University of Edinburgh Archive and Manuscript Collections

Scope and Contents Field notebook belonging to Alexander Carmichael probably while he lived at 31, Raeburn Place, Edinburgh, as this address is written in ink on the first folio. Written on the inside front cover but heavily scored is text which reads 'Mrs Malcolm MacLeod, [- Islay], widow of Mal[colm] MacLeod [Loch-]. The majority of the notebook contains material collected from Donald Currie, crofter, Ìle/ Islay relating folklore and natural history about the birds, fish, shellfish and animals found in and...

Scope and Contents Note about birds found on Islay including 'Catheag C- bheag nan cudainean' [possibly cathag-dhearg chasach the red-legged crow or chough] describing how it catches its food from the sea; a note on the fhaoilean [faoileann or seagull]; the call of the brid [oyster-catcher]; that the loinean [blackbirds] are the same size as druidean [starlings] and that 'No dog will eat the bone of the truide[ag]' [druideag or starling] because a starling 'gave seed to the prophet of old' and the prophet gave...

Scope and Contents

Note probably collected on Ìle/Islay about the breeding habits of 'gobag' [sand eel], 'murlach' [dogfish] and 'sgat' [skate] that they breed 'like the dogs'; that they cut through fishing lines 'like [a] razor' and that eels breed from a horse's hair and that a dog's hair is as good as horse hair. The vocabulary note reads 'Casach = snod iasgaich' [fishing-line].

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Note about dogs dying and accompanying story about a faithful dog collected from Duncan Macniven 'Don[nachadh] Pharuig', aged 88, Airds, Earra Ghàidheal/Argyllshire. Duncan tells how dogs go away from home to die and that shepherds know this to be the case. He also tells how a man in Glencoe [Gleann Comhann] went to work in England and every day at the same time his dog went out to wait for him and wept until it eventually died.

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Note about the bird 'Brid' [oyster-catcher] which states that if a gale comes from the north then the bird leaves the north shore and goes to the south shore and the reverse is also true.Text has been scored through in pencil perhaps to indicate it has been transcribed elsewhere.

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Note probably collected from Donald Currie, crofter, Ìle/Islay about the bird 'Bru deargan' [Bru-dearg or robin redbreast] that it is not seen on the island until the end of the autumn and that his daughter found one in a hedge the previous year [1876]. He notes his call as being 'Hing "hingadale", Drig drig "hingadale"'. Text has been scored through as if transcribed elsewhere.

Scope and Contents Note about the bird 'drollan' [petrel] and its connection with fishermen, containing a legend that the bird flew so high it caught the tail-feather of an eagle and boasted about it; that the sound they make is as loud as a bee hive and stating that a flock of petrels are 'alms' to fishermen. The birds are described as tearing out sticks and straws from their nests and moving them 50 feet up, carrying the young and the eggs. Fishermen noticed that four days after a storm the birds were still...

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Note about the bird 'Fara-chrodaichean' or 'Crotach-Bheag' [curlew], that it arrives about Bealtainn [May], stays for a month and does not breed on the island but goes to warmer climates. The crotach mor breed in the moor in Instra Níl [Ìle/ Islay, Earra Ghàidheal/Argyllshire]. Text has been scored through in pencil perhaps to indicate it has been transcribed elsewhere.

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Note about the bird 'glaisean' [moss [chirper]] describing its nesting habits including that it has been found 'in P[ort] na haven in turf dyk[e]s asleep in winter with two or three ribeagan fiar geal na bheul [blades of grass] across to keep his bill open to breath[e] like polar bear with his paw in his mouth'. [Port na h-Abhainne/Portnahaven, Ìle/ Islay]. Text has been scored through in pencil perhaps to indicate it has been transcribed elsewhere.

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Note about the bird 'Glaistean-tragha' [a small bird like a finch] that it is a shore bird which only eats food from the sea or the shore and does not feed from the land. Text has been scored through in pencil perhaps to indicate it has been transcribed elsewhere.