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...

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Fragment of a story entitled 'Cuckoo', collected from Dun[can] Ceàm [Duncan Kemp], Cove, Poolewe [Poll-iùbh, Ros is Cromba/Ross and Cromarty]. The story tells how while dismantling a cairn in Lochadring, Geàrrloch [Loch an Draing, Gairloch] he found a bird, which looked dead but revived and so he put it back in the cairn. Text has been scored through as if transcribed elsewhere.

Scope and Contents

Located in Roslin Institute Staff Papers 1993. Part 2.

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...

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Note about 'cois ceum co[i]llich' that it is when the cock goes a little further from the hens as the day is a little longer, usually around Christmas Day 'La[tha] Nollaig'. The conclusion of the note suggests that it is incomplete.

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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 grilse that they hatch in the spring and are full size by the autumn. Also notes that 'banag' is a sea-trout.

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Note about peacock eggs, bird displays and vocabulary, which states that a peacock's egg cannot be cooked, that 'Aodach na banise' [wedding clothes] is the term for a bird's colourful display, and that 'Crotag-mhor = curlew'. text has been scored through in pencil as if transcribed elsewhere.

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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.