NOTES ON BIRD-LIFE IN THE OUTER HEBRIDES 31 



was frequent wherever there was sufficient covert, and the 

 Corn-bunting was not uncommon in the crofted area of 

 the islands, where, on one farm, a flock of fifty or sixty- 

 birds were seen flying together like Sparrows. We found 

 two pairs of Stonechats in the same locality in which Mr 

 Chapman recorded them in 1900, and noticed a few House- 

 sparrows round some of the larger hamlets, but these birds 

 were not at all general. We saw two Swallows on 8th May 

 and a single bird on 16th June, all these evidently on passage 

 up the west coast. The Wren was very common on the 

 inland lochs, but we never saw it near dwellings. The song 

 of these Hebridean Wrens struck us as being particularly 

 loud and sustained, and the bird itself much shyer than the 

 mainland Wren. 



The most interesting of the smaller birds were the Tree- 

 sparrow and Hedge-sparrow. E. L. T. identified the 

 former species among a flock of House-sparrows on a farm 

 in Uist at the end of May. 



Of the Hedge-sparrow, Dr M'Rury, who found the 

 bird breeding in Barra in 1892, says : " I never saw the bird 

 in Uist" (Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist.). However, we observed 

 three pairs of the birds in the latter island at the end of 

 May, and found two nests. The islanders do not recognise 

 this bird, and it is not at all common. 



The Starling was an abundant breeding species. The 

 Cuckoo, as was to be expected, was scarce, but a pair were 

 generally to be seen in the neighbourhood of one of the 

 Hedge-sparrow's nests mentioned above. The Hooded 

 Crow is a pest in all the islands. During our visit, one 

 keeper shot a hybrid between C. comix and C. corone, which 

 partook of the characteristics of both species and was mated 

 to an ordinary Hooded Crow. The Raven, Peregrine, and 

 Kestrel are common in the mountainous districts, but we 

 only observed a single pair of both the Merlin and Short- 

 eared Owl. We were told that two or three Hen-harriers 

 were seen at an old haunt in one of the islands, but we were 

 not able to visit the place. 



The Heron was not an uncommon visitor, and we 

 frequently saw Gannets and Cormorants on the west coast. 



