BlKD NoTKS FliOM KsKDALK. 71 



recorded as having- been shot in Scotland, I will take the liberty 

 of alluding- to it. I shot it on the 14th August, 1857, a little to 

 the west of the villag-e of Heriot, among' the Muirfoot Hills, 

 in Midlothian. I sent this specimen also to Ur Smith, who 

 exhibited it at a meeting of the Roj'al Physical Society the 

 same year. In the course of Dr Smith's remarks at the meeting 

 he said : — " As I could find no notice of the wood sandpiper 

 having previously been observed in Scotland, I sent the specimen 

 to Sir William Jardine, and from the answer he was kind enough 

 to send me, 1 quote the following passage : — ' There is no doubt 

 of the bird being the toianus glareola, Temm., as you suppose. 

 But it is an interesting specimen, as I am not aware of any other 

 being recorded as killed in Scotland, although it has been got ir. 

 Northumberland and the borders. Your bird, I think, is in its 

 first year's plumag-e, indicated by the brown markings, and the 

 thickening of the tarsal joints. The season in which it was 

 obtained also is just that of their leaving the breeding places.' " 



WATER HENS. 



The parish is devoid of suitable places for these birds 

 breeding in any number, there being an absence of ponds, and 

 the river is a rapid one, without a single back-water with 

 protecting reeds. One may pass up and down the banks for a 

 month without ever seeing one. Still, a few pairs have of late 

 years taken up their abode permanently on tlie river and breed ; 

 though their numbers do not visibly increase. The only places 

 where they can find shelter at all for their nests are at one or 

 two spots where willow bushes hang over the water. Some 

 years ago a water hen entered the cottage of one of my 

 shepherds in the autumn, and took up its abode there all winter. 

 It fi.xed upon a certain corner of the kitchen, and though it went 

 and came during the day, it always returned to its favourite 

 roosting place for the night. It was perfectly tame, and mixed 

 with the household and dogs in the common sitting-room. It 

 was fed chiefly on bread and potatoes — rather a strange diet for 

 an aquatic bird, though, I daresay, it procured a sufficient supply 

 of its natural food from the river, close to the side of which the 

 cottage stood. 



Since I began farming 37 years ago I, as well as others 

 carrying on the same calling, have suffered in our " flocks and 



