320 



BIRDS. 



species of Sandpiper obtained near Portobello " (Forth). Surely this 

 must have been the result of a want of careful observation. As long 

 ago as 1858, or say 1860, they were far from uncommon along the 

 shores at North Berwick, and between that and Tantallon Castle ; 

 and I can well remember shooting several, and seeing many more 

 thereabout, as early as I carried a gun, before I left school at Mer- 

 chiston (vide Neil, in "Monthly Memoranda" in Scots Magazine^ 

 vol. Ixxiv. p. 85, 12th February 1812). 



I must say I do not remember having seen any about the 

 shores of Eden or Tents Muir at much later dates, but I do remember 

 seeing a few close under the town on the under-cliff below Gillespie 

 Terrace, St. Andrews. 



Millais has it : " Occasional visitor to the south side of the Tay 

 estuary, but common along the northern shore in winter fromMonifieth 

 to Arbroath, where there are more rocks." This, I think, describes its 

 most representative value upon the coast north of the estuary of Tay. 



Mr. W. Berwick does not seem to consider it at all common upon 

 the coasts of Fife. 



Tringa canutus, L. Knot. 



Abundant autumn and winter visitant. 



Said to have greatly diminished in numbers of late years ; 

 formerly abundant on all the mud-banks of the tidal Tay (Col. 

 Drummond Hay). 



Indeed, there appears to have been an almost universal falling 

 off in the size of the flocks of many tidal Waders frequenting the 

 estuaries of Tay and Eden within Col. Drummond Hay's recol- 

 lection — i.e. up to the times of his writings, say till 1880. 



Machetes pugnax (L.). Ruff and Reeve. 

 Rare autumn visitant. 



A fine adult male, but without the "ruff," being in autumn 

 plumage, was shot on the bank of the Tay, opposite Mugdrum Island, 

 by Roger Davidson, Esq., Kinfauns House, in October 1887. It 

 is now in the Perth Museum. 



Another is recorded from Montrose (Director's Report on the 

 Museum, Nat. Hist. Soc, Montrose, 1886-89); and one was got on 

 the shore of Tents Muir on 27th August 1895. {Annals Scot. Nat. 

 Eist., 1895, p. 219.) 



I am surprised at the scarcity of records as given for Tay. On 

 the Forth estuary I have found them abundant, and have shot as 

 many as five or more out of small flocks of a dozen or so. 



