76 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



RING OUZEL, Turdus torquatus. When quietly walking my pony 

 along the road near a small plantation here on the 8th April 

 1897, a solitary Ring Ouzel flew across the road right in front 

 of me. The gamekeeper was walking beside me, and as the 

 bird alighted again near the road, we had plenty of time to 

 identify it. I heard that one of the species probably the same 

 bird was seen a few days subsequently on the west side of the 

 island. I have never seen a Ring Ouzel in any part of the 

 Outer Hedrides before this, although I believe it has been ob- 

 served in Lewis and Harris. 



GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN, Regulus cristatus. On the same date on 

 which I met with the Ring Ouzel, 8th April 1897, Mr. Wrn. 

 Macgillivray, Eoligary, secured a Goldcrest in his garden, one 

 of several, and a few of the species were observed by him on 

 the 1 2th and 24th of the same month near the same locality. 

 Mr. Finlayson, Schoolmaster, Island of Mingalay, told me that 

 he also, on the igth of the same month, found a Goldcrest 

 at his bedroom window quite exhausted. This is the first time 

 the species has been observed in Barra, although birds may have 

 touched the Barra Group before this in migration. 



SISKIN, Chrysomitris spinus. On the 2Qth October 1897 I observed 

 a couple of Siskins in my garden, and from this date up to the 

 9th of the following month fully a dozen of the species were 

 seen by myself and by Mr. Macgillivray in various parts of the 

 island. They were not at all shy, and, although when they got 

 on the wing they flew off apart, they generally associated with 

 Twites, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, etc., about the fields and 

 gardens. I do not find any record of the occurrence of the 

 Siskin in any part of the Outer Hebrides, so that this must be 

 the first record from the Group. 



There are two or three species which were omitted in 

 my former contributions, but which I find have undoubtedly 

 been met with in Barra. I think I ought to add them now 

 to the list of the birds of the island. These are : 



CHOUGH, Pyrrhocorax graculus. The Chough was found by Mr. Mac- 

 gillivray in the southern islands of Barra in 1830, as mentioned 

 in his paper in the " Edinburgh Journal of Natural History and 

 Geographical Science " for that year. The bird, however, 

 seems to have deserted the locality soon after this date, and no 

 recent record of its occurrence can be found. 



GARGANEY, Querquedula circia. In Messrs. Harvie- Brown and 

 Buckley's "Vertebrate Fauna of the Outer Hebrides," Ap- 

 pendix D, it is stated that a Garganey Duck was shot in Barra 



