98 BIRDS OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND. 



Glen, Renfrewshire, but not so far above the sea-level. Some of 

 the males on their arrival are very dingy in appearance, contrast- 

 ing curiously with the sedge warbler, which is then brightest in 

 colour. 



From a manuscript note in Baikie and Heddle's work, I find 

 that the species is occasionally found in Orkney. A solitary 

 specimen was taken in 1847, as early as March. With us it sel- 

 dom appears before the first week of May. I have not been able 

 to trace it on any of the Hebrides. 



THE CHIFFCHAFF. 



SYLVIA RUFA. 



THIS warbler appears to be very local in most parts of Scotland. 

 It is not uncommon in roadside plantations near Glasgow, and a 

 few also visit the district of Loch Lomond. Deeside and Braemar 

 are localities mentioned by the late Dr Macgillivray in his Natural 

 History of Deeside, which was printed by command of the Queen, 

 but in that district it appears to be rare. According to Dr Turn- 

 bull, it is also rare in East Lothian. Mr Anderson has procured 

 specimens at Girvan, in Ayrshire; and Mr Brown informs me that 

 it breeds in Dunmore grounds, Stirlingshire, and that he had seen 

 its nest, taken in 1866 by Mr Thompson, who believes that it 

 nests there regularly. 



Writing from Aberdeenshire, Mr Angus states that on the 8th 

 of May, 1865, he received a Chiffchaff, very much destroyed by 

 shot, from Birse, Deeside, and that in May of the year following, 

 he observed this species near Aboyne Castle. He noticed it again 

 in June, 1867, at Ward House. The species has, according to Mr 

 Shearer, been seen for two successive seasons near Wick, in 

 Caithness-shire. 



In the Outer Hebrides, the Chiffchaff frequents Rhodil, in 

 Harris, as I have been informed by Mr Elwes, who procured a 

 specimen there in May, 1868. 



A manuscript note in Baikie and Heddle's work mentions the 

 occurrence of a single specimen in Orkney in 1850; and Dr 

 Saxby also includes the species as "rare" in his Shetland lists. 

 One was seen by that excellent observer in 1864, so late as the 

 21st of November. 



