38 CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 



be found near at hand ; but this species, if not out at 

 sea, may usually be observed with their brood on the 

 open sands. 



The young birds, though seen in such a seemingly 

 unprotected state, are by no means easily procured. 



On the first signs of danger they scatter in all direc- 

 tions, and each one taking a line for itself, it is seldom 

 that more than one falls a victim to the pursuer. If 

 surprised among the sandbanks and bent grass, their 

 colour so resembles the surrounding objects that 

 they may almost be trodden upon without being- 

 perceived. 



The male and female in the case were obtained just 

 before the breeding season, being shot early in the 

 spring of 1867, in Gullane Bay, in the Firth of 

 Forth. The old birds belonging to the brood were 

 killed, but the soiled condition of their feathers would 

 only have given a very poor idea of what handsome 

 birds they had been a few weeks earlier. The young- 

 were taken in the Dornoch Firth, in June, 1868. 



SHORT EARED OWL. 



Case 47. 



These birds are permanent residents in many parts of 

 the island, but numbers of fresh arrivals make their 

 appearance in the autumn, usually showing themselves 

 about the same time as the first flights of Woodcocks 

 in the eastern counties ; and this fact, together with 

 their somewhat similar flight, has led to their being 

 called in some districts the " Woodcock Owl." 



This species appears capable of taking its prey by 

 day as well as night. I have often noticed several of 



