82 CHOUGH 
have escaped the notice of Colonel Townley, from whom we 
should have expected to hear of it. 
Sir William Jardine, who visited the island about 1827, 
writes as follows (Nat. Library, Birds of Great Britain and 
Ireland, pt. ii. p. 257): ‘That part where we have seen it most 
abundant is in the Isle of Man, an island of considerable 
extent, and having precipitous coasts for at least two-thirds 
of its circumference. Round these shores it is so common 
that we once procured nearly thirty specimens in a fore- 
noon. The habits of the bird, as well as the flight, manner 
of alighting among the rocks and fissures, very closely 
resembles (sic) those of the Jackdaw; so much so, that 
when we first enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing this bird on 
a part of the mainland where they were not so frequent, 
we mistook their flight for that of the last-named bird, 
and missed some opportunities of procuring what we then 
considered a very rare bird. A glimpse of their red legs 
first undeceived us. During the breeding season, when we 
have chiefly seen these birds, we found them almost con- 
stantly on the coast near the caves and fissures where the 
nests were placed; and they were very seldom seen more 
than a quarter of a mile inland, but they made excursions so 
far, alighting among the rocky parts of the upland sheep pas- 
ture, and occasionally feeding and walking on the dry pasture 
itself, where they appeared to procure insects, their stomachs 
being chiefly at this time filled with coleoptera... 
‘When the situation of the nests was approached, no 
great restlessness or anxiety was exhibited. They were 
placed in rents of the rocks, in the entrances of the caves, 
or in overhanging ledges of rock, built much in the same 
manner as those of the true Crows.’ * 
I have quoted this account at length, because the obser- 
1 Until recently there was in the Royal Scottish Museum at Edinburgh a 
Chough labelled as Manx, and presented by Sir William Jardine. 
