WHALING IN SCOTLAND 15 



It is true that the West Coast fishing was a failure this year, but 

 this has happened long before whaling began, and is probably due 

 to the cold for the first six months of this year. 



Government has been asked to stop whaling entirely, but as 

 more than half the capital in the four whaling stations is British, 

 this could not be done without paying compensation. Even if it 

 were done, what would be the result ? Whalers from Faroe would 

 take the places of the existing whale steamers. Floating factories 

 would anchor, and after flensing the carcases would let them drift. 

 Affairs would be far worse than at present, and there would be no 

 remedy without altering International law. 



LOCHEND, SHETLAND. 



ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE SIBERIAN 

 CHIFF-CHAFF (PHYLLOSCOPUS TRISTIS} 

 IN SCOTLAND : A NEW BIRD TO THE 

 BRITISH FAUNA. 



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



IN October 1902 I received from the Sule Skerry lighthouse, 

 a lonely rock-station situated out in the Atlantic and some 

 33 miles west of Orkney, an example of a Phylloscopus^ 

 which had been captured at the lantern a short time 

 previously, namely on the night of September 23. In order 

 to preserve this specimen until such time as it was possible 

 to despatch it to the mainland, the bird had been immersed 

 in methylated spirit, and reached me in a sodden state. 

 On examination I found that it was a Chiff-Chaff, but its 

 condition did not then allow me to detect the differences 

 between the European and Asiatic species. Fortunately, 

 however, I had the specimen preserved, and having recently 

 received a Chiff-Chaff from Fair Isle I was led to examine my 

 lighthouse and other material relating to the genus. I then 

 found that my old friend of 1902 was not the British and 

 ordinary European species, but the bird known as the Siberian 

 Chiff-Chaff, the PJiylloscopus tristis of Blyth. This was an 

 interesting discovery, for the species has not been detected 

 in Western Europe, not even on that wonderful island, Heligo- 

 land, which has furnished so many surprises for ornithologists 



