depression or hollow of the rock. Amongst upwards of one
hundred nests that I examined, one or 4wo< only had small
pieces of sea-weed mixed "with the other-materials. They lay
two-or three eggs, varying in their shades of-'colour from a
dark olive-brown to a light drab, thickly spotted with^.ash-
grey, and' two shades of brown ; the length of .thefeegg 'abottt
two inches ten lines, by one ,inch and'*efesvgn lines im breadth.
After they have begun to siiÇ they become very-bold in'the
defence of their eggs ; whilst among them, T was am Used
with one, near the nest- of which. I was sitting ; it- retired to a
certain distance,^.to give it full force in ils "attack, and then
made a' stoop at my head, coming within £^#mr-three yards-
of me, this it continued^, do^ineessanitly,Still H e ft it.^' jM-r.
Darling, the keeper of tbèÆght-house ' onnth'è islahdl informs
me, that an isHt woman who was .in the -habiti l j f gathering
their eggs,. had her boniret alèrasîtfc torn ilo1 pieces, i t being
perforated'throughout by their bills.!’■ Mrt.tlelby- observés
^ th a t the ^oung, upon exclusion^ ar&rs®ov,êï%d~^ïth >a parti-»
coloured flown of grey and brown ; -but this! is rapidlypÉfdden
by the growth of-the regular feathers^and- in^month or fW
weeks--they are able to take ^ n g . ’l-^T h e^ ^u n g ; birds‘4 f
form e"r ' seasons, 'while yob immature, in plumage land incapable
of breeding from .want of-suffi cientiage, are notupermitfedüby
the adult and' breeding birds to- inhabit ;thcd>r&da®^stations
during their brèèâingfseason, but are driven awaÿTïttr.other
localities^ Mr. Jielby mentions haviligssfpand sthe eggs’J&nd
young ofe-this species. Hipon an island in Loch >Awe|dand‘in
Sutherlandshire many colonies-wmife ^observed, one upoÜLoch
Shin, and another Upon one- of the islijrdfeef Loch Laighal.
I t breeds also’at the Hebrides; in Orkney, and in Shetland.
Professor Nilsson says ifetis cornnsfomabout -thof Baltic and on
the coast of Norway. I t is found in Holland, France, and
Belgium ; in Dalmatia, and the isles-Cof: the Adriatic. M.
Savi includes it in his Birds~of Italy. It tis .fOutid'-also. in
Barbary, Syria, Egypt, and the Red Sea. The Zoological
Society have received’ this species also from Trebizond. M.
Temminck says, that specimens of this bird from the Cape of
Good Hope-are larger, while those from the eastern countries
named are smaller, than the average size of the birds obtained
fhere at home.
The adult bird in summer has the bill yellow, the inferior
anglejan the-lower mandible red ; irides straw yellow; head,
and- the whole o;f the neck all round pure white ; back, wing-
-coverts, and all the wing-feathers dark slate-grey, the tips
only of some of the longer scapulars and tertials being white,
and ^hi|^''fesiifo the shorter of the primaries; ; upper tail-
#1verts and tail-feathers white; breast, belly, and all the
under.-surface,’of -the body and tail pure white; legs and feet
mellow.^. The whole length twenty-three inches; from the
anterior joint , of the wingr^^the end of the longest quill-
feather sixteen inbhes.' r ,
In winter dthe head and neck are streaked with dusky
brown. ■
A young male at, ones year old has the base of the bill pale
brown, thejrpat horny black; irides dark brown ; head, sides
;ahsb back Ojf: the neck white, streaked longitudinally with
>,dusky brown ; back, and all the wing-coverts and the tertials
ash^brownj^thesdeathers margined with white, but the shaft of
.each feather deep-’ browner- forming a dark line down the
Centre ; - primaries and secondaries blackish-brown, without
anyi^hft^at the tips ; upper-tail-coverts white, tail-feathers
^Maekjgh-brown, varied with 'some white ; the central feathers
having- the^most dark colour, the outside ones the most
whitedechio and. neck in front white ; breast, belly, flanks,
.and under tail-coverts white, mottled with dusky brown ;
•legs a n d -feet dight brown.