THE ORNITHOLOGISTS’ AND OoLocists’ SEMI-ANNUAL. 33 
It is said that this species nests upon the ground in the moss that 
grows in damp places, and to form the same with dry leaves, fibres 
of bark, pine needles, fine, dry grass and hay. The eggs, four or 
five, are white, speckled with lilac or reddish-brown. 
This is one of those wanderers of the Mississippi Valley which ap- 
pear to enter Ontario from the south-west. It is between four and 
five inches in length, and on the upper parts the plumage is of an 
olive-green, brighter on the rump ; but ashy on the head. Below it 
is bright yellow, paler towards the lower parts, with olive shading on 
the sides. Crown with a chestnut patch, and pale ring round the eyes. 
SEA BIRDS AND THEIR EGGS. 
BY WALTER RAINE, TORONTO, CANADA. 
One of the famous breeding places for Sea Birds in the British 
Isles is Flamborough Head in Yorkshire ; and as many species found 
there also inhabit the Eastern Coast of North America, perhaps the 
following notes will be of interest to Ornithologists : 
From Flamborough Head to Speeton, a distance of five miles, ex- 
tend the famous chalk cliffs of Bempton, ranging from three hundred 
to over five hundred feet in height.. It is on these cliffs that thous- 
ands of Sea Birds resort annually to lay their eggs and hatch their 
young. 
Presuming that it is about the middle of June, we will take train 
from the fashionable seaport town of Bridlington, and after a ten mile 
ride we reach Bempton, that we may see the climbers at work. They 
are the farmers of the district who go about in gangs of three and 
four, one to do the climbing and the others to haul him up again. 
Each gang has its certain range of cliffs to climb, and the owners of 
the fields that border the cliffs receive a quantity of eggs as payment. 
As we approach, we see a group of four men near the cliff top pre- 
paring their ropes. First they drive an iron bar into the ground a 
few feet from the edge of the cliff; to this they fasten the hand rope. 
With this rope the climber steers himself, signals and holds on to with 
his hands. He takes hold of this rope and walks to the edge of the 
cliff, where he drives another iron bar into the ground. This bar has 
