Irish Ornithology. <*$*):> 



watched on and off her nest from the sea. The cliffs are 

 generally perpendicular, and in many cases overhang, and in 

 all cases can only be reached by a rope. It is not easy to 

 find out which of its several breeding-places the bird has 

 chosen, it is still less easy to find the exact place whence a 

 rope may be let down within access of the cleft or ledge, and 

 it is least easy of all to climb down the rope, or be let down 

 by others. The natives cannot give any assistance ; they 

 have an inherited dread of the cliffs, and nothing will induce 

 them to risk their lives over them, either with or without 

 ropes. Mr. Ussher knows every breeding-place of the Pere- 

 grines (under no circumstances do they make a nest), and 

 no cliff is too high or too steep for him. He generally gets 

 the first clutch from each eyrie, but he always leaves the 

 second clutch to be hatched out. 



If the eyrie of the Peregrine is inaccessible, the nest of 

 the Chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus) is still more so. It is 

 generally placed on a ledge or in a chink near the roof of a 

 cave, and is a large, deep, and well-made structure. There 

 are at least a dozen Choughs' nests within drive of Cappagh, 

 but only one of them is accessible without ropes. Although 

 the second clutch is never taken, the number of Choughs is 

 less than it was thirty or forty years ago. It has been sug- 

 gested that the Jackdaws are the cause of this decrease, 

 whilst the blame has also been laid on the Hooded Crows ; 

 but the facts seem to be that the Choughs which built in 

 accessible places have been exterminated by egg-collectors, 

 and that the Choughs of the present generation which breed 

 in almost inaccessible places, suffer greatly in wet seasons by 

 having their nests soaked by water dropping from the roof 

 of the cave in which they are now built. 



We saw several pairs of Ravens (Corvus cor ax), but did 

 not succeed in discovering their nests. 



The most interesting nests and eggs which we found were 

 those of the Crossbill. 



There are few objects more interesting to an ornithologist 

 than the sight of a nest of a rare bird, especially if it be one 

 which is seen by him for the first time ; and it was therefore 



2c*2 



