76 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



characters was, strange to say, the disthiguished American 

 ornithologist, Robert Ridgvvay, who described it as long 

 ago as the year 1882, but its distinctness has only recently 

 been accepted by British ornithologists. 



The latest addition to the list of these aberrant 

 occurrences of Tree-Creepers in out-of-the-way places in 

 our islands, and the raison d'etre for the present remarks, 

 was obtained under singular circumstances at Galson, in 

 the north-west of the Island of Lewis, on 13th October 

 last. During the terrific gale and torrential rain which 

 prevailed on that day, one of the men at Galson Farm 

 was engaged in making safe some stacks of hay which were 

 in danger of being blown away, and on throwing a rope 

 over one of them for that purpose, was much surprised to 

 find that he had unwittingly killed an unfortunate bird- 

 waif which had sought refuge there from the storm. The 

 bird, being unknown, was kindly sent to me for identification 

 by Mr John Morrison, one of our valued correspondents in 

 the " Long Island," It proved to be of the British race, 

 and had probably been unwillingly carried there on the 

 wings of the gale. It may be remarked that one of the 

 Fair Isle Tree-Creepers also sought refuge in a stack, 

 where it was found in a dying condition. In conclusion, 

 it may be useful to state that the Continental Tree-Creeper, 

 Certhia fainiliaris, differs from the British form in having 

 the brown tints in its upper plumage of a light yellowish 

 tone, as against the pronounced rufescent brown of Cej-thia 

 faniiliaris britanniea. 



II. Continental Barn Owl in Shetland. 



In November last Dr Edmondston Saxby forwarded 

 to me a male Barn Owl from Balta Sound, in the Island 

 of Unst, where it had been captured in a rat trap, set 

 in an outhouse, on the 5th of the month. Hitherto there 

 have been no authentic records of the appearance of this 

 bird in either the Shetland or Orkney groups, and hence 

 its visit to the northernmost of the British Isles is to be 

 regarded as a noteworthy occurrence. 



