222 BIRDS. 



As the species is so extremely rare in the north, we having only 

 seen one sent in for preservation to Mr. Macleay in Inverness 

 during many years, we prefer to include it in brackets, until we 

 receive more satisfactory evidence.] 



Numenius phaeopus (L). Whimbrel. 

 Ore. = Little Whaup (Low). 



Low does not mention the Whimbrel in his Tour, though in his 

 Fauna he appears to confound this species with the next. 



Dunn in his Guide says both this and the Curlew are alike 

 in manner and habits, they do not associate together, although 

 he found their nests within shot of each other, and that they 

 are equally numerous. As Dunn wrote his Guide for both 

 Orkney and Shetland, it is probable he has here confounded 

 both the birds and the places, at any rate later observation 

 does not bear out his statement of the abundance of this species 

 in Orkney. 



In 1831, Salmon visited the Orkneys, and, in a paper 

 he wrote for Loudon's Magazine, he says that Whimbrels bred 

 sparingly in marshy places between hills in Hoy, but that on 

 June 3d 1 they were too late for eggs, as they had hatched out ; 

 he supposed the young were concealed amongst the grass, as, 

 though he could not find them, the old birds were very noisy 

 overhead. The Curlew was not seen on any of the islands. 



Messrs. Baikie and Heddle say it is a summer visitant, and 

 nearly as common as the Curlew, but in a later note by one of 

 the authors, he says : " much rarer, I have shot it in September 

 often " this modifies the statement in the book to a very great 

 extent. 



Mr. Moodie-Heddle writes us from Melsetter : 



" Whatever may have been the case when Baikie and Heddle 

 wrote, I should say now that you do not see one of these birds 

 to twenty of the Common Curlew. It is very tame in the 

 breeding season, and betrays the neighbourhood of its nest more 

 than the Curlew, nor is it so bold in driving off other birds." 



1 From all accounts and our own experience, this is about the date when these 

 birds are sitting. 



