THE SONG-THRUSH OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES 53 



Swallows passed on the 8th. On the 9th, our last day on the 

 island, a good many Redwings arrived, as did a Continental 

 Hedge-sparrow and a Greenfinch. 



It is again our very pleasant duty to tender our sincerest 

 thanks to the Commissioners of Northern Lights for their 

 kindness in allowing us to work on the Isle of May; we 

 thoroughly appreciate the privilege granted us and gratefully 

 acknowledge our indebtedness to them. The kindnesses 

 rendered us by our friends on the island are beyond descrip- 

 tion, and we can only say that we thank them most cordially 

 for all they have done for us. Special thanks are due to our 

 kind hosts Mr and Mrs Baigrie, and our old friends Mr and 

 Mrs Ross. We also wish to thank Dr Hartert for helping 

 us by determining some of our racial forms. 



THE SONG-THRUSH OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES 



TURD US MUSIC US HEBRIDENSISA NEW 

 RACIAL FORM. 



By Wm. Eagle Clarke. 

 (Plate I.) 



That the native Song-thrush of the Outer Hebrides differs 

 in plumage from its cousin on the mainland of Great Britain 

 has long been known to naturalists, yet no one has hitherto 

 described in detail its peculiarities. 



I do not know who was the first to call attention to this 

 fact, but the late Mr Robert Gray in his classical work on the 

 Birds of the West of Scotland, published in 1871, tells us, 

 regarding the Song-thrushes (p. 76), that when in North 

 Uist in 1868 he "remarked particularly the unusually dark- 

 colour of their plumage the birds being very unlike those 

 brought up in cultivated districts." 



