NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 127 



the Wrens migrated from the Outer Islands is not the case, as many 

 remained throughout the past winter in North Uist, as they 

 usually do, as I ascertained when there this summer. The winter, 

 however, in North Uist was not by any means so severe as in 

 Harris, nor was the spring so late and cold. Snow lay much more 

 persistently in Harris than it did in North Uist. 



In December Mr. Boyd went out to Tyree, and he and Mr. 

 Henderson both remarked "the extraordinary scarcity of common 

 birds, and the unusual number of winter visitors. The whole 

 island was full of Wild Geese, and on one fresh-water loch more 

 than sixty Swans had taken up their winter quarters." Batches 

 of Snipe were observed to arrive, but as a rule they did not 

 remain long. This was after the usual time of migration, and they 

 were at a loss to account for it. One day, however, every Snipe 

 they put up, instead of flying a bit and settling again, rose high in 

 air, and went off due south-east as far as they could see, right away 

 across the sea to Mull. The remark was then made, "The sooner 

 we go south for powder and provisions the better, we are going 

 to have an arctic winter."' They had no reason afterwards to 

 regret that they at once acted upon the suggestion. 



On returning later, many Gadwall were seen, and live were 

 shot in one day, in an hour or two, amongst other wild fowl. All 

 the lochs being frozen up, the Ducks had resorted to salt water, 

 and those obtained were shot from the shore as they flew past. 



Mr. Robert Service, in his excellent paper, of which I have 

 given the title above, writes as follows : — " Amongst the summer 

 warblers some curious changes resulted from the ungenial weather 

 of the summer months. The Sedge-warbler, Blackcap, Chiff-chaff, 

 Wood-warbler, and Willow-warbler were all in augmented numbers. 

 In the autumn of 1878 the Golden-crested Wren, Great Tits, Blue- 

 tits, Cole-tits, and Long-tailed Tits passed through the district in 

 larger numbers than usual, getting out of the way, as the sequel 

 proved, of the coming severe weather, with unerring instinct." 



We find an indication, in the movements of birds at Tyree and 

 Mull, of a treble migration, the earlier ones in October probably 

 coming from the north-east — Norway, Sweden, and North Russia 

 — being an extension of the same migration which passes Heli- 

 goland ; and of a migration coming from the north-west. The 

 absence of Bewick's Swan on the west coast of Scotland, and the 

 abundance of the Hooper, rather points to a north-west origin than 



