256 
H. SEEBOHM-NESTS AND EGGS OF BIRDS. 
purpose. The nest is exactly like that of the grouse, and the eggs 
are a rich red colour, very much resembling the red hog so common 
in the district. Tor five years I went to this identical bank; I 
saw the game-keeper shoot or trap both the parent-birds; I took 
the eggs, or, if they were found to be hatched, we caught the 
young birds, and yet every year, in the same place, a merlin’s nest 
was found. Of course it could not belong to the same birds, for 
we had killed them, and there was no other nest within a distance 
of six miles. I can only suggest the following explanation. It 
would seem probable that the present breeding-places of the merlin 
have been maintained for a great number of years, and that the 
birds have a recognised understanding that no other merlin is 
allowed to have a nest within the district. As spring approaches, 
and they migrate from their winter homes in Southern Europe or 
Northern Africa, they recognise these places; they immediately 
attempt to seize upon them, and if found already occupied they 
simply pass on. It is a curious fact that if you shoot one or other 
of the two birds during the first month, within twenty-four hours 
the survivor obtains a fresh mate; but if this should occur after 
the period of migration has closed, the stock of old maids or 
bachelors has become exhausted, and the poor merlin has to remain 
without a mate until it is shot. 
Eurther down the valley we leave the moor-birds behind us and 
come upon some very beautiful specimens of a similar tribe which 
build in perfectly concealed places, where no eye can possibly see 
the eggs, and the consequence is that the eggs are a pure white. 
You may lay it down as a broad rule, without any exception, that 
all birds, breeding in holes or in nests so covered over that the eggs 
cannot be seen, have white eggs. A very interesting species under 
this head is the kingfisher, which, as you know, breeds in this 
neighbourhood; then there is the water-ouzel which builds a domed 
nest so completely covered over that you are unable to obtain the 
slightest glimpse of the eggs; and lastly there is the sand-marten. 
It is difficult to account for the fact; all one can say is that these 
birds have never found it necessary to colour their eggs, and that 
consequently they have not been coloured. 
We will now leave the Sheffield moors, and, taking a journey to 
the coast, will visit a group of islands near Sunderland known as 
the Eern Islands. Here may be seen an unusually large number 
of different birds. They are all sea-birds, they breed almost 
entirely in colonies, and rely, to a very large extent, for the safety 
of their eggs, on their own ability either singly or in pairs to defend 
them. On approaching the islands, one of the most interesting 
objects that attracts your attention is a colony of guillemots; you 
may observe clouds of birds rising from what are called “ the 
pinnacles,” and taking flight into the air, until all around you 
becomes dense as with a swarm of bees, while streams of birds 
continually pour from off the rock, taking headers into the sea until 
the whole surface of the waves is dotted over with them. They 
are immensely active both in the air and in the water, but the 
