THE OOLOGIST. 



107 



that had fallen from the 500 foot chalk- 

 •vliff; many were worn quite round by 

 the waves: so we had to land by having 

 •Charlie rowing on a wave while we 

 stood on the gunwale and jumped. We 

 started up cliff with baskets, I made for 

 a green patch about 100 feet up while 

 my friend Fred made for a higher place 

 I found no nests, but Fred yelled to 

 •come to him, when I got up to him he 

 had his basket full, on top was a set of 

 the finest Gull's eggs I have ever seen, 

 the three was very round and almost 

 •olive-green, the spots were chocolate 

 and the size of a dollar, he also had a 

 set, 4 eggs and nest of the rare Rock 

 Pipit which he gave me, he found them 

 by accident he was climbing and slip- 

 ped and put his hand in a hole to told 

 himself, out flew the bird and he look- 

 ed in and saw the nest. 



We got the basket to the shore by 

 passing from one to the other. I had 

 "Charlie row into a little cove and gave 

 the basket to him, he placed it in the 

 ■stern and tried to push off on the next 

 wave, but in stepping back to do so he 

 stepped on a loose plank in the flooring 

 which flew up and hit the end of the 

 basket upsetting it, only one of the eggs 

 ■escaped, one of the fine set of Gulls. I 

 was so mad about it I did not know 

 what to do. 



We went up again and took about 4 

 tlozen more we only took line sets as I 

 .had plenty at home. 



All the nests were simply a pile of 

 rank grasses. 18x8x4 inches. 



The eggs varied greatly from a light 

 pea-green to drab and dark chestnut, 

 with markings of drabs, purplish drabs 

 lilac and browns almost to black. 



High up on the ledges we found 

 many Common Cormoi'ants nests most- 

 ly containing 6 dirty white eggs, nests 

 were same as Gulls only lighter and 

 more compact, some had young in, 

 Fred saw a hole and started in but 

 came out quickly saying it was the 

 most awful smelling hole he ever smelt. 



I took one whiff and believed him, it 

 was a Cormorant's nest and the smell 

 was only equalled by a good stale 

 skunk. 



We turned our attention to the Com- 

 mon Gullimots, Puffins and Razor-bills. 

 No Puffins eggs were taken, they were 

 in deep holes and crannies and were 

 not worth the trouble. We had to use 

 ropes from the top for the Gullimots 

 and Razor-bills, the eggs were laid of 

 course on the bare rock and ran 

 through the usual shades of green to 

 creamy pink, some with many marks of 

 red to black and others hardly any. 

 While suspended like Mahomet's coffin 

 between e i rth or perhaps sea and hea- 

 ven, I could not help watching the 

 graceful flight of the Red-footed Falcon 

 their young are much sought after, and 

 fetch about $25 a piece for falconry. 



Two Ravens attracted our attention 

 we found their nest in a cave half way 

 up the cliff, it was built on the floor 

 and was quite a large thing nearly three 

 foot high and about the same width at 

 base it had evidently been used for 

 manyyears, as a new layer and patches 

 had been often added. It was made of 

 sticks and grasses. 



It was late, now so we packed up and 

 started for the yacht, we had quite a 

 load of eggs but did not shoot any birds 

 as many had young. 



Twenty minutes later we were beat- 

 ing down channel, I had only two 

 hours sleep the night before so Charlie 

 took his turn, and I was soon dreaming 

 of the eggs I expected to collect the 

 next two weeks. 



Harry B. Sargent, 



The Great Gray Owl. 



This is the largest and perhaps rarest 

 of all the American Strigidse, and is sel- 

 dom found within the boundary of the 

 United States, except in Washington 

 and Oregon. I was fortunate to secure 

 two specimens which were killed near 



