NOTES ON CAITHNESS BIRD LIFE E.S.Mackay’s contributions to the John O’Groat Journal, 1913-1918, on the birds of Caithness Eric Sinclair Mackay Compiled and edited by Robert H. Walker and Robin M. Sellers January 2021 CONTENTS Preface Acknowledgements Recommended citation CHAPTER 1 - Introduction CHAPTER 2 ‒ Notes on Caithness Bird Life - First Series (The first column shows the contribution number (§) assigned by the compilers; the second the Roman numeral that Mackay gave to his articles. First series, parts VII and VIII, do not occur in the articles as submitted and, despite extensive searches, no equivalent contributions have been found in the John O’Groat Journal between June 1914 and May 1915. Given the long gap between the publication of contributions §10 and §11, it looks as Mackay had simply forgotten which number he had reached. It will be recalled that he had not retained copies of the articles as submitted, so was presumably reliant on his far from perfect memory.) §1 I Fulmars and Shearwaters June 6th, 1913 §2 II The case of the Mid-Clyth Fulmars June 27th, 1913 §3 III Ringed Plover February 20th, 1914 §4 III cont February 27th, 1914 §5 IV The Common Heron (Ardea Cinerea) March 20th, 1914 §6 IV cont .. .. .. March 27th, 1914 §7 Golden Crested Wren (Regulus Cristatus) – April17th, 1914 Fire Crested Wren (Regulus Ignicapillus) §8 IV The Hirundines May 22nd, 1914 §9 V The Hirundines (continued) May 29th, 1914 §10 VI The Hirundines (concluded) June 26th, 1914 §11 IX Gannet or “Solan Goose” (Sula Bassana) May 7th, 1915 §12 [Little Gull] March 31st, 1916 §13 West of Scotland departures April 7th, 1916 §14 XII Departure of our summer immigrants October 13th, 1916 §15 XIII Nesting features of Mergansers and divers October 20th, 1916 §16 XIV [Ring Ousel etc] October 27th, 1916 §17 XV [Little Stint etc] November 3rd, 1916 §18 XVI [Curlew Sandpiper etc] November 10th, 1916 §19 XVII [Bar-tailed Godwit etc] November 17th, 1916 §20 XVIII [Oystercatcher etc] November 24th, 1916 §21 XIX Dotterel, Spotted Sandpiper, Wood December 1st, 1916 Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper §22 XX Waxwing, Mealy Redpoll December 8th, 1916 CHAPTER 3 ‒ Notes on Caithness Bird Life - Second Series §23 I The Golden Eagle (Aquila Chrysaetos) October 5th, 1917 §24 II The White-Tailed Eagle (Haliaetus Albicilla) October 12th, 1917 §25 III The White-Tailed Eagle (Continued) October 19th, 1917 §26 IV Owls October 26th, 1917 §27 V Owls (Continued) November 2nd, 1917 §28 VI Falcons, Hawks, and Harriers November 9th, 1917 §29 VII Auks November 16th, 1917 §30 VIII Great Auk (Continued) November 23rd, 1917 §31 IX Auks (Continued) November 30th, 1917 §32 X Guillemots and Puffins January 11th, 1918 §33 XI Guillemots and Puffins (Continued) January 18th, 1918 §34 XII Guillemots and Puffins (Continued) February 1st, 1918 §35 XIII Indigenous Gulls and Terns February 8th, 1918 §36 XIV Indigenous Gulls and Terns (Continued) February 15th, 1918 §37 XV Migratory Gulls February 22nd, 1918 §38 XVI Geese and Swans March 1st, 1918 §39 XVII Geese and Swans (Continued) March 15th, 1918 §40 XVIII Mergansers March 22nd, 1918 §41 XIX Ducks and Scoters March 29th, 1918 §42 XIX cont Ruddy Sheld Duck (“Tadorna Rutila”) April 5th, 1918 §43 XX General Remarks April 12th, 1918 §44 XXI Numerical Summary of the Appearance of April 19th, 1918 Birds §45 XXII Caithness Birds once Rare, now Common April 26th, 1918 CHAPTER 4 ‒ Other publications by E.S.Mackay §46 Caithness Wild Bird Life - Interesting December 22nd, 1916 addition to the “Caithness Ornithological Register” §47 The Great Auk’s Egg - Interesting addition December 7th, 1917 to the Wick Library Museum §48 Letter accompanying the Second Series 1917 CHAPTER 5 ‒ Obituaries §49 The late Mr Eric S. Mackay, Glasgow February 8th, 1918 §50 “Abrach” [By “Cairnduna”] February 15th, 1918 §51 The late Eric S. Mackay (An appreciation February 15th, 1918 by one who knew him) APPENDICES Appendix 1. The Pulteney Collection Appendix 2. List of bird species mentined in Mackay’s articles in the John O’Groat Journal REFERENCES Preface The past two decades have seen the discovery of a large number of long forgotten publications on Caithness ornithology, principally by four amateur Victorian naturalists, Robert Shearer, Henry Osborne, William Reid and Eric Mackay. In an attempt to make this material better known, and more widely available, some transcripts of their various publications have been prepared. Those by Robert Shearer have already appeared in print (see Clark & Sellers 2005), and this document deals with those by Eric Mackay. Mackay had always hoped that the principal articles transcribed here (his ‘Notes on Caithness Bird Life’ series) would be published bound together. In fact his son, Donald, had the manuscripts of the articles as-submitted bound together and inter-leaved with various colour prints of birds; this document now resides in Thurso Library. From this a transcript was prepared by RHW. This new version is an update of the original transcript incorporating some new material, full bibliographic details about the articles, a list of the material in Mackay’s collection of bird taxidermy, and in a completely revised format reflecting more closely how the articles looked when they appeared in the John O’Groat Journal. We hope Eric Mackay would have approved. Rober H. Walker * and Robin M. Sellers § * 24 Thorfin Terrace, Thurso, Caithness KW14 7LL e-mail: [email protected] § Crag House, Ellerslie Park, Gosforth, Cumbria CA20 1BL e-mail: [email protected] Acknowledgements Staff at the Thurso Public Library and the Carnegie Library, Wick are thanked for allowing access to E.S.Mackay’s handwritten drafts of the articles which form the basis of the present document, and for their help in locating and copying the articles as they appeared in the John O’Groat Journal. Thanks go also to Dr Thomas Sellers for carrying out the on-line searches for biographical information about E.S.Mackay. Recommened citation R.H.Walker and R.M.Sellers, (2021), Notes on Caithness Bird Life – E.S.Mackay’s contributions to the John O’Groat Journal, 1913-1918, on the birds of Caithness. (www.highlifehighland.com/nucleus-nuclear-caithness-archives) Notes on Caithness Bird Life 7 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION n June 1913 there appeared in the columns of premises in both Wick and Shetland. All went I the John O’Groat Journal a piece entitled ‘Notes well for a decade or more, but the mid-1880’s on Caithness Bird Life’. It was the first of some were disastrous for the herring fishery in the 45 articles that were to appear intermittently in north of Scotland, and he, along with many other the paper over the next five years. The by-line fishcurers, went out of business. Nothing daunted gave the author’s name as ‘Abrach’, the pen-name he moved with his family to Aberdeen where he of Eric Sinclair Mackay. Rather little information returned to his original trade as a barrel and box about birds in Caithness survives from this period manufacturer, the business transferring shortly (Mackay wrote primarily, though not exclusively, afterwards to Glasgow and it was here that he about things that happened in the period spent the remainder of his working life and his 1860-1890) and it is the purpose of the present retirement. He died in 1918 at the age of 76 years. publication to provide an annotated transcripton Eric Mackay appears to have received only a of these articles, together with a number of rudimentary education – not unusual for a related publications by Mackay or about Mackay. working class lad at the time – and this is reflected Mackay was born in Wick in the early 1840’s,1 in part in his written work, which tends to be the son of Donald Mackay, feuar2 of Dempster rambling and too often adopts what one suspects Street, and was named in honour of his godfather, he took to be the way educated people would Dr Eric Sinclair, who was the local surgeon, and a express themselves. He was by all accounts an much respected figure in the local community. intelligent man, quick on the uptake, a good Sinclair was a noted naturalist and amongst other organiser and a capable leader. His pride in things amassed a substantial collection of bird Caithness, whilst quite understandable, sometimes skins. To the young Mackay the opportunity to gets in the way of what he has to say. His inspect these skins was a great treat, and no doubt repeated use of the slightly irritating expression did much to foster his interest in natural history. ‘Caithness to the fore’ reveals an insecurity, and is, Mackay was apprenticed to James Crawford, in any case, quite unnecessary – Caithness was fishcurer and on completing his apprenticeship (and still is) an excellent place for birds and is became a journeyman fishcurer for Crawford. In perfectly capable of standing, as it were, on its the early 1860’s he became manager of James own two feet and needs no cheerleader to Bremner’s fishcuring business and several years promote it. The other aspect of Maclay’s later he set up in business in his own right as a character that comes out in his publications is his barrel manufacturer. With this established and quite shameless self-promotion, though this is so prospering he took on additional responsibilities transparent that it is more comic than sinister. as the manager of a fishcuring station at Eric Mackay had a lifelong interest in nature, Lochboisdale on South Uist and an associated but his overriding passion was for birds. As enterprise on the nearby island of Eriskay. In already noted his godfather was a noted collector 1873 he set up his own fishcuring business with of bird skins and the young Mackay certainly received much encouragement from this source.