BIRDS. 105 



Parus caeruleus, L. Blue Titmouse. 



We have very few records of this species in Orkney since the one 

 given by Messrs. Baikie and Heddle. 



Mr. Eanken saw the bird referred to by those authors, but, 

 being afraid of blowing it to pieces, fired too long a shot and 

 missed it. 



Since the foregoing was written, however, the son of the 

 above-named gentleman, Mr. T. W. Eanken, saw a Blue Tit at 

 Kirkwall on the 20th of May 1888. Mr. Millais also informs 

 us that in April 1887 he saw a Blue Tit at Stromness, in which 

 place he had once before met with the species, though he has 

 forgotten the precise date. 



Family CERTHIID^I. 

 Certhia familiaris, L. Common Creeper. 



Although Baikie and Heddle include the Creeper in their list, they 

 give no actual instance of its occurrence, only the bare statement 

 that it has been occasionally shot in Orkney. 



Mr. Moodie-Heddle says that one was shot near Stromness 

 in 1841, and Mr. T. W. Ranken says : "I have seen this bird 

 in the garden here on two different occasions ; the last time in 

 the month of June 1884, the bird passed behind the trunk of 

 a tree within two yards of where I was sitting." 



Want of trees is naturally not conducive to the spread of 

 such an arboreal species in Orkney, and the difficulty of getting 

 up plantations would prevent its increase. 



Family TROGrLODYTID-EI. 

 Troglodytes parvulus, Koch. Wren. 



Ore.: pronounced like Wirann. (J. G. M.-H.) 

 Seems to be fairly common and resident in many of the islands, 

 breeding in bushes when such are obtainable, at other times in 

 long heather, by the sides of burns, etc. 



