854 Scraps relating to Natural History, By C. M. Adamson. 



on the Heugh, and others were seen flying along the road as we 

 were leaving the Island to come home. Now, from the numbers 

 there were that year, any one would naturally expect the insect 

 would firmly establish itself, and that in future years it would 

 be met with ; but such has evidently not been the case, as I have 

 not seen or heard of one since. What is the cause ? Perhaps 

 some persons might say we caught them all. Such a notion is 

 absurd, as it was no easy matter to catch them, for they fly very 

 fast when going with the wiad, as they seem always to do, and 

 running amongst the sand hills is pretty hard work. Sometimes 

 one had to be chased a great distance before being run down, and 

 many that were run after escaped easily. One singular circum- 

 stance with respect to the genus " Oolias" is that a species closely 

 allied to Edusa, inhabits Lapland and another Greenland, showing 

 that temperature does not affect them ; and, if this is so, why is 

 Edusa so erratic in its habits ? How can these irregularities of 

 occurrence be accounted for ? Probably one insect-eating bird, 

 or a mouse, would destroy at a meal more than an entomologist 

 would in a season. 



Before noticing anything about individual species of Birds, I 

 will say something of Holy Island, and the Slakes about it, which 

 are undoubtedly great resting places at the different seasons for 

 many species passing on migration, as well as feeding places for 

 some species during winter. Sometimes for days you may wander 

 over the Slakes without getting a shot at any bird worth shooting 

 at either for food or from which to get instruction, the greater 

 portion of the ground on which the birds congregate being so 

 flat and without a vestige of shelter, they cannot be approached. 

 Following them under these circtimstances tries any one but a 

 naturalist, and often tries even his patience. It is no place gene- 

 rally for ordinary sportsmen whose only wish is to get many shots 

 and fiU a large bag ; but, at the same time, I may add it takes 

 about as much skiQ and patience to stalk a Curlew as it probably 

 often does to kill a stag. The persons who can take delight in 

 such a place are those, and they only who know what birds to 

 look for, and who can understand the tactics requisite to get near 

 what they are looking for when they come across them. 



The naturalist looking for rare birds generally likes to be alone, 

 or with one friend on whom he can rely, so as to be able to drive 

 birds if necessary, and who understands as well as himself 9,bout 



