220 TEE ZOOLOGIST. 



their backs, and fought with beak and talon. The old birds 

 meanwhile were flying about the cliffs, greatly excited, uttering 

 shrill whistling screams ; the small blue male remained at a 

 more respectful distance than his mate ; she passed repeatedly 

 within a few feet of us. Scattered feathers of Eock-Pipits and 

 Wheatears along the edge of the cliffs showed where the birds 

 had plucked their victims. In 1892 the eggs were laid on a narrow 

 grassy ledge, not far from the nest of the previous year ; in 1897 

 the nest of a Crow was again utilized, but the birds were molested, 

 and when, on June 11th, we visited the spot, we found the broken 

 eggs beneath the overturned nest. The male bird was nowhere 

 to be seen, but the hen was about the cliffs. In June, 1901, 

 Mr. Gummings saw a pair of Merlins, and found the nest 

 beneath some brambles on the cliff about half a mile from the 

 old station. 



A pair of Greater Black-backed Gulls used to nest near Llan- 

 gwfan on a stack accessible at half-tide. We saw nothing of the 

 birds there this year, nor did Mr. Cummings in 1901, but we did 

 not go out to the stack to look for the nest. On June 18th, 1891, 

 there was an addled egg in a nest in the short grass on the 

 higher part of the stack, and two downy young ones of unequal 

 size were squatting on rock a few feet away. On June 10th, 

 1892, we saw the empty nest, and obtained, at a neighbouring 

 farm, an egg which had been taken by one of the farm-lads from 

 it. On June 7th this year we found a pair nesting on the sum- 

 mit of a bare isolated stack west of Pen-y-Parc. The old birds 

 rose when they caught sight of us, and sailed high overhead, 

 uttering a guttural " ugh, ugh," and another cry similar to the 

 " ag, ag" of the Herring-Gull. They mobbed and buffeted a 

 pair of Carrion-Crows until they drove them from the neighbour- 

 hood. From where we stood on the cliffs we could, with a 

 telescope, see an addled egg in the nest, and two small nestlings 

 moving about near to the nest ; the young of this Gull seem to 

 habitually vacate the nest soon after they are hatched. Presently 

 a second pair of Greater Black-backs joined the others ; for 

 some minutes all four circled above the stack, barking in con- 

 cert ; then the new-comers retired. An hour later we came 

 across two pairs on the summit of Pen-y-Parc ; perhaps one 

 pair were the birds we had seen earlier, for we could only find a 



