NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BANKS OF THE TAY. 65 
Lapwings, or Pewits, are beginning to call and move up the river 
in small parties, there to congregate on some spit farther up, and, as 
the tide gets higher, eventually proceed inland to the turnip fields. The 
Gulls, also, are now moving up from off the banks which are rapidly 
getting covered, and are continually passing us. Among these we 
recognise the Black-headed Gull, as the first to appear, and the most 
numerous; then small troops of the Common Gull—not so common 
as the name would imply. We observe also the Herring and lesser 
Black-backed Gulls, a Kittiwake or two, and a solitary greater Black- 
backed Gull every now and then. The Kittiwakes are more frequent 
in the river later on in the season. Presently a dark brown looking 
bird with a longish tail comes, like a hawk, on the scene. This is the 
Arctic or Richardson Skua, on the look-out for plunder from some of 
the over-fed Gulls leaving the banks. Though the Skuas are not 
often seen, yet the present one is not unfrequent at this season on the 
higher parts of the estuary about Newburgh. Most of the Gulls, 
Skuas excepted, are continually to be seen between the bridges at 
Perth at all seasons, where their graceful motions of flight, as they 
pick up and scramble for any floating matter on the water’s surface, 
may be there specially well studied. Those seen in the summer 
months are usually young birds or those not breeding. 
Six weeks or so later, or about the third week of October—close on 
the time we were first up the water and saw the Dipper—we again pro¬ 
ceed down the estuary, visiting both sides, and notice many species we 
had not previously observed, as by this time most of the autumnal 
birds have arrived. As we get down to Elcho and Balhebron marshes 
we find the Jack-Snipe now plentiful in the softer parts, having come 
in from the north during the last week of September, or beginning of 
October. We have not gone far into the marsh before, through the crisp 
recently cut salt grass (Glyceria aquatica), something rapidly runs 
with rat-like motion; this our dog at last, with difficulty, flushes, and 
we find it is the Little Spotted Craik, usually believed to be exceed¬ 
ingly rare. This belief, however, arises most probably from its ex¬ 
treme shyness, and the difficulty with which it is started out of the 
dense thickets of water plants which it frequents, so that it may be 
passed over and over again without being specially noticed. Another 
bird of the same family that we meet with, and which is pretty fre¬ 
quent at this season, is the Water-Rail. By going cautiously, this 
may be seen feeding in bare places just outside the line of reeds, into 
which, on the slightest alarm, it immediately goes into hiding. It is 
nearly as difficult to get on the wing as the other, and it is as yet an 
unascertained fact whether these birds may not be both of them resi¬ 
dents. As we progress we meet with the Teal and the Wild Duck, 
the former in twos and threes in some of the water courses, but 
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