10 Mr. J. MacGillivray's Notes on the 



young birds. One of the old birds \vas also shot by my father 

 from a covered pit in which he lay concealed, the bird being 

 enticed by a hen fastened by a string at a little distance. 



Faico peregrmus, the Peregrine Falcon, breeds in St. Kilda, 

 and I believe in vai'ious other localities, and Avas occasionally 

 observed in several of the islands. In the end of July, while 

 crossing the moors of North Uist on horseback along with 

 three companions, a male Peregrine flew past us with a Lestris 

 Ric/iardsonii in its talons, and another, probably the mate of 

 the murdered bird, in hot pursuit, uttering incessant cries. A 

 splendid specimen of the Jer Falcon, F. islandicus, was shot 

 in North Uist a few years ago by my friend D. Arbuckle, 

 Esq., and another was seen in the adjacent island of Pabbay 

 by Mr. Nicholson (Berneray), but was not procured. F. Tin- 

 nunculus, Kestril, occurred not unfrequently ; F. jFlsalon, the 

 Merlin, once or twice ; and the Hen Harrier, Circus cyaneus, 

 was rather abundant, especially among the bogs of the two 

 Uists, where it breeds. 



Hirundo rustica is the only species of Swallow that I met 

 with in the Hebrides, where it did not arrive till the end of 

 June. About a dozen were observed at the landing-place of 

 Pabbay on the morning of my departure for St. Kilda ; and a 

 single individual had been caught alive in the school-house of 

 Berneray and brought to me a few days before. That rare 

 bird the Hoopoe, Upupa Fpjops, extends its occasional visits 

 to the Hebrides ; for I was informed by my friend Dr. M'Leod 

 of a bird previously unknown in that part of the country, 

 which, from description, w as immediately recognised as the 

 species now mentioned. An individual was found in an ex- 

 hausted state lying by the road- side near Balelone in North 

 Uist, after a long-continued easterly gale, and died shortly 

 afterwards. 



The Wren, Troglodytes europeeus, is pretty common ; the 

 Robin, Frythacus Rubecula, and Hedge Chanter, Accentor 

 modularis, occurred only in the glen of Rhodil, where alone, 

 in all the Outer Hebrides, is there wood in any quantity. 

 Of Saxicola Rubetra, Whinchat, a solitary pair was observed 

 at Ob in Harris, where the nest was found ; S. (Enanthe, the 

 Wheatear, arrived in the beginning of May (in Skye about the 

 end of April), and soon became very abundant throughout the 

 range. I have sometimes found as many as three or four 

 nests in the walls of a single hut. A nest of the Redwing, 

 Turdus iliacus, was found by Mr. Bullock many years ago in 

 the glen of Rhodil ; but although I visited the spot repeatedly, 

 I failed in again meeting with the bird. The Song Thrush, 

 T. musicus, is plentiful everywhere, and identical with speci- 



