NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 1 1 1 



Order vii., GRALLAE. Fara. Hi., SCOLOPACIDAE. 



CURLEW. 



NUMENIUS ARQUATUS (Unnaeus). 



Abundant, but very much restricted in its distribution in the 

 west. In 1868 I received five Curlew's eggs from a shepherd boy, 

 who assured me that he found them in one nest. I have since 

 heard of another nest of five eggs, obtained near Langwell, and 

 now in the Messrs Paterson's collection, in Glasgow. Four is the 

 usual number in Sutherland. 



WHIMBEEL. 



NUMENIUS PHAEOPUS {Linnaeus). 



This is a species whose numbers in Scotland in the breeding 

 season have been very often over-estimated. I have tried hard, 

 and repeatedly, to obtain the eggs taken in Sutherland, but have 

 never received them. Nevertheless, we are informed that the 

 Whimbrel " is plentiful during the nesting season all along the 

 coast of Sutherland and Caithness, and breeds on open moors 

 near the sea " (Mr Dunbar—" Ibis," 1865, p. 435). Mr Crawford 

 writes to me that it " breeds along the north coast in much less 

 numbers than the Curlew;" and again, under date of 2ist March, 

 1870, "Whimbrels were common on the shore last month, but 

 all the tribe are now leaving, or have left, for the interior." The 

 great numbers of the Whimbrel seen in the Long Island in the 

 month of May (and known there as "May-fowl") do not breed 

 in the islands, but depart towards the end of the month. They 

 arrive in Iceland for breeding purposes "at the end of April" 

 (see Appendix A. to Mr Baring-Gould's "Iceland," by Profes- 

 sor Newton). I am inclined to believe, therefore, that the birds 

 seen by Mr Crawford are the earlier migrants en route for Iceland, 

 or still further north, whilst those seen in the Long Island are 

 probably on their way to Faroe, and that very few indeed remain 

 to rear their young in the north of Scotland. The island of 

 Handa is another locality described as the breeding place of the 

 Whimbrel (Rev. F. 0. Morris' " British Birds "), but I am con- 

 fident the statement has arisen and has been perpetuated in error. 

 I have always failed to see any of the species at any season I have 

 visited the place, and I invariably kept a sharp look out for them. 



