BIRDS. 197 



damage to late nests and young birds, and could only have 

 been done out of sheer spite or mischief. The weather at that 

 time was very dry, and the fire would burn the heather, even 

 the very roots, and so a large area of moor would be irretriev- 

 ably ruined for Grouse. 



Tetrao tetrix, L. Black Grouse. 



Mr. Moodie-Heddle sends us a note that a Grey-hen was killed at 

 Holm in 183 - (?), as jotted down by his father. Mr. T. 

 W. Eanken informs us that his father tried to introduce Black 

 Game by means of eggs into Orkney about the year 1859 ; the 

 chicks hatched out, but came to an untimely end. 



Order 3. 



Family RALLIDJE. 

 Rallus aquaticus, L. Water-Rail. 



Since Messrs. Baikie and Heddle wrote, the loch of Aikerness and 

 the Crantit meadows, both on the Mainland, and both given 

 by these authors and others as breeding-places of this bird, 

 have been drained, and we have no authentic evidence that a 

 nest was ever actually taken. Mr. Reid says they are common 

 all the year round, but difficult to see. 



Mr. Watt tells us he shot one some years ago in the burn 

 of Skaill, but that they are rare in the parish. In Sanday Mr. 

 Harvey mentions the Water-Kail as breeding amongst reeds in 

 the ditches and marshes, but here the Water-hen is probably 

 meant. 



Mr. Eanken's father stated that up to the year 1858 he had 

 seen about twenty birds in as many years, and on one occasion 

 he shot one sitting in a tree. 



Mr. Eanken also gives us a curious account of a Water-Rail 

 attacking a wounded Snipe. The Snipe fell, wounded, in a 

 ditch, and the Water-Rail, seeing it fluttering on the ground, 



