152 BRITISH BIRDS. 



2*05 to 1*82 inch, and in breadfh from 1*4 to 1-3 inch; they are not 

 easily confused with those of any other British species. Only one brood 

 is reared in the year. My son wrote the following notes on this bird 

 during a visit to Skye in 3884: — 



" The only colony of Greenshanks in Skye is in the south-west of the 

 island, at the foot of the Cullin Hills, where about three or four pairs of 

 birds breed every year. Last spring I explored the whole of the southern 

 part of the island in search of this bird, and succeeded in finding the 

 breeding-grounds of two pairs. I also heard of a third pair, the eggs of 

 which had been taken by a shepherd a fortnight before I arrived. The 

 first day I saw this bird was on the 11th of June, a regular Skye day ! 

 When I awoke in the morning, about six o^ clock, and looked out of my 

 window towards Scnir-na-gillean, which was just opposite, it was quite 

 fine, and I got into bed again for another hour's sleep, thinking over my 

 chances of finding the eagerly wished-for nest and eggs of the Green- 

 shank; but at seven o'clock, when I got up to dress, I could see the 

 mist coming down each valley in the same way that the Engadine ' fish ' 

 creeps down the valleys of St. Moritz and Pontresina, and my heart sank 

 within me. By half-past seven the mountains were completely hidden 

 from ^dew, and the rain was blowing down the valley from the west in 

 torrents. I had my breakfast and set out for the keeper's house, deter- 

 mined not to be done out of my day's bird-nesting by the variabilities of 

 the Skye climate ; and having talked over the various possibilities of it 

 clearing up before noon, we determined to start at once on our expedition. 

 We were a party of three. After we had walked for about two miles 

 through the thick piercing sleet, the wind suddenly dropped, the mist 

 disappeared to the place from whence it originally came, the rain stopped 

 altogether, Scuir-na-gillean was once more ^dsible, the sun sent out its 

 welcome rays, and in half an hour it was as fine a day as any ardent 

 ornithologist could wish for. So much for the Skye climate ; now for the 

 Greenshanks ! By ten o'clock we had reached the place where the keeper 

 suspected they bred, although he had never succeeded in finding their 

 nest. It was near a small loch, situated at the foot of Scuir-na-gillean, 

 surrounded on all sides by heather and a few reeds. At one end there was 

 a collection of small pools of water. We stood for some time on the 

 look-out for the bird or its note, but could not see or hear anything of 

 either, and I began to think that the bird did not breed there at all. 

 After walking about the loch in vain search for about a quarter of an 

 hour I fired off my Avalking-stick gun, to see if I could scare the birds, and 

 immediately two, which I recognized at once as Greenshanks, got up from 

 the far end of the loch and began flying around us in the most disturbed 

 manner, uttering their long shrill note, between the cry of the Redshank 

 and a broken-winded Whimbrel. Both birds seemed extremely concerned. 



