ON THE AVIFAUNA OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES 209 



shootings of Benbecula Mr. M'Elfrish and he usually killed several 

 every year. Since sending me his earlier notes on this species of 

 duck, Mr. M'Elfrish informs me that " Gadwalls have appeared on 

 a small loch at Portnalong, called Loch-na-Steilean. They made 

 their appearance there in December ; since which time a company 

 of about a score have regularly occupied the loch, and a few have 

 been killed." 



SHOVELLER (Anas clypeata], p. 103. The Shoveller may be 

 added to the Fauna of the Outer Hebrides. The earliest record I 

 have of its occurrence in the Isles is that of two shot in Benbecula 

 by Mr. C. V. A. Peel, in 1890, and one in 1891. Then Mr. 

 M'Elfrish writes me as follows : " Shooting with Sir W. Benger 

 Smythe in Benbecula, November 25, 1898, 1 shot a female Shoveller 

 out of a small flock of twelve or fourteen." Mr. M'Elfrish believed 

 that this " was the first specimen procured in these islands so far 

 as I can ascertain," and the only one procured in Benbecula during 

 the twelve years previous to 1900. On the same day he shot two 

 Gadwalls. It is only right, however, to record that Dr. M'Rury, 

 writing to me " from memory," in November 1901, says that he shot 

 one or two in Benbecula " many years ago." 



TEAL (Querqiiedula crecca), p. 103. Although Professor Wm. 

 MacGillivray did not meet with the Teal (" British Birds," vol. v. p. 

 54), yet Dr. C. Gordon has a corrective marginal note in his copy to 

 the effect that " This is incorrect. There are plenty of Teal in South 

 Uist. C. G." Mr. M'Elfrish says of this species that it is now 

 quite common and breeds every year in North Uist and Benbecula, 

 and, " I have no doubt, in South Uist too." And Mr. M'Elfrish 

 and Mr. C. V. A. Peel designate it as increasing yearly, and as " very 

 abundant in Benbecula," at date of 1901. In The Lews, Mr. 

 Radclyffe Waters' experience in six years' sport, i.e. in winter, is 

 that the Teal is the most frequently killed of all the wild fowl of 

 Lewis. And he appears confident of obtaining specimens of eggs 

 thence in 1902, in order to prove that they breed there. 



PINTAIL DUCK (Anas acutci)^ p. 104. The first record for Barra 

 is given by Dr. M'Rury, when two were seen in breeding plumage 

 on May 16, 1895, and remained over a week on the east side of the 

 island ("Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist." 1896, p. 23). The only other 

 positive record I have from Barra since the above is one upon 

 September 4, 1897 ("Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist." 1898, p. 213). These, 

 I think, may be looked upon as the first extension of the species, 

 with the one exception which we give of its occurrence in our 

 previous account, to the southern isles, and the flock seen by a 

 correspondent of the late R. Gray, in North Uist, when one was shot. 

 (See "Fauna of the Outer Hebrides," p. 104.) 



By 1900, Pintails are reported as having greatly increased in 

 number in Benbecula on the authority of more than one observer 

 44 C 



