12 OUR RARER BRITISH BREEDING BIRDS. 



like fifteen minutes, and the nest has an added 

 interest in the fact that it was the last of its 

 kind, in all probability, examined by the late 

 Mr. Seebohm. 



Amongst the inner Western Isles of Scotland 

 it is said to have suffered banishment from some 

 of its old haunts through the aggressive spreading 

 of the too numerous Jackdaw, and its ranks are 

 certainly thinned in that part of the country by 

 the fierce Peregrine Falcon. I know one 

 Hebridean island in which the Chough was 

 within the memory of man the commonest breed- 

 ing species of its family, but the advance of the 

 impudent Jackdaw and other causes have reduced 

 it to something like eight pairs. In addition to 

 the above causes, the request for the bird as a 

 cage pet has no doubt also helped in the gradual 

 diminution of its numbers. 



Although resembling a Book or Crow, the 

 Chough may be easily recognised by its orange- 

 red bill and legs, and its note is much shriller 

 and more metallic than that of the Jackdaw. 



Its nest is composed of sticks, heather stalks, 

 grass and wool, with an occasional lining of hair, 

 and is placed in fissures, clefts, and caves of 

 maritime cliffs and holes in old ruins. The eggs, 

 numbering four or five, and occasionally six, are 

 of a dirty creamy- white, sometimes tinged with 

 blue or green and spotted with light brown and 

 ash grey. They are not likely to be confused with 

 those of any other species except the Jackdaw, 

 and the noisy presence of the parent birds is 

 sufficient to settle any doubts upon the point. 



