102 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



The data for the WEST COAST are not very voluminous, 

 nor are they sufficiently complete to permit us to say how the 

 birds found their way there. It is significant, however, that 

 only two specimens are recorded for the Outer Hebrides : 

 one of these by Dr. MacRury, who remarks concerning it, 

 " the only one seen this winter " ; while Mr. Peter Anderson, 

 writing from Tiree, says that he has not seen a single Little 

 Auk, dead or alive, during the winter, though a few come 

 ashore there nearly every year at that season. If these birds 

 had been numerous on the north-west coast of Scotland, 

 I hardly think that they could have escaped the notice 

 of these excellent observers. As our map indicates, the 

 great majority of the West Coast records are for the Clyde 

 area and the adjacent districts ; and I think it highly 

 probable that the birds occurring there may have found 

 their way from the East Coast. The distance between the 

 Firths of Forth and Clyde is only some forty miles, over 

 low country ; and we have the important testimony of Mr. 

 James Lumsden that they arrived at Loch Lomond, or 

 practically in the Clyde, after the severe gale from the east, 

 which is pretty conclusive evidence in favour of the opinion 

 just expressed. Indeed, from the Firth of Forth we have 

 a complete chain of records extending right through to 

 the Clyde (see map). They would appear to have been 

 most abundant, according to the information furnished, on 

 the coast of Islay. 



The information for SHETLAND is also deficient, for, as 

 the Messrs. Henderson justly remark, the East Coast would 

 receive the great mass of wrecked Auks driven ashore. It 

 is to be regretted that we have practically no information 

 for that important coast-line. 



As to the TOTAL NUMBER of Little Auks that perished 

 on the Scottish coasts, it is quite impossible to venture any 

 computation. Mr. A. Laird, writing of the Kirkwall district, 

 Orkney, says that " they have been destroyed by the thousand." 

 Dr. Ogilvie, writing of the Long Hope district of the same 

 Islands early in January, tells us that these birds, even at that 

 early date, lay dead and dying on the surface of the water 

 and along the shores " in hundreds." Great numbers were 

 cast up along the entire east coast of the mainland and its 



