Zoology of the Outer Hebrides, 1 1 



mens from the south, although eggs brought by me from 

 Harrris are certainly smaller and darker than usual, and the 

 nest is different. The Common and Shore Pipits, Anthus 

 pratensis and aquations, are both common ; the nest of the 

 latter I have frequently found at a distance from the sea. 



The Raven, Corvus Corax, is generally distributed, but is 

 nowhere numerous, unless when attracted by a stranded whale 

 or drove of grampuses. Although it generally builds in lofty 

 rocks overhanging the sea, from which I have taken the young, 

 yet I know of a nest in the island of Berneray at an eleva- 

 tion of certainly not more than fifteen feet, but still quite in- 

 accessible from above, and nearly so from below. The owners 

 of this nest made great havoc among the poultry in the neigh- 

 bourhood, and I have known one of them to kill a full-grown 

 duck and partially devour it. C. Comix was the only other 

 species noticed, though both C. Corone and C.frugilegus are 

 met with in Skye. The Hooded Crow is very plentiful, espe- 

 cially in St. Kilda, and, like the Raven, approaches the huts 

 early in the morning, searching the dunghills for offal of every 

 kind. It lives chiefly on shell-fish and Crustacea ; but when in 

 South Uist in the end of July, I daily observed large flocks 

 of this bird feeding on the larvae bred in the putrid sea-weed 

 collected into small heaps for manure. In the Hebrides it 

 breeds in rocks, chiefly maritime ; but in the neighbouring 

 island of Skye, I have taken the nest in a tree by the road- 

 side, at the head of Loch Snizort. The Starling, Sturnus vul- 

 garis, is very common, beginning to collect into large flocks 

 in July, and remaining thus till the end of April. 



Fringilla domestica, the Common Sparrow, I found in only 

 a single locality — among the ruins of Ormaclate Castle in 

 South Uist, of old the family-seat of Clanranald ; F. codebs, the 

 Chaffinch, occurred only in the glen of Rhodil, along with 

 Coccothraustes Chloris, the Greenfinch. Linota Montium, the 

 Twite, is abundant, and the only Hebridian species of the ge- 

 nus. Emberiza Miliaria, the Corn Bunting, is plentifully di- 

 stributed over the whole range ; E. Schozniclus, Reed Bunting, 

 is rare, and E. Citrinella, Yellow Bunting, was seen only at 

 Rhodil. Plectrophanes nivalis, Snow Bunting, I found so late 

 as the middle of May, when I shot a pair on the sand-hill of 

 Berneray. The Skylark, Alauda arvensis, is common. 



Cuculus canorus, the Cuckoo, was seen and heard occa- 

 sionally, especially in North Uist, about Loch Maddy, and 

 elsewhere. The Rock Dove, Columba Livia, breeds in great 

 numbers in the maritime caves and fissures, and nowhere 

 more abundantly than in the island of Pabbay. During sum- 

 mer its food consists almost entirely of Helix ericetorum and 



