200 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



when they went off to sea and were never seen again. Previous to their 

 going to sea, the young birds were as tame as the farmyard ducks. 

 Although the first eggs be taken, they will make another nest and 

 lay again. 



Common Scoter {CEdemia nigra). This species is not at all 

 numerous here, but it has bred on two occasions to my 

 knowledge. I did not see the nests and eggs, but I saw the old 

 birds with the young only a few days old. They kept close 

 in shore, and I watched them on several occasions. 



Goosander (Mergus merganser). I used to see Goosanders 

 pretty regularly a number of years ago, but they have become 

 scarce in recent years. However I saw a pair on March 1912 

 on the Faodhal. They did not remain long, and were probably 

 only passing visitors. Like the next species, they are not desirable 

 birds, being useless as food and doing a lot of harm where there 

 are trout. 



Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator). This species 

 is abundant, and equally at home on both salt and fresh water. 

 It is rather late in nesting, much later than the Mallard and Teal, 

 and chooses different sites for its nest, often nesting among 

 the crofters' crops and hatching out successfully about a dozen 

 young ones. They keep to the fresh water until the young are 

 nearly half grown. On the fresh water they chase and catch the 

 young Trout, and on the sandy bays round the sea-coast they 

 chase the Sand Eels, of which they are very fond. They can go 

 at a great pace under water. 



Rock Dove (Columba livid). Rock Doves are abundant, and 

 breed in caves and gullies. Kennavarra is their principal habita- 

 tion, where hundreds of them nest during summer and roost 

 during winter. I have examined their crops in winter, and their 

 principal food at that season seems to be the seed of the wild 

 mustard, or " skellac." During April they feed on the newly sown 

 fields, and eat up quite a lot of the newly sown barley and rye, and 

 do a lot of damage. They also do a great deal of damage in har- 

 vest time hundreds of them alighting on the barley stooks and 

 taking their fill. They are fat and in good condition at all seasons, 

 and are very good eating. 



(To be continued?) 



