90 CATALOGUE OF lURDS!. 



ties or the western islands. At that time of year they 

 were perfectly harmless on the ground, preying only 

 on wounded game or hares, and, as they always left 

 that quarter before the breeding season, their visits 

 were beneficial rather than otherwise. 



On several occasions after a large hare drive, when 

 going over the ground on the following day to pick up 

 the wounded, and also to learn what vermin were 

 about, I have observed them collected in still larger 

 bodies, a hundrccl or more being scattered over the 

 hills within view, having been drawn from all the sur- 

 rounding moors by the prospect of abundant food. 



They were at all times so eager to make a meal off 

 the dead game with which we baited our traps, that I 

 have known between two and three hundred captured 

 in a single season, not that we wished to destroy them, 

 but simply that they positively insisted on getting into 

 the traps which we were forced to keep set, in order to 

 check the increase of more destructive vermin. 



In the breeding season there is no doubt that they 

 are injurious to game, being very partial to eggs. 



The specimens in the case were trapped in Glenlyon, 

 in Perthshire, in September, 18GG. 



GREENSHANK.— (Autumn.) 



Case 98. 



This case represents the mature and immature in 

 autumn plumage. 



In the spring the old birds are remarkably wary, 

 but in the autumn they appear to lay aside their 

 shyness, and, when discovered on the' mudbanks in 



