230 SPRING. 



Castle; and we believe that when the repairs which 

 have added so much to the grandeur of that truly royal 

 structure were to be begun, his majesty ordered that 

 provision should be made for a race that had been so 

 long domesticated in the royal abode ; and the archi- 

 tect contrived to obey the royal order, and, at the 

 same time, to improve the effect of the finishing of the 

 walls, by placing in the cornice a row of grotesque 

 heads and figures that project a little, and each con- 

 ceals a hole in which several jackdaws may construct 

 their nests in perfect security ; at the same time, the 

 ornaments are the best specimen of the style that has 

 been executed in modern times ; and, if we are rightly 

 informed, they were cut by a common workman with- 

 out any pattern. 



It is a peculiarity in the ornithology of Britain, that 

 there should be, along a considerable part of the west 

 coast, a bird which, in its habits, resembles the jackdaw, 

 but is not found in any part of the east coast, or the 

 interior, though it is found upon the opposite shore of 

 the continent, all the way from the Pyrenees to the 

 coast of Norway, at least, at most places where the 

 shore is bold enough for affording it the accommoda- 

 tion which it requires. That bird is the Cornish chough, 

 (Pyrrhocorax graculus), which is a good deal larger 

 than the jackdaw, has the bill and feet, except the 

 claws, orange ; is not so gray on the beak, and has 

 more reflection of purple. These birds are found in 

 the Western Isles ; and, as they wheel high in the air, 

 they make a very shrill and dolorous wailing if a boat, 

 or any object in motion, approaches the caves and cliffs 

 in which they have their abode. Their principal food 



