14 Mr. J. MacGillivi-ay's Notes on the 



Boschus, Mallard, is not uncommon ; and the Seal, Querque- 

 dula Crecca, has been known to breed in South Uist, but I 

 never observed it there. The Eider Duck, Somateria mollis- 

 sima, breeds in small numbers on some of the less frequented 

 islets of the sound of Harris, as Skerry-vore, Shellay, and 

 those between Killigray and Ob. The island of Haskir is the 

 chief breeding-place of this bird, the numbers there found 

 being represented as truly astonishing. Harelda glacialis, the 

 Long-tailed Duck, was observed in pairs in the sound of Har- 

 ris so late as the i)eginning of May, but none remained du- 

 ring the summer. 



The Goosander, Mergus Castor, is pretty common, breed- 

 ing by the larger lakes and occasionally by the sea, as near 

 Loch Maddy in North Uist. M. Serrator, the Red-breasted 

 Merganser, I have seldom observed inland, like the preceding ; 

 a few remain during the summer, and 1 took the nest with 

 eggs on a small island between Killigray and Ob, in the sound 

 of Harris. The Cormorant, Phalacrocorax cai'bo, is rather 

 plentiful, breeding along with the next in St. Kilda, Shellay, 

 and Towhead. P. cristatus, the Shag, is much more plentiful 

 than the last, and may be found in most of the maritime 

 caves, where it is so tame that I have several times seen them 

 killed with stones thrown from above. Among many which 

 I shot at Northtown, beside a cave which in days of old 

 sheltered for a time one of the fugitives from CuUoden, Mr. 

 M'Leod of Berneray has one of a light brown colour : this 

 being in the month of June, it could not be one of the young 

 birds of the year, which are well known to have their first 

 plumage of that colour. The Gannet, Sula Bassana, may be 

 seen coasting along the headlands and entering the bays with 

 the first dawn of morning, and retiring in the evening in long 

 strings towards St. Kilda, where alone it breeds. When gorged 

 with fish it is sometimes scarcely able to raise itself from the 

 water, and I have seen it taken by the hand when asleep in 

 this state. The Common Tern, Steima Hirundo, was first ob- 

 served on the 14th of May, and found breeding a few days 

 after in company with the Arctic Tern, St. arctica, which is 

 much more plentiful. On several of the smaller and less fre- 

 quented islands on which I landed, many hundreds of their 

 eggs were taken in a few minutes, and in some places one 

 could hardly move without treading upon them ; a loose cloud 

 of terns of both species hovering about uttering incessant 

 cries, and darting down to within a few feet of the invaders of 

 their peaceful territory. The Laughing Gull, Xema ridibundum, 

 is abundant in the marshes of the two Uists and Benbecula, 

 also near Rhodil and in Berneray, breeding in all these situ- 



