EMBERIZID/E. 



they were nesting, and in 1871 Mr. Harvie Brown heard 

 that young birds had been again seen on Lochnagar. Mr. 

 Gray also learnt from Mr. William Hamilton that on July 

 12th, 1868, that gentleman and his brother saw, on the top 

 of Scuir Ouran, a hill some 4000 feet high on the borders of 

 Inverness and Eoss, two pairs of Snow-Buntings, which 

 no doubt were breeding, and the same naturalist also states 

 that near Gairloch, in the western part of the latter county 

 there is a group of high mountains which are likewise 

 frequented by these birds in summer, while Mr. John 

 Bateson of Shielday has lately informed him that they breed 

 in a range of precipitous hills in that neighbourhood.* 



In the posthumously-published ' Birds of Shetland ' of 

 the lamented Dr. Saxby it is stated that a few Snow-Bunt- 

 ings invariably remain throughout the summer in those 

 islands. Many years ago, having observed them in pairs 

 from May till August on the hill and cliffs of Saxaford in 

 Unst, he became convinced that they must breed there, and 

 his suspicions were strengthened by seeing two of their eggs 

 among the spoils of a local dealer. However he says " No 

 certainty in the matter was arrived at until the 2nd July 1861, 

 when a man discovered a nest and three fresh eggs, all of 

 which he brought to me. He had found them in the crevice 

 of a rock near the top of one of the high sea-cliffs at Burra- 

 firth, below the hill of Saxaford. The nest was rather shallow, 

 and was composed of coarse grass and fibrous roots, lined 

 with wool' and fine hair of horses and cows. After this I 

 often observed the birds in the breeding season, once in 

 July, about the cliffs at Graveland, but usually near the old 

 spot." In 1867 Saxby again obtained three more unidenti- 

 fied specimens, and in 1871 a nest and four eggs which had 

 been found the preceding summer among the stones of a 

 demolished cairn in Saxaford. This nest is described as 

 being very like the former one, but it was a little thicker 

 and contained a few pieces of fern in the walls. 



In the Faeroes a considerable number of Snow-Buntings 

 pass the summer. On the more southerly of the islands 



* Capt. Kennedy thinks that it also breeds in the Orkneys (Zool. s.s. p. 3914). 



