12 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



It is always interesting, I consider, to record dates of the arrivals 

 of migrants at different localities during a series of years. Though 

 this has been done ever since the days of the earlier recorders, like 

 White of Selborne, less interest has attached to these details till 

 lately, simply owing to the fact that no means had been arrived at 

 in order to record such parallel observations as have been given us 

 by such men as Gatke in Heligoland, and observations made at 

 lighthouses in Britain and in Denmark and elsewhere. To the 

 sportsman, apart from the naturalist, the dates given as follows ought 

 to be of interest, both as regards Common Snipe and Jack Snipe. 



Mr. Radclyffe Waters writes me : " Snipe are most undoubtedly 

 much reduced in numbers by the hard winter of 1894-95. The 

 keeper at Galston reported that he did not find many dead, as in the 

 case of Woodcock, Golden Plover, Gulls, etc. ; but they seemed to 

 leave the country and never came back. In that season the total 

 bag was 236, the four previous years yielding 362 to 248. In the 

 following year and season it dropped to 73 ! " 



It appears to be a well-recognised fact that Snipe in many parts 

 of the Outer Hebrides are often found in most unexpected places, 

 and none perhaps more strange than the very summits of the hills, 

 where they are frequently shot as they rise from perfectly dry 

 ground. The same observation has been made in many other 

 localities, but, I think, not so commonly as in these isles. In this 

 respect they seem rather to follow the example of the Woodcock, 

 which, as is well known, prefers a dry bed during the day to rest 

 upon. 



JACKSNIPE (Gallinago gallinula), p. 131. Mr. M'Elfrish writes 

 of this bird : " A regular winter visitor every year. The first Jacks 

 arrive in September. This year I saw one on September 29. 

 Some years they come in much greater numbers than others. I 

 have seen them so abundant that it would have been too great 

 labour to have carried enough cartridges to shoot at anything like 

 as many as one might in the day. They get into queer places 

 sometimes. On January 29, 1900, I shot one on the top of Ben 

 Eaval on hard dry ground." 



The following are the dates of first arrivals in the north of 

 Lewis : November 6, 1890 ; September 29, 1891 ; October 4, 1892 ; 

 September 27, 1893; September 28, 1894; September 28, 1895; 

 October 2, 1896; September 20, 1897; September 21, 1898; 

 September 30, 1899; September 30, 1900; September 30, 1901. 

 For these I am indebted to Mr. Radclyffe W T aters, who further says : 

 "They appear to come in small parties, a few being generally found 

 together. On October 7, 1898, out of 13 snipe killed, there were 

 9 Jacks. On October 2, 1899, one of the party, when fishing on 

 the ' flats ' (or tidal part of the Gress river), caught a Jack Snipe 

 with his landing-net." 



