226 BIRDS. 



largest Curlew we have ever seen. The dimensions of three 

 are here given to show the variation of size in this species : 



Length, Wing, from Carpal to 



exclusive of Bill. end of Longest Feather. Bill. 



$ 14^ ins. ll| ins. 4 ins. 



16| 12| 5| 



I7i 13 6f 



Mr, Laird, a shoemaker in Kirkwall, and who in his spare 

 time collects eggs, told us that, until the year 1889 he had 

 never seen a Curlew on the Orphir hills, but that during this 

 season, while hunting for a nest of the Short-eared Owl, besides 

 a small flock of non-breeding birds, he saw several pairs which, 

 from their actions, he was sure were breeding. 



Order 5. GAVIM. 



Family LAEID-ffi. 

 Sub-family 8TERNIN&. 



In writing about the terns of Orkney the same difficulty exists 

 here as elsewhere, viz., the almost impossibility of distinguishing 

 the Common and Arctic Terns on the wing, or at even a short 

 distance, unless by any one who has made these birds quite a 

 speciality. Not caring to carry a gun over the islands without 

 the sanction of the proprietors, we never procured any speci- 

 mens, and with a glass, even at short range, it is not easy 

 properly to identify them. All those, however, about which 

 we are quite certain had the whole bill coral-red, but the 

 number of colonies, many of which we were unable to visit, is 

 so large, that there might well be plenty of the so-called Common 

 Tern, especially when we remember that both species breed 

 on the Pentland Skerries. 



Speaking of Orkney terns generally, Mr. Morgan, writing 

 in the Field of October 22d, 1881, mentions that the tern is 



