Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/86

60 they may have their eggs or young, and then deliberately walk along the edge and into the said cleft or fissure. These large rents in the rock afford shelter for a number of Puffins. I remember on one occasion noticing a crack in the road quite close to where I was lying. It had only a narrow entrance, and two Puffins, apparently young birds, were continually looking out, waiting, no doubt, for the old ones to bring them food, for I believe the young do not leave the rock until fully fledged. During the time I stayed several Puffins pushed themselves past these two and walked inside. These birds frequently breed on the highest part of the cliffs. There are certain places where you can creep to the very edge of the cliffs and watch the birds come up almost close against you; and I have noticed that if they miss their foothold on reaching the ledge on which they intended to alight, they have apparently no power to raise themselves any higher to regain it or try any other ledge, but turn round and sail out to sea again, some of them dropping a considerable distance before being able to recover themselves; so that it is the impetus they have gained which carries them upward, and having reached their highest elevation their dead weight quickly brings them down again, unless they happen to reach the ledge. This is the case, I think, with all the Alcidæ.— (Beverley).

—Treating of the Brambling, in his new edition of Yarrell's 'History of British Birds,' Professor Newton says (vol. ii., p. 77), "They are not known with certainty to have bred with us except in captivity." And again, "A long search in various publications fails to shew that it is often seen later than the middle of March, by which time it has usually left Britain; one must therefore receive with caution the statements which have been made as to its breeding in England." Under these circumstances, it is with much pleasure that I now bring to the notice of naturalists an undoubted instance of this bird nesting in Scotland. In the summer of 1866, while fishing on the river Lyon, in Perthshire, I had occasion to climb a beech tree to release the line which had become entangled in the branches, and while so engaged a female Brambling was disturbed from her nest, containing three eggs, which was placed close to the stem of the tree. As I was anxious to procure the young, I left her, and on again visiting the spot in about a fortnight the nest was empty; and, judging by its appearance, I should be of opinion that the young birds had been dragged out by a cat. I have mentioned this fact in the recently published Catalogue of my collection of British Birds.— (Dyke Road, Brighton).

—In the editorial note appended to Mr. Gatcombe's communication on the Blue Shark off Plymouth, it was stated, through a typographical error, that this shark is "not common during the pilchard season off the Cornish coast." The words should have been "not uncommon," &c.