208 BIRDS. 



Simmonds, it appears, accompanied Eobert Stevenson, the 

 celebrated engineer, on one of his annual inspections of the 

 northern lighthouses. 



Bullock, writing to Montagu, says that he found this 

 Phalarope common in the marshes of Sanday and Westray in 

 the breeding season. It is mentioned in the New Statistical 

 Account of Orkney as being found in Walls and Flotta, and also 

 as breeding in North Ronaldsay. 



We extract the following from Mr. Salmon's diary, 1831 : 

 "June 12th. On the island of Sanda in going towards 

 Burness, in a small loch we found the Red-necked Phalarope 

 (Phalaropus fuscus). We saw several pairs of these beautiful 

 little birds ; they were perfectly tame. Although we shot two 

 pairs, those that were swimming about did not take the least 

 notice of the report of the gun, and they seemed to be much 

 attached to each other, for immediately one of them flew to a 

 short distance the other directly followed, and a female that I 

 held in my hand that was wounded, its mate came and fluttered 

 before my face. We were much gratified in observing the 

 motions of these elegant little creatures as they kept swimming 

 about, and were for ever dipping their bills into the water, and 

 appeared not to take the least notice of us, although within a 

 a few yards of them. After some little difficulty we were very 

 fortunate in finding their nests, which were placed in small 

 tufts of grass that were growing close to the edge of the loch, 

 and composed of dry grass, about the size of a Tit-lark (Alauda 

 pratensis), but much deeper. The eggs are considerably smaller 

 than those of the Dunlin (Tringa alpina), and beautifully 

 spotted all over with brown. They had only just commenced 

 laying, as we found only from one to two eggs in each nest, 

 but we were informed that their usual number is four. They 

 are called 'Half Web.'" 



R. Dunn found the bird in Sanday, Westray, and again 

 on the Mainland at a loch in Sandwick, but seems to have 

 exterminated them, or at least did his best to do so, at the 

 latter place, as he says : " about a week afterwards we got five 

 birds, being all that we could find." 



We quote the two following extracts from Wolley's Egg 



