7498 Birds. 



Shag, Carho cristalus. 



Situation. Ledges and apertures on the face of sea-clifFs. I have 

 never seen it, and believe it is confined to a ieyf localities in the 

 islands north-west of Scotland. 



Materials. " The nest is formed of a considerable quantity of 

 sea-weed, lined with the finer species and dried grass." — Mr. Hetvitson. 



Eggs, 4, 5. " The eggs, like those of the cormorant, are outwardly 

 of a soft chalky substance, which is easily scraped off, leaving a hard 

 greenish shell beneath. When fresh-laid they are white, but soon 

 become daubed and stained all over, like the eggs of the grebe, by 

 the materials of which the nest is formed." — Mr. Hewitson. 



Gannet, Sula bassana. 



Situation. On rocks, as Ailsa Craig in the Firth of Clyde, the 

 Island of St. Kilda, the Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth, Souliskerry 

 near the Orkneys, and the Skelig Islands on the Irish coast. " Upon 

 the precipitous rocks of these islands they breed in innumerable mul- 

 titudes, occuping all the ledges and summits wherever they can find 

 sufficient space for a nest." — Mr. Selhy. The gannets nesting on 

 Borrera, one of the St. Kilda group, are so numerous as to give it 

 quite the appearance of a chalk-cliff. 



Materials. Principally sea-weeds, but often various kinds of rub- 

 bish found floating on the ocean. 



Egg, 1. White, but it soon becomes dirty with being trodden on. 

 " The young, when hatched, are naked, their skin smooth and bluish 

 black, but covered in a few days with a white down, which growing 

 rapidly soon becomes very thick, giving them in this state the appear- 

 ance of large powder-puffs or balls of cotton." — Mr. Selby. See also 

 Colonel Montagu's account. 



Sandwich Tern, Sterna cantiaca. 



Situation. On the ground in the Fern and Coquet Islands, on the 

 coast of Northumberland. "Here a station is selected apart from the 

 other species, generally on a higher site ; and the nests are so close 

 to each other as to render it difficult to cross the ground without 

 breaking the eggs or injuring the unfledged young." — Mr. Selby. 

 The bird makes a shallow cavity among the sea campion, which 

 abounds on these islands. 



Materials. None, the eggs being laid on the bare ground. 



Eggs, 3, 4. " Of a cream or wood-brown colour, blotched with 

 dark brown and black, and with other spots of a lighter shade 

 appearing as it were beneath the shell. The common varieties of 



