CATALOGUE OF BIEDS. 



time, were enabled to dry their feathers and make 

 good their escape. 



A few Swallows frequently remain long after the 

 main body have left our shores for a warmer climate. 

 These, I believe, are for the most part young birds, 

 either too backward or weak to attempt the journey. 

 They are occasionally noticed as late as Christmas, if 

 the weather continues open, but as they are generally 

 lost sight of after a few days' frost, it may be supposed 

 that they have at last succumbed to cold and hunger. 



The specimens in the case were obtained in Sussex, 

 during the summer of 1870. 



GOLDEN PLOVER— (SuMMEE.) 

 Case 6. 



Golden Plovers, with black breasts^ usually arrive at 

 their breeding-quarters in the Highlands at the end of 

 April or beginning of May ; the time, however, varies 

 with the state of the weather. In the spring of 1867 

 they made their appearance rather early in the nortli- 

 w^estern part of Perthshire, and had taken up their 

 summer quarters, when a heavy fall of snow again 

 drove them south, and only about half a dozen pair 

 returned and nested on ground where hundreds are 

 generally found. 



It is a wonder how the egg^ and young, in such 

 exposed spots, are enabled to withstand the effects of 

 the frost and snow. I have frequently observed the 

 newly-hatched young on the liills in close proximity to 

 snow-drifts of twenty or thirty feet deep. 



The bird is usually obtained in its finest plumage 



