Birds. 3327 



picked up or washed ashore, that the species may be ascertained, but as the tide was 

 ebbing at the time, and had still some hours to run, it is probable that this event, if it 

 occur at all, will take place further to the westward. Since writing the above, I have 

 learned from another informant that the seal was seen swimming about near the spot 

 during the same afternoon ; it is evident, therefore, that it was not killed. It appears 

 to have since left the inhospitable shores of the UnderclifF, probably muttering to it- 

 self, "I'll be shot if I stay any longer." — George Guy on ; Ventnor, Isle of Wight, 

 November 28, 1851. 



On changing the Eggs of Birds for those of other Species. — I have mentioned how 

 many birds may be deceived by their eggs being changed; of course, yonr readers will 

 understand that these eggs must not have been at all sat upon. I heard of a gentle- 

 man who wished to have a rookery, having some fine trees fit for them ; but he never 

 could induce the rooks to build, until a friend suggested an expedient. There was a 

 magpie's nest, with eggs, in one of the trees, and one day he watched the old magpies 

 go to a considerable distance, and having some rooks' eggs which were not sat upon, 

 he sent a boy up the tree, who took four of the magpies' eggs out, replacing them by 

 five of the rooks', leaving one of the magpies' only. The hen magpie hatched the 

 whole, and the young rooks were fed the same as their own. These rooks next season 

 built a nest in the same tree, and so a colony was established. From the wary nature 

 of the bird it is surprising that this dodge succeeded. In changing the eggs of birds, 

 the following may be safely operated on, if the time of laying be within a couple of 

 days or so : — the thrush and blackbird, the hedge-sparrow and linnet, the yellow ham- 

 mer and corn bunting, the chaffinch and bul finch, the goldfinch and little red linnet. 

 There are also three species of tomtit that may be changed, if their nests can be easily 

 got at. The different species of linnet may be safely changed. I do not think it suc- 

 ceeds to change the eggs of the nightingale, the redstart, or any of the migrating birds, 

 they seem to be all of a more wild and delicate nature than our own hardy English 

 birds. Most of the aquatic birds make their nests on the ground, among long grass, 

 or on the rocks in some retired place. A strange exception to this occurs in the he- 

 rons : these birds build in lofty trees, generally near some rookery. The rooks and 

 herons seem to understand each other, and do not, I believe, contend for building- 

 room. There is a famous colony of these birds at Heron Hall ; I know of another at 

 Brockley Hall, Somersetshire, the seat of I. H. S. Pigott, Esq. : this heron-haunt is 

 situated close to a rookery, and although the young herons are frequently shot, the 

 birds do not forsake their old birth-place. It is a curious anomaly the herons carrying 

 fish from the marshes, which they catch with their long bills and bear to a great dis- 

 tance to the high trees. These birds require such peculiar food, that it would be use- 

 less to change their eggs with those of the granivorous rooks, their near neighbours. — 

 H. W. Newman; New House, Stroud, November 15, 1851. 



Habits and Instincts of Birds. — The gannet or Solan goose. — This bird deserves 

 especial notice. Great numbers of them are bred in parts of Scotland, and they are 

 an unerring guide to the fishermen on the west coast. Many years ago I was taken 

 to the Island of Arran, in a fishing-boat, and on the passage the fishermen observed 

 some dozen or two of these birds following a shoal of herrings; they raised themselves 

 from about thirty to fifty feet in the air, and then descended with immense force, as 



