8 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



August 28 to 31 at Barra : There are very large 

 flocks of Sanderlings and a great many Bar-tailed Godwits 

 and Turnstones, many of the latter quite young birds. 

 Eider Ducks and Mergansers are here in hundreds, also 

 Oyster-Catchers. Gannets, which were absent in November, 

 were now here in large numbers. The White Wagtail 

 appears to be the only representative of that family, though 

 there were many young birds which I was unable to identify 

 for certain. A pair of Hen Harriers might be seen every 

 evening. Rock-Doves are very abundant, coming to feed 

 on the corn-fields. Two or three Greenshanks were 

 generally to be seen in suitable places. Two Common 

 Terns were still anxious about a young one on some rocks 

 in the bay. Herons are very common, as they seem to be 

 everywhere in the Outer Hebrides. 



September i, Loch Eport : I saw two Red -throated 

 Divers in the bay, and many Eider Ducks and Mergansers. 

 I left at 10 a.m. for Stornoway, calling at the Shiant Islands 

 on the way. The marshy ground on the largest of those 

 islands was swarming with Snipe. Most of the breeding 

 birds had left. 



September 3 : During an hour's walk in Broad Bay, 

 Stornoway, I noticed two Common Terns, a few Turnstones, 

 Sanderlings, and five White Wagtails (two adults and four 

 young), in addition to other birds. The Rooks, which I 

 believe are comparatively recent comers, are here in 

 hundreds. 



September 5, Loch Eport: I saw a Short-eared Owl, 

 two Greenshanks, several Turnstones, two Merlins, a Red- 

 throated Diver, and a Kestrel, the first I remember having 

 seen in the Outer Hebrides, by which I infer that they are 

 not common. 



Returning to Barra on the 8th I saw a Black -tailed 

 Godwit. This bird is now in the collection of Mr. W. 

 M'Gillivray at Eoligarry. 



On 26th October I spent a day on Fuday and Barra, 

 It was a lovely, windless autumn day. The sea was " blue 

 as blue could be," the sky blue also, with just a few heavy 

 clouds, which, casting their shadows here and there upon the 

 Islands, served but to increase the beauty of the landscape. 



