The Scottish Naturalist. 285 



Perth. The Grasshopper-warbler has also been noticed in this 

 neighbourhood, but until more information is gained it cannot be 

 classed as a regula?- summer visitant. Among the first of our sum- 

 mer birds to arrive towards the end of March is the Willow-Wren, 

 which, along with the White-throat and the Little Sedge-warbler, 

 is the most abundant in this neighbourhood. The Wheatear, 

 equally early with the first, and as abundant in many parts of 

 the country, confines itself more to the rabbit-warrens on the 

 coasts, and the higher hills in the interior. Though the Wheat- 

 ear may work its way along the shores of England from the 

 south till it reaches our more northern regions, still I am inclined 

 to believe that its true vernal line of passage to Scotland is direct 

 across the German Ocean from Holland or Belgium, a little over 

 300 miles. In confirmation of this, Mr Gray, in his 'Birds of 

 the West of Scotland,' p. 88, says : " On the Dunbar Links, in 

 the month of March, I have seen them arriving in thousands, and 

 flying before me, in my early morning walks, like bits of sea-foam 

 borne by the breeze ; " and further says, " I have never seen such 

 arrivals on any of the sea-borders of the west of Scotland." In 

 April comes the Swallow, and others follow in rapid succession. 

 Towards the first of May we hear the Cuckoo and the Landrail, 

 while a little later the Swift makes its appearance, and last of all 

 the Spotted Fly-catcher, generally about the 12th or 15th of the 

 month. Last year the first noticed was on the 17th. The less 

 widely spread are the Garden Warbler and the Tree-pipit. 



Though hundreds of Swallows, House and Bank Martins, 

 chiefly young birds, appear in the autumn, their numbers seem 

 greatly to have diminished both on their arrival and during the 

 breeding season in this part of the country. Few are now to be 

 seen in the summer months in comparison with former years, when 

 I can recollect many an open shed, cottage window, and eave of 

 house, each with its colony of Swallows and House-Martins, and 

 closely-packed nests, where there is not one now. The same 

 may be said of the Sand-Martin : many a bank and gravel-pit, 

 which formerly held its scores, now lie tenantless. This, I am 

 told, has been noticed also in other parts of the country. I may 

 mention, that though I have ceased to notice the House-Martin 

 as plentiful as heretofore in their old quarters, I have lately ob- 

 served them, while ascending Glen Tilt, breeding in large numbers 

 on the lonely cliffs of Ben-y-Gloe, much as I have seen the Rock 

 Martin {Cotyle 7'upestris) do in southern Europe. The Swift, on 

 the other hand, seems to be considerably increased in numbers. 



