142 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



[WOOD WARBLER (Phylloscopus sibilatrix), p. 53. Hitherto we 

 have bracketed this species, but with the remark in a footnote that 

 an extension might take place at any time from the increasing north- 

 ward range on the mainland of Scotland. I am now able to add a 

 little further remark to its progressive history in the " Fauna of the 

 Outer Hebrides " by the record in Mr. Peel's book already quoted. 

 In reply to my further inquiry, he writes me that he " saw Wood 

 Wrens in North Uist opposite the island of Vallay in 1898." He 

 adds : " I never had a shot at them, although I tried. As far as I 

 remember, I saw three altogether, two in one day." Since I worked 

 in the above notes by Mr. Peel, I have been most liberally permitted 

 to peruse and make use of the diary of the late Mr. Alfred Chapman, 

 who spent part of the summer of 1883 collecting in the Outer 

 Hebrides. I have to thank his brother, Mr. Abel Chapman, for 

 this privilege. Mr. Alfred Chapman writes : " On the top of Benlee 

 (North Uist) I recognised the lovely song of a bird I was very 

 familiar with, and soon discovered him the Wood Warbler (Sylvia 

 sibilatrix). That was indeed a strange place for such a bird, and I 

 believe this will prove to be its first occurrence so far north in the 

 Scottish Highlands." He goes on to say : " Gray mentions Aberdeen 

 as its northern limit : Yarrell quotes from him ; but I think this 

 exceeds both of these. It was evidently breeding in the heather, 

 as, with quivering wings, it was hcn'ering about, uttering its twittering 

 cry and very shrill melodious whistle. I was starting to look for its 

 nest, when I heard the cry of a Merlin, and this drew away my 

 attention." Notwithstanding all the above evidence, I am afraid we 

 must still confine the Wood Warbler inside square brackets.] 



SUBALPINE WARBLER (Sylvia subalpina). Mr. Steele-Elliott found 

 a specimen of this southern species in the Manse garden of St. Kilda 

 on June 13, 1894. A great gale of south-west (!} wind had blown 

 across the island on the previous day (June 12). This is the first 

 record not only for the Outer Hebrides but also for the British Isles. 

 It was seen to busily exert itself in searching a row of young peas, 

 and a parsnip in seed, which apparently attracted a large number of 

 insects. For a full account of this interesting find, see Mr. Steele- 

 Elliott's article ("Zool." 1895, p. 281). 



SEDGE WARBLER (Acrocephalus phragmitis], p. 54. An addition 

 to the Fauna of the Outer Hebrides is a Sedge Warbler, seen by Dr. 

 M'Ruryat Eoligary, Barra, in June 1893. In speaking of these ex- 

 tensions of summers visitants or migrants, it seems to me, we ought to 

 pay attention to those which may more likely breed in the future, where 

 changes in the nature of surrounding conditions are in progress, as, 

 for instance, at Eoligary, and also at any localities south of the 

 Long Island and Sound of Harris. It is in points such as these 

 where the real interest comes in in close chronological recording. 



