On the Birds of the Outer Hebrides. 275 



captivity* (Zool. 1888, p. 176). A third example had been 

 previously seen (about 1874} by the late Mr. J. Cordeaux in 

 a game-shop at Grimsby (B. Humber District, p. 22). 



In October 1871 an immature White-fronted Goose, with 

 a very short beak, was bought in Leaden hall Market, which 

 puzzled my father and me, but which I now think was 

 A. erythropus ; whether it was British-killed or not it is 

 impossible to say. This was a young bird and the general 

 tone of its plumage was distinctly dark, a feature noticed by 

 the late Mr. Seebohm (P. Z. S. 1886, p. 420), but which I am 

 afraid is not constant. It had no bars on the breast or 

 belly, a fact which in all the White-fronted Geese has been 

 regarded as a mark of immaturity, but I have known an 

 example of A. albifrons to live about four years on a pond at 

 Cromer without acquiring bars. 



XVIII. — Further Notes on the Birds of the Outer Hebrides. 

 By J. A. Harvie-Brown, F.R.S.E. 



Many striking changes in the Avifauna of the Outer Hebrides 

 have been brought to the notice of ornithologists since I 

 visited the group along with Colonel Feilden in the year 

 1870, though whether some of these changes are not more 

 apparent than real is a point which cannot at present be 

 regarded with absolute certainty. Personally, however, I am 

 of opinion that most of the new records are due to an extension 

 of range of the species, whether on migration or otherwise, 

 while it is an undoubted fact that certain birds are incom- 

 parably more plentiful than they were even in 1888, when 

 the ' Fauna of the Outer Hebrides ' issued from the press. 



To these changes then I particularly desire to draw attention 

 in this paper, now that a large mass of fresh information has 

 been collected by personal investigations and by the aid of 

 many kind correspondents ; and I hope to publish in an 

 early part of the ' Annals of Scottish Natural History ' full 

 details regarding the species concerned. 



* Four or five examples of this Goose have lived in the Gardens of the 

 Zoological Society of Loudou at different times. 



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