NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 53 



Wheatear. — Saxicola oenanthe (Lin.). — An unusually late stay 

 of this species is noticed by me at considerable length in the Zoologist 

 for Feb., 1881, p. 54-55, where it is also commented upon by the 

 editor and Mr. J. Cordeaux, and I have added some additional 

 remarks on the species, in my Migration Report for 1880. Some 

 interest appears to me to attach to the subject of this late occurrence 

 on Dec. 9th, 1880. 



Saxicola deserti, Riippell. — This rare bird was obtained on the 

 moor at the edge of Gartmorn Dam, Alloa, Clackmannanshire, by 

 the gamekeeper to Lord Balfour of Burleigh, on 26th Nov., 1880. 

 The birdstuffer at Alloa dissected the specimen and reported it to be 

 a female, but on examination by Mr. J. J. Dalgleish and myself we 

 came to the conclusion that it more nearly agreed with the description 

 of a young male or of a male in winter. But it has often been 

 remarked that the males of this as well as of other species of 

 Wheatear are in a preponderance of eight to each female, whilst 

 other naturalists aver that there is no difference in the plumage of 

 the sexes ; and again the dissector may be correct enough if, as is 

 probable, the females assume the dress of the young males in winter. 

 It is further reported that this specimen had been feeding upon 

 minute midge flies. The weather at the time of its capture was 

 extremely mild and warm. 



This species has been recorded in Heligoland [Seebohm, Ibis, 

 1877, p. 162] in two instances. Its distribution appears to be 

 Northern Africa (specimens from Algeria being, however, according 

 to Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., in "Rambles of a Naturalist," more russet- 

 coloured than those from Egypt), Arabia, K. Persia, and into India. 

 It is interesting to note in this connection the lines of migration 

 as shown by returns from the Light-ship Stations in the English 

 Channel, during the whole autumn migratory season of 1880. All 

 returns show a passage of birds from the French to the English 

 coast, between Aug. 16th and Dec. 8th — being the reverse of what 

 would tje expected, and the reverse of what the returns from the 

 Galloper Bank showed in 1879. 



This last year we had great and long-continued easterly gales over 

 the Atlantic and N. Europe, more especially during Oct. and Nov., 

 during which time hundreds of thousands of small birds of European 

 origin were seen 450, 500, 900, to 1200 miles W. of the Irish Coast, 

 and Rook, Jackdaw, Robin, Wagtail, and other familiar European 

 species were recognized or captured. The dates of these gales and 



