NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 153 



Menteith, in this county, and in Perth, the Robins seemed not 

 to have suffered so much as in some more exposed localities. 



BLACK CAP. 

 Sylvia atricapilla (Lin.). 



Is reported as almost absent in 1879 from Ireland. Rev. 



Chas. W. Benson received no notice of its occurrence. It is 



rare and local, however, in Ireland, as also are the Tree Pipit, 

 Wood and Garden Warbler. 



WHEATEAR. 



Saxicola oexaxthe (Lin.). 



The first I saw in Stirlingshire was on the -4th April. The first 

 observed at Leny, Callander, was on the 23rd April. It is curious 

 that they do not appear to breed upon the Braes of Doune, though 

 apparently suitable. Possibly the geological formation may 

 supply a cause for their absence here. They are abundant in the 

 central range of hills of Stirlingshire. I observed Wheatears to 

 be unusually abundant this summer in Sutherland. Though late 

 of arrival and late of breeding [or shall we not rather say because 

 late of arriving and breeding?], the Wheatear seemed more than 

 usually abundant. On the Stirlingshire coast, in the first week 

 of September, 1879, Wheatears — young principally — were more 

 abundant than I ever remember seeing them before. On the 

 Berwickshire coast they w^ere first observed by Mr. Hardy on the 

 30th August, and not again after the 1st September. 



WHINCHAT. 

 Pratincola rubetra (Lin.). 



May 4. — Whinchat first seen at Oldcambus, Berwickshire 

 [J. H.]. Seen again on the 12th. 



MARSH TIT. 



Parus palustris, Lin. 



Swarmed in the Glens of Mull in October. I am strongly of 

 opinion that these early migrants are of Scandinavian origin, and 

 that very possibly, had some of these Marsh Tits been preserved, 

 they would have turned out to belong to the northern form 

 P. borealis, if not of still more eastern origin. 



