The Vanishing Chough
A project is on foot to reintroduce the chough, which is one of our disappearing birds, to favourite haunts in or about Britain. The bird is found in great numbers (one correspon- dent reports seeing fifty or so in a flock) off the coast of Brittany ; nothing could be easier than to import a few pairs, say, to such places as Ramsay Island, off Pembrokeshire, or a yet more constant haunt in Ross-shire. The species is not, of course, quite extinct, though opinions vary and the activity of collectors compels a hush-hush policy that makes the pooling of information a little more difficult than it should be. The chough certainly nests on two western islands—op one in several places. One of the skilled ornithologists, who is urging this importation, tells me that he saw near Falmouth, at the end of July, a pair of Great Northern divers in full breeding plumage. There was no doubt of their identity. They were close to the shore, and the barred collar and scapulars were unmistakeable. This is a notable addition to the curiosities of a curious season.
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