148 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



Wild Geese arrived at their usual time. The flocks of 

 Waders were present in their usual numbers. Golden Plover 

 were numerous on :6th November in East Ross and at the 

 Pentland Skerries, and large numbers of Snipe are reported 

 from various stations during the month. Glaucous Gulls 

 are noted at Fair Isle and the Isle of May, and Little Auks 

 in numbers at the former place in December. 



FOOD. 



During the great immigration of Crossbills into Scotland 

 in 1909 many of these birds visited localities which could 

 not afford their usual diet, and they were therefore obliged to 

 resort to various makeshifts. At Lerwick they fed on the 

 yellow centres of daisies ; on Fair Isle they ate last year's 

 berries, the heads of thistles, flowers, the seeds of grasses 

 and other plants ; at the Flannans they fed on sea-pinks, 

 and at Wick they scooped the Green-fly off the shoots of the 

 roses. From Grantown-on-Spey they are reported as feeding 

 on the larvae of the Pine Saw-fly, but as they are there in 

 the midst of coniferous woods, this can hardly be attributed 

 to a lack of their usual food, and it is suggested that the 

 Crossbills' menu may, in the ordinary course, include the 

 Spruce-gall aphis, Green-flies, and Pine Saw-flies. Towards 

 the end of autumn many greatly emaciated Crossbills were 

 found on Fair Isle, having died of starvation. 



(To be continued.} 



ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE ROCK THRUSH 

 (MONT I CO LA SAX ATI US) IN THE ORKNEY 

 ISLANDS. 



By WILLIAM EAGLE CLARKE, F.R.S.E., F.L.S. 



I HAVE received, in the flesh, for the Royal Scottish 

 Museum, a fine adult male of this brilliantly plumaged and 

 extremely rare visitor to the British Islands. It was captured 



