304 



BIRDS. 



mountains. I had directed Mr. R. Kearton where to go in 1905 to 

 obtain photographs of this bird in the nesting season, and he received 

 this information (for what it may be worth) from local sources. He 

 succeeded in getting the desired photographs, however, at another 

 position in the neighbourhood, and I am indebted to him for copies 

 and the use of his negatives, which he desires me to say were granted 

 on account of the help which from time to time I have been able to 

 give him in his particular pursuits. (See ante, p. 298, and illustrated 

 title-page.) 



I have lately ascertained that these birds are also now known to 

 nest at one locality to the south of Loch Tay, where they did not do 

 so until this year, 1905. A second locality, still further south, 

 remains uncertain, though there is no reason to doubt that it forms 

 at least a resting ground for a few birds on the autumn (August) 

 migration, because both old and young have been seen there in 

 August 1903. 



Similarly, I have seen an immature bird in Mr. Frost's collection 

 at Crieff, which had been shot on one of the moors of the lower 

 glens of the Forfarshire Grampians during the Grouse season of 1903, 

 and which was at the time reckoned a rare occurrence. This was 

 rather a late occurrence, viz. in September of that year. 



Vanellus vulgaris, Bechst. Lapwing. 



Common. Resident. Breeds. 



It was said by Col. Drummond Hay to have failed in numbers 

 considerably by 1878, and at that time to have been much scarcer 

 than it was some thirty or forty years previously. 



I believe this has righted itself again to a considerable extent 

 since they came under the protection of the County Councils under 

 the Bird Protection Acts, though there may still be room for some 

 more improvement in some localities. Since the decrease mentioned 

 above. Col. Drummond Hay relates that he "has seen whole fields 

 of autumn wheat (especially after a crop of beans) so utterly destroyed 

 by slugs, that they had to be resown." 



I sometimes wonder whether, if the Lapwing again becomes 

 scarcer, such scarcity will be caused by similar influences as 

 formerly, or be brought about by an undue increase of p-eserved 

 vermin like clouds of Starlings. I have long noticed that, where formerly 

 Starlings used to attend regularly in the company of their nearer 

 relations the Rooks, now, and for years back, Starlings attend much 



