140 BIRDS OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND. 



THE TREE SPARROW. 



PASSER MONTANUS. 



THE first record of the Tree Sparrow as a Scottish species is given 

 by Mr Don, who states that in his day it was found " on the 

 mountains of Angusshire;" the next is mentioned by the late 

 James Wilson, in his Voyage Round Scotland, a specimen, shot in 

 Caithness, having been seen by that ornithologist in the collection 

 of Mr Sinclair, surgeon, Wick. Since that time the Tree Sparrow 

 has been found near that town by Mr H. Osborne, and also by 

 other observers, in Morayshire, small numbers being known to 

 breed near Elgin ;* but the present stronghold of the species north 

 of the Tweed appears to be East Lothian. It was discovered there 

 many years ago by the late John Nelson, Esq., and was first noticed 

 on the farm of Castletown, near North Berwick, where a few 

 pairs breed annually. It was afterwards found at another farm 

 within a few miles distance, and still later at Pitcox, by the late 

 Dr Nelson, who informed me that there were probably from 

 eighty to ninety pairs on his farm. Mr R. Scot, Skirving, has 

 also informed me that a few pairs breed near his residence at 

 Campton, near Drem, in the same county, thus giving the bird a 

 still wider distribution. All these localities are confined within 

 a radius of ten or fifteen miles, and so far as I am aware, the bird 

 has not yet been detected on the higher grounds of Haddington- 

 shire. I am nearly sure, however, that two pairs at least nested 

 in a tall garden hedge at Dunbar about twenty years ago. 



On the west coast it cannot yet with certainty be included in 

 the list of regular visitants; but I have been informed by Mr 

 Duncan C. Brown of Glasgow, that he has seen the Tree Sparrow 

 at Arrochar, Loch Long, in limited numbers, mixing with the 

 common sparrow, and thus affording him the opportunity of con- 

 trasting the two species together. 



I have no doubt as to the Tree Sparrow being a much commoner 

 bird in Scotland than has hitherto been supposed, especially in 

 the eastern counties, which, in some particular seasons, are visited 

 by migratory flocks from Scandinavia. A very interesting fact 



* It may be mentioned that in a list of birds, evidently prepared with great 

 care, and published in the Statistical Account of the Parish of Edderton, in 

 Ross-shire, the Tree Sparrow is included as a resident species there. 



