250 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



Swifts in the Outer Hebrides. I am just back from a ten days' 

 sojourn in North Uist. You may like to hear that on Saturday, 28th 

 August, I observed certainly one Swift (C. apus] on the west side. 

 Three or four others were with it, which my companion, who has 

 younger eyes than myself, pronounced to be exactly similar. Ap- 

 parently they were fresh in from the sea ; they were all flying low, 

 more like swallows. J. W. P. CAMPBELL ORDE, Kilmory. 



[Several specimens are recorded in the " Fauna of the Outer 

 Hebrides." Dr. MacRury, in his " Birds of Barra," says that one or 

 two are seen each season. EDS.] 



Alpine Swift in Scotland. The Muirkirk record of the oc- 

 currence of this species in the current number of the "Annals" reminds 

 me of what is said in the "Trans, of the Gaelic Socy. of Inverness," 

 vol. xii., 1885-86, in an article by Mr. Charles Fergusson on the 

 " Gaelic Names of Birds," and the following extract may be worth 

 printing in the " Annals " : " I know a very high precipice amongst 

 the rocks of Strathardle, about 1400 ft. above sea-level, in which, in 

 a crack or rent in the face of the cliff, the Alpine Swift has bred, 

 and never missed a single season, from my earliest remembrance up 

 till I left the district a few years ago, and I have no doubt they 

 breed there still. My uncle has told me that, when he was a boy, 

 over 50 years ago, they bred there then, and had been there from 

 time immemorial. ... I have lain for hours watching them, after 

 the young ones had flown, in a flock of 12 or 16 flying about high 

 in the air, and then all darting down suddenly into the crack in the 

 rock, in which they held a chattering, screeching concert for a minute 

 or so, and then all pouring out in a torrent quicker almost than 

 the eye could follow them, screeching very loudly, and after a while 

 circling about, repeating the performance again and again. I 

 could not be mistaken about this being the Alpine Swift, as its white 

 belly at once distinguishes it from the Common Swift. Old and 

 young keep together in a flock till they leave the country early in 

 August. I have never seen them anywhere else." Mr. Fergusson 

 distinguishes their Gaelic names from that of the Common Swift, 

 giving for the Alpine Swift Gobhlan-monaidh, Ainleog-monaidh, 

 and Gobhlan-nan-creag. HUGH BOYD WATT, Glasgow. 



[We are much obliged to Mr. Watt for calling our attention to 

 the above. We have the gravest doubts, however, as to the correct- 

 ness of Mr. Fergusson's identification of the species. EDS.] 



Bee-eater in Caithness. A pair of Bee-eaters (Af crops apiaster) 

 were seen by Mr. Wm. MacPherson on the i2th of May last at 

 Langwell ; and one of them was seen two days afterwards attacking 

 bees. LEWIS DUNBAR, Thurso. 



Cuckoo in Shetland. On nth June, Mr. Thomas Bowie and I 

 came on a Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) by the side of a stream in the 

 North Belting Hills, Shetland. The bird was very wild, and would 



