ON THE AVIFAUNA OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES n 



Waters also gives me the following interesting dates of arrival at 

 Galston in the west, and Gress in the east. " I have the following 

 dates of the first appearances of the Woodcock in Lewis. At 

 Galston, September 1 1, 1891 (possibly a bird that had remained all the 

 summer), October 19, 1892, October 20, 1893, October 25, 1895. 

 At Gress, October 18, 1899, October 20, 1901." 



Amongst many most excellent notes Mr. M'Elfrish of Loch- 

 maddy says : " Personally, I have never seen but one Woodcock 

 which had passed the summer in North Uist, and I fear he did so 

 nolens volens. A brother of Lady Campbell Orde and I were shoot- 

 ing just outside the Balelone march, on a day in September some 

 years ago, when my dog set. After a search we found a cock 

 squatting in the heather. I picked him up in my hand, and found 

 he had only one wing, having lost the other cut off close to his 

 body. The stump was quite healed, and he was as fat as a ball of 

 butter. 



" He had evidently lost the wing against the march fence, and 

 had been left behind when his friends took their departure the 

 previous season." 



COMMON SNIPE (Scolopax gallinago), p. 131. Mr. M'Elfrish 

 tells me he has never seen Snipes sitting upon the sands as described 

 in our "Fauna of the Outer Hebrides," p. 131, where we quoted 

 Professor MacGillivray and Gray, but he has seen them arriving in 

 large flocks during their migration. He writes as follows: "On 

 October 20, 1899, I saw a most interesting sight when driving 

 between Howmore in South Uist and Lochboisdale. I had just 

 got a short distance south from Howmore, when happening to look 

 behind, I saw a great flock of birds flying towards me from the 

 north. They were a considerable distance off when I saw them 

 first, and I could not make sure what they were, so I had the trap 

 stopped, and watched. They came right on until they were almost 

 over my head, and then began to fly round in circles, sometimes 

 dropping down till near the ground, and then ascending again, but 

 still sweeping round in circles. They were Snipes, and hundreds 

 of them. After they had behaved as above for, perhaps, twenty 

 minutes or half an hour, detachments broke off from the main body 

 and went away, some detachments in one direction, and others 

 in other directions, until the whole had disappeared." Then Mr. 

 M'Elfrish adds, criticising MacGillivray's and Gray's statement, " They 

 are never to be seen in flocks, ' like dunlins,' on the ooze or fords. 

 Occasionally in severe weather they may be seen about the shores, 

 but never in flocks." The nearest approach to what Professor 

 MacGillivray describes, that I have seen, are the " wisps " of Snipe 

 which are familiar to most sportsmen, and these, I think, will be 

 found to take place either immediately after their arrival or before a 

 sharp climatic change. 



