39 



siderable numbers usually rear their young in three 

 or four of the most northern counties of Scotland. 

 When searching for the nests of other species, I 

 have on one or two occasions stumbled by chance 

 over ten or fifteen nests in one day, and this alone 

 will show that the Wigeon remains with us in 

 sufficient numbers to be styled a " resident." 



By the beginning of October immense flocks 

 make their appearance on the north-east coast of 

 Scotland : these are probably from the north of 

 Europe. On their first arrival they are quite 

 unsuspicious of danger, and hundreds fall victims 

 to the numerous punt gunners, as many as forty, 

 fifty, and occasionally sixty, being bagged at one 

 discharge of the big gun. The warm reception 

 they meet with soon drives the greater part of the 

 birds south, and during the depth of the winter but 

 few remain in the north. At this season they may 

 be met with all round the coast, and on any large 

 sheets of inland water that remain open. 



The young, in the downy state, have the same 

 markings as the young of the Wild Duck, but the 

 ground colonr is a much warmer brown. 



The male and female were killed in the 

 Dornoch Firth on the north-east coast of Scotland 

 in April, 1869, and the nest and eggs were taken 

 in Strathmore in Caithness the following month. 



OYSTER CATCHER. 



Case 53. 



The " Sea Pie," as this bird is sometimes 

 called in the south, is only an occasional visitor to 

 Sussex and the adjoining counties, but in the 

 Channel Islands and again in Scotland it may be 

 found at all seasons as a resident. 



The Scotch name of " Mussel Pecker" seems 

 much more appropriate to this bird than that of 



