Mr Gray on Bird-Life in Edinhurgh. 87 



than usual interest in the investigation of what might be 

 called " Suburban Ornithology." 



It was stated that during the month of December 1874 the 

 thermometer in the neighbourhood of Inverleith Eow was on 

 twenty-seven mornings at or below the freezing point, and 

 indicating collectively 277 degrees — the lowest markings 

 extending from the 15th till the close of the month. Through- 

 out the interval the intense frost had pressed heavily on bird- 

 life in general, but particularly on thrushes of various species, 

 and other soft-billed birds, hundreds of which had succumbed 

 to the severity of the season. Among the birds which had 

 been driven from their usual haunts into the centre of the 

 city, the snipe, kingfisher, and blackheaded gull were the 

 most noteworthy. They were found frequenting drains, to 

 which they had been doubtless attracted by the moisture 

 caused by heated water. Flocks of larks, pipits, redwings, 

 and fieldfares had been seen in the public streets and squares, 

 perching disconsolately on trees and shrubs, or cowering on 

 the roadway ; and numbers of blackheaded gulls had for two 

 days been observed crow^ding together and feeding on the 

 surface of refuse heaps near the Eailway Station. The writer 

 of the paper also stated that at his own residence in Inverleith 

 Eow he had caused a space in the snow to be cleared and 

 quantities of food to be laid down for the starving birds. The 

 experiment had resulted in an odd assemblage of species — as 

 many as seventy-four birds having been counted at one time 

 struggling together for a mouthful — starlings, magpies (three 

 in number), rooks, thrushes, redbreasts, blue tits, hedge spar- 

 rows, blackbirds, missel thrushes, fieldfares, and sea gulls 

 being of the number. 



Early in January a rapid thaw set in, accompanied by 

 heavy blasts of rain, and this had brought utter ruin to many 

 of the feathered visitants who fell prostrate under the bluster- 

 ing power of the storm, and it had then been noticed that the 

 poor creatures whose movements had afforded so much inter- 

 est during the previous week were unfit for flight. Many, in 

 consequence, perished at a time when it had been supposed 

 their hardships were over. 



In the outskirts of the city certain birds were notably 



