62 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



one which was too exhausted to fly ; the Redwings also were 

 first noticed on that day. The wind had been blowing a gale 

 from the north-west for the two previous days, and had shifted 

 that morning to the south-west. 



Redshank (Totanus calidris). — I have never before, except in 

 the breeding season, seen Redshanks so tame as they were here. 

 My previous experience of the Redshank as a shore bird had 

 been that he was one of the wariest, not only keeping well out of 

 harm's way himself, but letting every other bird know when there 

 was any danger near. True, here they did fly off shrieking, and 

 making a great noise if you came on them suddenly round a 

 corner or over a rock ; but if you approached quietly, or sat down 

 and kept still, they took hardly any more notice of you than the 

 Ring Plover. They went about almost entirely in single pairs, 

 and kept pretty much to themselves. 



Curlew (Numenius arquata). — I suppose it is partly its 

 innate wariness, and partly the fact that it is the only shore bird, 

 besides the Golden Plover, that anyone up here thinks of shoot- 

 ing, that causes the Curlew to be just as wild as anywhere 

 else. I never saw more than about fifteen together, and they 

 were always well out on the edge of the tide, with a sentinel 

 posted on the highest piece of rock. Once or twice a small flock 

 was seen on the meadow-land, but always well out of shot of the 

 nearest stone wall or other cover. It is only by lying up in their 

 line of flight and trusting to luck that a shot can be got at all. 



Gulls (Larince). — The great feature of the bird-life of this part 

 of the British Isles is of course found in the Gulls ; they are present 

 everywhere, along the shore, by the loch-side, in the " parks," on 

 the stubbles, on the dust-heaps, the house-roofs, and even on the 

 chimney-pots ; in fact, except perhaps in the middle of the moor, 

 you cannot get away from them. The flocks were always mixed, 

 consisting for the most part of Common and Herring Gulls, with 

 a fair sprinkling of Kittiwakes and Black-headed Gulls, and 

 either one or two pairs of Lesser Black-backs. Of the latter I 

 never saw more than two or three pairs along the shore, and of 

 Great Black-backs, I do not think there is more than one pair in 

 this particular part of the coast. The Gulls were always abso- 

 lutely fearless, and you could walk up to within a few yards of 

 them before they rose. Two, an immature Lesser Black-back 



