84 The Birds of Bute and Arran. [Sess. 
number of goldcrests, creepers, and redpoles, also corn and 
yellow buntings. 
Leaving the warblers to the last for a reason, it only falls 
to run over the following to exhaust the list. Wagtails con- 
sisted of the pied and grey species; the spotted flycatcher was 
the sole representative of his genus; and, so far as the chats 
are concerned, three species were common in Arran—namely, 
the wheatear, whinchat, and stonechat. The last-named birds, 
although by no means rare, seem to be irregularly distributed 
in Scotland, as many apparently suitable habitats are without 
them altogether. In Arran they were to be seen in a great 
many different places, chiefly up the wild glens, but there 
were also several pairs on the roadside between Brodick and 
Lamlash. A most sprightly and taking species is this same 
stonechat, and one always interesting to an ornithologist for 
its smart movements and fearlessness when its nesting-ground 
is intruded upon. 
The saying that a lady’s mind is best expressed in her 
postscript is a trite one and familiar to us all, but, in a 
measure, is applicable to the present case, for the simple 
reason that I have held over to the end of this otherwise 
unimportant paper the only item worth recording. The 
warblers are now the last of the category. The commoner 
and better-known species, such as the willow wren, wood 
warbler, and whitethroat, haunted the woodlands and hedge- 
rows, and may be dismissed without further comment. The 
chiffchaff, although not what one would call abundant, was 
not uncommon, its monotonous double note, from which its 
name seems to be derived, being heard in the woods about 
Rothesay, and also in the policy surrounding Brodick Castle. 
This species is much more numerous in England than in Scot- 
land; in Warwickshire especially the numbers are so great 
that it is positively tiresome to listen to the constantly re- 
curring song, if such a sound can be dignified by that epithet. 
In Scotland its distribution might almost be called erratic, as 
its presence has been chronicled in localities that do not seem 
to be so suitable to its habits as others where it is unknown. 
The farthest northerly point where I have personally identified 
it is the Pass of Inverfarigaig, on Loch Ness side, although 
it has been found much farther north. The similarity in 
