170 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



cannot say, but certainly it is so in some districts. While along 

 Loch Awe Lapwings bred about the usual time, they were con- 

 siderably later in the east, and at many inland localities. Lap- 

 wings' eggs are sent up to the London Market from the Loch 

 Awe district in large numbers. 



In Dumfriesshire Lapwings were only hatched by the middle 

 of May. 



GOLDEN PLOVER. 



Charadrius pluvialis, Lin. 



Large numbers on the coast of N. Aberdeenshire in the end of 

 February [Rev. A. Grigor, in lit., 24th February, 1879]. They do 

 not appear entirely to have left us, but did not return to their 

 breeding haunts until quite a fortnight — in some localities three 

 weeks — after their usual time of arrival. They were still fre- 

 quenting the low fields in flocks or pairs as late as the 23rd April, 

 at Callander. A good many were found dead or dying in Islay 

 [F. S. Mitchell, in lit.~\ in January and February. The autumn 

 flocks in the carselands and coast of Stirlingshire appear to be as 

 large as usual, but a good many birds remained longer than usual 

 on the high lands of Perthshire. 



DOTTEREL. 



ElTDROMIAS MORINELLUS (Lin.). 



For some interesting notes on this species, see Mr. Geo. Muir- 

 head's article [Proc. fierw. Nat. Club, viii., p. 506]. They 

 appear much more rarely now than formerly on Lamberton Moor 

 on the spring migration. It seems to me uncertain if this is 

 entirely owing to their scarcity at their breeding haunts as com- 

 pared with former times. I cannot, however, consider them as 

 really a scarce bird in Scotland in the breeding season. 



WHIMBREL. 



Xumenius phoeopus (Lin.). 



Unusually large numbers of Whimbrels appeared in Ireland on 

 their spring migration, as reported to me bv Mr. Robert Warren. 

 This, no doubt, is occasioned by the migration being delayed, and 

 larger bodies of birds collecting together before starting. Unusually 

 large numbers were also reported from North Uist in May; and, upon 

 our Stirlingshire coast in autumn — end of August and beginning 



