84 CHOUGH 
Seebohm (i. 577) says: ‘It still breeds . . . possibly on 
the rocks of the Calf of Man.’ 
Macpherson’s excellent little work (British Birds, ‘The 
Young Collector’ series, 1891) says that in the Isle of Man 
the Choughs ‘are limited, we believe, to a very few pairs,’ 
This statement much underestimates the numbers of the 
species. In the locality where I am best acquainted with 
the Chough, it would be difficult to prove that during the 
last twenty years it has suffered any diminution, though the 
remarks of Sir William Jardine on the state of things in 
his time point to a marked decrease since then, and this is 
borne out by the disappearance of the bird from the cliffs 
of Lonan, where, in the memory of living people, it is said 
to have been very common between Laxey and Dhoon, and 
from the neighbourhood of Douglas, where some eighty 
years ago, as Mr. Kermode was informed by Mr. Taggart, it 
might be seen ‘in flocks.’ 
The stronghold is on the south-west coast, yet in various 
other parts where the shore-line is rocky and fissured 
scattered pairs breed, or have recently bred. On 25th 
April 1898, and again on 29th April 1899, I saw as many 
as twenty together, and small flocks are frequent both in 
summer and winter. The fact of their commonly flocking, 
as above, during their breeding season is unexpected, and 
a somewhat detailed and intimate knowledge of their 
favourite haunts leads to the conclusion that for the 
number of birds existing there are very few nests or nest- 
ing couples, and this may have a bearing upon the mysterious 
decrease and in many localities extinction of the species. 
To a certain extent the habits and haunts of the Chough 
resemble those of the Jackdaw. The latter bird, however, 
even when breeding in seaside rocks, seems to prefer the 
neighbourhood of cultivation, while the Chough is most 
abundant in wild, remote, and untilled neighbourhoods. 
