100 Proceedings of the Royal Pliy sicca Society. 



Colonsay, or Jura of late years ; but there is in Mr Smellie 

 Watson's " Egg Book " reference made to a chough shot in 

 Mull in February 1838. It is not now found on the island 

 of Lismore, at the mouth of Loch Linn he, where Mr Gray 

 states that flocks existed about the beginning of the present 

 century. In vol. xiv. of the " Old Statistical Account of 

 Scotland," published in 1795, Mr Macfarlane, in dealing 

 with the history of the seafowl of the parishes of Kilbrandon 

 and Kilchattan, states that "all the wild and tame fowls 

 commonly seen on other parts of Scotland are frequently 

 seen upon this coast ; and some that are now rare, particu- 

 larly the jackdaw, with red bill and feet, hatches in this 

 country." In 1793 the chough evidently occurred in Giga 

 and Cara, Argyllshire, as Mr Eraser, in writing an account 

 of the zoology of this parish for the " Old Statistical Account 

 of Scotland," states as follows : . . . " Jackdaws are very 

 numerous. Of the last there are two kinds — one with a dark 

 blue head, all the rest black ; another with red feet, having 

 the body and head black." Mr Graham, in his " Birds of 

 lona," published in the " E"aturalist " for 1852, says that 

 there are three pairs of these birds constantly resident upon 

 the island. It is perhaps nowhere so abundant in Scotland 

 as in Islay, and from recent accounts its numbers do not 

 appear to be diminishing. Mr Gray has informed me that 

 at one time it was common in Arran, but in his " Birds of 

 the West of Scotland " he writes that a pair was shot in 

 1863, and he has been assured that no choughs have been 

 seen there since. It is also met with at Ballantrae in the 

 south of Ayrshire, but it is apparently almost or quite extinct 

 on the confines of that county and Wigtown. It probably 

 occurs sparingly at Burrow Head and on the opposite shores 

 of Kirkcudbright, as I am informed by the Eev. G. Wilson. 

 Mr Bel], in the Eoyal Ehysical Society's Proceedings for 

 1859-60, states that the chough is common in the neiglibour- 

 hood of Stranraer, building on cliffs and in caves along with 

 his mischievous companion the jackdaw; but it is certain 

 that in this locality, as in most of the rest, it has greatly 

 decreased in numbers of late years. 



In conclusion, I would urge on proprietors on whose 



