52 Transadmia. 



I believe, either perished or migrated, and I have seen very 

 few indeed since wiiiter. 



Missel Thrushes, for as long as I can remember, have been 

 gradually increasing in number until this last fatal winter set in. 

 They then disappeared, but I am unable to assign their disap- 

 pearance either to death from starvation or to migration, as I 

 found only one of their skeletons. In the past summer their 

 absence has been very noticeable. In former years a nest or two 

 might have been easily got in almost every plantation, but this 

 year the only nest I met with was one near Lochanhead Station. 



Fieldfares and Redwings suffered almost total extermina- 

 tion. Liable as these birds are in severe weather to death 

 by starvation, yet I think their destruction must have 

 been quite unprecedented. Instead of the usual large flocks 

 which annually leave us in spring, a small flock of thirty 

 Fieldfares was all I saw during the spi-ing months. These 

 were flying eastwards one morning in March. I will be sui-jirised 

 if either of these species puts in an appearance here this season. 

 Their arrival is now six weeks overdue, and as yet I have not 

 seen or heard of a single bird. The flocks arriving in the autumn 

 of 1878 were umisuaUy early, and also unusually large. Many of 

 these flocks left after a stay of a few weeks, but those remaining 

 Avere over the average in numbers. The first dead Redwings 

 were found about the 8th December, and in a day or two after- 

 wards the destruction of these large flocks may be said to have 

 been completed. As those intensely cold nights set in the poor 

 things crept underneath clumps of whins and bushes, into holes, or 

 anywhere affording cover, in a vain endeavour to procure shelter 

 sufficient to preserve them from the cold ; and when the snow 

 melted, their bleached skeletons were found — in many instances 

 huddled together in little parties of twos and threes. I got 

 as many as foiu- lying together in one rabbit hole. Amongst 

 the large boulders near the south end of Lochaber a considerable 

 flock had perished. On an afternoon in Api-il I spent about an 

 hour in seeking them out from the various crevices into which 

 they had crept, and found upwards of twenty skeletons, both 

 Redwings and Fieldfares. Without exception the skulls and 

 larger bones were either entirely eaten off' or partly nibbled away. 

 I suppose this to have been done by some species of mouse. On 

 the 8th December I saw a flock of about two dozen Redwings and 

 Fieldfares sitting on a hedge near Moss-side of Mabie. Six weeks 



