308 BIRDS OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND. 



or, more correctly speaking, it leads it eastward from its line of 

 flight. One or two occasionally cross and penetrate as far as the 

 Clyde, but these are mere stragglers. The last one I examined 

 a plain and unobtrusive female shot near Bowling in October, 

 1869 was brought to Glasgow, as a great curiosity, by 

 a keeper who had long been accustomed to shore shooting in the 

 estuary, but had never seen one before. Eastwards it occurs 

 more frequently, and in greater numbers in Aberdeenshire than 

 elsewhere. Mr Harvie Brown has seen and shot various specimens 

 on the Forth at Grangemouth. Writing in September, he informs 

 me that he had shot two specimens there in a forenoon. The 

 occurrence of this remarkable bird in Aberdeenshire so frequently 

 in autumn, after the breeding season is over, is a circumstance 

 which need excite but little surprise when it is borne in mind 

 that large numbers breed in Scandinavia, and that the flocks 

 there congregating for the autumnal journey would naturally touch 

 first of all on the outlying shoulder of that county as the nearest 

 land on their way southwards. On the other hand, in returning, 

 the flocks appear on both the eastern and western shores of 

 England;* though, as we have seen, they shorten their route by 

 following the course of the rivers running into the Solway, and 

 speeding eastwards into Berwick and East Lothian, whence they 

 advance by easy stages to the estuaries of Aberdeenshire, their 

 last halting place before crossing the North Sea. 



Nothing new appears to have been written on the breeding 

 habits of the Ruff by British authors since the time of Montagu, 

 and, indeed, that accurate and painstaking naturalist has left but 

 little for others to say on the subject. 



THE WOODCOCK. 



SCOLOPAX RUSTICOLA. 

 Coilleach-coille. Crom-nan-duilleag. 



IN the winter time, the Woodcock may be said to be plentiful in 

 North and South Uist, and in Benbecula, as well as other parts of 

 the Long island, but it does not, so far as I can learn, remain in 

 these districts to breed. It has, however, been ascertained beyond 



* I have seen considerable numbers in full-breeding plumage killed on the 

 banks of the Kibble, in Lancashire, in the first week of May. 



