Four part mystery

I'm never quite sure why it takes me so long to learn four-parter tunes.  By definition they are twice as long as two-parters, but as I seem to be able to learn a number of two-parters in less time than it takes me to learn a four-parter that can't quite be it.

I suppose one of the difficulties is that a four-parter is like two very similar two-parters, and there is always plenty of scope to muddle the A part with the C or the B with the D. There is also more scope for bars that are almost repeated, but each time have some subtle difference. Then the timing might change from one part to another.

In the past, when stamina, or lack of it, was a problem, then I would tend to play the first two parts and then run out of steam and maybe not even play through the final parts. Even now I am inclined to work on the first part and wait until I feel I've got at least the basic shape of it until I move onto the next, so by the time I work my way round to the final part the first two are familiar and the second half is always the bit I haven't played as often. (Others I only play as two-parters, which is what I do with Father John.)

In a way I think that this was the problem with Loch Bee: because I only ever played it as part of a set (with Dargai) if I ran out of steam, ran out of time or patience, ran into trouble, it was always Bee on the end that got ditched or lost a repeat or two. Hopefully playing it (mostly) on its own this month will have helped.

I've picked up two more four-parters despite being far from session-standard with either Arthur or the Cottage. The first is Mrs MacDougall. Despite my earlier confusion when I got round to looking at the various versions they were all about the same, (Mrs Mac, anyway - I overlooked Mrs Mc this time round) so I picked the one with the cleanest layout on the page. I've played it through...and it sounds like no tune I've ever heard, so I need to listen to the tune a bit before I try again.

The other is John MacColl's Farewell to the Scottish Horse. Ceol Sean has a tune with that title, and another - John MacColl's Farewell to Argyll Squadron, Scottish Horse. I assumed they would turn out to be the same tune. They looked different on the page but I've been thrown before by different gracing and layout...but these are two different tunes, and the first is the horse I wanted, the one I know from Highland Strands.

The mystery is that according to the listing on The Bagpipe Shop for what they describe as "the complete works" of Mr MacColl there are only two horse-related tunes, John MacColl's Farewell to the Scottish Horse and The Second Regiment Scottish Horse. As for the Argylls, they receive mention as Major Byng M. Wright's Farewell to the 8th Argylls and The 9th Argylls at Ypres. Also odd is the inclusion of two Kilbowie tunes, a plain Kilbowie Cottage and John MacColl's March to Kilbowie Cottage. How these relate to William Lawrie's tune Kilbowie Cottage, which seems also to be known as John MacColl's March to Kilbowie Cottage I don't know. It's not as these are tunes from the mists of time: Lawrie only died in 1916, MacColl not until 1943. 

The other mystery is the speed at which I seem to be picking up all four parts of Farewell to the Creeks.