SOME NOTES ON BIRDS SEEN AT RAASAY 269 



SOME NOTES ON BIRDS SEEN AT RAASAY. 



By Jean Helen Gaskell. 



I STAYED for nearly two months on the Island of Raasay 

 last summer, from i6th June to 9th August, and while I was 

 there made a few observations on the birds I saw in the 

 neighbourhood of Raasay House. Since then I have read a 

 very interesting paper in the Ibis for 1904, by Charles Collier, 

 F.Z.S., M.B.O.U., on "The Birds of Raasay," and I think 

 perhaps my few notes may be of interest to compare with 

 his, in showing the difference in numbers of some of the 

 common birds. 



For instance, he says that House Sparrows are " very 

 numerous," whereas I found them remarkably scarce. Only 

 at Leadhills and in Western Australia have I noticed so few 

 sparrows. All the time I was at Raasay, although I looked 

 for them every day, I never saw a Starling. Mr Collier 

 reports this bird as " not very plentiful during the summer," 

 and in the Faiuia of North West Highlands and Skye it was 

 " found at Raasay, near Clachan." 



Another little bird which was very scarce was the Hedge 

 Sparrow. I only saw one on the island, while 1 did not hear 

 or see a Cuckoo or a Corncrake all the time I was there. 

 Chaffinches were in great numbers, and there were many 

 Robins which Mr Collier found " scattered in the woods and 

 round the crofts and shore, but not very numerous," while 

 Cole Tits and Blue Tits were also very common. 



On 26th June a flock of Long-tailed Tits (about twenty) 

 settled on a tree near the house ; they stayed some time, 

 about half an hour, and then flew into a shrubbery some 

 distance away. They returned a few days after for a short 

 time. After that I did not see them again, but I thought I 

 heard them in a thick wood once more but could not see 

 them. 



On 29th June a Turtle Dove flew into a tree near the 

 house ; it stayed there a short time and then flew away. It 

 returned shortly after and rested a few minutes on the ground 

 and then flew away again. An Eider Duck and four young 



