VOL. vij.] THE STEGANOPODES. 97 



species it is much more irregular in its breeding-season 

 than its ally, but as a rule begins to breed earher. Mr. 

 R. J. Ussher {Birds of Ireland, p. 154) says that he has 

 seen an egg on April 6th, a clutch of three on the 8th, 

 and a shghtly incubated set on the 15th. On Lambay 

 the first egg is recorded on April 11th, 1906 {Irish Nat., 

 1907, p. 27). Mr. Walpole-Bond also found full clutches, 

 some incubated fully a fortnight, off the Mayo coast on 

 April 20th. Fresh eggs may, however, be found through- 

 out May and even in June, and on the Saltees, Mr. Ussher 

 found young as early as May 14th {Zoologist, 1890, 

 p. 436)*. In the Channel Islands the breeding-season 

 is still earUer, and eggs have been found on Sark between 

 March 22nd and the end of the month {Zoologist, 1898, 

 p. 274 ; 1903, p. 192), but in North Wales they apparently 

 breed twice : the eggs of the first brood being laid in May 

 and those of the second being still unhatched in mid-July 

 {Fauna of N. Wales, p. 252). This discrepancy of dates 

 is curious, but when we come to Scotland the differ- 

 ence is stiU more remarkable : in Wigtownshire, Messrs. 

 J. G. Gordon and H. F. Witherby noticed young about a 

 week old on May 1st, and were told that the female 

 was sitting on March 30th, 1913. In south-east 

 Scotland Mr. H. Raeburn found nests with one to 

 three eggs on March 29th, 1903 {Zoologist, 1903, 

 p. 153). Mr. J. B. Dobbie, writing in the Annals 

 of Scott. Nat. Hist., 1898, p. 71, says that on the coast 

 of West Ross breeding does not become general till 

 the end of June, but it seems probable that his obser- 

 vations refer to the second broods. On Skye the late 

 Rev, H. A. Macpherson found fresh eggs as well as 

 fledged young at the beginning of July. In the Orkneys 

 the breeding-season not only begins extremely early in 

 the year, but also lasts till very late. In 1907 the first 

 eggs were actually found on February 24th ! (H. W. 

 Robinson, The Field, October 26th, 1907 ; Zoologist, 

 1907, p. 431) and young were seen still in the nest in 



* Not May 11th, as stated in the Zoologist, 1886, p. 91. 



