[From Birds of the IoM, 1905]

ADDENDA

PASSER MONTANUS, TREE SPARROW.

In 1905 Mr. Leach observed Tree Sparrows at Oakhill, near Port Soderick. In the spring of the same year I found a small colony at the Scarlett limestone quarries, and during the summer Mr. Graves and I noted the species in quite a number of localities in the south of the island, as at the old limekilns at Billown (where it was doubtless breeding), in Castletown, at Strandhall and Mount Gawne; on the Calf, near the ruined buildings in the 'Glen,' and at Port Grenaugh, Santon (near Seafield, where Mr. Bacon had previously found it). There were only a few at each place. At Scarlett one nest (and likely more) was placed in the high wall which retains the quarry road, and is built up from rocky ledges on the shore, against which at high tide the sea washes; the nest at this time being directly over the water, about fifteen feet below.

It seems probable that further observation will show that the Tree Sparrow is dispersed over the entire island.

STURNUS VULGARIS, STARLING.

The following extract from the Isle of Man Times is perhaps suffciently curious to justify insertion :-

RESOLUTE STARLINGS. A PITY TO DISTURB THEM.

Letter To the Editor.

We have at the brewery an escape steam-pipe, nine inches in diameter, projecting from the copper through a wall to the open air. Every Monday . this pipe is cleaned, before using it during the week to convey hot steam from the boiling copper. For the past three Mondays part of a starling's nest has been cleared out from it; the birds having been building from Friday in each week, which is the last day steam passes through it.

Yesterday evening when it was cleaned, a perfect starling's nest, with two eggs in, was removed. This the birds must have built and finished since Friday night. I was sorry to be obliged to interfere with the domestic arrangements of so industrious and determined a couple,

J. W. CLINCH

Lake Brewery, Douglas, May 9th, 1905.

P.S.10th May 1905.— Hot steam passed through the pipe until four P.M. yesterday, but between daybreak and six A.M. to-day, another (5th) nest had been begun, and had to be removed.

PYRRMOCORAX GRACULUS, CHOUGH

The interest attaching to the discovery of inland and artificial nesting-places of the Chough led me during the early summer of 1905 to visit the localities mentioned on page 90, At the former of these sites, remote from habitation, and with quite uncultivated surroundings, the 'wheel-case' is close to the stream, with parallel walls some twenty feet high, and now commencing to crumble at the top. The joist-holes inside are in two rows, one low down, the other about five feet beneath the summit. At one end the masonry abuts upon the hillside, so that it is possible to get upon the walls, and from the top of each to look into the cavities of that opposite, No birds were seen at this nest (20th May), but in a hole of the higher row was a nest well formed of sticks (apparently gorse) behind a small plant of male fern which grew at the opening, in another hole seemed to be some slight remains. The boy who guided us to the spot told us that he had in different seasons seen three nests in this building, the eggs on one occasion being easily discernible. Mr. James Kewley, who accompanied me, succeeded in obtaining (no easy matter, from the position in which the photographer had to work) the opposite picture, which shows the nesting-hole.

Photo. G. B. Cowen, Ramsey, Isle of Man. WHEEL-CASE IN WHICH CHOUGHS NEST. (Second site, p. 314.)

The second site is in one of the main glens of the island, a little dale of that character common to so many of our valleys, in which woods, pastures, and heathery wilds are pleasantly mingled. The case is close to the stream and a road, and is a larger structure than that just described. I had been told that the nest of this year was already destroyed in defiance of the law, and on arriving at the building (27th May), I found its lining of wool, hair, and moss lying on the ground within, while in a hole at the height of about fifteen feet the sticks of the structure (heather, gorse, and thorn, mostly slender) still remained, close to the mouth of that opening, which was not deep, and easily visible from beneath,

The late Mr. T. H. Kinvig, who had some experience of the nesting habits of the Chough, thought that an unusual number of its eggs were unfertile, an interesting observation in view of the decrease of the species.

LARUS. COMMON GULL.

Mr. J. J. Gill, of Ramsey, has kindly communicated to me that in June 1904 an egg, still unblown, was shown to him which he at once recognised as belonging to the species, and he learned that it had been taken on the Manx coast on the 23rd of that month, there being two others in the same nest. The reported finder does not now recollect having met with any eggs at this place smaller than those of the Herring Gull, which abounds there, and in May 1905 I failed to see any Common Gulls along these shores, which however seem very suitable for their residence, being comparatively low, with many of the small rocky irregularities amidst which this species likes to nest. The specimen egg is, without doubt, a Common Gull's; the date is very late, but this may perhaps be accounted for by the constant robbery (in spite of Acts of Tynwald) which takes place among the Gulls' nests on these easily accessible rocks.

LOMVIA TROILE. COMMON GUILLEMOT.

Among a large number of this species observed on the Calf in 1905, Mr. Graves and I could make out only one bird of the Ringed variety, and I have found no note of other Manx specimens, but this point deserves further attention. Of many eggs seen on the same islet, an immense majority was of a green colou