid, W. R. Ogilvie-Grant & 
G. A. St. Quintin, Esqrs. 
MODEL OF PART OF A CLIFF OF THE 
BASS ROCK. (Nos. 148-150.) 
The Bass-Rock is one of the most celebrated breeding-stations on 
the east coast of Scotland, and every spring countless numbers of sea- 
birds resort there for the purpose of nesting. It rises some 420 feet 
above the level of the sea, and the accompanying photographs give 
some idea of the bird-iife which covers the ledges of this rock. The 
part reproduced accurately represeuts two shelves situated high up on 
the precipitous face of the rock, on which the three following species 
of sea-birds were breeding, socially, and in close proximity to one 
another. 
No. 148. KITTIWAKE. (Rissa tridactyla.) 
Throughout the winter months this Gull is generally distributed 
along the coasts of the British Islands, but in summer it resorts in vast 
numbers to rugged cliffs for the purpose of nesting. Large breeding- 
