Gairloch In North-West Ross-Shire Part 34

PIE, or MAGPIE (_Pica rustica_).--The magpie is now unknown in Gairloch, but Mr O. H. Mackenzie says that in the early part of the century, as old people tell him, numbers of magpies lived in the fir wood which then covered the knoll at the back of Srondubh house.

SWALLOW (_Hirundo rustica_).--Occurs, but is not common. I caught one in the house at Inveran on a summer evening in full plumage, with the brilliant red colour about the head.

MARTIN, or HOUSE-MARTIN (_Chelidon urbica_).--Is not common now, though it used to be. Within a few years I have seen several martins' nests in the windows of Poolewe church. Mr O. H. Mackenzie remembers when they nested in hundreds on the face of the "Black rock," at the east end of the range of Craig Tollie.

SAND-MARTIN (_Cotile riparia_).--Very common. Burrows its nest in almost every gravel or sand pit which has a high bank.

SWIFT (_Cypselus apus_).--Occurs occasionally, but is not numerous. It is not known to breed in Gairloch.

NIGHT-JAR (_Caprimulgus Europaeus_).--Several pairs of the night-jar visit the parish of Gairloch annually to breed. I have many a time heard their singular note or jar, like the hum of a winnowing machine, resounding under the shade of Craig Tollie on a summer evening. Mr Harvie Brown heard and saw night-jars at Gruinard in 1884. This curious bird nests on the ground under heather. I have seen a night-jar in the garden at Inveran.

CUCKOO (_Cuculus canorus_).--The cuckoo arrives in great numbers near the end of April, and until the middle of June the whole country resounds with its calls. I first saw the cuckoo this year (1885) on 23rd April. I do not think it is more abundant in any other part of the kingdom. It lays its egg mostly in the nests of the meadow-pipit. In July the cuckoos take their departure, but I have seen young ones as late as the middle of August. I have noticed three cuckoos at one time in my little garden at Inveran. They seem to be fond of gooseberries.

KINGFISHER (_Alcedo ispida_).--This most brilliant of all native birds is almost unknown in Gairloch. I have never seen it here. Mr O. H.

Mackenzie has seen one on the River Ewe, and one on the River Kerry; both these occurrences were some years ago.

RING DOVE, WOOD-PIGEON, or CUSHAT (_Columba palumbus_).--A few wood-pigeons are here all the year round, and breed in the parish. I have seen their nests in tall trees.

ROCK DOVE (_Columba livia_).--The blue-rock is very abundant, and inhabits caves and fissures in the rocks all along the coast line of Gairloch. It is here seldom found far inland. Mr Harvie Brown, however, says that it is found inland above the head of Little Lochbroom. I have noticed several variations in its plumage, some birds being mottled, and others very pale in colour. It is the parent of, and closely resembles, the common domesticated blue pigeon. It is excellent eating.

TURTLE DOVE (_Turtur communis_).--Very rare. One was shot on the glebe at Gairloch in 1880 by Mr W. B. Mackenzie, a son of the minister of Gairloch, who brought it to me for identification. It was consorting with golden plover in a turnip field. It was a bird of the year.

BLACK GROUSE, or BLACK GAME (_Tetrao tetrix_).--Black game are fairly abundant about Gairloch, but they wander a good deal, and sometimes the sportsman is disappointed in his search for them. They are polygamous, and it is important to keep down the c.o.c.ks, otherwise the black c.o.c.ks may become numerous out of proportion to the grey hens. They say the best proportion is one black c.o.c.k to three grey hens.

RED GROUSE (_Lagopus Scoticus_).--The grouse is abundant on all the moorlands of Gairloch, but its numbers in any season are liable to be greatly affected by wet or cold weather at the time of hatching. Many early broods are lost, and consequently there is no lack of "cheepers"

on the "Twelfth." Disease occasionally appears; it is certainly not due to over-stocking. The grouse is monogamous. The c.o.c.ks generally exceed the hens in number. It is very beneficial to a moor to kill off the unmated c.o.c.ks. The grouse in the Highlands are slightly smaller than those on English and Irish moors.

PTARMIGAN (_Lagopus mutus_).--Common on the mountain tops, where it breeds. It seldom visits lower regions, but one was shot on the North Point some years ago in tempestuous weather, at an elevation of not more than seven hundred feet above the sea-level; and another was shot on Isle Ewe by Mr O. H. Mackenzie, many years ago, on a top not more than a hundred feet above the sea.

PHEASANT (_Phasia.n.u.s colchicus_).--Introduced some years ago at s.h.i.+eldaig, probably about 1860. It is now pretty common, and sometimes wanders away from the coverts where it has been bred.

PARTRIDGE (_Perdix cinerea_).--The partridge is fairly common in Gairloch, but is never very abundant, owing to wet breeding seasons and the number of rooks and domestic cats.

RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE (_Caccabis rufa_).--Introduced some years ago, but now believed to be extinct.

QUAIL (_Coturnix communis_).--Very rare. Mr O. H. Mackenzie shot one in Isle Ewe about 1860. It may be seen at Inverewe.

LAND-RAIL, or CORN-CRAKE (_Crex pratensis_).--Now rather rare. It used to be very abundant in gra.s.s or corn.

WATER-RAIL (_Rallus aquaticus_).--This bird is occasionally found in Gairloch.

MOOR-HEN, or WATER-HEN (_Gallinula chloropus_).--Common. I have frequently seen it feeding with my ducks at the end of the garden at Inveran ab.u.t.ting on the River Ewe.

DOTTEREL (_Eudromias morinellus_).--Very rare. Donald Fraser, an old forester at Fannich, who was a keen and accurate observer of birds, told Mr O. H. Mackenzie that the dotterel formerly bred on Beinn Bheag, near Kenlochewe. It is called in Gaelic Feadag chuirn, or "cairn-plover."

RINGED PLOVER, or RING DOTTEREL (_aegialitis hiaticula_).--Abundant on all the sandy sh.o.r.es on the coast of Gairloch. I have seen it also on the sh.o.r.e of Loch Maree, at Slatadale, in the breeding season. It is called in Gaelic Tarmachan na tainne, or "the ptarmigan of the waves."

GOLDEN PLOVER (_Charadrius pluvialis_).--Abundant, and breeds in considerable numbers on high moors.

LAPWING, PEEWIT, or GREEN PLOVER (_Vanellus vulgaris_).--Not abundant.

Arrives early in February, and nests in the parish.

TURNSTONE (_Strepsilas interpres_).--A common sh.o.r.e bird in Gairloch.

Seen in summer, but not known to build.

OYSTER-CATCHER, or SEA PIE (_Haematopus ostralegus_).--Very common, and breeds abundantly on island rocks in the sea, and sometimes on the mainland close to the sh.o.r.e. I have seen many of their nests.

WOODc.o.c.k (_Scolopax rusticula_).--Abundant. Large flocks arrive in October and November, and a few pairs breed in the country. I have seen the little woodc.o.c.ks running about in June, and have shot full-grown birds in August. I have often observed a woodc.o.c.k carrying a young one in its claws. When standing in the garden at Inveran, late on a summer evening, the woodc.o.c.k, with its young one borne in this manner, has frequently flown within six or eight yards of my head. Mr O. H.

Mackenzie has actually seen the woodc.o.c.k pick up its young one, when nearly full-grown, at his very feet, and fly off with it.

SNIPE (_Gallinago caelestis_).--The "full snipe" is common throughout Gairloch. It breeds in the parish. I have seen nests. Numbers of snipe come in autumn from other countries.

JACK SNIPE (_Gallinago gallinula_).--This bird is an immigrant, and arrives about the end of October. It was formerly more plentiful than it is now-a-days.

DUNLIN (_Tringa alpina_).--This is a very abundant sh.o.r.e bird, and occurs in flocks on all the sandy sea-beaches. It is believed to breed on moors in Gairloch.

PURPLE SANDPIPER (_Tringa striata_).--This also is common. It is seen mostly on rocks and s.h.i.+ngle, at the very edge of the sea.

KNOT (_Tringa canutus_).--Uncommon. Mr O. H. Mackenzie shot one on Loch nan Dailthean one autumn,--a solitary bird. It is to be seen at Inverewe.

SANDERLING (_Calidris arenaria_).--Not common. Mr Henry A. Clowes sent me one he shot at Sand, Gairloch, 11th September 1886.

COMMON SANDPIPER (_Tota.n.u.s hypoleucus_).--This bird is very common in the breeding season, along the sh.o.r.es of all waters. Its shrill piping is almost a nuisance in the month of May. I have often found its nests, and seen its pretty chicks.

REDSHANK (_Tota.n.u.s calidris_).--Fairly common, and as it is seen all the year round it is believed to breed in Gairloch. Mr O. H. Mackenzie says it was formerly very rare or unknown here.

GREENSHANK (_Tota.n.u.s canescens_).--Fairly abundant. It arrives in February, and breeds on moors. I have seen one nest, and heard of others. It sits very close on the nest. It is a sh.o.r.e bird, except in the breeding season.

BAR-TAILED G.o.dWIT (_Limosa lapponica_).--A rare winter visitant. I saw two specimens at Inverasdale in the winter of 1880-81, and a friend with me shot one. Mr O. H. Mackenzie shot a specimen near Inverewe several years before.

CURLEW, or WHAUP (_Numenius arquata_).--Common, and breeds in abundance.

It nests on moorlands, and is found on or near the sea-sh.o.r.e all the rest of the year. Its peculiar whistle is well known, and sounds very weird, especially when heard inland on a summer evening.

WHIMBREL (_Numenius phaeopus_).--This bird, resembling a small curlew, used to be numerous in Gairloch, but, though still noticed, is becoming rarer every year. It is a migrant. Mr O. H. Mackenzie saw four or five whimbrels below the Inverewe garden in the first week of June 1886.

ARCTIC TERN (_Sterna macrura_).--This tern, which closely resembles the common tern, is abundant in Gairloch in summer. It nests on small islands in the sea, or in fresh-water lochs near the sea. The common tern has not been identified in Gairloch.

BLACK-HEADED GULL (_Larus ridibundus_).--This gull is not uncommon in Gairloch, and has several nesting-places on small islands in fresh-water lochs. Some specimens have the black on the head of so dull a colour, and extending so little beyond the forehead, as to closely resemble the gull figured in the books as the masked gull. The black-headed gull entirely loses the black colour on the head during winter. Sometimes the breast of the bird is of a lovely rosy pink colour, which fades after death.

COMMON, or WINTER GULL (_Larus ca.n.u.s_).--The common gull is not nearly so common in Gairloch as the black-headed gull. It has several nesting-places on small islands in fresh-water lochs, and it sometimes lays its eggs on the neighbouring mainland.

HERRING GULL (_Larus argentatus_).--A few pairs of herring gulls nest along with the lesser black-backed gulls on the islands of Loch Maree.

It nests also on Foura, and I think in some other places in the parish of Gairloch. Numbers breed in the s.h.i.+ant Isles, and a good many visit the Gairloch sh.o.r.es during autumn and winter.

LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL (_Larus fuscus_).--This voracious bird breeds in thousands on the islands of Loch Maree, and seems to be increasing in numbers. The nest is beautifully formed of moss. The eggs, which are generally three in number, but sometimes only two, and occasionally as many as four in number, are much sought after by the natives and others as articles of food; but Sir Kenneth Mackenzie, to whom the islands belong, has endeavoured to check the depredations. This bird, though called "lesser," is larger than any of the other gulls, except the herring gull and the great black-backed gull. The young are grey until they reach maturity, which is not until their second winter. Both the species of black-backed gulls destroy many eggs of game birds.

GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL (_Larus marinus_).--This n.o.ble but predacious bird is frequently seen in Gairloch. It does not a.s.sociate with other birds, or even with other pairs of its own species. A few pairs nest on islands on Loch Maree and other fresh-water lochs, and I believe it occasionally nests also on stacks in the sea close to the mainland. It is commonly charged, as is also its lesser congener, with being guilty, like the raven, of killing sheep and lambs, beginning the process of murder by blinding its victims.

GLAUCOUS GULL (_Larus glaucus_).--Mr O. H. Mackenzie has occasionally observed this gull in the parish of Gairloch.