APPENDIX. 299 



a ship's carpenter, in the parish of Sandwick, on the Mainland, 

 about the end of October 1889. Mr. Mackay further writes 

 that he himself saw two Boilers in the hills of Westray, above 

 Pierowal, on the 10th of November 1890. 



Caprimulgus europaeus, L. Nightjar. 



Mr. Banken sends us word that a Nightjar flew into a farm-house 

 at Carrick, island of Eday, on May 24th, 1890, and survived its 

 capture for a day or two. 



Asio accipitrinus (Pall). Short-eared Owl. 

 Circus cyaneus (L.). Hen Harrier, 



Falco assalon, Tunsiall Merlin. 



Mr. Monteith-Ogilvie sends us notes from his diary of a day's 

 birds'-nesting on one of the Orkney hills, and as the three 

 above-named birds are now getting much rarer, on the mainland 

 of Scotland particularly, we think it advisable to place the 

 following facts on record : 



June 4:th, 1890. "Just then Gunn called from below that 



he had found a Harrier's nest, and . I went up to him and 



saw a Hen Harrier's nest with two eggs, built on a few loose 

 rushes, and singularly easy to see. . . . 



" Continuing our journey round the hill I flushed a cock 

 Grouse, and a little farther on found a Merlin's nest with one 

 egg. Quite close to this I flushed another Merlin from its nest, 

 with four eggs (fresh), all of which we took. 



"Having lunched, we continued our journey and next 

 found a second Harrier's nest with three eggs. We had great 

 trouble with this, and had to watch the birds, both of which we 

 saw for an hour before we could make certain of the nest. 



"Saw three Short-eared Owls round here; their castings 

 about everywhere, but could not find their nest. T^hey were 

 certainly breeding, but very difficult to find." 



