80 OUR RARER BRITISH BREEDING BIRDS, 



a North Uist bog, where the bird still lingered, 

 impudently blazing away with a double-barrelled gun, 

 and not a single Phalarope has ever been seen there 

 since. The same fate has, I fear, pursued the 

 representatives of the species in another of the 

 Western Isles, where a despicable individual took 

 advantage of the poor bird's absurd tameness, and 

 tried his best to extirpate it with a catapult. 

 It is really a wonder to me that there are any 

 birds living at all in some parts of the Hebrides, 

 for every man's hand appears to be turned against 

 them, and all eggs of any size worth consideration 

 have been for a long time gathered for human 

 consumption. I saw children of incredibly tender 

 years drive their bare heels into a marsh and, 

 when the water had welled sufficiently, drop eggs 

 in to test their freshness; and was told on the 

 very best authority of a shepherd, who never 

 troubled even to do this, but ate raw any chick 

 he found in an egg. The Eed-Necked Phalarope's 

 eggs were at one time regarded as a negligible 

 quantity on account of their smallness ; but, alas ! 

 the bagman is very much abroad in Scotland, and 

 when he can extract a profit from the turnover 

 of .things of such small commercial value as Star- 

 lings' eggs, those of the species under consideration 

 have but a poor chance of ever producing chicks. 



Directly I approached the place where I found 

 the bird breeding, I was besieged by a number of 

 boys and girls who asked me whether I wanted 

 to buy Phalaropes' eggs. One of the latter told 

 me rather boastfully that she had once sold a 

 clutch for one shilling and tenpence, and the odd 

 twopence off the round sum plainly indicated to 

 me the business acumen of the pedlar, During 

 my stay I saw members of both sexes and all 



