69 Dan Meinertzhagen's Diary. 



In the evening a man told us he knew of a 

 Short-eared Owl's nest, so we went and 

 took it, about 3 or 4 miles up the river on a dry 

 piece of ground surrounded by swamps, and with 

 small bushes covering the ground. In a small 

 hollow under one of these bushes, lined with dry 

 grass and some of its own larger feathers, were 

 five incubated eggs. We waited some time to 

 get a shot at the old birds, but they were much 

 too shy. 



On the way we shot a pair of Widgeon, and 

 a beautiful Blackcock sitting upon one of the 

 hay sheds by the river. I had no idea the 

 Short-eared Owl would perch on trees ; but 

 several times the bird perched on top of a high 

 fir tree to see where we were. 



Of the two clutches of Capercailzie's eggs 

 I got, one set is much the larger, and the natives 

 tell me that the old birds lay the larger eggs, 

 and the small eggs are laid by birds of the 

 previous year. 



The Blackcock appears to be rare here. 

 They tell me they seldom find the eggs. 

 I see that Wheelwright excludes it from his 

 Quickiock list. 



May ^oth. — Clutch of twelve Tufted Duck. 

 Bob has gone off to shoot a Rough-legged 

 Buzzard which Nilas knows of. 



