144 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



with four eggs, but the season (1878) was very forward, the usual 

 time being the first week in May. The birds begin to leave the 

 shore and come up the straths about the middle or end of March, 

 and soon after that the flocks break up into pairs and go to their 

 breeding grounds. 



83. Whirnbrel. Numenius phaeopus (Lin.). — A scarce spring 

 and autumn visitant. 



84. Bar-tailed Godwit. Limosa lapponica (Lin.). — An uncertain 

 autumn and winter visitant. I procured two or three specimens on 

 the 11th of November, 1877. 



85. Greenshank. Tetanus glottis (Pall.). — This fine and inter- 

 esting wader is fairly distributed through the East of the county, 

 but is nowhere common. Its eggs are difficult to find, and are a 

 prize when found. I knew of four or five pairs breeding in the 

 district about Balnacoil, but only succeeded in getting one nest, 

 which a shepherd found for me. Sometimes these birds sit very 

 close on their nests. In 1869, at Altnaharra, I took a nest which 

 was placed between two stones at the edge of a loch. Passing by 

 the same place, when fishing, in 1871, I happened to think of the 

 Greenshank, and there, between the same two stones, sat the old 

 bird on her nest, and she allowed me to touch her with my fishing- 

 rod before she went' off. The first time I took the nest it only con- 

 tained three eggs, two hard-set and the other addled, the date being 

 the 24th of May ; the second time the nest contained four nearly 

 fresh eggs, and was taken on the 26th of May. When the young 

 are hatched the old t birds are very bold and vociferous, coming 

 down close above one's head with a swoop, and then shooting up 

 into the air almost perpendicularly. 



86. Redshank. Totanus calidris (Lin.). — Common the whole 

 year round, and coming up the strath to breed. I used to take 

 their eggs in a meadow at Balnacoil, about a mile from the house, 

 where there were always several pairs breeding. The nest seems to 

 be invariably placed in a tuft of grass, and like the Peewit, several 

 nests are made before they finally fix on one in which to lay. They 

 are very difficult to find, and during the time they are laying the 

 birds never appear near the nest. The eggs are not laid on four 

 consecutive days. When they go far up the hill to breed, I have 

 generally noticed that they keep near any green spot, and do not 

 nest in heather like the Greenshank. 



87. Common Sandpiper. Actitis hypoleucus (Lin.). — A very 





