The Zoologist — March, 1867. 613 



may state that it is formed by hide or tarpaulin, stretched over a 

 wicker frame; in fact, it is almost identical with the "corracles," the 

 pattern of which the Welsh have inherited from their ancestors, and 

 both may be described as waterproofed washing-baskets. Of course 

 they are very light ; they are also almost as crank as a birch-bark canoe, 

 and very dangerous for the inexperienced. Whilst talking to some of 

 the seaweed-gatherers, a handsome, intelligent lad came up with " Are 

 you the boys are after the game-hawks," and on our replying in the 

 affirmative, he requested us to prowl along the cliffs a bit, until he 

 could join us. So on we went, disturbing sundry herons, gulls and ring 

 dotterel, when suddenly, as 1 rose over a knoll, up flitted two brownish 

 birds, at which for the moment I did not fire, fearing they were pere- 

 grines. I could have torn my hair with vexation five seconds later, when 

 I saw that these were the sentinels of a flock of some twenty or thirty 

 curlew, which there was afterwards no approaching. It is not every 

 day one gets within five and twenty yards of a curlew : the fact was 

 I never thought of them at all; my head was full of "game- 

 hawks." 



We soon came to the entrance of a lofty cave, out of which flew 

 scores of rock pigeons, whilst nests of the herring gull were on almost 

 every crag, and on the rocks below were some oystercatchers, a nest 

 of which with three eggs rewarded our search. Further on was a still 

 more considerable " gullery," and my young friend R. insisted on 

 descending after eggs, though the place was a bad one, and of course 

 only to be done barefooted. Having gone through this fever some ten 

 years ago, I quietly watched the proceedings over a pipe, until, to my 

 disgust, I found that there was one slippery mass of rock which he 

 could not reascend unless I came down and relieved him of his 

 plunder; so growling at the trouble for paltry herring gull's eggs, I 

 unlaced my boots, and scarcely had we reached the top again when 

 the lad Francis made his appearance. A few feet below us was a 

 shag's nest containing two young and two eggs, a higher and more 

 exposed situation than is usually adopted by that bird, which 

 generally leaves the ledges to the cormorant, and betakes itself to 

 caves and crevices low down in the rocks. 



We started for some cliffs where Francis said he knew of some 

 chough's nests, and in a few minutes he had his cap over a hole, 

 imprisoning the old bird, which, however, we allowed to escape for 

 fear of injury to the eggs : these were five in number, and considerably 

 incubated; the nest was composed of dry grass, roots and wool. 



