L54 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



COLE TIT. 

 Parus ater, Lin. 



Iii a squirrel's dray at Remony, Loch Tay side, Mr. D. Dewar 

 found two Cole Tits, dead and quite dried up with the frost. They 

 bad <rept into the squirrel's nest for shelter during the hard winter 

 [ex ore, 14th Oct., 1879]. 



BLUE TIT. 



Parus caeruleus, Lin. 



Decidedly scarcer in spring of 1879. Reported so from Berwick- 

 shire, Aberdeenshire, Argyllshire, and elsewhere, and the same 

 observed in Stirlingshire. Of four fed by Mr. Hardy only one 

 appeared after the thaw. It seems more than probable that many 

 Birds died of a surfeit after the thaw came. [See also Waterhex, 

 page 176.] Tits remained scarce all summer, except in very shel- 

 tered and favoured localities, and so scarce that a few noted as late 

 as October 30th, 1879, are mentioned in Mr. Hardy's notes. 



LONG-TAILED TIT. 



ACREDULA ROSEA (Btyth). 



Swarmed in October in the Glens of Mull [J. H., ex ore]. 



Reports of deaths reached me later in the season from several 

 localities. Mr. Robt. Service notes it near Dumfries \_Dumf. 

 Courier, 25th March, 1879], where the death in one instance is 

 recorded, as the little bird was found dead, head and shoulders 

 buried in the snow, having died apparently without making a 

 single struggle, and probably dropped head first dead from its 

 perch. I found birds in former winters similarly situated, and 

 also Redpoles frozen to their perches, dead. 



PIED WAGTAIL. 



Motacilla lugulris, Temm. 



Appeared at Cockburnspath, Berwickshire, on the 18th March, 

 and here — Dunipace — on the 22nd. During a week spent at Loch 

 Awe, between April 28th and May 3rd, only two were seen, and 

 these on the 2nd of May. [This is noted in connection with the 

 scarcity of some species this summer — 1879.] It must not be 

 understood, however, that, because some species were scarce, all 

 small birds were similarly affected by the winter and late spring 



