THE SONG-THRUSH OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES 55 



(4-55 to 4-72 inches), so that it is a mistake to say that the 

 birds are smaller than their mainland representatives, which 

 has been maintained by some writers ; they are fully up to 

 the average. 



The type specimens are a male and female in the Royal 

 Scottish Museum, and were obtained in the Island of Barra 

 on 24th April 191 2. 



Though the native Thrushes are permanently resident in, 

 and abundantly and widely distributed over, the glens, moor- 

 lands, mountains, and sea-cliffs of the Outer Hebridean 

 Islands, it is possible that in certain districts all do not 

 belong to the aboriginal race. Of late years extensive woods 

 have sprung up in the grounds of Stornoway Castle, and 

 some of the Song-thrushes resorting to them for nesting may 

 be colonists from the Scottish mainland. Indeed, I have 

 examined one such specimen obtained by Mr Kinnear in the 

 Stornoway woods on I ith July 1906 (where two young birds 

 were also obtained), which certainly belongs to the British 

 race. Mr Kinnear also found the Mistle-thrush established 

 in the same woods as a nesting species another recent 

 colonist in the Islands. It must also be remembered that 

 Scottish and Continental Song-thrushes seek these Outer 

 Isles as winter resorts, and that the Continental birds do 

 not quit them until the nesting season of the native birds has 

 well set in. 



Mr John MacGillivray, who visited St Kilda in July 1840, 

 tells us that he often heard the loud clear song of the Thrush 

 resounding along the hill-sides of the island ; and Mr (after- 

 wards Sir William) Milner mentions the bird as among the 

 species observed at St Kilda by him in June 1847. No other 

 visitors have mentioned it as a summer bird, and it is now 

 only a winter visitor to this, " the remotest of all the 

 Hebrides." 



In conclusion, I have pleasure in acknowledging the 

 assistance I have received during the investigations from 

 the examination of specimens in the great collections in 

 Mr Rothschild's museum at Tring, and also my indebtedness 

 to Mr William MacGillivray, a nephew of the distinguished 

 ornithologist. 



