NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 139 



have kept up their numbers the best of all the Finches. I think 

 the Goldfinches suffered most. Yellow Hammers are fearfully 

 thinned out." 



As will be seen further on, the above remarks by Mr. Warren 

 are equally applicable in Scotland in most instances. 



May — June. — Even in May the scarcity of our most familiar 

 resident species was painfully apparent, especially such as are 

 known to subsist principally upon insect food, such as Creepers, 

 Gold-crests, Tits, &c. These remarks do not apply to the really 

 migratory species, such as Swallows, Swifts, Cuckoos, &c, which, 

 though very late of arrival, do not, as a rule, appear to have 

 seriously decreased in numbers. [Exceptions will be found under 

 the different species.] 



In the beginning of June ice strong enough to have permitted of 

 curling is reported to have been found on one of the lochs beside 

 Lochnagar, at an altitude of little more than 2000 feet [Scot. 

 Nat., July, 1879, p. 134]. 



The effects of the winter upon animal life were different in 

 different localities. Inland localities were denuded of bird-life, 

 except around the towns and farm-houses, where birds were 

 abundant. Finches and Buntings flocked in from various districts, 

 but Thrushes and many other species deserted the inland districts 

 entirely. Around Kelso, as reported by Mr. Brotherston, birds 

 remained fat and in good condition, and birds generally appeared 

 in that district to be as abundant in the following summer as in 

 ordinary years. [Vide Mr. A. Brotherston's "Notes," Proc. Berw. 

 Nat. Club, before referred to.] But, judging from most other 

 reports, this state of affairs must have been exceptional on the 

 east coast or at inland localities, except where unusually well 

 sheltered and wooded. 



In the valleys and other more sheltered localities the scarcity 

 (and, perhaps, even the lateness of arrival) of some of our summer 

 species was not so remarkable. Thus, in the vale of Menteith, 

 Stirlingshire, Tree Pipits, Martens, Swallows, and other summer 

 species appeared to be almost as numerous at the end of May as in 

 other seasons. In more exposed situations, however, the terrible 

 scarcity was very apparent. 



In Islay, as in most insular localities on the west coast, the 

 winter was not so severe as on the mainland or on the east coast 

 of Scotland, Still the winter was much more severe than usual. 



