60 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
they may have their eggs or young, and then deliberately walk along the 
edge and into the said cleft or fissure. These large rents in the rock afford 
shelter fora number of Puffins. I remember on one occasion noticing a 
crack in the road quite close to where I was lying. It had only a narrow 
entrance, and two Puffins, apparently young birds, were continually looking 
out, waiting, no doubt, for the old ones to bring them food, for I believe the 
young do not leave the rock until fully fledged. During the time I stayed 
several Puffins pushed themselves past these two and walked inside. These 
birds frequently breed on the highest part of the cliffs. There are certain 
places where you can creep to the very edge of the cliffs and watch the birds 
come up almost close against you; and I have noticed that if they miss their 
foothold on reaching the ledge on which they intended to alight, they have 
apparently no power to raise themselves any higher to regain it or try any 
other ledge, but turn round and sail out to sea again, some of them dropping 
a considerable distance before being able to recover themselves; so that it 
is the impetus they have gained which carries them upward, and having 
reached their highest elevation their dead weight quickly brings them down 
again, unless they happen to reach the ledge. ‘This is the case, I think, 
with all the Alcide.—I’. Borns (Beverley). 
NEsTING OF THE BraMBLinG IN PertHsuire.—Treating of the Bram- 
bling, in his new edition of Yarrell’s ‘ History of British Birds,’ Professor 
Newton says (vol. ii., p. 77), “They are not known with certainty to have 
bred with us except in captivity.” And again, “ A long search in various 
publications fails to shew that it is often seen later than the middle of 
March, by which time it has usually left Britain; one must therefore 
receive with caution the statements which have been made as to its breeding 
in England.” Under these circumstances, it is with much pleasure that 
I now bring to the notice of naturalists an undoubted instance of this bird 
nesting in Scotland. In the summer of 1866, while fishing on the river 
Lyon, in Perthshire, I had occasion to climb a beech tree to release the line 
which had become entangled in the branches, and while so engaged a female 
Brambling was disturbed from her nest, containing three eggs, which was 
placed close to the stem of the tree. As I was anxious to procure the 
young, I left her, and on again visiting the spot in about a fortnight the 
nest was empty; and, judging by its appearance, I should be of opinion 
that the young birds had been dragged out by acat. I have mentioned 
this fact in the recently published Catalogue of my collection of British 
Birds.—E, T. Boorn (Dyke Road, Brighton). 
Correction oF AN Error.—In the editorial note appended to Mr. 
Gatcombe’s communication on the Blue Shark off Plymouth, it was stated, 
through a typographical error, that this shark is “not common during the 
pilchard season off the Cornish coast.” The words should have been “ not 
uncommon,” &ec. 
