314 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



to refer to those mentioned by Mr. Gray in his " Birds of the 

 West of Scotland." This is really the fifth specimen recorded 

 during a period of sixty years. 



CURLEW. 



NUMENIUS ARQUATA (Lill.). 



The Curlew is a regular frequenter of all the sea-lochs on the 

 west of Scotland during the autumn and winter months. On the 

 east coast they usually appear in October in flocks, but in the 

 autumn of 1879 they were fully a month late of arriving in the 

 neighbourhood of the sea [Dr. J. L. Crombie, in lit., 12, xii., 79], 

 and the flocks were fewer, and the individuals in the flocks not so 

 numerous as usual. 



On 6th March I saw the Curlews arrive at breeding places in 

 Stirlingshire, and Mr. Service reports from the Stewartry that 

 the Curlews are just taking up their spring quarters, "and some 

 immense flocks have been passing and repassing here morning and 

 evening to and from the Solway, as they usually do in spring be- 

 fore finally quitting the shore." This was about the 6th or 8th 

 March. Curlews had returned to the shore in Berwick by the 

 middle of July ; but in Stirlingshire many still frequented the 

 breeding haunts at that and a later date. 



ESQUIMAUX CURLEW. 



NUMENIUS BOREALIS ( FoTStev). 



Mr Geo. Sim writes to report the capture of another Esquimaux 

 Curlew. "It was shot on the 21st September, on a hill in the 

 forrest of Birse, Kincardineshire, by Mr. H. C. Haclden, and was 

 sent to Mr. Sim as a ' queer-looking plover.' Like the one men- 

 tioned last year, this is a male. The measurements are J inch 

 shorter and h inch less in extent of wings. The stomach contained 

 crow-berries, the same as the specimen last year." 



It is not unworthy of remark that the following rare birds should 



all have reached our shores about the same time and during 



easterly gales, viz. : — Great Snipe, Turtle Dove, Red-legged Hobby, 



and Esquimaux Curlew [see forthcoming Report on Migration for 



18801. 



SNIPE. 



Gallinago gallinaria (0. F. Midler). 

 Some improvement in the numbers of Snipe took place after 

 September [see First Report, antea, p. 174], but still there were not 



