156 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



but the next year there was a whole flock of them. Cormorants, too, 

 appeared to be commoner. The Shags were for some reason less 

 timid than the Cormorants, and what makes this the more remarkable 

 was that the former were not breeding, and the latter were. Of two 

 Cormorants' nests, which were found side by side on a little point, one 

 contained an egg. The next day the nests were deserted, and the egg 

 lay unbroken six feet below, and directly underneath the nest it did 

 not belong to. I am quite at a loss to account for this. If the Gulls 

 were guilty, why was the egg not eaten ? If the wind, why was it not 

 smashed to atoms ? A bird whose numbers were diminished in 1906 

 was the Stonechat. This lively but very cunning little bird could be 

 called common in 1905, but was scarce in 1906. The ease with which 

 nests of this and similar species, which delight in leading the observer 

 astray, can be found depends very much on whether there are eggs or 

 young in the nest. One nest which contained eggs took six hours of 

 patient watching ; another with well- grown young took about an hour 

 and a half, and then, when the camera was set up near, the cock, par- 

 ticularly, showed little hesitation in coming to the nest. The Wheat- 

 ears, too, were very cunning. The hen would go continually into the 

 mouths of rabbit-burrows (which she had no real interest in), and then 

 suddenly dart straight into her nesting-hole fifty yards away. Sheld- 

 drakes were common on some sand-hills farther along the coast. One 

 of the prettiest sights there, I think, is to see two or three pairs of 

 these fine Ducks flying over the sand-hills, while you hear the soft 

 whistle of the drake. We did not succeed in finding a nest, perhaps 

 because it was too early in the year. The only other species of Ducks 

 seen were Mallard and two Common Scoters, these last being out at 

 sea. Meadow-Pipits were very abundant indeed, and Eock-Pipits in 

 smaller numbers frequented the rocks near the sea. The first year 

 two nests of the latter were discovered with eggs, the owner of one of 

 which I succeeded in photographing. 



A large marsh, separated from the sea by a line of sand-hills, 

 formed the breeding-ground of a great many Lapwings. One day a 

 heavy hailstorm caught me there, and I ran for shelter into a hen- 

 house close by. No sooner had I entered than a Plover settled down 

 a few yards away with a hoarse " pee-wee," and three tiny young ones 

 ran to meet her. I am sure that it was owing to the severity of the 

 storm that the mother bird became so very bold and easily deceived. 

 I found two of the youngsters, but the third absolutely baffled me. 

 Snipe, too, bred on this marsh, and from the four eggs in one nest 

 came faint squeaks, showing that the young were ready to come out. 



