BIOLOGY 
 LIBRARY 
 
IV 0& 
 
 -r ^>j 
 
 
BIRDS OF MOIDART 
 
W M 
 
 FROM 
 
 -B jg. 
 
 M r5 Hu9h Blackburn 
 
 EDINBURGH, 
 DAVID DOUGLAS, 
 AXDCCCXCV. 
 
BIOLOGY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
To His GRACE THE DUKE OF ARGYLL 
 
 WHOSE KNOWLEDGE OF BIRDS IS ONLY 
 
 SURPASSED BY HIS LOVE OF THEM 
 
 I DEDICATE THIS BOOK 
 
 J. B. 
 
 M1103O9 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. WINTER. LAPWING, TURNSTONE, GREAT NORTHERN DIVER, 
 
 LITTLE AUK, . . . . . . . . 3 
 
 II. OSPREY, 7 
 
 III. GOLDEN EAGLE, 11 
 
 IV. SEA EAGLE, 13 
 
 V. BUZZARD, . . 15 
 
 VI. GOSHAWK, 17 
 
 VII. GOSHAWK AND KESTREL, 19 
 
 VIII. PEREGRINE FALCON, 21 
 
 IX. KESTREL, 23 
 
 X. SPARROW HAWK, 25 
 
 XI. OWL, 27 
 
 XII. LONG-EARED OWL, 29 
 
 XIII. SPOTTED FLY-CATCHER, 31 
 
 XIV. DIPPER, GREY WAGTAIL, PIED WAGTAIL, ... 33 
 XV. MISSEL OR MISTLE THRUSH, 35 
 
 XVI. FIELDFARE, 37 
 
 XVII. SONG THRUSH, . 39 
 
 XVIII. REDWING, 41 
 
 XIX. BLACKBIRD, 43 
 
 XX. PIED BLACKBIRD, 45 
 
 XXI. RING OUZEL, ...... 47 
 
 XXII. HEDGE SPARROW, ... 49 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 XXIII. EOBIN, . . ... ., . . - -i . 51 
 
 XXIV. EEDSTART, . . . . . + . . . 53 
 XXV. STONECHAT, . . . . ... . . 55 
 
 XXVI. WHINCHAT, . . . . . . . 57 
 
 XXVII. WHEATEAR, . . . . . . ... 59 
 
 XXVIII. WILLOW WARBLER, 61 
 
 XXIX. WOOD WARBLER, 63 
 
 XXX. NIGHTINGALE, 65 
 
 XXXI. BLUE TIT, 67 
 
 XXXII. LONG-TAILED TIT, 69 
 
 XXXIII. SKYLARK, . 71 
 
 XXXIV. SNOW BUNTING, 73 
 
 XXXV. BLACK-HEADED BUNTING, . . . . j: " . 75 
 
 XXXVI. YELLOW HAMMER, -. ., . ; 77 
 
 XXXVII. MOUNTAIN FINCH OR BRAMBLING, .... 79 
 
 XXXVIII. GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN, 81 
 
 XXXIX. GOLDFINCH, CHAFFINCH, LINNET, LESSER REDPOLL, 
 
 TWITE, OR MOUNTAIN LINNET, ... 83 
 
 XL. BULLFINCH, g 5 
 
 XLI. CROSSBILL, g^ 
 
 XLII. STARLING, 89 
 
 XLIII. BOOK, ........ 91 
 
 XLIV. CARRION CROW, ..*.... 93 
 
 XLV. GREY-BACKED CROW, cm 
 
 yo 
 
 XL VI. RAVEN, . 97 
 
 XL VII. JACKDAW, 99 
 
 XLVIII. WREN, 1Q1 
 
 XLIX. CUCKOO, . 
 
 luo 
 
 L. THE CUCKOO IN THE PIPIT'S NEST, . 105 
 
 LI. YOUNG CUCKOO AND MEADOW PIPIT, . ni 
 
CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 PAGE 
 
 LII. SWIFT, CHIMNEY SWALLOW, MARTIN, . . . .113 
 
 LIU. NIGHTJAR, 115 
 
 LIV. CUSHAT, . 117 
 
 LV. BED GROUSE, ETC., 123 
 
 LVI. EINGED PLOVER, . .127 
 
 LVII. GROUP OF HERONS, . . ., ... . . 129 
 
 LVIII. HERON, 131 
 
 LIX. HERON'S NEST AND YOUNG, . . .'.'". . . 133 
 
 LX. CAPTURE OF YOUNG HERONS, 135 
 
 LXI. WOODCOCK, 137 
 
 LXII. COMMON SNIPE, ' -y . . . 139 
 
 LXIII. COMMON SANDPIPER, . . . . . - . . . 141 
 
 LXIV. EED-NECKED PHALAROPE, . 143 
 
 LXV. CORNCRAKE, OR LANDRAIL, 145 
 
 LXVI. WATERRAIL, 147 
 
 LXVII. HOOPER, OR WILD SWAN, . . . . . .149 
 
 LXVIII. MUTE SWAN, 151 
 
 LXIX. EIDER DUCK, OR ST CUTHBERT'S DUCK, .... 153 
 
 LXX. SHELDRAKE, 155 
 
 LXXI. MERGANSER, 159 
 
 LXXII. COMMON GUILLEMOT, . 161 
 
 LXX1II. BLACK GUILLEMOT, 163 
 
 LXXIV. BLACK GUILLEMOT IN WINTER PLUMAGE, . . . 165 
 
 LXXV. BLACK GUILLEMOT YOUNG AND EGG, .... 167 
 LXXVI. HEADS OF EINGED GUILLEMOT, COMMON GUILLEMOT, AND 
 
 YOUNG EAZORBILL, 169 
 
 LXXVII. HEISKAR, 171 
 
 LXXVIII. CORMORANT, 173 
 
 LXXIX. SOLAN GOOSE, OR GANNET, 175 
 
 LXXX. SOLAN GOOSE, . 177 
 
viii CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 LXXXI. GULLS IN A STORM, 179 
 
 LXXXTI. LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL, 181 
 
 LXXXIIL GULL'S NEST, .183 
 
 LXXXI V. YOUNG GULLS, 185 
 
 LXXXV. SKUA, 187 
 
 LXXXVI. FULMAR AND STORM PETREL, 189 
 
 LXXXVII. SHEARWATER, . 191 
 
BIRDS FROM NATURE. 
 
 pictures of birds in this book are all drawn from nature, 
 most of them from life, and, when that was not feasible, 
 from fresh killed specimens placed in the attitudes and with the 
 surroundings such as I had seen when they were alive. I have 
 always been interested in birds. The first book I ever possessed 
 was a copy of Bewick's British Birds, given to me when I was 
 four years old, and I should be very glad to think that this 
 work of mine might give to others, even in a small degree, the 
 pleasure that book gave me that it might lead them to consider 
 the fowls of the air as capable of affording delight in other ways 
 besides filling a game bag, or adorning a hat. 
 
 I do not attempt to give a complete collection of British 
 birds, or even of those of Moidart, still less to describe them 
 scientifically (all which has already been admirably done by 
 Yarrell), but only to represent such birds as I have known 
 personally, and to add simply, and I trust truthfully, a few 
 observations which I have had the opportunity of making on 
 their life and habits. 
 
I. WINTER. 
 
 THE LAPWING is not common here. The ground, being rough and 
 rocky and bushy, is not suitable for rearing their young, except 
 just at the head of Loch Ailort, where it is open and flat. I 
 have seen a few pairs congregating there in spring. I have 
 seen a few individuals on the seashore here in winter. They 
 are numerous in some parts of the South of Scotland, in Stirling- 
 shire particularly. 
 
 The Rook is one of their greatest enemies, watching his 
 opportunity, when the parent is in pursuit of some other foe, 
 to rush in and steal an egg. It is a wonder that any of the 
 young can ever be reared amidst such a host of enemies and 
 in such unsheltered situations. Were it not that their instinct 
 teaches them that " union is strength," and that they all unite 
 in defence of the breeding ground, they would probably become 
 very scarce indeed, perhaps altogether extinct. Their French 
 name is " Dishuit," their Scotch one " Peesweepe," from the cry 
 they make. There are several kinds of waders here Red- 
 shank, Greenshank, and Turnstone. 
 
 Curlews do not breed here, but are often to be seen and 
 heard on the seashore in winter. 
 
 THE TURNSTONE (Slrepeilas interpres) I have seen in small 
 flocks flying about in spring close to the sea, and alighting on 
 the many rocky islands in Loch Ailort. We got three at one 
 shot (all males), not yet quite in their summer plumage. In 
 winter they are dark on the upper parts and white beneath ; in 
 summer they are brightly coloured a sort of tortoiseshell mixture 
 of black, white, and chestnut. In summer I have seen one near 
 
 3 
 
WINTER. 
 
 the top of Eoshven, which seemed to have a nest somewhere, but 
 I did not find it. 
 
 In March, when on the shores of Loch Fyne, at Inveraray, I 
 had the opportunity of looking at many birds through a good 
 telescope, at the residence of Sheriff Shairp. It was high tide, 
 and a number of water-fowl had come ashore on a small grassy 
 island just opposite the house, apparently for a siesta. Mallards, 
 Oyster Catchers, and others that I could not quite make out, had 
 gathered together in close amicable proximity. Wigeons were 
 there, easily distinguished by their graceful walk, not waddling, 
 like ordinary ducks. One of the sleepers looked, as far as I 
 could see, like a Goosander, but I could not be sure, as its head 
 was, as the saying is, " under its wing." (Birds do not really put 
 their heads under their wings when they go to sleep, but lay 
 them back over their shoulders, nestling the beak among their 
 back feathers, which keep the breath warm, like a respirator 
 tempering the chill night air.) I had never seen Wigeons alive 
 before, but only in poulterers' shops. Several rare birds have 
 appeared occasionally in the woods of Inveraray, the Great 
 Spotted Woodpecker more than once, also the Shrike. 
 
 THE GREAT NORTHERN DIVER (Colymbus glacialis). Both the 
 Great Northern Diver and another large Diver with a white 
 throat, but otherwise resembling it, come here to the sea in autumn 
 and winter. They make a plaintive cry, something like the 
 whinnying of a young foal. The Diver breeds in fresh- 
 water lochs, among wild hills, in the JTorth of Scotland. A 
 
 4 
 
WINTER. 
 
 dead young one was sent to me once from Sutherlandshire. 
 It was an ungainly little creature, covered with coarse black 
 down. 
 
 One of the most interesting sights in the Zoo is the feeding of 
 the diving birds, in a large glass tank, in the aquarium-house. 
 One can see their various modes of progression under water, 
 in pursuit of the minnows thrown to them. The Guillemot 
 uses both wings and legs at once, flying and swimming and 
 steering with its feet. The Penguin uses its wings only for 
 progression under water ; they are not large enough to fly in the 
 air with. It steers with its hinder end. It shines bright with 
 air bubbles all over its body when it first plunges under water. 
 The Darter, a most elegant slender bird of the Cormorant species, 
 uses its legs only in swimming under water. It moves fast and 
 with great ease, catching fish most cleverly, reaching them with 
 its long neck, which, however stretched out, seems always to be 
 able to reach a little farther by relaxing a sort of kink in the 
 middle of it. (Looking at them there is much more agreeable 
 than having to follow a liberated Guillemot into the sea to find 
 out if it really flies under water.) When the Darter has caught 
 its minnow, it comes up to the surface, tosses up the fish and 
 catches it again, so as to be able to swallow it head foremost, as 
 the Kingfishers do ; indeed, it would be difficult to swallow a fish 
 whole in any other way. 
 
 THE LITTLE AUK (Mergulus alle). Those little birds have often 
 been found in Loch Moidart in winter, driven in by a severe 
 storm from the north. I once owned a stuffed specimen in 
 
 5 
 
WINTEK. 
 
 my youth, a much valued possession, now turned to dust. It 
 was brought from Shetland, where they breed. I believe 
 many more than usual have been driven south this hard 
 winter (1894-5). 
 

 I 
 
II. OSPEEY. 
 
 (Pandion haliaetus.') 
 
 HAVING heard that there was an Osprey's nest, with young in it, 
 at Rothiemurchus, on the ruined castle on Loch an Eilein, we took 
 a long journey to see it. Arriving there, on the second day, we 
 sat down by the loch side to observe the birds, and sketch them 
 and their nest and its surroundings. The young birds were 
 still in the nest, well grown and fledged, but with some of the 
 down still on them. After a while the parent birds arrived, 
 bringing fish for their young. I was very much struck with 
 the marvellously scientific way in which they carried the fish 
 (tolerably large ones, apparently of the salmon tribe). They 
 held them fore and aft, with one foot before the other, in such a 
 manner as would least impede their flight ; the head of the fish 
 foremost as they flew against the wind. I had read many 
 descriptions of the Osprey in books of natural history, how they 
 plunged in the water to catch their prey, and how well adapted 
 their rough -soled feet were for holding them with the claws 
 two on each side, but I never found any mention of this most 
 interesting fact. 
 
 Their method of holding the fish with one foot in advance of 
 the other, and the hind foot being placed near the tail, is effectual 
 also in preventing the fish when alive from lashing with its tail 
 and disturbing its equilibrium. 
 
 We spent the afternoon at the loch side, and saw the old 
 birds bring fish several times, always holding them in the same 
 manner, and flying up-wind to the nest. The fish seemed to 
 be still alive, as the back fin was raised and the lateral ones 
 extended. The birds seemed to come from a distance. I was 
 
 7 
 
OSPREY. 
 
 told that the loch they fished in was six miles off. I never saw 
 them fish in the little loch beside the nest. After several hours 
 spent in observing them we took a walk through the woods, and 
 admired the noble old Scotch firs. To judge by the number of 
 rings on the stem of one tree that had been cut down and sawn 
 across, they must have been over a hundred years old. They 
 seemed to have grown very slowly for the first twenty years or 
 so (an encouraging fact to those who have young plantations), 
 then the rings became rapidly, but irregularly, thicker, showing 
 that they must have grown much more in some years than in 
 others. 
 
 We spent the night at the manse, where we were hospitably 
 entertained by the Kev. Mr Macdougal, the minister of Eothie- 
 murchus. Next morning, having some time to spare before the 
 departure of the train, we returned to our post of observation at 
 Loch an Eilein. In a little while we saw the two young birds 
 take flight and forsake the nest, probably for altogether. We 
 were very glad we had lost no time in coming to see them. Had 
 we been a day later we should have missed seeing them at all. 
 
 The loch is a very small one, and the castle not far from 
 the shore, so it was easy to see the nest and observe the habits of 
 the birds. For the more minute details I had a good opera glass. 
 I am told they have built there for many years, though driven 
 away sometimes owing to the nest being harried, but they returned 
 the following year ; and in the case of one of them being killed, 
 the other found a second mate. The proprietor took all the care 
 he could to protect them from unconscientious naturalists, or 
 avaricious egg dealers. 
 
OSPKEY. 
 
 Ospreys are very rare in Scotland now. I know of only one 
 other place where they build, but, for the safety of the birds, I 
 will not mention it. This rare bird must have been better 
 known in England in Queen Elizabeth's time than it is now, as 
 Shakespeare mentions it in the play when Coriolanus is besieging 
 Home. Tullus Aufidius says of him 
 
 " I think he'll be to Home, 
 As is the osprey to the fish, 
 Who takes it by sovereignty of nature." 
 
 Now, it is not likely that a play-writer would seek to make his 
 meaning clearer to his audience by using for a simile a rare bird 
 which they had never seen or heard tell of. Shakespeare gene- 
 rally uses for illustration the very commonest and best known 
 birds most of all the Crow. The Osprey is so scarce now as 
 to be unknown to many people. 
 
III. GOLDEN EAGLE. 
 
 (Aquila chryscwtus.} 
 
 THE illustration is from a sketch of a young full-grown bird 
 belonging to the Duke of Argyll, which was afterwards sent to 
 the Zoological Gardens. Its eyes were hazel, the plumage still 
 mottled, and the tail whitish. In the adult the plumage is of a 
 more uniform rich chocolate-brown, and the eyes are yellow. It 
 is rarer here than the Sea Eagle, but I have seen it occasionally 
 once flying near the coast of Ardnamurchan, pursued by Sea 
 Gulls ; and another time, perched on a rock at Ardnish. We 
 once found the remains of one in a steel trap lying on the sea- 
 shore. It had probably been caught in the island of Kum, and 
 had flown away with the trap till it fell exhausted into the sea, 
 and was washed ashore on this coast. The Eagle flies low in 
 pursuit of its prey, as the Goshawk does ; not pouncing, like the 
 Peregrine, but picking up its prey as it floats along. It is 
 probably too heavy to do otherwise. 
 
 A friend of mine saw one skimming along a hillside and 
 swooping up a lamb in its claws as it went. When we first 
 came here there was an old deserted nest, said to be that of the 
 Golden Eagle, on a high cleft of a bare sea-beaten rock at the 
 point of Ardnish. It consisted of a great mass of coarse sticks 
 and heather stalks. It has now entirely disappeared, and has 
 never been replaced. 
 
 I sketched two young ones also at Auchendarroch. They 
 were carried to the house with their legs carefully secured, 
 though they were very tame, for even a friendly grip of such 
 claws would be serious. They use their claws mostly in attack- 
 ing their prey, and the beak afterwards to tear it in pieces. 
 
 11 
 
GOLDEN EAGLE. 
 
 They were let loose in the servants' hall, and, rather to our 
 terror, began flying round the room over our heads. Fortunately 
 they did not alight on any of us. Finally, they settled down on 
 the table, and feasted on some rabbits which had been provided 
 for them. 
 
 It is a remarkable thing that the beaks of all birds be they 
 Eagles or Finches, Curlews, Avocets, Parrots, or Pelicans, or even 
 the Spoonbills however differently formed for feeding purposes, 
 should all serve equally well for preening their feathers. 
 
 Eagles have been known to attack and destroy red deer. 
 The following account has been sent me by an eye-witness, Allan 
 M'Laren, deer-stalker to Lochiel. He writes as follows : 
 
 "December 21, 1894. 
 
 " On one of my rounds on Ben-e-chrie, about the month of March, twelve 
 years ago, I noticed about forty hinds coming along the face of the hill at 
 full gallop, and, wondering what disturbed the animals, I sat down, thinking 
 they were pursued by a dog. But on taking out my glass, I observed three 
 Golden Eagles hunting after the deer, and having about a mile and a-half of 
 the hill in view, I watched eagerly what was to be the result. During the 
 last half-mile a year-old stag broke away from the herd, and one of the 
 Eagles fixed on his back, the other two following close by. Latterly they 
 disappeared out of my sight, about a mile away. I at once made for the 
 spot. On arriving, I found the year-old stag killed by the Eagles, and part 
 of him devoured opposite the heart. All three were busily engaged in the 
 feast, having a right jolly dinner. I felt at the moment if only I had ,a gun 
 although Eagles were strictly preserved I could not resist the temptation of 
 having a shot. ALLAN M'LAKEN." 
 
 12 
 
IV. SEA EAGLE. 
 
 (Haliaetus albicilla.} 
 
 THE Sea Eagle is not very uncommon here, and builds in the 
 neighbouring hills. We heard of a nest some miles off, and were 
 guided to it by a shepherd. On approaching the eyrie the Eagles 
 came screaming around us, swooping with extended claws at the 
 shepherd's dogs, who turned upon them in self-defence, snapping 
 and snarling, evidently a good deal frightened. The Eagles came 
 very near the dogs, but did not venture actually to strike them. 
 We found the nest on a flat place near the top of a rock, which 
 projected a little over it, so as to afford some shelter from rain. 
 It looked quite accessible from a little distance, but when we 
 got to the top of the rock we found a very bad step, and could 
 not get into the nest for want of a rope, which we had not 
 thought of bringing. By peering over the edge of the cliff we 
 could see the white downy young one in the nest, surrounded by 
 fragments of food, such as bits of lambs' feet or hill hares' legs, 
 and skin and fur. The nest was built of coarse sticks, and there 
 was plenty of room on the shelf for the parents to alight and for 
 the young one to walk about when it was old enough to come 
 out of the nest. 
 
 I got a good view of the nest from a rock opposite, and 
 when the sketch was done we departed, meaning soon to return 
 for another visit, with a rope to help us further " ben," and with 
 the intention of carrying off the young one for a pet and model, 
 but were prevented doing so for some weeks owing to a severe 
 and widespread outbreak of typhoid fever. Good trained nurses 
 not having then been developed, we had to attend on the sick 
 ourselves as we best could. When the plague was stayed, and 
 
 13 
 
SEA EAGLE. 
 
 we had leisure to revisit the nest, we found the young one 
 fledged, but not yet able to fly. I no longer desired to have it, 
 as its beak had been disfigured by being caught in a trap, set by 
 the shepherds in the nest to try to catch the parents. Its 
 countenance being marred and its fine expression gone, it would 
 have been no better than L'ffomme qid rit for a model to draw 
 from. 
 
 14 
 

 
 
 
V. BUZZ A ED. 
 
 (Buteo vulgaris.} 
 
 THIS large Hawk is not uncommon here. From its size and broad- 
 tipped wings it might almost be mistaken for an Eagle when soaring 
 at a distance. Those in the illustration were got from a nest near 
 here. It was in a rocky bank, not very difficult of access, rudely 
 constructed of sticks, and containing three young ones, and with 
 remains of hill hares and scraps of small lambs lying about it, 
 rather dirty, and with a powerful smell, which I had to endure 
 while I made a drawing of the nest on the spot. 
 
 Buzzards are sometimes erroneously called " Kites." I have 
 never seen the really fork-tailed Kite in this country, except at 
 the Zoo. They are very numerous in Egypt, and very tame and 
 bold. They are very fond of fish. I have seen them hovering 
 over fishermen who were netting a small canal, and trying to 
 snatch the fish from them. The Glead is another name for the 
 Kite, also for the Buzzard. Shakespeare calls it the Puttock in 
 " Henry VI." : 
 
 " Who finds the Partridge in the Puttock's nest, 
 But may imagine how the bird was dead, 
 Although the Kite soar with unbloodied beak ? " 
 
 THE KITE. "Yelmane (a man disguised as an Amazon) sought 
 occasion to speak with Philoclea, Basilius with Yelmane, and 
 Gynecia hindered them all. If Philoclea happened to sigh, and 
 sigh she did often, as if that sigh were to be waited on, Yelmane 
 sighed also, whereto Basilius and Gynecia soon made up four 
 parts of sorrow. Therefore she endeavoured to beguile them 
 with country sports, with the bow and the angle ; and now she 
 brought a seeled Dove, who, the blinder she was, the higher she 
 
 15 
 
KITE. 
 
 strove. Another time a Kite, which having a gut cunningly 
 pulled out of her, and so let fly, caused all the Kites in that 
 quarter, who, as oftentimes the world is deceived, thinking her 
 prosperous when, indeed, she was wounded, made the poor Kite 
 find that opinion of riches may well be dangerous." THE 
 COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE'S Arcadia, Book I., written by Sir Philip 
 Sydney, Knight. 
 
 Although Kites are such handsome birds, and of noble flight, 
 they did not stand high in popular esteem for moral qualities. 
 " Kite " and " Greedy Gled " are terms of opprobrium. No one 
 would think of using " Eagle " or " Falcon " as terms of contempt. 
 Nor had the Kite a reputation for wisdom. Mr George 
 Herbert's " Jacala Prudentum " says " Twirling the eyes too 
 much shows a Kite's brain." 
 
 It is not complimentary to be called an " Owl," although it is 
 Minerva's bird. It conveys the idea of the wisdom being more 
 apparent than real. 
 
 Note. " Craigenputtock," the abode of Thomas Carlyle, was probably called 
 so from being inhabited by Kites. In a newspaper pedigree of Mr Gladstone, 
 it is said the name originally was "Gledstane." 
 
 16 
 
VI. GOSHAWK. 
 
 (Astur palumbarius.} 
 
 DRAWN from a trained female bird belonging to Captain Salvin, 
 whose book on Hawking is well known. The attitude is a study 
 from nature. 
 
 The Goshawk's manner of pursuing its prey is different from 
 the Peregrine's. It does not soar and pounce, but flies along 
 low, swooping on the victim and carrying it along in its flight as 
 Eagles do. 
 
 We went out hawking with Captain Salvin and his Goshawk 
 one winter's day to Garscube, near Glasgow. A hare was soon 
 started. The bird was thrown off, and flew straight after it, but 
 presently changed its mind and flew off to the woods. We had 
 to go in pursuit of it, and spent all the afternoon searching for 
 it, guided by the cries of the little birds, who were much alarmed 
 at its appearance, and sought to drive it away with their noise. 
 We luckily found and captured it just before dark, and drove 
 back to Glasgow, having acquired some knowledge of the habits 
 of birds, though not much of the sport of hawking. The failure 
 was caused by the bird having been fed too recently, the keeper 
 not knowing in time that it was to be flown that day. 
 
 17 
 
. .. , 
 
VII. GOSHAWK AND KESTEEL. 
 
 THIS illustration is of the same Goshawk, done from life. The 
 Kestrel (a male) is introduced for comparison. The difference 
 in form of the beak may be noticed. 
 
 19 
 
VIII. PEREGRINE FALCON. 
 
 (Falco peregrinus.) 
 
 FALCONS are distinguished from Hawks by having a tooth-like 
 notch in the beak, and by having more pointed wings, the second 
 quill being the longest in the wing, not the fourth, as in Hawks. 
 The Peregrine Falcon is not uncommon in Moidart. The young 
 ones in the illustration were taken from a nest in a wild glen 
 near Loch Ailt, not many miles from here, to be reared for a 
 friend who wanted to train them for hawking. We fed them 
 mostly on young Books, which were being shot at that time. 
 They ate voraciously, and, when gorged, laid their heads down on 
 the carcase and fell asleep. 
 
 When Captain Salvin was quartered in Ayr, many years ago, 
 I have seen a Falcon of his flown at Hooks for want of better 
 game. The unfortunate Rook it was pursuing always made for 
 the shelter of a hedge or wall, where the Falcon had not room to 
 strike, whence it had to be driven out by the cracking of long 
 whips. 
 
 In Ireland Peregrines are frequently flown at Magpies, which 
 afford better sport. On the open plains of India Herons are the 
 best game, and the pastime can be enjoyed on horseback. The 
 most interesting part of all to the uninitiated was to see the 
 Falcon, at the falconer's call, return to the lure of its own free 
 will, submitting to the bondage of hood and jesses, when it had 
 the power to fly away and be at liberty. 
 
 21 
 

IX. KESTEEL. 
 
 (Falco tinnunculus.} 
 
 THE Kestrel or " Windhover," as it is sometimes called, is common 
 here, but not in such numbers congregated together as I have seen 
 in some parts of Europe. Many of them may be seen in Athens 
 hovering over the Parthenon. I saw great numbers flying over 
 the heights above Cherbourg, near the church of Notre Dame de 
 Secours. They had evidently been feeding on Privit Hawk 
 moths, the debris of whose wings was lying on the ground. 
 There is a colony of them also in London. When we were on 
 the top of St Paul's one summer morning waiting to see the sun 
 rise, some Kestrels woke up and began flying about at the first 
 light of dawn, long before either the Pigeons or Sparrows bestirred 
 themselves. 
 
 The young Kestrels in the picture were taken alive from the 
 nest and drawn from life. The nest, which was on the top of a 
 rock on the island, was also drawn from nature on the spot. 
 The young had still some down on them, though nearly fledged. 
 
 The Merlin is also to be seen here, but not so often as the 
 Kestrel. 
 
 23 
 
X. SPAEEOW HAWK. 
 
 (Accipiter nisus.} 
 
 THIS bird is the commonest of its tribe here, and its depredations 
 among domestic fowl render it the most conspicuous. Grave 
 cause have poultry and pigeons " to curse that hedgerow thief the 
 Sparrow Hawk." Bold, clever, and active, it can wing its way 
 through among the crowded branches in a fir plantation, where 
 it is nearly impossible to get a shot at it, and when arrived at 
 the poultry yard, it cannot be fired at without risking the lives 
 of the chickens. 
 
 The orphans of the incubator were the first to suffer if ever 
 they ventured beyond the sanctuary of the foster-mother, some 
 of them disappearing daily. After an enclosure was netted safely 
 for them, we again heard an outcry in the poultry yard, and found 
 the Sparrow Hawk attacking a brood of chickens under the 
 motherly guardianship of a hen, who was facing it boldly in 
 their defence, and shrieking for help, while the chicks were lying 
 flat on the ground shamming death, not moving a muscle till 
 after they were lifted. At last the order had to be given that 
 the marauder was to be shot at all hazards, which was done, 
 costing the lives of two of the chickens, martyrs to the public 
 safety. Their bodies were hung up over a steel trap as bait for 
 rats or weasels. Next day the trap had disappeared, but a 
 clanking sound was heard on the shingley shore close by, and 
 another Sparrow Hawk was discovered caught by the leg drawing 
 the trap after him. Another, which came into a shed after a 
 Blackbird, was adroitly caught and slain, and a family of six were 
 shot in a neighbouring wood, where they had had their nest 
 among the trees. 
 
 25 
 
SPARROW HAWK. 
 
 " Still we're not quit of that prolific race, 
 For when one falls another fills his place." 
 
 They are very bold birds ; audacious enough even to come 
 close to a house in pursuit of their prey. I have known them 
 pounce through a window to get at a bird in a cage. 
 
 One day when I was feeding my Pigeons a panic seized 
 them, and they all flew off with a loud clatter. There was such 
 a cloud of blue feathers filling the air that I could not at first 
 see what had happened. In the course of the day the body of 
 one of the Pigeons was found by the roadside half a mile off, 
 which the Hawk had plucked, and was just beginning to feast 
 on when he was disturbed. 
 
 The rest of the Pigeons fled. Some flung themselves head- 
 foremost into the dovecot ; others " severed and madly swept the 
 sky," high up in wide circles, too much terrified to take their 
 food that day, nor could they take their meals in peace for many 
 days after. 
 
 I have known a Sparrow Hawk fly off with a Pea chick 
 nearly as big as itself, but, finding it too heavy, had to drop it. 
 
XL OWL. 
 
 (Syrnium aluco.} 
 
 THE large portrait was from a tame bird. Owls have young ones 
 of different ages, in the nest and outside of it on the branches, at 
 the same time, still being fed by the parent birds. I brought a 
 couple of young ones here, where we had none, though they existed 
 a few miles off, and let them loose in the garden, where they sat 
 on an old tree-stump in a cave by day, and were " mocked and 
 wondered at " by the little birds when they discovered their 
 retreat. They were not old enough to shift for themselves when 
 I first imported them, so we put out food for them daily. They 
 were very fond of fish, so we always put out a share of what 
 was caught in the evening, and they always devoured it before 
 morning. We also imported some white Screech Owls, but they 
 have disappeared. 
 
 The brown Owls have increased, although some of them were 
 shot by a timid neighbour, who thought their hooting foreboded 
 evil, and who did not appreciate the cheerful sound in the fine 
 moonlight nights. 
 
 I saw a curious scene in the cave where those imported Owls 
 spent the day. A Wren had discovered their haunt, and was 
 strutting up and down on the stump beside one of them, with its 
 tail so stiffly cocked up as nearly to touch its back. The infuriated 
 little troglodite was screaming defiance in its loudest voice and 
 hurling insults at its sleepy head. The Owl, whether from * 
 stupidity or good nature, made no attempt to retaliate. 
 
 27 
 
XII. LONG-EAEED OWL. 
 
 (Asio otus.) 
 
 So called from the long ear-like feathers that stand up on its 
 head. Was drawn from a caged bird, a fine, lively, well-feathered 
 specimen, with brilliant yellow eyes. I have never met with it 
 in a wild state, nor with the Short-eared Owl. 
 
 29 
 

 
XIII. SPOTTED FLY-CATCHER 
 
 (Muscicapa Grisola.) 
 
 THE plumage in the young bird is much more obviously spotted 
 than in the old. Their note resembles that of the Chats. They 
 perch on a branch or rail, and the old bird flies up after insects, 
 which it catches on the wing, and brings to its young. 
 
 31 
 

 
XIV. 
 
 DIPPEE. GPtEY WAGTAIL. 
 
 (Cindus aquaticus.} (Motacilla boarula.) 
 
 PIED WAGTAIL. 
 
 (Motacilla lugubris.) 
 
 I HAVE put these three birds on the same page as they inhabit 
 the same sort of locality, and may be seen together in summer 
 on the same stream. 
 
 The Dipper is not common here (I got my specimen in 
 Forfarshire). I do not know if the absence of minnows may 
 have anything to do with that, or with the Kingfisher being 
 hardly ever seen here, though both of them are common enough 
 in other parts of Scotland. 
 
 The Pied Wagtail is more numerous here than the Grey 
 one (which I should be more inclined to call yellow), and 
 is a summer visitor only. The Pied one may be seen in winter 
 also, especially in the south of Scotland, where it comes to 
 be fed among other hunger-tamed birds at the back door. 
 
 An old housekeeper in Kirkcudbrightshire, who used to feed 
 the little birds in winter, told me that of all the scraps she could 
 collect for them, haggis was the greatest favourite with the birds, 
 as each one could find in that excellent compound the sort of 
 food that suited it best, whether meat or oatmeal. 
 
 Those who practise feeding little birds in winter should 
 get a cocoanut and saw it across, and hang it up by a string 
 near a window. It is very pretty to see the little blue-cap 
 Titmouse get up inside of it and enjoy the contents. (The 
 open end should be undermost, of course.) Blackbirds and others 
 c 33 
 
DIPPER GREY WAGTAIL PIED WAGTAIL. 
 
 are very fond of it too, so it does not generally last very 
 long. Some people hang up a bone with a little meat on it, 
 which pleases the Titmice very well, but is not so elegant. 
 
 Both sorts of Wagtails come much about the windows and 
 roof of Roshven in autumn, seeking for the flies that are 
 beginning to look out for their winter quarters. While sailing 
 in the Mediterranean one stormy day in the month of April, a 
 bird very like the Grey Wagtail came on board. I tried to 
 make a drawing of it, but the steamer (a very long and narrow 
 screw) was rolling so violently I could not make the drawing 
 sufficiently accurate to identify it by. 
 
 The Pied Wagtail has the rather poetic name of " The Seed 
 Lady " among the Catholic peasantry of Braemar. It is supposed 
 to be sent by the Virgin Mary in spring to let them know the 
 proper time to sow the seed. 
 
 34 
 
XV. MISSEL OE MISTLE THRUSH. 
 
 (Turdus viscivorus.} 
 
 THIS bird is common here. It is one of the largest of its 
 tribe, being two inches longer than the Song Thrush, and of a 
 paler colour. Not having a drawing from life of the adult, I 
 insert a young one ; also a young Ring Ouzel (Turdiis torquatus) 
 in its first plumage, as many people may not have had an oppor- 
 tunity of seeing it in that condition. Many young birds are 
 spotted in youth which are plain-coloured when full grown. 
 This difference occurs in beasts also. Red Deer and Roe Deer, 
 the Wild Boar and the Black Tapir are spotted at first. 
 
 35 
 
, 
 
XVI. FIELDFARE. 
 
 (Turdus pilaris.} 
 
 THE drawing is from a fresh specimen shot in Forfarshire, 
 December 1860. Fieldfares come in great numbers to all parts 
 of Scotland in autumn, and are generally accompanied by flights 
 of Eedwings. They are very fond of rowan berries, and devour 
 great quantities of them. The unusually large crop we had this 
 year (1894) was entirely cleared off by them in a few days, 
 and the trees left bare. 
 
 37 
 
XVII. SONG THRUSH. 
 
 (Turdus musicus.} 
 
 I MADE this drawing from a cage-bird borrowed from a work- 
 man in the High Street of Glasgow. Thrushes are much more 
 numerous at Koshven now than they were when we first came, 
 probably owing to the increase of cultivation and enlargement of 
 the garden. They stay all winter, unless the frost be unusually 
 severe, and may be heard singing their most beautiful of all birds' 
 songs even in a January morning if the weather be mild. They 
 sing earlier in the morning and later in the evening than Black- 
 birds do. Of course, these birds take their full share of the fruit, 
 but that can be replaced by parcel post the songs cannot. 
 Thrushes abound in summer in the birch woods as well as in the 
 garden here. 
 
oil 
 
 
XVIII. KEDWING. 
 
 (Turdus iliacus.) 
 
 THIS drawing is from a bird caught alive in a feeble and 
 famished state on the snow near Ayr, in the severe frost at 
 Christmas 1860. I have seen them feeding greedily on the 
 berries of the yew tree. They do not seem to be so hardy as 
 Blackbirds, or so able to stand privation, although they come to 
 us from cold countries. I have met with them in Iceland, and 
 heard their pretty thrush-like song. 
 
 41 
 
XIX. BLACKBIED. 
 
 (Turdus merula.) 
 
 THIS drawing is from a caged bird. The Blackbird is common 
 here, but keeps mostly to the garden. It begins to sing in March, 
 and prefers doing so in an elevated situation the top of a tree, 
 or even on the roof of the house principally in the afternoon. 
 The female is brown and the young spotted brown ; neither have 
 the bright yellow bill of the cock. The Blackbird finds it a good 
 plan when in search of worms to stamp on the ground, which it 
 does energetically with both feet at a time. The worms, sup- 
 posing that a mole causes the earthquake, come to the surface. 
 I used to have a difficulty in distinguishing clearly between the 
 song of the Blackbird and the Thrush before I lived so much 
 among them, so I got a young Blackbird and kept it in a cage, 
 that I might know the song better, hoping to hear it " warble its 
 native wood-notes wild," but was disappointed ; it only made 
 feeble attempts to whistle a tune. Both Thrushes and Black- 
 birds come to the windows for food in winter. The Blackbird is 
 fierce and greedy, and drives away the smaller birds. 
 
 43 
 
XX. PIED BLACKBIKD. 
 
 THE Pied specimen of the common Blackbird was shot at 
 Kinloch Moidart. It is not very uncommon to see a Blackbird 
 with one or two white feathers, but it is rare to see one so well 
 marked as this. 
 
 45 
 
XXL KING OUZEL. 
 
 (T urdus torquatus.} 
 
 KING OUZELS breed in considerable numbers on the hills of 
 Moidart. A number of them come at early morning usually and 
 attack the gooseberries in our garden at Eoshven. They all 
 disappear about the end of September. The drawing is from 
 one caught alive after it had been wounded. The mountain ash 
 berries (or rowans), which the bird is represented eating, are a 
 favourite food. 
 
 47 
 
XXII. HEDGE SPAEEOW. 
 
 (Accentor modularis.} 
 
 DRAWN from life. The Hedge Sparrow is common here. It 
 sings sweetly, sometimes even in winter. It inhabits the garden, 
 and comes to the window for crumbs in hard weather. 
 
 There were no Common Sparrows here when we came first, 
 nor for many years afterwards. Since they came, the Yellow 
 Hammer has decreased. 
 
 49 
 
XXIII. KOBIN. 
 
 (Erythaca rubecula.) 
 
 EOBINS are very numerous here, and very tame ; they 
 frequently come into the house in winter, which necessitates 
 saucers being set with water and crumbs all about the staircase 
 for their convenience. One used to come in at the dining-room 
 window daily at breakfast time and hop about the table, selecting 
 what it liked best, principally butter, of which it was very fond, 
 then warbling a little song of thanks. One used to come to the 
 kitchen in winter for butter, and also in summer, carrying off* 
 some to feed its young. 
 
 " One summer (at Doonholm, in Ayrshire) a Eobin built its 
 nest in one of the drawing-room curtains, inside where it is 
 looped up. The curtains had to be pushed back every evening 
 to allow the shutters to be shut, but it did not mind that. 
 It reared and took away, I think, six young ones. The next 
 year it built its nest in the footman's hat in the pantry, but, 
 unfortunately, the pantry had to be painted, and the hat was 
 hung outside the window, and it deserted. Several Robins used 
 to live in the house in winter ; they were very tame, and used to 
 sit on the clock on the drawing-room chimneypiece and sing. 
 One of them used always to put itself to bed on the top of the 
 canopy of the bed in one of the spare rooms." J. F. 
 
 The Kobins, old and young, in the picture are from life. 
 
 51 
 
XXIV. REDSTART. 
 
 (Ruticilla phcenicurus.) 
 
 THE Redstart is common in Moidart in summer. The picture 
 represents the male and female that had a nest in the old garden 
 wall. We first caught the cock alive by placing a piece of net 
 over the hole where the nest was, and when its picture had been 
 taken, and it had been set at liberty, the hen was caught in the 
 same manner. There are many of them about the birch woods 
 as well as in the garden. Firetails they are called in England, 
 from the brilliant appearance of their tails when the birds are 
 flying about after insects. The cock is a showy bird, with its 
 red breast and tail and black throat, contrasting with its grey 
 upper part and white forehead. The hen is pale-brown, nearly 
 white on the throat and under parts, the tail red like that of the 
 cock. I have seen some come on board ship in the Bay of Biscay 
 in rough weather in October. Having already depicted them, I 
 did not care to have them caught. They were in the plumage 
 of the female. The young are spotted like young Robins. 
 
 53 
 
XXV. STONECHAT. 
 
 (Pratincola rubicola.) 
 
 THE Stonechat is less common in Moidart in summer than either 
 the Whinchat or the Wheatear, but seems to remain all the year 
 at least we have seen it late in autumn. The plate represents 
 the male, female, and young bird. 
 
 In voice and manner this bird resembles the Whinchat. It 
 makes its nest in low bushes, and remains during winter. The 
 male is bright and conspicuous, and generally perches on the top 
 of the bush. 
 
 55 
 
XXVI. WHINCHAT. 
 
 (Pratincola rubetra.) 
 
 THE young Whinchats in the picture are from life ; the old birds 
 (male above, female below) are from fresh specimens. Whinchats 
 are common at Roshven among the whin (furze), which thrives 
 particularly well in some parts of the low ground near the sea. 
 They are very lively, and make a clicking sound, such as is used 
 to make a pony go on. 
 
 57 
 
s 
 
XXVIII. WILLOW WARBLER 
 
 (Phylloscopus trochilus.) 
 
 THE nest of the Willow Warbler is from nature, and the birds, 
 young and old, from life. The old bird was caught by putting 
 the young ones in a cage. The whole were replaced when the 
 drawing had been made ; after which the young were reared by 
 their parents as if nothing had happened. The bird is common 
 in Moidart. Its note is sweet and soft. 
 
 61 
 
XXIX. WOOD WARBLER 
 
 (Phylloscopus sibilatrix.} 
 
 FROM a fresh specimen shot at Eoshven, where it seems to be a 
 regular summer visitor, though Yarrell says he is not aware of 
 any record of its appearance in Scotland. 
 
 It inhabits an old fir wood. It is less common with us than 
 either the Willow Warbler or the White-throat. 
 
 The White-throat is common here in summer, but not very 
 numerous. It keeps very much out of sight, in " leafy labyrinths," 
 hunting for insects among the bushes and under the leaves. 
 Unlike many of the soft-billed, insect-eating summer visitors, its 
 notes are rather harsh. 
 
 63 
 
XXX. NIGHTINGALE. 
 
 (Daulias luscinia.) 
 
 THE illustration is a sketch from life done in the Zoological 
 Gardens, London, some years ago. It was easier to get near it 
 there than when flying about the hedges in England, although I 
 have been close enough to one near Canterbury to observe how 
 it swelled out its throat when singing. I have seen and heard 
 many a one since then. At a villa near Florence, where I was 
 staying, one came to a bush near my window and sang every 
 fine night in May. At Giandola, a small town on the way from 
 the Eiviera to Turin, they positively swarmed, and never ceased 
 their songs day or night. In the midst of their music I chanced 
 to hear a Blackbird singing, and did not feel inclined to make an 
 invidious comparison. 
 
 I have perched the Nightingale on an olive, as it was the 
 commonest tree there. It was about the last week in May, and 
 the natives were busy gathering the ripe black fruit, whipping 
 down the berries with long sticks from the branches which they 
 could not reach by climbing. Sheets were spread under the trees 
 to receive them, and the women collected them in baskets. They 
 were afterwards crushed by a millstone to extract the oil. 
 
 Lady Margaret Cameron of Locheil has kindly sent me the 
 following : 
 
 "Memorandum made in 1889. 
 
 " ACHNACARY. 
 
 " A Nightingale was heard for three weeks, and also seen, during 
 the month of June 1889. Thermometer 90 in the shade in May. 
 Very hot all May, June, and July, but cold and wet in the south and 
 east of England." 
 
 E 65 
 
vu>wy* 
 
XXXI. BLUE TIT. 
 
 (Parus cceruleus.} 
 
 THE Blue Tit is common here. It is active and various in its 
 attitudes; has a pale yellow breast and blue bonnet, and is 
 altogether a very attractive little bird. It is quite worth while 
 to hang out a half cocoanut at the window for them to pick at. 
 They also will eat meat or pick a bone, holding it with their 
 claws as the other Tits do. 
 
 They were done from live birds, caught in winter, and kept 
 in a cage for a few days to have their attitudes studied and their 
 portraits taken, when they were let go again. 
 
 Besides the Blue Tit, we have observed the Great Tit or 
 Ox-eye, the Cole Tit, and the Long-tailed Tit in Moidart, but 
 no other paridce. 
 
 I have placed them on boughs of larch in flower, when the 
 leaf -buds are just bursting, and while the last year's cones are 
 still adhering. 
 

XXXII. LONG-TAILED TIT. 
 
 (Acredula caudata.} 
 
 THE Long- tailed Tit is very common here, and may be seen in 
 large family parties in summer, among the twigs of the birches. 
 In winter likewise, in even larger parties. They are cheerful, 
 loquacious little birds. I have not seen them in the garden 
 here, nor at the window. They are easily seen and recognised 
 by their long tapered tails. The plumage is black and white, 
 with a tinge of dull pink on the sides, and the eyelids are red. 
 The male and female are much alike. 
 
 The Long-tailed Tits were obtained in Kinloch Moidart, 
 where they had bred. They had pink eyelids, a point which 
 Yarrell does not mention, but in other respects agreed with his 
 description. 
 
 69 
 

XXXIII. SKYLAEK. 
 
 (Alauda arvensis.) 
 
 THE illustration was done from a caged bird lent me by a work- 
 man, who had a variety of birds in his room, in the High Street, 
 opposite Old Glasgow College. There were many Skylarks kept 
 in the slums of Glasgow. I used often to hear them singing 
 at the windows of houses in the Yennel while I walked in the 
 College Green. It was rather touching to see them in that 
 smoky place flapping their wings and singing their gloria in 
 excelsis, with their feet on a withered turf, and with a board or 
 canvas over their low, dark cages to prevent them trying to fly 
 upwards to the light. 
 
 It is pleasanter to see a Canary in such circumstances. 
 " Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage " to it ; 
 it is " home, sweet home." It has never known another, nor a 
 better. 
 
 We have no Skylarks in this place ; the ground does not 
 suit them. They inhabit the open ground near Loch Sheil all 
 the year round, and begin to sing in February. 
 
 71 
 

XXXIV. SNOW BUNTING. 
 
 (Plectrophanes nivalis.} 
 
 I HAVE only seen Snow Buntings once at Eoshven. I saw them 
 frequently in Iceland, and have heard that they are not very 
 uncommon in the North of Scotland. Those in the picture 
 were shot in autumn picking about for seeds by the roadside. 
 
 73 
 
. 
 
 
XXXV. BLACK-HEADED BUNTING. 
 
 (Emberiza ridibundus.} 
 
 A FEW pairs of this pretty little bird are to be found in Moidart, 
 
 " By the rushy fringed bank, 
 Where grow the willow and the osier dank." 
 
 The female differs from the male in having the head brown 
 instead of black. I have seen the male flying about among the 
 saugh bushes with a caterpillar in its beak, evidently going to 
 feed its young, but I did not find the nest. I have never seen 
 it in winter, nor near a house. It is sometimes called the Eeed 
 Bunting, from its habit of frequenting marshy places. 
 
 75 
 


XXXVI. YELLOW HAMMEE. 
 
 ( Emberiza citrinella. ) 
 
 THE Yellow Hammer's nest among the uncurling ferns and the 
 dog violets is from nature at Roshven. The bird remained on 
 its eggs while the drawing was being done. Yellow Hammers 
 used to be very common here before the Sparrow invaded us. 
 

XXXVIII. GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. 
 
 (Regulus cristatus.) 
 
 THE Golden-crested Wren (so-called) breeds in Moidart. We 
 have had a beautiful nest suspended by four equi-distant pendu- 
 lous twigs of an old yew tree. The twigs in this picture were 
 drawn from spruce. 
 
 We have caught the bird alive here, in the house, in autumn. 
 The crest of the female is yellow, and not nearly so bright as 
 the golden and orange-coloured crown of the male. It has a 
 very sweet little song, which I have heard it give utterance to 
 even in the dead of winter. 
 
 They are very combative, and sometimes so deeply engaged 
 in a fight as not to perceive the approach of man. 
 
 81 
 
XXXIX. 
 
 GOLDFINCH. CHAFFINCH. LINNET. 
 
 (Carduelis elegans.) (Fringilla ccelebs.} (Linota cannabina.) 
 
 LESSEE EEDPOLL. TWITE, OR MOUNTAIN LINNET. 
 
 (Linota rufescens.) (Linota flavirostris.) 
 
 I HAVE put the Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Linnets, and Eedpoll in the 
 same picture, as they all frequent open ground and feed in 
 grassy, weedy cornfields. I have only seen a Goldfinch once 
 here. They used to be common in the wild parts of Kirkcud- 
 brightshire when there was less cultivation and fewer plantations. 
 They are common in France, where I have seen flocks of them 
 in cornfields, among scarlet wild poppies and " bluets," clinging 
 to the cornstalks and picking the seeds. They enjoy ripe 
 thistle seeds when they come across them. The finest I ever 
 saw were at Constantinople. One of the crew of the steamer I 
 was in had bought them and showed them to me as " beautiful 
 larks." The common Linnet is to be seen here, the Twite still 
 oftener, and the Eedpoll most of all. It builds on the apple- 
 trees in the garden a neat little nest, but not quite equal to that 
 of the Chaffinch, who also builds in the apple-trees at the time 
 the tree is in blossom, its grey lichen-covered nest contrasting 
 beautifully with the pink flowers. 
 
 The Chaffinch is very numerous here, most obviously so in 
 the winter time, when great flocks of them frequent the bare 
 fields, picking up what seeds they can find (of weeds, probably, 
 as it is long after the corn has been carried). To judge by the 
 plumage they were hen birds, but some of them may have been 
 young males, who do not acquire their bright feathers till spring. 
 
 83 
 
GOLDFINCH CHAFFINCH LINNET. 
 
 The cocks do not associate with them in winter, though they 
 remain here and come a good deal about the house to be fed, 
 and fight with each other and the Eobins for crumbs. 
 
 One dark stormy night, in late autumn, I heard a fluttering 
 and tapping at my bedroom window, and, on opening it, a young 
 Chaffinch flew into the room, and after circling about for some 
 time, it finally settled for the night on the bed-rail. In the 
 early dawn it flew out, and, like Bede's sparrow, was no more 
 seen. 
 
 Linnets (of sorts) are more or less tinted with rose colour. 
 The common Linnet has it on the breast, the Twite on the rump, 
 the Eedpoll on the breast, and also a brighter crimson on the 
 forehead. Linnets fly about in companies, chirping as they fly, 
 and making a noise something like the sound of distant stringed 
 instruments. 
 
 The Chaffinch is not so musical. He seems in his song to 
 proclaim himself " a little, wee, wee drunken sowie." 
 
 84 
 
XL. BULLFINCH. 
 
 (Pyrrhula europcea.} 
 
 BULLFINCHES are very common here, and do a good deal of damage 
 in the garden, coming in flocks and eating the buds off the fruit- 
 trees and gooseberry bushes. They look very pretty when picking 
 among the apple-blossom. In general they inhabit the birch- 
 woods summer and winter, and their soft voices may be heard at 
 all seasons, " sole or responsive each to other's note." They have 
 rather a poor song of their own, but can be taught to whistle 
 tunes very sweetly in confinement. They are very nice cage- 
 birds, easily tamed, even when caught old; very affectionate to 
 those they love, and sometimes showing a marked dislike to 
 strangers. They are not generally long-lived in captivity, being 
 very apt to die of apoplexy. They ought not to get much 
 hempseed. I have seen them eat common primroses, and also 
 seed on weeds, as groundsel, plantain, &c. Some cage- birds 
 are very fond of mignonette. We discovered it accidentally to 
 be a good bird food when some canaries escaped from their cage 
 and lived in the garden for some days before they could be 
 caught again, although the weather was very bad. They lived 
 mostly on mignonette. 
 
 I have known a nest of Bullfinches to be taken when the 
 young were fledged, but not able to fly, and put in a cage hung 
 as near as possible to where the nest was built, and the parent 
 birds came and fed them through the bars of the cage. The cage 
 should have the top and sides of wood to protect the young birds 
 from the weather. This arrangement facilitates the rearing if it 
 is properly carried out, but care must be taken that the old birds 
 are not frightened away, lest the young get starved. 
 
 I have never seen Bullfinches come to the window to be fed 
 here ; I do not know if they do so elsewhere. 
 
 85 
 
XL I. CKOSSBILL. 
 
 (Loxia curvirostra.) 
 
 THE Crossbill is to be found in the North of Scotland. These 
 birds were obtained in winter at Kuthven, in Forfarshire. The 
 three birds were killed at one shot while climbing about in 
 various attitudes in a larch tree. They varied considerably in 
 colour, some being much tinged with red, some with green. The 
 beaks are very peculiar, and seem to answer their purpose admir- 
 ably in enabling the bird to extract the seeds from fir cones. 
 
 87 
 
XLIL STARLING. 
 
 (Sturnus vulgaris.} 
 
 THE illustration was done from a tame Starling I had, which, 
 when let out of its cage to run about on the gravel, would put 
 its beak under the larger stones, and, by opening it wide, raise 
 them and look if there were any worms or insects beneath. It 
 came on board the steamer Palestine, in a storm, in the Bay of 
 Biscay, when I was on my way to Egypt, and was caught and 
 given to me by one of the sailors. It soon became quite tame, 
 and would eat out of my hand, and much enjoyed being washed 
 and gently dried with a pocket-handkerchief. I took it with me 
 to Egypt, and home again to Scotland. During our stay in 
 Malta it enjoyed picking weevils out of old navy-biscuit. It got 
 cockroaches sometimes in our small dahabieh above the cataract ; 
 they were not to be had in the larger one we had from Alexandria. 
 Nothing came amiss to it in the eating line. It sang a good 
 deal very sweetly, but always ended in a loud harsh chirp or 
 long contemptuous whistle, just as the wild ones do. I never 
 heard it imitate sounds or human speech as I have known a 
 Jay do. 
 
 To my great grief it died within the year of atrophy during 
 its moult. Its health had, I think, been injured by the over- 
 fatigue of a long railway journey through France and England. 
 Railway travelling does not seem to suit birds. The continuous 
 clinging to the perch night and day so as not to be shaken off it 
 fatigues them greatly. They can stand the swinging about in a 
 sea voyage much better, even if it is rough. 
 
 There were no Starlings here when we first came in 1856. 
 Many rested on the islands when migrating, as many of them do. 
 
 89 
 
STARLING. 
 
 In Canna I have seen a little tree quite covered with them. 
 They began to come here a few years ago, and a good many stay 
 all the year round, and live in the dovecot among the pigeons. 
 Some try to build in the chimneys of the house (if the rooms are 
 empty and fireless), filling them up yards deep with sticks, which 
 are very difficult to get out, even with the help of a long wire 
 with a hooked end. One has to light an occasional fire to drive 
 them away with the smoke, and prevent their repeating the 
 offence, which they are only too ready to do. 
 
 Starlings seem to me to be much more numerous in Scotland 
 than I remember them long ago, both in town and country. 
 There are many in the old parts of Glasgow, and as soon as the 
 New University Buildings were finished they began to inhabit 
 them. I have seen them in the greatest numbers at Canterbury, 
 where they swarm, along with the Jackdaws, in the Cathedral 
 and Deanery. 
 
 90 
 
ft 
 
 
XLIIL ROOK 
 
 (Corvus frugilegus.} 
 
 THE Rooks did not build here when we first came, but only flew 
 across the sea from Armadale on predatory excursions. At harvest 
 time they would carry off potatoes and hide them, sometimes 
 forgetting where they were buried, and leaving them to come up 
 in unexpected places the following spring. They also trans- 
 planted acorns we had sown, sometimes replacing them in a 
 more favourable spot. After we had been here for some years, 
 they began to build in the trees behind the house, and increased 
 in numbers to an extent that the corn supply could not afford, 
 and so were shot down in spring, and ceased to build here. 
 
 They had a habit, before going to roost, of assembling them- 
 selves together in the evening on a rocky islet near the shore in 
 great numbers, and holding a parliament. Then they took a few 
 precautionary flights round about to see that all was safe before 
 retiring for the night. The Rooks here are not very fine birds, 
 nor have they so bare a place at the base of the beak as those 
 that inhabit a rich agricultural country. Perhaps they have not 
 depth enough of soil here to dig in so as to rub off the feathers. 
 
XLIV. CAEEION CEOW. 
 
 (Corvus cor one.} 
 
 THE young Hoodie or Eoyston Crow here drawn was so good as 
 to fall uninjured out of its nest on an old aspen tree growing 
 out of a rock on the island at the mouth of Loch Ailort, the day 
 we went to try to get at it. 
 
 93 
 
-.. 
 
 4s .: 
 
XLV. GEEYBACKED CKOW. 
 
 (Corvus 
 
 THIS bird, sometimes called the Greybacked Crow, visits the 
 eastern counties of England annually in autumn and winter. 
 It is called there the " Eoyston Crow," and in Scotland the 
 " Hoodie." It remains here at all seasons. Like the Vulture, 
 it has a keen scent* for carrion, or rather an eye for a sick-fallen 
 beast ; and though none may be in sight when a sheep falls or 
 dies on the hill, they will soon assemble around the carcase and 
 begin their feast, even sometimes before the poor animal has 
 breathed its last. They are the plague of shepherds and game- 
 keepers, being very destructive of game and eggs, as well as of 
 young and feeble lambs in the springtime. 
 
 We do what we can here to destroy the young in the nests, 
 
 * It is more probably by sight than scent that the Carrion Crow or Raven 
 finds the carcase. Our neighbour, Dr Macvicar, had a tame Hoodie, and tried 
 the experiment of hiding a bit of carrion. It did not find it. High-flying birds 
 like the Raven or Vulture must have a great advantage in seeing things so far 
 below them, as no obstacle can be interposed. They also can see one another 
 from a great distance when perched on some high place on the lookout, and will 
 soon perceive if any of the fraternity have discovered a treasure, and be ready to 
 share it. In "Hiawatha" there is a fine description of vultures watching each 
 other's movements with this intent. 
 
 Never stoops the soaring vulture 
 
 On his quarry in the desert, 
 
 On the sick or wounded bison ; 
 
 But another vulture, watching 
 
 From his high aerial look-out, 
 
 Sees the downward plunge, and follows ; 
 
 And a third pursues the second, 
 
 Coming from the invisible ether, 
 
 First a speck and then a vulture, 
 
 Till the air is dark with pinions. 
 
 Hiaivatha. 
 
 95 
 
GKEYBACKED CROW. 
 
 for when once they can fly they are very difficult to get near 
 with a gun. The Black Carrion Crow is very much the same as 
 the Hoodie, except in colour. In Forfarshire I have heard of 
 them pairing, and of young ones being both black and grey- 
 backed in the same nest ; but I have not known it happen here, 
 although I believe there are a few of the entirely black sort here 
 also. It is very difficult to distinguish them from Eooks of the 
 first year, that still have the beak feathered, except by their cry. 
 They generally caw only three times, and perhaps more fre- 
 quently rise silently and sneak away if disturbed ; whereas the 
 noisy Kooks, who generally congregate in greater numbers than 
 the Carrions do, are in the habit of " rising and cawing at the 
 gun's report, sever themselves, and wildly sweep the sky." 
 
 The Greybacked Crow frequents the seashore, especially after 
 a storm, looking out for what jetsam the waves may cast up, or, 
 if there is no better food to be had, feeding on shell-fish. I have 
 more than once observed them eating the berries of the mountain 
 ash off the trees growing near the seashore, where there was 
 abundance of apparently more congenial food. Their taste for 
 these berries does not seem to be generally known. 
 
 In the young Greybacked Crow the eyes are blue. I do not 
 know if it is so in the Black Carrion Crow. 
 
 96 
 

 
 rrt fl 
 
XLVL EAVEK 
 
 (Corvus corax.} 
 
 THE Eaven is not an every-day sight here, but seldom any very 
 long time passes without one's seeing and hearing two or three 
 of them flying high overhead and uttering their well-known 
 croak. They are very wary and unapproachable, more so than 
 even the Carrion Crows. Unlike them, it does not frequent the 
 seashore in search of food. I have several times kept tame 
 Eavens, which make most amusing, but rather inconvenient, pets 
 very affectionate to their owners, but mischievous in the extreme, 
 and malevolent towards strangers. My first, a very fine large 
 bird, had the name of " Beelzebub," which many of my friends 
 thought it deserved. The nest from which it was taken was 
 near Loch Ard, on a high rock, called by a poet in that neigh- 
 bourhood, " the Craig of Grahame's destiny." It was very wild 
 at first, but by keeping it beside me it soon got quite tame, 
 and would sit on my shoulder without ever offering to bite. 
 When a visitor called, it always made a point of ascertaining 
 whether he wore boots or shoes, and applied its beak accordingly, 
 and was especially severe on thinly- shod ladies. When -I had 
 him in my room one day to draw his portrait, he collected my 
 slippers and put them in a basin of water which I had set for 
 him to drink or wash in. When corrected for his misdoings, he 
 would lie down and croak penitentially, and as soon as forgiven 
 would repeat the offence. 
 
 Woe to any hedgehog, toad, or other small animal he might 
 
 meet when out walking with me in the country. He would 
 
 proceed to bore holes in them if they were not rescued at once. 
 
 Even the flowers did not escape his destructive beak. One day 
 
 G 97 
 
RAVEN. 
 
 when we shut him in the garden, not wishing him to follow us, 
 we found on our return all the gay tulips that had that morning 
 adorned the borders gathered and laid out in rows on the walk. 
 When in town he could not do so much harm, but danced about 
 in the back green, cursing and swearing like an angry French- 
 man, and pinching the tails of the dogs and cats who were rash 
 enough to go within his reach. He cared most for a large bull- 
 dog with a very short tail, and nose to match, not so easily laid 
 hold of as the better developed extremities of the lesser ones, 
 and of whom he stood in some degree of awe ; but even he was 
 made sometimes to feel the power of " Beelzy's " beak. Though its 
 gibberish sounded like human language (not of the best), I never 
 heard it say any words that could be recognised. There was no 
 attempt made to teach it to speak. It existed before the time 
 of Barnaby Eudge. 
 
 My second pet Raven I got from a nest in this neighbour- 
 hood. It was not so fine a bird as " Beelzy," but had the same 
 love of mischief and sense of humour. During our absence one 
 winter, a friend, fond of animals of all sorts, offered to take care 
 of " Asmodeus " for us, for which good nature her chickens 
 suffered. He was allowed the use of his wings. One day he 
 stole the priest's prayer-book, and flew off with it to the top of 
 the house, where the impious bird, with sacrilegious beak, tore it 
 leaf from, leaf, scattering the sacred pages to the winds, while 
 
 Father D stood below in helpless despair ; but all the time, 
 
 with true Catholic charity, excusing it on the plea of " invincible 
 ignorance." " Poor thing, it does not know what a sin it is 
 
 committing." 
 
 98 
 
^r 
 
 
 \ 
 
XLVIII. WEEK 
 
 ( Troglodytes parvulus. ) 
 
 THE Wren is very common here more so, perhaps, among the 
 rocks and heather than even about the garden. Its song may 
 be heard in winter as well as in summer; it is more loud than 
 melodious, somewhat like that of a second-rate Canary. I have 
 observed, when I have had occasion to sit up all night in cases 
 of illness, that its song was the first to be heard at very early 
 dawn on the summer mornings. I heard a Wren singing on the 
 3rd of January 1895, in the garden of a cottage where I had 
 been visiting. It was late in the afternoon " the sun was set, 
 but yet it was not night." There was a beautiful afterglow 
 lighting up the snowy landscape and tingeing the hills with 
 orange. No wonder it was moved to chant a benedicite. 
 
 THE TREE CREEPER (Certhia familiaris) is also to be seen 
 here among old moss-grown trees, running up and down the 
 stems searching for insects in the crannies of the bark. In 
 creeping up the trees, it keeps its stiffly-feathered tail pressed 
 close to the trunk to prevent its slipping downwards. 
 
 Its colouring is so like the bark of the tree that it is rather 
 difficult to see, except while in motion. 
 
 101 
 
f^l ' '-: 
 
 I . ,;', 
 
 k>, ' 
 
 * / -, 
 
 '* 
 
XLIX. CUCKOO. 
 
 (Guculus canorus.) 
 
 THE next plate is drawn from a bird which was caught alive and 
 kept for a few days. There are usually a good many Cuckoos 
 in our neighbourhood, and they are to be seen constantly during 
 the season on the open ground, as well as among the trees and 
 brushwood. The attitude represented is not uncommon when 
 the bird settles on the ground in search of insects. 
 
 The adult Cuckoo is slate grey above, the breast white, barred 
 with black, eyes pale. In its first plumage the young Cuckoo 
 is red-brown, with dark bars on the upper parts, and white barred 
 with black beneath, and eyes dark hazel. It greatly resembles 
 a Kestrel Hawk ; it is called the Ked Cuckoo, and has probably 
 been at some time mistaken for a different species, as young 
 Sea Gulls have been, in consequence of the great difference of 
 plumage between young and old. 
 
 103 
 
f V - 
 
 ! '/\ $'' 
 
 .- 
 
 ' 
 
 ... 
 
L. THE CUCKOO IN THE PIPIT'S NEST. 
 
 THE nest in which we found the Cuckoo's egg was limited in 
 size, from being built in a bank which shut it in on three sides. 
 It was too small for a Cuckoo to sit in so as to lay her egg as 
 birds usually do ; so I am inclined to agree with those who 
 believe that she lays it on the ground first, then carries it in 
 her beak to the destined nest. I have heard of a Cuckoo having 
 been shot with an egg in its mouth, which has probably given 
 rise to the belief prevalent in the South of Scotland that Cuckoos 
 eat other birds' eggs. There is an old nursery rhyme to that 
 effect : 
 
 " The Cuckoo is a bonny bird, she sings as she flies ; 
 She brings us good tidings, and tells us no lies ; 
 She sucks little birds' eggs to make her voice clear, 
 And always sings 'Cuckoo' when spring-time is near." 
 
 The old English rhyme makes the Cuckoo masculine, and is 
 less imaginative and more in accordance with known facts : 
 
 " In April, come he will ; 
 In May, he sings all day ; 
 In June, he alters his tune ; 
 In July, he prepares to fly ; 
 Come August, go he must." 
 
 It seems Cuckoos' eggs vary very much in colour, maybe in 
 order to match those they are to be placed among, so that the 
 foster-mother bird may be less likely to detect the fraud. I 
 have seen a collection of Cuckoos' eggs in the Natural History 
 Museum in London some green, or blue, some plain white, as 
 well as speckled-brown, like the Pipit's in whose nest Miss 
 Blackburn found one. 
 
 Concerning this collection Sir William Flower writes me : 
 
 105 
 
THE CUCKOO IN THE PIPIT'S NEST. 
 
 " We have now a fine series of Cuckoos' eggs, with those of the 
 bird in whose nest they were laid, showing in many cases a great 
 resemblance in colour, in others none at all. In some Hedge 
 Sparrows' nests the Cuckoos' eggs are as blue as the others ; but 
 in some they are of the more usual speckled-brown. It has been 
 doubted whether the blue eggs were really those of the Cuckoo, 
 but Mr Seebohm set the question at rest by taking an undoubted 
 young Cuckoo (with its very different feet from the Sparrow's) 
 from one of them. The Cuckoos' eggs vary much in colour, and, 
 generally speaking (though with many exceptions), show some 
 conformity to the eggs of the bird in whose nest they are laid. 
 
 " The rationale of this is not understood. It is exceedingly 
 difficult to make close observations of their habits in a state 
 of nature. Many people say the Cuckoo lays its egg on the 
 ground, and carries it about in its bill until it finds a suitable 
 nest to put it in." 
 
 I have told this curious fact to various of my friends. They 
 all exclaimed, " How does she do it ? Is the egg laid first, and 
 then a suitable nest sought for ? Or is the nest found first, then 
 an egg laid to order ? " I incline to the former view as the 
 more feasible ; also, that it is in favour of the opinion that the 
 egg is laid on the ground first. If it were laid in the nest with- 
 out previous inspection, she might perchance be surprised into 
 laying a green egg among speckled ones. 
 
 The circumstances under which the accompanying sketch of 
 the young Cuckoo in the Pipit's nest was made are detailed in 
 the two following letters, which appeared in Nature, 14th March 
 18*72, and in the Lancet, 2nd July 1892. 
 
 106 
 
THE CUCKOO IN THE PIPIT'S NEST. 
 
 " Several well-known naturalists who have seen my sketch from life of 
 the young Cuckoo ejecting the young Pipit (opposite page 22 of the little 
 versified tale of which I send a copy)"* have expressed a wish that the details 
 of my observations of the scene should be published. I therefore send you 
 the facts, though the sketch itself seems to me to be the only important 
 addition I have made to the admirably accurate description given by Dr 
 Jenner in his letter to John Hunter, which is printed in the Philosophical 
 Transactions for 1788 (vol. Ixxviii., pp. 225, 226), and which I have read 
 with pleasure since putting down my own notes. 
 
 "The nest which we watched last June, after finding the Cuckoo's egg 
 in it, was that of the Common Meadow Pipit (Titlark, Mosscheeper), and had 
 two Pipit's eggs besides that of the Cuckoo. It was below a heather bush, 
 on the declivity of a low abrupt bank on a Highland hillside in Moidart. 
 
 " At one visit the Pipits were found to be hatched, but not the Cuckoo. 
 At the next visit, which was after an interval of forty-eight hours, we found 
 the young Cuckoo alone in the nest, and both the young Pipits lying down 
 the bank, about ten inches from the margin of the nest, but quite lively 
 after being warmed in the hand. They were replaced in the nest beside the 
 Cuckoo, which struggled about till it got its back under one of them, when it 
 climbed backwards directly up the open side of the nest, and hitched the 
 Pipit from its back on to the edge. It then stood quite upright on its legs, 
 which were straddled wide apart, with the claws firmly fixed half-way down 
 the inside of the nest among the interlacing fibres of which the nest was 
 woven, and, stretching its wings apart and backwards, it elbowed the Pipit 
 fairly over the margin so far that its struggles took it down the bank instead 
 of back into the nest. 
 
 "After this the Cuckoo stood a minute or two, feeling back with its 
 wings, as if to make sure that the Pipit was fairly overboard, and then sub- 
 sided into the bottom of the nest. 
 
 " As it was getting late, and the Cuckoo did not immediately set to 
 work on the other nestling, I replaced the ejected one and went home. On 
 returning next day, both nestlings were found, dead and cold, out of the 
 nest. I replaced one of them, but the Cuckoo made no effort to get under 
 and eject it, but settled itself contentedly on the top of it. All this, I find, 
 accords accurately with Jenner's description of what he saw. But what 
 
 * The Pipits, illustrated by Mrs Hugh Blackburn (Glasgow : Maclehose, 1872). 
 
 107 
 
THE CUCKOO IN THE PIPIT'S NEST. 
 
 struck me most was this : the Cuckoo was perfectly naked, without a vestige 
 of a feather or even a hint of future feathers ; its eyes were not yet opened, 
 and its neck seemed too weak to support the weight of its head. The Pipits 
 had well-developed quills on the wings and back, and had bright eyes, par- 
 tially open ; yet they seemed quite helpless under the manipulations of the 
 Cuckoo, which looked a much less developed creature. The Cuckoo's legs, 
 however, seemed very muscular, and it appeared to feel about with its 
 wings, which were absolutely featherless, as with hands, the * spurious wing ' 
 (unusually large in proportion) looking like a spread-out thumb. The most 
 singular thing of all was the direct purpose with which the blind little 
 monster made for the open side of the nest, the only part where it could 
 throw its burthen down the bank. I think all the spectators felt the sort of 
 horror and awe at the apparent inadequacy of the creature's intelligence to 
 its acts that one might have felt at seeing a toothless hag raise a ghost by an 
 incantation. It was horribly * uncanny ' and ' gruesome.' 
 
 "THE UNIVERSITY, GLASGOW. J. B." 
 
 " SIRS, The confirmation of Jenner's observations as a naturalist, which 
 formed the subject of your leading article last week, is the latest, but it is 
 not the one that is best known. Another confirmation made in 1871 was 
 published in Nature (vol. v., p. 382), which is even more interesting as 
 bearing out Jenner's original account in its most distinctive and most minute 
 points, and as having served to convince Darwin, who introduced a paragraph 
 into his latest revision of the * Origin of Species,' calling it ' a trustworthy 
 account of a young Cuckoo, which was actually seen, whilst still blind and 
 not able even to hold up its own head, in the act of ejecting its foster- 
 brothers.' To show how closely Mrs Blackburn's account agrees with that 
 of Jenner, I have written a few sentences from each in parallel columns. 
 The original observations were made near Berkeley on June 18th, 1787 ; the 
 confirming observations in Iiiverness-shire in June 1871. In the former case 
 a Hedge Sparrow's nest contained when first seen two of the bird's own eggs 
 with one Cuckoo's egg, and next day the newly hatched Cuckoo and one newly 
 hatched Hedge Sparrow ; in the latter case a Meadow Pipit's nest when first 
 seen had two partly fledged Pipits with one Cuckoo's egg, and next day the 
 newly hatched Cuckoo only, the two young Pipits, which were several days 
 old and open-eyed, having been found lying on the bank at a distance of ten 
 
 108 
 
THE CUCKOO IN THE PIPIT'S NEST. 
 
 inches from the nest. They were put back, being still alive, and then 
 ensued the events which are related in the right-hand column : 
 
 Jen?ier's account, 'Phil. Trans.,' 1788, 
 p. 225. 
 
 " ' The mode of accomplishing this 
 was curious : the little animal, with 
 the assistance of its rump and wings, 
 contrived to get the bird upon its 
 back, and making a lodgment for the 
 burden by elevating its elbows, clam- 
 bered backward with it up the side 
 of the nest till it reached the top, 
 where, resting for a moment, it threw 
 off its load with a jerk, and quite dis- 
 engaged it from the nest. 
 
 "'It remained in this situation a 
 short time, feeling about with the 
 extremities of its wing, as if to be 
 convinced whether the business were 
 properly executed, and then dropped 
 into the nest again.' 
 
 Mrs Blackburn's account, ( Nature,' 
 vol. v., p. 382. 
 
 " ' The newly hatched Cuckoo strug- 
 gled about till it got its back under 
 one of them, when it climbed back- 
 wards directly up the open side of 
 the nest, and pitched the Pipit from 
 its back on to the edge. It then 
 stood quite upright on its legs, which 
 were straddled wide apart, with the 
 claws firmly fixed half-way down the 
 inside of the nest, among the inter- 
 lacing fibres of which the nest was 
 woven, and, stretching its wings apart 
 and backwards, it elbowed the Pipit 
 fairly over the margin. 
 
 '"After this the Cuckoo stood a 
 minute or two, feeling back with its 
 wings as if to make sure that the 
 Pipit was fairly overboard, and then 
 subsided into the bottom of the nest. 
 
 " ' All this, I find, accords accurately 
 with Jenner's description.' 
 
 " Dr Norman Moore, in his Life of Jenner in the Dictionary of National 
 Biography, has called attention to the fact that the well-known naturalist 
 Waterton, the author of Wanderings in South America and Essays on 
 Natural History (both edited by Dr Moore, with an excellent biography of 
 the author), had rejected Jenner's narrative as incredible. 'The young 
 Cuckoo,' wrote Waterton, ' cannot by any means support its own weight 
 during the first day of its existence. Of course, then, it is utterly incapable 
 of clambering rump foremost up the steep side of a Hedge Sparrow's nest, 
 with the additional weight of a young Hedge Sparrow on its back. The 
 account carries its own condemnation, no matter by whom related or by 
 
 109 
 
THE CUCKOO IN THE PIPIT'S NEST. 
 
 whom received.' It is singular that Waterton, who was well known to be a 
 strict Eoman Catholic, should have actually used Hume's famous argument 
 on miracles in order to discredit a fact in natural history which was generally 
 accepted by naturalists at the time of his writing (1836). It is more prob- 
 able, he implies, that the witnesses should have been deceived than that the 
 events should actually have taken place. But he would not have argued so 
 concerning the events which Hume thought incredible, nor even concerning 
 ecclesiastical miracles of much more recent date. Dr Norman Moore, as in 
 private duty bound, backs up Waterton and calls Jenner's narrative of the 
 young Cuckoo an absurdity. He has also found a passage in Baron's Life of 
 Jenner which leads him to think that the merit (or demerit) of the observa- 
 tions really belongs to Henry Jenner, then a lad, who was set to watch the 
 Cuckoo's nest and to report to his uncle. Baron's statement (vol. i., pp. 85, 
 86) is no doubt to that effect ; but why should we assume, with Dr Norman 
 Moore, that Henry Jenner * gave an imaginary account ? ' Why should not 
 a lad be a competent witness 1 Darwin was at length satisfied with the 
 testimony of a lady, a talented artist. The testimony of the gentleman at 
 Oatlands in 1886 was, in your opinion, strengthened by that of his sister and 
 of another lady. Nor is it certain that Jenner was dependent to the extent 
 that Baron implies on the reports brought to him by his nephew. For in 
 relating the successive steps of the ejectment in his letter to the Koyal 
 Society he uses four times the expression 'I saw,' or its equivalent. I 
 enclose my card, and I am, Sirs, your obedient servant, M. N. O. 
 
 "June 27th, 1892." 
 
 110 
 

 
 
 * 
 
LI. YOUNG CUCKOO AND MEADOW PIPIT. 
 
 THIS plate is from an actual example of a Meadow Pipit's nest 
 on the ground, among heather and ferns, which was occupied by 
 a young Cuckoo. The deluded little bird was also observed 
 taking food to her precious foster-child, as represented. 
 
 When I met Mr Harting of the Linnean Society in London 
 this spring (1895), he told me he had just had sent for his in- 
 spection, on its way to the bird-stuffer's, a young Cuckoo in its 
 first plumage, recently shot by a gamekeeper, who had mistaken it 
 for a female Kestrel. In a paper he has since written in the 
 Zoologist, July 1895, Mr Harting says : " On dissection this bird 
 proved to be a female, but with no marked development of the 
 ovaries. This peculiar phase of plumage in the Cuckoo has been 
 long known and described by several Continental writers, but 
 is of such infrequent occurrence in England as to deserve some 
 notice when met with." 
 
 THE MEADOW PIPIT (Anthus prcetensis) is very common here. 
 It frequents heathery ground, and is called in Scotland the " Moss 
 Cheeper." Gamekeepers find it troublesome in attracting the 
 attention of young dogs, who sometimes stop and point it instead 
 of following after grouse. It is a dull-coloured little bird, with 
 a feeble song which it makes the most of by fluttering up on 
 high like the Skylark ; and when it has chirped its little halle- 
 lujah, it slowly descends on outstretched wings to its nest again. 
 It is most interesting when looked upon as " baby-farmer " to the 
 Cuckoo, in which compulsory vocation it displays an unwearied 
 and disinterested tenderness, worthy of imitation by the feather- 
 Ill 
 
YOUNG CUCKOO AND MEADOW PIPIT. 
 
 less bipeds who, for the mammon of unrighteousness, voluntari 
 undertake a like office. 
 
 Pipits generally lay four speckled brown and white eggs ; 
 there is a fifth, it is suspected by the natives here to be that 
 a Cuckoo which suspicion I have not found verified. 
 
 Though not so very numerous as the Meadow Pipit, tl 
 Rock Pipit (Antlms obscurus) is common here. I once found 
 nest among some low rocks on our island, near the shore, 
 contained some fledged young ones not yet able to fly. Th< 
 seemed in great terror, as a huge black slug had invaded tl 
 nest ; with what intent I know not, but probably for no goo 
 for it is carnivorous, as well as a devourer of carrion. I made 
 sketch of the scene on the spot ; having done that, and havii 
 no time to wait, I cast out the intruder, to the great relief of tl 
 nestlings, but with my curiosity unsatisfied. 
 
 I have only once seen a Tree Pipit here. It was brought 
 by the house cat. It was of a dull dark brown, darker in coloi 
 and clumsier in shape than the Meadow Pipit. 
 
 112 
 
/ **;;-,'I' 
 
 -' -y . ;Tk'^J 
 
 ^ 
 -.-c:'^ 
 
 -e> ." ~-^._, 
 
LIL 
 
 SWIFT. CHIMNEY SWALLOW. MAETIN. 
 
 (Cypselus apus.) (Hirundo rustica.} (Chelidon urbica.) 
 
 THERE are not many of the Swallow tribe here. It may be 
 because there are not so many house-flies and bluebottles as 
 elsewhere, nor mud for them to build their nests of. There is 
 little traffic to make mud, few inhabitants to fill dust-bins with 
 superfluous food gone to waste, or butchers' shops for the pro- 
 duction and maintenance of flies. 
 
 Early in summer I have seen a Swift fly about here for a 
 few hours and go away again, and once some Martins came when 
 the new house was built, fluttered about the windows, and, not 
 finding it to their liking, departed, much to my disappoint- 
 ment. When we lived for some years at Ardmillan, in Ayrshire, 
 almost every window in the house had Martins' nests at the 
 lintels and every coigne of vantage. It was there that the nest 
 in the illustration was done. 
 
 Three or four pair of Chimney Swallows come here annually 
 and build in the cart-shed, boat-house, or such like places. As 
 a substitute for mud they have been seen to use cow- dung. 
 Some workmen said they saw Swallows come when the cows 
 had been let out, and bring straws, which they dragged through 
 the freshly- dropped dung several times, then carry them to the 
 nest they were building in a neighbouring shed. 
 
 Two years ago a pair of Swallows appeared with breasts of a 
 more distinct buff- tint than usual, and built a nest in the coal- 
 house and laid two eggs, then got disturbed and deserted. They 
 have not returned. 
 
 H 113 
 
CHIMNEY SWALLOW.^ 
 
 When I went to Egypt I expected to have seen our common 
 Swallows wintering there, but I only saw the Oriental sort, with 
 chestnut-coloured breasts. There were also Martins, much the 
 same as those that come here. I have seen in a French bird book 
 (the name of whose author I forget) that our Chimney Swallow 
 goes south of the equator in winter. 
 
 The Chimney Swallow is common in Algeria, and comes 
 there in spring somewhat earlier than it does to England. It is 
 very tame. I have seen a pair in a peasant's house building 
 their nest. The people told us the same pair had returned to 
 the same place several times. One of them had a pale chestnut 
 breast, which they recognised it by. It looked as if it were 
 half an Oriental. Sometimes when we were travelling in out-of- 
 the-way places during a tour in Algeria, Swallows would fly 
 about in our bedroom, and one roosted on a white pith helmet 
 hanging on the wall. It looked like an emblem of summer. 
 
 114 
 
LI 1 1. NIGHTJAR 
 
 (Caprimulgus europceus.} 
 
 THE Nightjar is a usual summer visitor here. I have seen them 
 often in the gloaming running about on their short legs on the 
 gravel near the house, catching white ghost-moths near the grass. 
 The noise they make is peculiar, something like the purring of a 
 spinning-wheel. One cannot tell exactly where it comes from ; 
 it seems to pervade space " above, about, or underneath." In a 
 modern popular novel they are described as making a clapping 
 sound by striking tfieir wings together. I should think it was 
 more likely they made that sound with their beaks, as their 
 wing-feathers are soft and their flight is noiseless, like that of 
 the Owl. Pigeons can make a loud clapping by striking the 
 backs of their wings together, but their feathers are harder and 
 their flight audible. A friend, who has had ample opportunity 
 of observing them, tells me he has heard them make a loud 
 snapping noise with their beaks when they happened to miss 
 catching a moth they were in pursuit of. Their mode of perching 
 is peculiar, sitting on a branch lengthways, not across it, as other 
 birds do. So long as they do not move, they are very invisible 
 even in good daylight, their mottled plumage is so much the 
 same colour as the bark of the branch they sit on. 
 
 The illustration was done from a freshly-killed specimen shot 
 in this neighbourhood. 
 
 The Nightjar is looked upon as a bird of evil omen in this 
 country-side. During the visitation of typhoid fever here, if one 
 were seen flitting to and fro near the window of a sick-chamber, 
 it was supposed to foretell the approaching death of the inmate. 
 
 115 
 
NIGHTJAR. 
 
 Can it be this bird that Shakespeare calls the " night crow " in 
 the description of the birth of Eichard III. ? 
 
 "The night crow cried aboding luckless time." 
 > i Henry VI., Part III, Act 5, Scene 2. 
 
 116 
 
L I V. CUSHAT. 
 
 (Columba palumbus.} 
 
 THE illustration was done from recollection of a scene we saw 
 in the Duke of Argyll's garden, at Argyll Lodge, Kensington. 
 The Cushat lit on a large horse-chestnut tree, and ate the flowers. 
 None of us had ever seen it do so before. 
 
 Cushats are very numerous in London, and seem to be rather 
 on the increase. They are to be seen and heard in Hyde Park, 
 Cadogan Place, Montagu Square, and elsewhere. I saw the first 
 pair that came to Whitehall Gardens, nesting in one of the tall 
 elms, some years ago. There are many more there now. It is not 
 likely that such a shy bird should have come into London from 
 the country, but more probable that London has extended and 
 enclosed them in their old haunts, and that they have spread 
 from one garden to another. It is very pleasant to hear them 
 cooing among the trees in town on an early summer Sunday 
 morning when all is still, and one is not disturbed there by the 
 thought that they are picking the hearts out of the young 
 cabbage plants in one's garden, or spoiling the turnips in the 
 field. I have never seen them in Edinburgh or Glasgow, but 
 there used to be many in the Tuilleries Gardens in Paris before 
 the siege. I have seen them coming for crumbs when the 
 children were feeding sparrows there. I believe there are none 
 now. In the South of Scotland they are very numerous. I 
 have heard a tradition there that they used in old times to build 
 their nests on the ground; but, their young having been so often 
 destroyed by passing cattle, they took to nesting on trees. From 
 that safe altitude they now shout to their former enemies in 
 
 117 
 
ROCK DOVE. 
 
 triumphant defiance, " Coo, coo, coo ! Come noo, come noo ! " 
 There are not very many of them in Moidart. 
 
 Although they are very strong, hardy birds in general, I have 
 known them to be destroyed by a disease that prevailed among 
 them a good many years ago in Kirkcudbrightshire, where I have 
 found many of them lying dead in the woods, with swelled 
 throats, and quantities of matter oozing out of their mouths 
 and eyes. 
 
 The EOCK DOVE (Colombo, lima) can be found in Moidart. I 
 have seen a nest in the ruins of Castle Tirrim, the former abode 
 of Clanranald, the Chief of the Macdonalds. They are very 
 numerous in the caves in the West Highland rocky coast, 
 especially in the " Cathedral Cave " in the island of Eigg (so 
 called because the Catholic natives used to meet there for 
 mass when their religion was proscribed elsewhere. They 
 now have a chapel and a resident priest on the other side 
 of the island, and the " Cathedral " is occupied by Eock Pigeons, 
 who build their nests on the high shelves of rock inside it, 
 flying out with a noisy clatter when alarmed by visitors). The 
 Eock greatly resembles its descendants of the Dovecot, with 
 characteristic black stripes on its wings, which are said to recur 
 when fancy breeds get mixed. They never perch on trees. I 
 have never known the Dovecot Pigeon build on trees, though I 
 have daily seen them perch there while waiting to be fed. The 
 pale blue ones look lovely on an old apple tree among the pink 
 blossoms. I never knew them roost for the night on a tree. 
 The Domestic Pigeon is a very hardy bird, minding neither 
 
 118 
 
ROCK DOVE. 
 
 cold nor heat, and positively enjoying rain. I have seen them 
 lying on their sides on the wet grass, holding up a wing the 
 better to let the rain get in among their feathers, and sometimes 
 getting so thoroughly soaked by this natural shower-bath as to be 
 hardly able to fly after it. All they care for is a shelter from 
 the wind. This so-called " Bird of Venus " is proverbial for its 
 amorous disposition ; so much so, that I have known one set his 
 affections on an old croquet ball for want of a more worthy 
 object, and follow it about, strutting round it with spread tail and 
 proud gesticulations, and cooing soft endearments to the insensate 
 block. I have never cared to keep fancy pigeons. They do not 
 seem to me to be any improvement on Nature, except, perhaps, in 
 the case of the Carrier ; but the beak in highly-bred specimens is 
 a monstrosity. It is fortunate for the Pouter that the large 
 windbag under his chin prevents him seeing his own feet, with 
 the long ill-placed feathers projecting, ready to trip him up as he 
 walks. The Fantail is a feeble creature, liable to be blown aside 
 by every blast. I have seen a Tumbler so highly bred and true 
 to its name, that every time it tried to fly it fell on its back. 
 The natives here have a sentimental dislike to killing or eating 
 pigeons. That feeling is said by Yarrell to prevail in Kussia. 
 In Egypt they are a favourite article of food, provided 
 they are killed by bleeding, accompanied by prayers in the 
 orthodox Mohammedan fashion. We were invited to dinner at 
 the house of the captain of our dahabieh, where the banquet 
 consisted chiefly of roast pigeons, served on a tray on the ground, 
 and we sat down round it as we best could. Though, as a rule, 
 strict vegetarians, I have seen a tame pigeon light on the kitchen 
 
 119 
 
EOCK DOVE. 
 
 table, and pick at a cold roast of beef, eating some of the fat. 
 Their usual food is grain or pulse, swallowed whole, which, being 
 unfit to administer to their young in a crude state, they first 
 digest in their own crops, and then with great exertion pump 
 into the crops of the young. The " sucking dove " puts its bill 
 into the parent's throat, and imbibes the soft warm pabulum. 
 Both parents assist in feeding the young, as well as in incubating 
 the eggs the cock sitting on them from nine till three in the 
 day, the hen during the night. They are nearly always constant 
 to the same mate during life, but I have known a domestic 
 tragedy occur in the dovecot. On one occasion a young hen 
 deserted her elderly husband, and eloped with a younger mate ; 
 retribution swiftly followed, and the unfaithful spouse died in 
 laying her first egg. Gentle birds as they are, " Doves will peck 
 in safeguard of their brood," and the cocks often fight fiercely, 
 striking hard blows with their wings, as well as pecking and 
 tugging with their beaks. They are long-lived birds, and go on 
 breeding for many years ; but it is not advisable, if kept for 
 profit, to have them more than three years old, as the old cocks 
 drive away the others from the nests. Neither is it good to have 
 more hens than cocks in the flock, as the hens cannot alone 
 incubate the eggs. They breed both in summer and winter, laying 
 two eggs, which are said to contain male and female young. 
 Each pair should be provided with two nests, and they will lay 
 a second pair of eggs as soon as the first pair of young can 
 dispense with being sat upon. 
 
 Common pigeons do not seem to deteriorate by in-breeding. I 
 have had the same strain for over forty years. When an old 
 
 120 
 
ROCK DOYE. 
 
 cock pigeon gets to be superannuated and feeble, I have known 
 the others set on him, and try to peck him to death. 
 
 Pigeons do not drink, like other birds, by sipping the water, 
 and raising their heads to swallow it ; they plunge their beaks 
 well down into the water, and imbibe it in great gulps like a 
 thirsty horse. At the village of Girgeh, on the Nile, they have 
 an exceptional way of drinking. They fly to the middle of the 
 river, and flutter over the water, dipping their beaks in it as if 
 they were sea birds. I do not know of their doing so anywhere 
 else. I once saw some pigeons in Munich, near the Post Office, 
 sip water from a small spout, instead of drinking from the tank. 
 Pigeons are abundant drinkers, as well as voracious eaters. 
 
 121 
 
' W^WZV^K 
 
 '.:.,:: 
 
 
LV. EE D G E U S E. 
 
 (La ff opus scoticus.} 
 
 I HAVE only given a representation of young Grouse, not having 
 a drawing of the adult bird from life. They were caught squat- 
 ting among the heather. At an early age they greatly resemble 
 young black game, except that the toes are feathered all the way 
 down to the claws, and the hind claw is much shorter, as they 
 are not perching birds. I never saw one perch on a tree. They 
 feed almost entirely on heather, but will eat oats when they can 
 find a field of them near the moor. They are not so numerous 
 here as on the inland moors, although the ground is suitable, nor 
 are they of so rich a colour as those of the Perthshire moors. 
 
 The cock Grouse takes great care of the brood, and assists 
 the hen to defend them. In late autumn, when the coveys unite 
 and fly about together in a flock "and get very wild, instead of 
 being put up by keen-scented dogs, they are then driven by 
 beaters to the shelters where the sportsmen are concealed to get 
 a shot at them as they pass. Many such hiding places may be 
 seen on the well-stocked Aberdeenshire moors. 
 
 THE BLACK GKOUSE (Tetrao tetrix). The Blackcock is less 
 scarce here than the Grouse, or, at least, is more in evidence. 
 Perching as he does on the leafless birch trees in winter, and 
 inhabiting lower and more frequented ground near the coast, 
 which is indented with bays and creeks, he can fly across 
 when pursued, and so elude the sportsman. He is not so 
 cautious in avoiding the wire fences, which often prove fatal 
 when he flies against them. In springtime we have often found 
 them dead from that cause. They feed very largely on the buds 
 
 123 
 
PTARMIGAN. 
 
 of the bog- myrtle. I have found their crops quite full of it, 
 emitting a strong aromatic scent when opened. In winter I have 
 found them full of alder catkins. They come into the fields in 
 autumn and eat the oats, affording a good chance for the sports- 
 man's rifle while they are seated on a stook busily picking the 
 grain. 
 
 I captured some young ones once which were hiding in the 
 heather, and kept them in a cage for a few days, feasted them on 
 green pease, and let them go again. They are much like young 
 grouse at an early age, but the feet are not feathered down to the 
 end of toes, as those of grouse and ptarmigan are. 
 
 The plumage of the hen differs entirely from that of the cock, 
 being a sober mixture of brown and grey - mottled feathers. 
 She takes all the charge of the young, while he struts about 
 among the other members of his harem ; for, like the Peacock 
 and Pheasant, the "bird of the jet-black plume and glossy 
 feather" is polygamous, as are also those gorgeously -attired 
 Eastern potentates. 
 
 THE PTARMIGAN (Lagopus mutus) are very numerous on the 
 high mountains, abiding at a height of two thousand feet or 
 more above the level of the sea. 
 
 When pursued, they run rather than fly, only taking short 
 flights round the hill-top, and alighting out of sight. I have seen 
 a brood in summer near the top of Ben Lomond being carefully 
 tended by both parents, who were much disturbed at the sight of 
 us. I was sorry I had not materials to make a drawing of them. 
 There are some on the top of Eoshven. I remember seeing, 
 
 124 
 
PARTRIDGE. 
 
 many years ago, a beautiful oil painting, by J. Wolff (that best of 
 bird painters), of a group of Ptarmigan, with their appropriate 
 background. They are very pretty birds. In summer the 
 plumage is grey on the upper part and white on the lower, the 
 feet well feathered down to the toes, a bright scarlet wattle over 
 the eyes, and black lines down the middle of their white quill 
 feathers. In winter they become nearly all pure white ; of this 
 colour they are mostly to be seen in the poulterers' shops. 
 
 THE PARTRIDGE (Perdrix cinerea) is not a native here. There 
 was a pair in the place when we first came here, which had an occa- 
 sional brood, but they died out some years ago. We hatched some 
 Partridge eggs in the incubator, and tried to rear them in the foster- 
 mother, like chickens, but without success. They seemed to thrive 
 at first, and took their food well, but dropped off daily, and were 
 all dead in a fortnight from no apparent cause. They were quite 
 well one day, and dead the next. We then got four pairs of 
 full-grown birds. They arrived during frost in winter, so we 
 had to keep them enclosed for a time till thaw came, and fed 
 them on fresh cabbage and grain. We let them out two at a 
 time, to let them get accustomed to the place, for fear they 
 should fly away together if they were all set at liberty at once. 
 They remained near for some time, coming back for the food laid 
 out for them, and sometimes feeding with the chickens, or joining 
 the Pheasants. 
 
 They very soon took to feeding on the seashore, among the 
 cast-up seaweed, and finding " hoppers " and other marine deli- 
 cacies, showing rather a remarkable taste for inland bred birds 
 
 125 
 
PARTRIDGE. 
 
 imported to London from Hungary. In due time they nested, 
 and hatched small broods, but they all disappeared in the course 
 of the year, probably having become the prey of Sparrow Hawks 
 or escaped cottage cats, of which there are more than enough 
 here. Perhaps the worst game destroyer of all is the collie dog, 
 when not under restraint. It does its hunting far from its own 
 home, going off during the night, and returning in time for its 
 duties in the morning, quite unsuspected by its owner, who 
 knows it never kills the chickens at its own door, and who will 
 not believe that it has done so elsewhere, and is not easily per- 
 suaded to keep his dogs in couples when not at work. I have 
 had as many as eighteen hens killed and buried in one night by 
 a shepherd's dog, which returned some days after to dig them up. 
 Being an excellent animal in other respects, she was pardoned. 
 
 126 
 
;,, 
 
LVL KINGED PLOVER 
 
 (jEgialitis piaticula.} 
 
 THIS bird is very common here and always to be seen near the 
 shore. It makes no nest, but lays its four eggs in a slight 
 depression of the ground, with the four small ends together, 
 as is the custom of Plovers. They are so very like the colour 
 of the gravelly shore on which they are laid, not far above high 
 water-mark, that they are very difficult to find, so it is as 
 well to take their bearings carefully, or to put some mark 
 whereby you may find them again. 
 
 We visited them daily till the first egg was hatched, 
 so as to get both eggs and young in the picture. They go 
 off into the wide world as soon as they are out of the shell, 
 the eggs all hatching within about four and twenty hours 
 of each other, having nothing in the way of a nest to return to. 
 Their habits, in other respects, are very like those of the 
 Sandpiper, keeping the same stillness in the time of danger 
 when warned to do so by the cries of the parents, who both 
 guard the young and expose themselves to danger by their 
 stratagem to draw off the enemy. 
 
 THE OYSTER CATCHER (Hcematopus ostralegus) is very conspicuous 
 here, with its Magpie plumage, scarlet beak and legs. It 
 frequents the shore in great numbers, seldom silent, and making 
 a shrill outcry on the approach of danger, thereby giving warning 
 to the other shore birds. It builds its nest on the little rocky 
 islands near the sea, and lays four greenish -brown spotted eggs, 
 placed with the small ends together like those of the Einged 
 Plover. The newly-hatched young are very invisible in their 
 
 127 
 
OYSTER CATCHER. 
 
 downy state when they lie still in the clefts of the grey lichen- 
 covered rocks, which they greatly resemble in colour. We once 
 caught some young ones fledged and nearly full grown, and 
 kept them in captivity for a while, feeding them on limpets, 
 which they cut out of their shells with their scissor-like bills. 
 Oyster Catchers wade habitually, but when wounded and hard 
 pressed they will take to the water and try to escape by 
 swimming. 
 
 128 
 

LVIL GROUP OF HERONS. 
 
 PLATE LVII. represents a group of at least eighteen Herons 
 seen on Locheil, not far from Fassifern, one fine summer 
 morning. The distant mountain is Ben Nevis. 
 
 129 
 

 m^g& 
 
 
 
 
LYIII. HEEOK 
 
 (Ardea cineria.) 
 
 THE Heron's head was done from a live bird caught at Killearn 
 in a hard frost. It was weak from starvation. We brought it 
 home and fed it on raw meat, and afterwards took it to Glasgow 
 and kept it in a garret for ten days. It ate herrings out of a 
 bath, and then stood on one leg on a chair for an hour or more, 
 quite still, in a favourable position for being drawn. When the 
 thaw came it was sent back by rail to Killearn, and let go where 
 it was found. 
 
 131 
 
LIX. HEEON'S NEST AND YOUNG. 
 
 THIS Heron's nest and young were drawn from one which had 
 fallen from a high tree at Killearn. 
 
 133 
 

 
LX. CAPTURE OF YOUNG HERONS. 
 
 HERONS build on a little rocky island in a fresh water hill 
 loch about four miles from here, on little stunted birch trees, not 
 far out of reach. A boy fetched down two of them for me ; 
 they were fledged, but not yet able to fly. They didn't attempt 
 to peck at him, but made great resistance to leaving their birth- 
 place, holding on to the branches with beak and claws as if they 
 had been parrots. We took them home, but did not clip their 
 wings or confine them in any way ; only deposited them on the 
 branch of a laburnum tree, where they looked remarkably well 
 among the yellow blossoms. They soon got very tame. We fed 
 them on fish when we had it, and at other times on raw meat. 
 They would eat bread or porridge, or almost anything, often 
 picking up bits of boiled potatoes with the hens or ducks. They 
 sat for many hours quietly about the back door during the day, 
 or flew down to the seashore for a while ; and in the evening, 
 when the days shortened, they would stalk into the kitchen to 
 look at the bright fire and see the lamp lit. They always spent 
 the night out of doors, only taking the sheltered side of an out- 
 house in a stormy winter night. The next spring they began to 
 carry sticks about among the rocks and heather as if they 
 thought of building a nest, but nothing came of it. 
 
 In the course of time one of them died. There was no 
 post-mortem, but it was reported to be very fat. The following 
 spring the remaining one disappeared for some months. It 
 probably went to the island it came from, and may have hatched 
 a brood for aught we know. It returned late in summer, and 
 was found, as usual, as still as a stuffed bird, at the back door, 
 near the larder, waiting for its dole and as tame as ever. The 
 
 135 
 
CAPTURE OF YOUNG HERONS. 
 
 spring after, unfortunately, it did not go away off the place, but 
 was accused of waylaying and devouring young ducks about the 
 cottages, and one day came home with a broken leg. Probably 
 a stone had been thrown at it to stop its depredations. So there 
 was no alternative but chloroform. I was sorry to part with it. 
 It was both interesting and ornamental. 
 
 136 
 
m 
 
LXL WOODCOCK. 
 
 (Scolopax rusticula.} 
 
 THE Woodcock breeds in Moidart, as well as in many other parts 
 of the North of Scotland ; but, besides the native, there are many 
 immigrants in winter, especially during frost, when they come to 
 the milder climate of the western sea coast. The nest in the 
 illustration was at the foot of a small rock amongst withered oak 
 leaves which covered the mossy ground, and of which the nest 
 was artlessly constructed, but artfully concealed, as nest, eggs, 
 bird, and ground were all of the same colour, so that one might 
 have passed it without notice. The eggs, four in number, were 
 placed plover-fashion with the small ends together. Their great 
 idea of safety is to be as invisible as possible, by remaining 
 perfectly still in hopes of escaping the observation of the enemy. 
 Young Snipes and Sandpipers do so when warned by the outcries 
 of their parents. It is a most convenient habit when one wishes 
 to draw them. 
 
 A Woodcock was given me once which was caught unhurt 
 by one of the beaters in a shooting party in Forfarshire. It 
 was hiding itself under a bush. I kept it in a cage for some 
 days, in order to make a drawing of it, and to watch its habits. 
 I put some earthworms in a tumbler with wet mud, and it 
 groped for them with its long sensitive bill, stamping meanwhile 
 with its feet on the floor of the cage, as Blackbirds do when they 
 want the worms to come up out of the earth, but with one foot 
 at a time, not with both. 
 
 When the drawing was done, I took the bird out and let it go, 
 rather to the disgust of the housekeeper, who had counted on it 
 for a roast. It went off stealthily into the wood, and I saw no 
 more of it. I have seen a Woodcock " within a mile o' Edinboro' 
 toon " flying about in the gloaming of a winter afternoon. 
 
 137 
 
LXIL COMMON SNIPE. 
 
 (Gallinago ccelestis.} 
 
 THIS bird is not very numerous here. The Snipe is from a 
 sketch from life, as also were the young ; and the ground was 
 from nature, in the place the young ones were found. When 
 out with a shooter one day in August many years ago, I took 
 him to where I had often seen Snipe, little thinking there would 
 be downy young ones so late in the year. The old birds rose, 
 but fortunately were missed, and the dogs were eagerly smelling 
 about after what we discovered to be two very young Snipe, so 
 I carried one home as quickly as I could, with perfect indiffer- 
 ence to wet feet and draggled petticoats, and got it drawn while 
 the daylight lasted. The gillie took it back to the place where it 
 was caught, and found its disconsolate parents still looking for 
 it. It also had the instinct to be still in times of danger. I 
 never had a better sitter ; it was as still as if it had been stuffed 
 and put in the Kensington Museum. 
 
 139 
 
LXTIL COMMON SANDPIPEK. 
 
 (Totanus hypoleucus.) 
 
 WE have found Sandpipers' nests in various positions on the 
 ground, in the side of a bank, or at the foot of a tree, and once 
 only in a low bush, but always near the shore. The young birds 
 are able to leave the nest as soon as hatched, but remain near it 
 for a few days, probably returning to it at night. 
 
 The nest sketched was in a bank, and the whole family were 
 drawn from life. The old bird was caught by placing the young 
 ones in an open cage, and shutting the door by means of a string 
 as soon as she went in, which she did immediately on our retiring 
 a dozen yards. There is no perceptible difference of plumage 
 between the male and female, but we presumed this to be the 
 female. They were all restored to their home uninjured. 
 
 When the Sandpiper is on eggs, if disturbed she flies away 
 quietly and silently ; but if the young are hatched, she flaps 
 about, making a great outcry to warn the little ones to sit 
 perfectly still, so as to attract no attention, while she feigns 
 lameness and impotency to lead away the enemy from the 
 neighbourhood. The young can run very quickly almost as 
 soon as they are out of the egg. They are very small, and so 
 like the colour of the shore, or the banks of the streams they 
 frequent, that it is extremely difficult to see them when they do 
 not move. 
 
 141 
 
LXIV. RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. 
 
 (Phalaropus hyperboreas.} 
 
 I HAVE met with this amiable little bird in Iceland. It is 
 naturally very tame and confiding, and swam about so near me 
 that I was able to do a picture of it while I was sketching beside 
 the lake at Thingvalla. Redshanks and many other birds were 
 about, but none came so near me. At Thingvalla we were 
 expected to sleep, or at least to take shelter, in the church for 
 the night ; but being neither tired nor sleepy, I went out with a 
 wakeful companion and sketched, while he went off to bathe. 
 Afterwards we had a row on the loch, till the far off, longed for hour 
 of breakfast should come. Our attention was attracted to a 
 long-tailed Duck Hying near us, fluttering and tumbling about as 
 if badly hurt. We supposed it must have been wounded by one 
 of the shooting party the day before, and my companion was 
 just taking aim to put an end to its apparent misery, when we 
 discovered a brood of downy young ones in the water close by, 
 and found it was performing these manoeuvres to lead us away 
 from them. When we turned away in another direction, the 
 distracted mother went quietly to her brood. 
 
 The Phalarope both wades and swims well. It has half- 
 webbed feet, lobated like that of the Coot. 
 
 There are many and various birds in Iceland. Long-tailed 
 Ducks are plentiful. Wild Swans often flew whooping over- 
 head, and Whimbrels were constantly circling over us, con- 
 tinually uttering their plaintive and monotonous cry. They 
 are like Curlews, but a good deal smaller. Of singing birds, 
 we saw and heard the Thrush-like Redwing. The Snow Bunting 
 was numerous. 
 
 143 
 

 
LXV. CORNCRAKE, OE LANDEAIL. 
 
 (Crex pratensis.} 
 
 THE nest of the Landrail is from nature, at Eoshven. The nest 
 among long grass, was visited daily, till one egg was hatching. 
 I carried it home, and made a drawing of the little, black, downy 
 young one. When it was half-way out of the shell it ate flies 
 out of my hand, picking them up as cleverly as if it were an 
 experienced fly-catcher. It seemed to have the power of measur- 
 ing distance, and taking a good aim, as soon as ever its head got 
 out of the shell. Very few other creatures are so precocious. 
 Chickens are able to pick up food pretty neatly, but they do not 
 begin to eat for the first twenty-four hours of their life. It 
 takes a baby a long time before it can judge distance even to 
 stretch out its hand and clutch anything and then it makes a 
 good many bad shots before it puts the thing into its mouth. 
 
 After being drawn, the young bird, minus the shell, was 
 returned to the nest. More of them were beginning to hatch, 
 and next day all had left the nest. The attitude of the old bird 
 was taken from a live one I had in the house for a time, and 
 then let go. It went away in a stooping .position, threading its 
 way stealthily through the grass, and very soon disappeared. 
 While in the house it poked about into all corners of the room 
 trying to hide itself. 
 
 145 
 
L X V I. WATERRAIL. 
 
 (Rallus aqiiaticus.} 
 
 THIS illustration is from a freshly killed specimen obtained in 
 the neighbourhood of Glasgow in 1861. In comparing it with 
 Yarrell's description it was found to differ in the following par- 
 ticulars : 
 
 The beak, instead of being all red, had the top of the upper 
 mandible nearly black, the rest red, and the irides were vermilion, 
 instead of hazel. There was a light mark on the under eyelid, 
 and some of the wing coverts (the spurious wing) were slate-grey, 
 barred with white, like the flanks. In all these points the bird 
 agreed with Pennant's description and plate. 
 
 A Waterrail was caught in the garden here this winter, 
 during the long and severe frost, nearly starved. We fed it 
 with oatcake, and it was able to fly away when let go again. 
 
 The Waterhen and the Waterrail have very long toes, well 
 adapted for supporting them on the soft ground in the muddy, 
 wet places they frequent. 
 
 THE MOOR HEN, or WATER HEN (Gallinula chloropus.) 
 These birds are to be found here and in most other places. I 
 hoped to have made a drawing of a nest in a horse pond at the 
 foot of a tree beside an old stump, and made a voyage to it in 
 a washing tub for want of other means ; but it was deserted. 
 I have seen a nest in a stream on the extremity of a willow 
 branch that stretched out into the water. In spite of all their 
 precautions, Waterhens' eggs are stolen by rats. One has been 
 seen taking them out of the nest and handing them on to its 
 companions to help to get them ashore. Rats are very clever at 
 
 147 
 
COOT. 
 
 carrying away eggs out of hen houses without breaking them. 
 A weasel or stoat will break and suck the stolen egg on the 
 spot. 
 
 THE COOT (Fulica aim) is also found in Moidart, but I have 
 not had an opportunity of drawing it from life, or studying its 
 habits further than that in swimming it carries the stern high. 
 The feet of this bird are rather peculiar half-webbed and 
 lobated like the Dabchick's and Phalarope's adapted both for 
 swimming and wading, or walking in soft, wet places. 
 
 148 
 
LXVIL HOOPER, OR WILD SWAN. 
 
 (Cygnus musicus.) 
 
 THE head of the Wild Swan was done from one which was taken 
 alive one very hard winter in a pond at Culzean Castle, in Ayr- 
 shire. I had the opportunity of drawing it. It was put in a 
 shed, and was not very wild or much agitated. It lived for 
 seven years afterwards on a small lake where the late Marquis of 
 Ailsa used to keep a variety of tame water-fowl. I have heard 
 of what I supposed must be Wild Swans being seen one winter 
 in Loch Ailort during severe weather. They were described to 
 me as " large white birds that made a whooping noise as they flew." 
 I was not there myself at the time, and never saw them except 
 in captivity in this country. I have heard of their being seen in 
 Loch Moidart, as well as Wild Geese. They are very commonly 
 to be seen in Iceland in summer. They have not the graceful 
 beauty of the tame Swan, who, " with arched neck between 
 her white wings mantling proudly rows her state with oary 
 feet." It is more like an attenuated goose, especially when 
 walking about on land. It is smaller than the tame Swan, 
 and has not the black knob on the base of the bill, nor does it 
 raise its wing feathers while swimming. 
 
 149 
 
LXVIII. MUTE SWAN. 
 (Gygnus olor.) 
 
 THE illustration of the Swan's nest was done from nature on the 
 banks of the Thames, near Eton. The Swans did not mind me 
 sitting near enough to draw them. 
 
 151 
 
LXIX. EIDEE DUCK, OE ST CUTHBEKT'S DUCK. 
 
 A FEW are to be seen swimming about in Loch Moidart, Loch- 
 na-Nuah, Loch Ailort, and about Arisaig Point. They breed on 
 the coast here, and on the rocky islands at the mouths of the 
 different sea lochs on much the same sort of places as the 
 Sheldrake or the Merganser. The eggs are surrounded with 
 down, whiter and of a finer quality than that of the Merganser 
 or Sheldrake. They are very numerous in Iceland, where they 
 are strictly protected, the down being an article of commerce, 
 worth twelve shillings per Ib. They build about the houses 
 near the sea, sometimes on the turf with which the roofs are 
 covered, and sometimes on the ground. They are very tame. 
 One that we came across sat quite quiet and unconcerned in 
 her nest while I sketched her. The down may be taken from 
 the nests once or twice, but if they are robbed a third time the 
 birds are unable to renew it, and desert their nests. The male 
 and female differ very much in plumage, the male being nearly 
 all white, with a dark breast, a black spot on the crown of the 
 head, and a green patch on the cheek. The female is brown 
 the colour of the female of the Black Grouse which it also 
 somewhat resembles in flight. 
 
 153 
 

 
 
LXX. SHELDKAKE. 
 
 THIS beautiful bird is common here in summer. I have seen a 
 score of them together flying about over Loch Moidart in the 
 springtime. They frequent the shore here, and build in the 
 rocky islands in the open sea at the mouth of Loch Ailort. 
 The nest in the illustration was done on Eilan Treen. It was 
 in the hollow of a turf bank, well concealed, as it is the custom 
 of bright- coloured birds to put their nests out of sight. There 
 was a circle of grey down round the eggs. We got on that island 
 a young one, from which the picture is taken, and which we 
 attempted in vain to rear. The Countess of Selkirk had a little 
 flock of Sheldrakes in a pond at Balmae, in Kirkcudbrightshire. 
 They were reared under hens and were quite tame, and used to 
 come at call to be fed. However, they did not remain there 
 long ; but when full-grown, all of them that were not pinioned 
 flew away back to their native ocean, which was not far off. 
 
 The Sheldrake differs from other ducks in that the plumage 
 is alike in both sexes, and does not appear to change according 
 to the time of year; also, that the male assists in hatching and 
 rearing the young, a work that other drakes leave entirely to 
 the female, going off to a distance to moult while the duck 
 is in her nest. 
 
 The male Swan is also exceptional among the anatidas in this 
 respect, helping to rear and to defend his offspring. I have seen 
 one pursue a boat, with great fury, that came nearer than it 
 approved of to its incubating mate. This philo-progenitive 
 instinct seems to go along with the similarity of plumage in 
 the sexes. It is strong in the domestic Gander; and among 
 the gallinaceous birds is the same, or nearly so. The Grouse, 
 
 155 
 
SHELDRAKE. 
 
 Ptarmigan, and Partridge are exemplary in their performance 
 of the domestic duties of husband and father, while the Black- 
 cock, Pheasant, and Peacock are notably the reverse. 
 
 Some authorities excuse them for this desertion on the plea 
 that their more conspicuous plumage might betray the nest to 
 their enemies, but I cannot think that that is the cause, for, 
 directly after the breeding season, the drake lays aside his 
 nuptial finery and becomes as dingy as the duck. I can find 
 no answer to the difficult question except the old-fashioned 
 one I used to get in my youth, " It is their nature so to do." 
 
 Unlike the Drake (Sheldrake excepted) the Gander in the 
 domestic state takes care of his young. Even when he has two 
 wives, and both have families, he adopts them all, and will, if 
 allowed, take a turn at sitting on the eggs of both his geese. At 
 Killearn it happened that a hen had hatched some goslings, and 
 the Gander killed her because she would not let him have them. 
 When the Goose is sitting on eggs, the Gander appears to know 
 on what day they ought to hatch ; and, if shut out of the goose- 
 house, he will watch at the door for her to come out with her 
 brood. A Turkey Cock there also took great care of the young 
 Turkeys. He was a great defence for them against Crows and 
 Jackdaws. This was supposed to be an unusual case. With the 
 Gander it is always so. There was an old pet white Leghorn 
 Cock at Arisaig Inn that devoted his latter days to the charge of 
 young chickens, when he was much confined to the house from 
 old age and infirmity. The instinct for nursing seems to occur 
 sometimes in most unexpected quarters. I knew a cat, many 
 years ago, that had a fancy for adopting a young chicken, and 
 
 156 
 
SHELDRAKE. 
 
 sitting in charge of it near the kitchen fire. The first time she 
 did it she had lost her kittens, and may have done so in hopes 
 that the chicken might help to relieve her of her superfluity of 
 milk ; but, as she did the same thing another time, she must have 
 been actuated besides by the pure love of nursing. Greater 
 wonders than this have been narrated in old times. In Shake- 
 speare we read : 
 
 " Some say that Ravens foster forlorn children." 
 
 Titus Andronicus, Act ii., Scene 3. 
 
 But no such instance has come under my own observation. 
 
 157 
 
L X X I. MERGANSE R. 
 
 (Mergus serrator.} 
 
 THE mother bird in this illustration was from a live one caught 
 unhurt in its nest by a little dog. After being taken home and 
 pourtrayed, it was let out of the window. The eggs of sea birds 
 do not require to be so constantly sat upon as those of land 
 birds. On a fine day the gulls are more often to be seen 
 standing beside the nest than sitting on the eggs. In bad 
 weather and at night they sit close, so I trust neither mother 
 nor eggs were any the worse for her short sojourn in the studio. 
 
 The nest was like that in the picture, and had a fishy fume 
 perceptible at some distance. It contained eight or nine buff- 
 coloured eggs, surrounded by a roll of rather dirty grey down. 
 The nests are often placed on the top of a steep rock in a 
 heathery place, whence the young must be helped down to the 
 sea by their mothers, as they could not come down of themselves 
 at so early an age. They follow her in the sea, swimming and 
 diving with great activity almost as soon as hatched, sometimes 
 running with great speed on the top of the water with their 
 disproportionately large webbed feet acting as a support like 
 snow shoes, and leaving a white streak of spray behind them. 
 
 The adult has the eyes bright red ; in the young they are 
 blue. Young creatures, both bird and beast, have often blue 
 eyes in their infancy, which turn to yellow-red, or hazel after- 
 wards ; some hazel, which turn yellow. I do not know if eyes 
 which are blue in the adult ever begin with a different colour. I 
 have seen in old people with hazel eyes a blue or grey tint beginning 
 round the outside edge of the dark brown iris, as if the colour were 
 fading or turning grey like the hair. The young hoodie crows that 
 I have seen had blue eyes ; the old ones have very dark hazel. 
 
 159 
 
LXXIL COMMON GUILLEMOT. 
 
 (Uria troile.) 
 
 THE Guillemot, though it frequents Loch Ailort in search of fish, 
 especially herring fry, does not breed here. It prefers more 
 precipitous rocks than are to be found here, such as the Bass or 
 Barra Head, where the nearly perpendicular precipices are from 
 400 to 600 feet high, and where many kinds of sea-birds rear 
 their young on the narrow ledges of rock at a considerable height 
 above the sea, choosing the elevation according to their several 
 tastes oddly enough, the small winged Guillemot choosing the 
 highest ledge, where, exposed to the Atlantic storms, it lays its 
 one or at most two eggs, which are of a large size in proportion 
 to the bird. The Guillemot swallows the fish it catches, and 
 when they are half digested, disgorges them for the young to 
 feed on. The Guillemot I drew in summer plumage had the feet 
 and legs black. Some we saw in January, in Glasgow Market, 
 had the legs and toes orange-yellow, membranes olive, claws 
 yellow. 
 
 161 
 
LXXIII. BLACK GUILLEMOT. 
 
 (Uria grylle.} 
 
 THIS bird was caught alive on her eggs on a little rocky island 
 at the mouth of Loch Ailort, where a few pairs breed annually. 
 She returned to her eggs we cannot call it her nest on being 
 let out at the window after her picture had been taken. Unlike 
 the Common Guillemot, the black one, when alarmed, readily flies 
 up off the water instead of diving. The flight has a resemblance 
 to that of the Grouse. 
 
 163 
 
LXXIV. BLACK GUILLEMOT IN 
 WINTEK PLUMAGE. 
 
 THIS plate represents the winter plumage of the Black Guillemot. 
 The specimen figured was shot, in October, in Loch-na-Nuagh. 
 It is called the " Dovekie " by Arctic voyagers, who find it a 
 plentiful article of food. It is only in winter plumage that it 
 has a remote resemblance to a Dove. 
 
 165 
 

LXXV. BLACK GUILLEMOT YOUNG AND EGG. 
 
 THIS plate is a delineation of the Black Guillemot's nest, or rather 
 of the place her eggs were laid, on the black damp earth in the 
 cleft of a rock, on a small island in Loch Ailort. The young ones 
 were drawn from life, and were not injured by the operation, 
 being afterwards restored in safety to their nursery. So far as we 
 have observed, it only lays one or two eggs and no more ; but 
 sometimes the birds lay near the same place and get mixed. 
 The Black Guillemot lays its eggs in a concealed and sheltered 
 place among the rocks at no great height above the sea. The 
 Common Guillemot and Razorbill lay theirs on an exposed shelf 
 of rock near the top of a precipice. 
 
 167 
 
LXXVI. HEADS OF KINGED GUILLEMOT, COMMON 
 GUILLEMOT, AND YOUNG EAZOEBILL. 
 
 EAZORBILLS and Guillemots are common here, and Puffins are to 
 be seen sometimes in autumn. None of them breed in this 
 immediate neighbourhood. They are difficult to shoot, as they 
 dive at the first flash of a gun. The ringed or bridled Guillemot 
 whose head is on the left in the drawing was shot on the 
 Clyde, near Greenock. We have also seen one here. The 
 Guillemot flies in the air much better than one would suppose 
 possible with such small wings. We had an excellent op- 
 portunity of observing the way in which it uses them under 
 water, by letting away in clear, but not deep, water one which 
 had been caught uninjured. 
 
 The head in the centre is that of a Common Guillemot in 
 winter plumage, from a fresh specimen in Glasgow market in 
 January. 
 
 The head on the right is that of a Eazorbill bought in 
 Glasgow market in January. It is a bird of the year, and 
 therefore the beak is not fully developed, but the plumage 
 resembles the winter plumage of the adult bird. 
 
 169 
 
LXXVII. HEISKAK. 
 
 THE GOLDEN PLOVEK (Charadrius pluvialis). We met with the 
 Golden Plover on the Island of Heiskar, in the open sea 
 some miles beyond Canna. We went there after seals, as it is 
 a favourite resort for them. We found them more interesting 
 than the Plovers, which may be seen on any Scotch moor, and 
 abound in poulterers' shops. We had a splendid summer day, 
 with just wind enough to take us there, and not enough to 
 make landing difficult. It was agreed that no one was to fire 
 for half an hour, so that I might have time to observe the 
 seals and make a sketch of them. We crept quietly up to the 
 top of the island, where we could look down on a small lagoon 
 in the basaltic rocks. The tide was out, and there were many 
 seals playing about and barking, and there were many more 
 swimming in the sea beyond. One we thought was dead was 
 lying in the foreground, but it was only sound asleep, and 
 at the first gun report it waddled off to the nearest water, 
 bobbing along on its stomach. It was the only one we 
 secured. 
 
 According to Sir Walter Scott, the seal loves music in common 
 with other animals : 
 
 ' Earth, ocean, air have nought so shy 
 But owns the power of minstrelsy. 
 
 Rude Heiskar's seal, through surges dark, 
 Will long pursue the minstrel's bark." 
 
 When whistled to in Loch Ailort, or when a flute was played, 
 I have seen them raise themselves breast high in the water. 
 Whether they admired or only wondered at the gentle sounds I 
 do not know ; but they had a very different effect on them 
 
 171 
 
HEISKAR. 
 
 from the gun's report. We saw a beautiful large butterfly on 
 Heiskar Parnassius apollo yellowish white, with red and 
 black spots on it. It is not a British species, but has been 
 found on the island of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides. It 
 inhabits the Alps and Norway and Sweden. 
 
 172 
 

L X X V 1 1 1. CORMORANT. 
 
 (Phalacrocorax carbo.) 
 
 DRAWN from life in the Zoological Gardens. A gentleman was 
 trying at the time to photograph them, but they fidgeted too 
 much. It was before the kodak had come into use. So my 
 drawing was made use of at a meeting of the Zoological Society. 
 
 "June 6, 1882. Professor Flower, LL.D., F.E.S., President, in the 
 chair. The Secretary called attention to the curious way in which the young 
 Cormorants, lately hatched in the Gardens, were fed by the parent bird, and 
 exhibited a drawing by Mrs Hugh Blackburn, taken on the 9th ult., illus- 
 trating this subject. The Cormorants deposited by Captain Salvin in the 
 autumn of 1881 had paired in March last, and built a nest of sticks on a 
 stump in the enclosure called the 'Gull Pond.' Two young ones were 
 hatched on the 22nd April last, after four weeks' incubation, both parents 
 taking turns in the nest. The young birds were at first naked, but soon 
 became covered with black down-plumage, whence they were now beginning 
 to moult into their adult dress. As would be seen by the illustration, the 
 parents fed the young ones by allowing them to poke their heads far down 
 into the parents' throats and to extract the semi-digested fish from the 
 stomach.'' 
 
 Captain Salvin used to keep Cormorants trained for fishing. 
 Unluckily they died before I had an opportunity of seeing them 
 at work. They are now beautifully stuffed, and set up in the 
 Hancock Museum at Newcastle, with the little leather collars 
 round their necks to prevent them swallowing the fish they 
 caught. 
 
 There are many Cormorants here in autumn. They abound 
 in the island of Heiskar, where there must be a great supply of 
 fish to support both them and the numerous seals that frequent 
 it. Cormorants build on the ledges of high rocks at the Land's 
 End in Cornwall and on the cliffs in Barra. 
 
 173 
 

LXXIX. SOLAN GOOSE, OE GANNET. 
 
 (Sula bassana.} 
 
 THIS plate is from memoranda of what I have often seen on the 
 Ayrshire coast, nearly opposite Ailsa Craig, which is introduced 
 in the distance. On that coast a number of Solan Geese may be 
 seen pouring into a small spot of the sea, and then rising heavily 
 from the water and wheeling round till they attain a sufficient 
 height to see the fish below, wfien they close their wings, and 
 dart headlong down again to seize their prey. 
 
 We see them frequently in the Bay at Eoshven, mostly in 
 autumn or in stormy weather. They probably come from Ailsa 
 Craig, as there is no place nearer here where they congregate or 
 breed. There is a colony of them on the Bass Eock, which is 
 the best place of all for seeing them in their nests. Such 
 persons as cannot get there may see the scene admirably repre- 
 sented in a group in the Natural History Museum in Cromwell 
 Eoad. 
 
 The first plumage of the Solan Goose (which it retains for, I 
 believe, two years) is dark brown, spotted with white. It is a 
 mystery to me where they spend their adolescence, one so seldom 
 sees them anywhere, not even near the Bass Eock nor Ailsa 
 Craig. All I have seen there have been white. The only one 
 I ever saw in full brown plumage was in the Bay of Biscay, on 
 a very stormy day in October. I have occasionally seen one not 
 yet quite white, but with some patches of brown still remaining. 
 
 175 
 
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 /* 
 
 ^ 
 
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 1 , tff\ 
 
 ^y 
 
 
 
 y\ ; x - 
 
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 K- f $ 
 
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 .' - ' '' 
 
 X 
 
LXXX. SOLAN GOOSE. 
 
 THE bird from which this was drawn was found dead on the 
 shore near the mouth of Loch Ailort. It had probably struck 
 itself on a stone when plunging from a height after fish. 
 
 177 
 
LXXXI. GULLS IN A STORM. 
 
 GULLS have not the powerful flight of the Gannet to enable them 
 to battle with the fury of the winter blasts. On the approach 
 of a storm they often fly inland for many miles and feed on the 
 insects and worms they find in the ploughed fields. I have seen 
 them here taking refuge from a winter gale, all huddled together 
 in a sheltered corner of a partly submerged field near the sea, 
 quite unable to fly. Among them were some Skuas in a help- 
 less condition, one of which we managed to catch. On compar- 
 ing it with Yarrell's description we believed it to be Eichardson's 
 Skua. It was speckled brown of a lighter colour than the 
 Common Skua, which I had seen before in the bay pursuing the 
 Sea Gulls, and robbing them of their fish. Its eyes and beak 
 were dark, and its legs pale coloured, with dark toes and webs. 
 
 179 
 

 \ Vv 
 
LXXXII. LESSEE BLACK-BACKED GULL. 
 
 (Larus fuscus.} 
 
 THE figure to the right in the next plate is from an adult Lesser 
 Black-backed Gull. The young Gull, whether Herring or Black- 
 backed, in the course of a few weeks changes his downy coat for 
 the mottled-brown plumage represented to the left of this plate. 
 This plumage is retained for at least one year, and the young 
 birds of the two species, as well as of the Great Black-backed 
 Gull, the plumage of which passes through corresponding changes, 
 are often mistaken for distinct species from their parents. 
 
 THE BKOWN-HEADED GULL (Larus ridibundus). Dr Macvicar 
 writes me: " The Brown-headed Gull is only occasionally seen 
 in Loch Moidart in summer. It is common in winter, and 
 comes in numbers near the house to be fed during hard 
 weather, being less shy than the Common Gull." The COMMON 
 GULL (Larus canus) is by no means shy this hard winter 
 (1894-5). I never saw it come before about the houses in the 
 way it has done lately, both at cottage and castle eating up the 
 food laid out for poultry, pigeons, pheasants, or finches ; alighting 
 on window sills, and crowding in the carved balustrades at 
 Inveraray Castle. I suppose their great hunger may be accounted 
 for by the long frost preventing the plough from working, which 
 otherwise at this time of year might be turning up worms in 
 plenty. All the little birds that come to the house have required 
 extra feeding this winter (1894-1895). Many of our numerous 
 Thrushes have disappeared. The Blackbirds are more hardy. 
 Many other birds, not so well situated, have suffered from want, 
 especially Woodcocks, whom it is impossible to help. 
 
 181 
 
^Ma 
 
LXXXIII. GULL'S NEST. 
 
 THE drawing was made from an actual specimen, in situ, and 
 whilst it was in progress, the young bird in the egg (which, it 
 will be seen, is chipped) fairly extricated himself from the shell. 
 The fact of the young offspring being differently coloured 
 from their parents occurs among beasts as well as birds. Young 
 wild boars are striped, while the old ones are plain brown. A 
 young tapir I saw in the Zoo, which had been born there, was 
 striped very like them, while its mother was plain grey. The 
 young of the red deer and the roe are both spotted with white, 
 like the fallow deer. Foxes are born black ; so are tigers. Lions 
 have a few stripes and spots when very young. 
 
 183 
 
LXXXIV. YOUNG GULLS. 
 
 HERRING GULLS and other laridse do not assume the adult 
 plumage of white and grey for a year at least the Solan Goose 
 is even longer. In former times, when natural history was not 
 so much studied as it is now, the young Herring Gull was sup- 
 posed, from the dissimilarity of its plumage, to be of a different 
 species, and was called the " Wagel " or " Burgomaster." 
 
 The young Kittiwake, in the first year, has part of the wings 
 and back dark, and a dark ring round the back of the neck. It 
 used to be called the " Tarrock," and was supposed also to be of 
 a different species. It is like the Common Seamew, but has no 
 hind toe only a small excrescence ; also, instead of the Sea- 
 mew's inarticulate scream, its cry is distinctly " Kittiwake " 
 (hence the name). There is another distinguishing mark which 
 has not been noticed in any description a red patch at the 
 edges of the gape and at the base of the lower mandible. 
 
 The Kittiwake builds on the highest ledge of the high cliffs 
 at Barrahead, and in the westmost islands ; the Seamew on quite 
 low rocky islands in the upper part of Loch Ailort. Most young 
 Gulls are brownish and speckled at first a less conspicuous 
 colour than the white and light grey of their maturer years, and 
 more suitable in the helpless stage of youth, when concealment is 
 their only safety. The young Tern has its first feathers edged 
 with drab colour, and its beak and feet pale orange ; not the 
 brilliant scarlet they afterwards become. 
 
 185 
 

 
LXXXV. SKUA. 
 
 ONE day when I was out fishing I saw what looked like a Hawk 
 in pursuit of a Sea Gull, which was evidently in a great fright. 
 To my surprise the dark coloured hawk -like bird soon aftei 
 alighted on the sea, and swam about among the other Gulls. 
 An old fisherman who was out with me told me in such English 
 as he could command that it was a sort of Gull that chased the 
 others and stole their fish, so I conjectured that the bird I saw 
 must be the Skua, which I had read of, but had never seen. It 
 dashed at the Gull, which opened its beak to scream, dropping 
 the fish, which the Skua caught in mid-air, and carried off'. 
 
 187 
 

 LXXXVI. FULMAR 
 
 (Fulmaris glacialis.} 
 
 THE drawing of the Fulmar is from a live one brought from 
 St Kilda by a yachting friend. It was done life-size, but I 
 have only reproduced the head in order to show the very 
 peculiar beak, with the nostrils in a tube. In other respects it 
 is much like a Herring Gull the same in colour, but not quite 
 of so handsome a shape. 
 
 We saw numbers of them flying about near St Kilda, where 
 they inhabit the high cliffs, and serve, when smoked and dried, as 
 winter food for the natives, as well as for furnishing oil for their 
 lamps. There were many near some similar islands on the coast 
 of Iceland, and near the Faroe Islands, where there were also 
 crowds of Guillemots and other sea-birds. It was very foggy 
 on the day we approached those islands, but one could guess 
 where the land lay by seeing the birds fly in that direction with 
 fish in their bills. 
 
 The illustration of the STORM PETREL (Procellaria pelagica) 
 was done from a dead one. The first time I ever saw the Storm 
 Petrel was in a great gale, on the 3rd October 1860, when some 
 of them were blown inland over the top of the house. We 
 mistook them at first for Swallows, and wondered at their being 
 here so late. I have seen specimens in the island of St Kilda 
 captured by the natives, and offered to us for sale. 1 have 
 no doubt they breed there, but we had no time to go in search 
 of them, being on our way to Iceland. We feared that if the 
 wind rose we might be storm-stayed there, for when the sea is 
 rough, neither landing nor embarkation is possible, as there is 
 such a swell on the rocks of that unsheltered shore. 
 
 189 
 
STORM PETREL. 
 
 The Petrel, Fulmar, and others of that kind are well supplied 
 with oil, which they squirt out of their peculiarly formed beaks, 
 as a defence against their enemies. Is it possible that they may 
 use it to calm the stormy waves, as ships do ? 
 
 190 
 

 L X X X V 1 1. S H E A E W A T E E. 
 
 (Puffinus anglorum.} 
 
 THE Shearwater is to be met with here on the open sea, between 
 the coast of Moidart and the island of Eigg, where it is said to 
 breed ; as also in the Isle of Man, whence its name, " The. Manx 
 Shearwater." The illustration is done from a disabled specimen 
 we picked up when yachting, which, after being sketched, was let 
 go. I have seen many such birds in the Mediterranean flying 
 low, just over the tops of the waves. Among the French sailors 
 they go by the name of " Ames Damnees ; " wherefore, I do not 
 know ; perhaps a survival of the doctrine of transmigration of 
 souls. 
 
 Major-General Eichardson tells me that long ago, when he 
 was shooting on the Pontana marshes in Sicily, there used to be 
 a lot of Terns, which fluttered about, and that Mario, his fac- 
 totum, a superstitious Sicilian, said they were " the souls of the 
 dead," and did not want him to shoot any of them. 
 
 A Sicilian friend also writes me that a Tern, which he calls 
 Sterna fluvialis, is to be found on these marshes, and is called 
 Ame de Sbirro. 
 
 191 
 

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 Birds from Moi< 
 
 and elsewh 
 
 UN o4 1941 
 
 1941 
 
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 0358 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
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