44 CATALOGUE OF BTEDS. 



two occasions, stumbled by chance over ten or fifteen 

 nests in one day, and this alone will show that the 

 Wigeon remains with us in sufficient numbers to be 

 styled a " resident." 



By the beginning of October, immense flocks make 

 their appearance on the north-east coast of Scotland : 

 these are probably from the north of Europe. On 

 their first arrival they are quite unsuspicious of danger, 

 and hundreds fall victims to the numerous punt gun- 

 ners, as many as forty, lifty, and occasionally sixty, 

 being bagged at one discharge of the big gun. The 

 warm reception they meet with soon drives the greater 

 part of the birds south, and during the depth of the 

 winter but few remain in the north. At this season 

 they may be met with all round the coast, and on any 

 large sheets of inland water that remain open. 



The young, in the downy state, have the same 

 markings as the young of the Wild Duck, but the 

 ground colour is a much warmer broT\m. 



The male and female were killed in the Dornoch 

 Firth, on the north-east coast of Scotland, in April, 

 1809, and the nest and eggs were taken in Strathmore, 

 in Caithness, the following month. 



OYSTER CATCHER. 



Case 53. 



The " Sea Pie," as this bird is sometimes called in the 

 south, is only an occasional visitor to Sussex and the 

 adjoining counties, but in the Channel Islands, and 

 again in Scotland, it may be found at all seasons as a 

 resident. 



