300 A WEST OF SCOTLAND GARDEN. [Sess. LxxuI. 
young. In autumn flocks of full-grown birds. Leave 
generally in October; but have been seen in November. 
The nest is only a slight hollow lined with rootlets and dry 
leaves. Eggs four in number. 
“Tn 1899 a pair raised a family on the grass between the 
road and the sea, about ten yards above high-water mark 
and close to the Achnashie landing-place. In 1900 appar- 
ently the same pair, who clearly had found their 1899 
nesting-place too public, made their nest on the bank above 
the garden near the summer-house and about 180 yards 
from the sea-shore. They raised their brood successfully, 
but had great difficulty in getting the young birds to the 
shore. It took some days to make out the journey. At 
first the parent birds were heard in the evening in great 
excitement among the laurels on the bank near the summer- 
house. They were apparently getting the young birds safe 
for the night. Next evening there was similar excitement 
among the currant bushes in the garden about half-way to 
the sea. The following day they were still heard, but ulti- 
mately they got safe to the shore. 
“In 1902, on the 6th of June, when one of the gardeners 
was working in the garden, about 100 yards from the shore, 
he disturbed a dunlin, which fiew away, leaving an egg. The 
gardener went to report the matter, and when he returned the 
egg was not to be found. A pair of dunlins were seen daily 
about the garden, bank and shore; but till the 12th we 
failed to discover their nest. On the bank we found one 
with four eggs near the foot of a tree within a few yards of 
the place of the nest of 1900. It seemed clear that the 
parent birds had carried the one egg from the rockery to the 
old place up the bank, and about eighty yards further from the 
shore, and that three more eggs had been laid. The young 
birds were fiedged successfully, and the parents conducted 
them by degrees to the shore. There was the same excite- 
ment at first on the bank, and by stages through the garden, 
until ultimately the beach was safely reached. The family 
party were seen in the garden, on the lawn-tennis court, and 
in the field, as well as on the shore. By the end of July the 
young birds seemed nearly grown. In August and September 
the whole party were often seen about the shore; while in 
October fiocks of dunlins were often seen in the Castle Bay 
