264 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



them circling round their special ledges in alarm at our appearance, afraid 

 to settle and jealous as to the safety of their eggs. All the while there 

 was a weird concert proceeding from the birds. The caterwauling wail of 

 the Kittiwakes, by far the most numerous of the sea-fowl tenanting the 

 island, reminded one of the sounds proceeding from the hyena-den at the 

 Zoo ; with these were blended the crooning and husky barking of the 

 Razorbills and Guillemots and the laughing cry of the Herring Gulls. 

 Proceeding round the island we disturbed a pair of Buzzards from a rocky 

 inlet, where they were doubtless nesting ; a Peregrine was seen in the sky 

 overhead ; a pair of Ravens settled near the caini of stones marking the 

 summit and watched us narrowly ; Choughs and innumerable Jackdaws 

 flew along the cliffs. Time not allowing, we did not visit the north end, 

 where the Puffins have their quarters. Mr. Propert told me that he had 

 never seen the Black Guillemot on Ramsey or any of the smaller islands in 

 its neighbourhood, nor can T hear of species being now on Skomer or Caldy, 

 and probably it was entered by mistake on the list of Pembrokeshire birds. 

 Some years ago I picked up a Black Guillemot which had been washed 

 ashore on the N. Devon coast, which I at the time suspected might have 

 been brought across from Wales. On the western slopes of Ramsey we 

 found a pretty little moth (Philea irrorella) occurring in great numbers, and 

 were glad to box a few. The tide runs with tremendous force between 

 Ramsey and the mainland, and we had a troublesome pull across on our 

 return against it, a brisk east wind raising a choppy sea. The rocks below 

 the water cause countless eddies and back currents with broken water, 

 locally called " shots," and anyone navigating the narrow channel in a small 

 boat soon bas experience of these. However, we reached Portstinnau, our 

 harbour on the mainland, in safety, and shall always recal our pleasant 

 visit to Ramsey as a day worthy to be marked with white chalk, favente 

 Jove and Mr. Propert. — Murray A. Mathew (Stone Hall, Haverfordwest). 



Curious Nesting Place of the Common Wren. — In April I found 

 the nest of a Wren placed in some Hags standing out about three feet in 

 the water. It was fastened to three or four stems and only about two 

 inches above the water. It is well known that this bird tries to match its 

 nest with surrounding objects, and two nests here fully carry this out. One 

 is on a fir-bough where the bracken has grown through and is still standing, 

 being supported by the branch ; the outside of this nest is entirely made of 

 bracken, and most difficult to see ; I ouly found it by the bird flying out. 

 The other is on a stack of straw in my stackyard, the straws having been 

 drawn out and woven round in the most beautiful manner, quite proving 

 that this interesting little bird is not colour-blind, because if built with 

 moss and leaves (the usual material) it would at once have been seen ; 

 whilst anyone might walk within three yards and never &ee this one. As 



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