ZOOLOGICAL NOTFS 139 



Oystereatcher (Ha>matopus ostralegus, L.) Incubating under 

 Difficulties. A pair of Oystercatchers breed annually on a small 

 patch of shingle on an island in the river Teith. This spring the 

 first hatch of eggs was destroyed by a spate, and a second nest was 

 made which I discovered on the 5th June: the bird was then 

 sitting on three eggs. On the pth June, the river being extremely 

 low, a contractor came across the water, with his carts, to remove 

 gravel from the island. It was a long business, and every day 

 (except Sundays) from 8 a.m. till 6 p.m., the carts passed backwards 

 and forwards, and the work of sifting the gravel was carried on 

 within fifteen yards of the Oystercatchers' nest ; so that the birds, 

 during those hours, had no opportunity of sitting on the eggs. I 

 showed the nest to the men, who promised to safeguard it, and we 

 placed a mark close to the spot as a guide to the carters not to 

 drive over it. At 10 p.m. on the 23d June, when all was quiet, 

 I visited the nest, the old bird stole off, and I found the eggs 

 chipping. The next morning, the three young chicks were all out, 

 and running about with their parents. During the whole time 

 between the dates specified, viz. gth and 23d June, the weather was 

 exceptionally warm and sunny, which must, I suppose, account for the 

 fact that the eggs were kept alive, without the aid of the bird's 

 warmth during the daytime. W. H. M. DUTHIE, Doune, Perthshire. 



The Gray Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius, L.) in Barra. On 



the 26th of September last, I found a specimen of this pretty bird 

 in the possession of some boys at Castlebay, on the south-east of 

 this island. They had caught it in an exhausted state near the 

 village shortly before I met them, and as they had been using it 

 rather roughly it soon died, but I got it preserved. On the same 

 day, another bird was caught on the west side of the island by Mr. 

 MacVean of the Crofters' Commission, but he allowed it to go again. 

 I think this is the first record of its occurrence in the Outer Hebrides. 

 The day on which these birds were caught was very stormy, and for 

 some days previously there was a strong gale from the west and 

 south-west, so that they were probably blown on the island from 

 their line of migration, which Mr. Harvie-Brown thinks is west of 

 the Outer Hebrides. JOHN MACRURY, Barra. 



Ruff (Machetes pugnax, L.) in the Outer Hebrides. In August 

 1888 I sent a record to Mr. Harvie-Brown from Benbecula, of 

 which he makes mention in Appendix D of the " Fauna of the 

 Outer Hebrides." In May 1889 I got a Ruff in full plumage in 

 the same island, and on the 2oth September following, I saw another 

 bird either a ruff or reeve in the bird-of-the-year plumage, on the 

 west side of Barra. From my own observation, and from what I have 

 learned from others in the place, I am inclined to think that a pair 

 or two of these birds may have nested in Benbecula within the last 

 few years. JOHN MACRURY, Barra. 



