78 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



The Little Ringed Plover in North Uist. In a list of birds 

 of North Uist contributed by Lieut. F. S. Beveridge to the current 

 number of The Scottish Naturalist, I note (p. 19) the inclusion of 

 the Little Ringed Plover, ^gialitis curonica, Gm., with the following 

 remark, "A supposed example was recorded from Vallay in 1909." 

 There is no need to say "supposed." A specimen was obtained, 

 identified, and duly recorded in the year referred to. 



In The Field of 20th February 1909 I wrote as follows: "I 

 have lately received a note from Mr H. E. Beveridge of Kirchesters, 

 Kelso, N.B., informing me that in October last he shot in North 

 Uist a small Plover which he thought might be the Little Ringed 

 Plover, but could not tell how it was to be distinguished from the 

 larger and commoner species. As a very good pen-and-ink sketch 

 of the bird accompanied his letter, and was of the natural size, it 

 seemed likely that his identification of the species was correct ; but, 

 in order to remove all doubt, I sent him a description, laying stress 

 on the fact that if the bird were the Little Ringed Plover it would 

 have the shaft of the first primary white, and all the others dusky. 

 He replied that it entirely corresponded with my description ; so 

 that the occurrence of this species in North Uist may now be 

 definitely recorded." 



I presume from the similarity of name that my informant is a 

 relative of the author of the list now referred to. Be that as it 

 may, I am glad to see that Lieut. F. S. Beveridge has not adopted 

 the modern changes of names which have been proposed for so 

 many of the species mentioned by him, but follows the long 

 established nomenclature employed in the standard text-books on 

 British birds. In one instance, however, he is mistaken, namely, in 

 the case of the Purple Sandpiper which he calls Triiiga striata, 

 Linn. It is true that this is the name adopted by Saunders, 

 following Dresser; but, as I pointed out nearly twenty years ago 

 {Handbook British Birds, 1901), the T?-inga striata of Linnaeus is 

 not a Triiiga at all but a Totanus, having a characteristically barred 

 tail and a white rump, and is evidently from Linnaeus' description 

 the Redshank. It has taken a good many years to convince people 

 of this, but as the authors of the last edition of " The Ibis List of 

 Birds" (191 5) have adopted this view (p. 390), it ought now to be 

 generally recognised. J. E. Harting. 



