THE CHOUGH. 163 



locality is one which was shot and preserved at Crawfordjohn, in 

 Lanarkshire, in the winter of 1834. In all these localities the 

 Chough has long ago become extinct, and the species is now wholly 

 confined to the sea coast. Yet in many places once distinguished 

 for red-legged crows, it has of late years become very scarce. 

 Thus at Burrow Head and the Mull of Galloway on the south- 

 west coast, Troup Head on the north, and St Abb's Head on the 

 south-east, the bold and precipitous rocks fronting the sea were 

 at one time inhabited by considerable numbers of these birds, 

 while now a few straggling pairs are all that remain ; indeed, it 

 may be questioned if a single Chough has been seen at either 

 Troup Head or St Abb's for the last ten or fifteen years. 

 It would almost seem as if some fatality were connected with 

 the Chough in this country, as in nearly all the old and now 

 deserted haunts of the species which I have visited, I can find no 

 apparent cause for its disappearance. That the encroachments of 

 man can have had little or no bearing on the subject is, I think, 

 evident, from the fact of the Chough's haunts being for the most 

 part remote and inaccessible. Other birds the appropriate resi- 

 dents of these wild and romantic headlands still maintain their 

 ground, unaffected by such influences as have caused the Chough 

 to disappear. Nor can it be said that in the localities I have 

 enumerated the bird has been the subject of special molestation, 

 unless in this light we recognise the fact that as its numbers have 

 diminished, there has been a corresponding increase of another 

 species the jackdaw whose perpetual acts of mischief are no 

 doubt prejudicial to the harmony of a colony of cliff-haunting 

 birds. In almost every district I have visited of late years, jack- 

 daws have increased to an excessive extent ; and until some other 

 and more satisfactory explanation be given for the Chough's ab- 

 sence, the increase of the one bird, I suspect, must be looked upon 

 as the cause of the decrease of the other. 



The Chough is nowhere so common in Scotland as in the island 

 of Islay, which is still frequented by the same numbers as were 

 known to exist there twenty years ago. I have obtained yearly 

 evidence of this both by observation and the acquisition of speci- 

 mens. At Bridgend and Port Ellen it is seen in small parties 

 coming close to the village, and frequently approaching the refuse 

 heaps near the dwelling-houses. A very handsome pair now be- 

 fore me were caught a few months ago in a sieve trap. It is 



