The Birds of Pressmenan Lake. By A. Hepburn, Esq. 505 



was a daily summer visitor ; tlie Sand Martin was rather common 

 but local ; the Swallow was common ; the House Martin decreas- 

 ing in numbers almost every year. The Night Jar, or Goat- 

 sucker, very rare. The Eing Dove or Cushat too abundant. 

 The Pheasant common. The Partridge very common. The 

 Golden Plover, small flocks in winter and spring occasionally. 

 The Lapwing, or Pewit, common, and resident from February to 

 November. The Heron a daily visitor to the streams ; sometimes 

 seen by the lake. The Curlew seldom alights in the fields. The 

 Common Sandpiper, a common summer resident by the streams 

 and occasionally seen by the lake. The Common and Jack Snipe, 

 winter visitors in hard weather, not common. The Woodcock 

 not very rare in Pressmenan Wood at times during winter and 

 spring. Corn Crake, not uncommon in the fields in summer and 

 early autumn. Gallinule not uncommon in lake and streams. 

 The Bean and the Pinkfooted Goose, almost daily visitors to a 

 few fields eastward of the lake during spring. The Mallard sel- 

 dom seen by lake or streams, oftener seen and heard on the 

 wing passing to and from the sea by day and in autumn even- 

 ings. The Common Pochard and Golden Eye are occasionally 

 seen on the lake in winter and early spring. The Little Grebe 

 rarely seen on the lake. The Common and the Herring Gull, 

 the latter in immature plumage, and the Blackheaded Gull oc- 

 casionally frequent the fields except during the height of summer. 

 A-fter this rough enumeration it may not be out of place to add 

 a few remarks on some of the Birds. I once found the nest of a 

 partridge containing some pheasant's eggs along with her own. 

 On mentioning the incident to an intelligent gamekeeper, he told 

 me that he had frequently met with the like, both in England and 

 Scotland, and that the partridge made the best foster mother. 

 Game preserving was the apology offered for the virulence with 

 which the hawks, owls, crows, and magpies, were persecuted ; 

 and extermination was the object aimed at by gamekeepers who 

 tried to do their duty to their employers. The balance of nature 

 was destroyed, and the wood pigeon was rapidly becoming an 

 intolerable nuisance by the extent of its damage to crops of grain, 

 turnips, and clover. I have seen in districts where flesh and 

 egg-eating birds were not persecuted and where game-preserving 

 was not encouraged, that the egg-eating birds kept the wood 

 pigeon within very moderate bounds. I have seen the carrion 

 crow watching the domestic ducks when laying and dropping 



