97 



CORNISH CHOUGHS. 



By the Kev. A. H. MALAN, MA. 



It is much, to be feared that future generations will find it 

 an extremely difficult thing to come across these interesting 

 birds in the county from which they take their name. Consider- 

 ing their former plenitude, their present scarcity is not an 

 altogether easy matter to account for. Several reasons have 

 been suggested : — 



(I). Jackdaws swarming round the cliffs, harrying and 

 usurping their nesting places. 



(2). Trapping and shooting in former days. 



(3). Robbing nests, and taking young and eggs. All of 

 these have doubtless contributed to reduce their ranks. But I 

 venture, in connection .with them, to suggest another reason ; — 



(4). In and in breeding. Not being migratory birds in the 

 general sense of the word (though all birds are migratory to a 

 certain extent), it stands to reason that being restricted to the 

 cliffs, and not being found in the inland districts of Cornwall 

 or Devon, any strolling gunner would know just where to find 

 them, and any egg-collector would know where to seek for 

 eggs ; and that as their colonies became thinned by these means, 

 there would be fewer opportunities for the survivors to find 

 fresh alliances in the way of mates. The introduction of fresh 

 blood would therefore be highly desirable ; and this I have 

 endeavoured to bring about. For (through the introduction of 

 that well known ornithologist, Lord Lilford), the genial 

 manager of some zinc mines, in the mountains of Spain, J. P. 

 Woods, Esq., F.Z.S.,most kindly volunteered, a few years since, 

 to obtain for me "any number of red-legged Choughs, entirely 

 free of cost," to turn loose on our Cornish cliffs. And indeed 

 his promise was so far fulfilled, that he caused some adult 

 specimens to be caught by the miners • and then (as these proved 

 difficult to keep alive), had several nestlings reared, and held 

 them in readiness, awaiting a favourable chance to send them 

 over ; but being called away on business to Morocco, they all 

 perished in his absence, through neglect of some assistant. Since 



