5 o THE BIRDS OF DORSET. 



the year which have missed their course on migra- 

 tion. Pulteney notices one killed at Crichel, and 

 another on the beach at Charmouth. Professor 

 Newton saw a stuffed specimen in a farmhouse 

 near Moreton, which had been killed in the neigh- 

 bourhood. One shot at Portland is in the County 

 Museum ; and another, procured at Swanage, July 

 14, 1884, had frequented the place for some days 

 before it was shot. 



FAM. CORVID^E. 

 CHOUGH. Pyrrhocorax graculus, (L.) 



Yarrell, ii. p. 252 : Harting, p. 30 ; Dresser, iv. p. 437 ; See- 

 bohm, i. p. 576 ; Ibis List, p. 66 ; Corvus graculus, Pulte- 

 ney' s List, p. 5. 



There is much reason to fear that in the county of 

 Dorset this interesting bird is on the eve of extinc- 

 tion. Fifty years ago it used to be abundant on the 

 Purbeck coast, but has gradually become scarcer, 

 and is now quite a rare bird. 



In 1865, on a visit to the Dorsetshire coast during 

 the nesting season, Mr. Harting observed several 

 pairs of Choughs in the cliffs near Lulworth, and 

 found two nests containing eggs. In an interest- 

 ing account which he has given of this excursion 

 (Zoologist, 1865, pp. 9665-9678), he thus alludes to 

 the present species: "The Chough, when on the 

 wing, if at too great a distance to distinguish the 

 bill, may be readily known from the Jackdaw (the 



