264 THE BIRDS OF STRATH BEO. 



at first by two or three, but these soon increase, and they keep screaming 

 and darting at, and as long as the, intruder is near. It is curious to see 

 them hovering over you when they have young, with perhaps a sand eel, or 

 it may be some other small fish, dangling in their mouth. It is well worth one's 

 time and trouble, at such a season, to conceal himself at a distance and be 

 an eyewitness to the dexterity and the amazing rapidity with which they 

 •will drop down, feed their young, and again re-ascend. It is done so quick 

 at times, that you can hardly tell whether the bird has been down or not, 

 when it is again soaring away aloft, I allude chiefly to the Common Tern: 

 this bird is known by the term of 'Pit-tarrack,' and the Little Tern by 

 that of 'Cleat,' or 'Clet.' 



A few pairs of Eing Dotterels also breed here. I would here narrate an 

 anecdote concerning one of these birds, which recently occurred on these sands; 

 hoping that it will not be out of, but just in its proper place, being, as it 

 is, associated with the present article. — Strolling about on the sands in July 

 last with my friend, John Gatherer, Esq., not just exactly, if I remember 

 rightly, with any real or defined object in view, but merely to take what I 

 might call an ornithological survey, and, at least on my part, to pick up or 

 examine any ichthyological or conchological specimen, or such like object which 

 the sea might have cast on shore. We parted, and shortly after I heard the 

 report of my friend's piece, but at what he had fired, I could not then tell 

 from the distance betwixt us. Having rambled up and down, here and there, 

 for some time, I at last found myself approaching the spot where Mr. G. had 

 fired, and was surprised at hearing a low squeaking behind me; but, like 

 the street musician, having my eyes always round me, I soon discovered the 

 chirper lying on the sand in the form of a Ring Dotterel, and apparently 

 very sorely wounded. Ho! ho! thinks I, on seeing it, there is what my friend 

 has fired at, but has lost it. However it is all right yet; I will just pick 

 it up, and give it to him. So saying, or rather thinking, I would put my 

 hand upon it for that purpose; but the poor little thing managed, unexpectedly, 

 to elude me by scrambling away, though with great difficulty, and dragging 

 its broken wing, which furrowed the sand in its course. 



I stopped short; it did the same. One of its legs appeared hurt too. 

 Wishing to obtain the bird for my friend, I again made the attempt, but 

 with as little success as before. Again I came to a stand-still, as also did 

 the bird; seeing which, I again started and pounced right upon it, and held 



bird — the Common Tern. Of the singularitj' of the circumstance onlj', that the same bird should 

 at one time rear a structure whereon to lay her eggs, and at another be content with a mere 

 hollow for the pui-pose, I of course will saj' nothing, leaving it to some abler head and mind 

 to deal with the matter, should they think fit; I would say, however, that I have not men- 

 tioned this affair as anything new to ornithology, but merelj' as being so to me. I would also 

 state that I have been informed that a gentleman of the name of Hepburn, who visited the 

 Loch some years since, expressed a similar opinion as I have now done, namely, that the Terns 

 that breed on the Loch, are the same as those that do on the sands, that is, the larger 

 species, not the Little Tern. 



