Mr Dalglcish on Saxicola deserti, the Desert Chat. 67 



also more distinct ; the back is also of a greyer tinge at that 

 season. Unfortunately ten days elapsed, after it was shot, 

 before Mr Taylor obtained it for preservation, but although 

 it has suffered a good deal in appearance in consequence, he 

 has been very successful in setting it up. The contents of 

 the stomach consisted of small flies. 



I may add that tliis is the second addition to the Saxicolm 

 on the British list within a recent period, a specimen of S. 

 rufa, the russet chat, having been obtained for the first time 

 in England, at Bury, Lancashire, on 8th May 1875, as recorded 

 in P. Z. S., 1878, pp. 881, 977. 



In connection with the occurrence of this specimen, it 

 may be interesting to mention that some days later, namely, 

 upon 9th December, a male waxwing (Ampelis garrulits, L.), 

 in fine plumage, was killed in the same neighbourhood, at 

 Howtown, on the banks of the Devon, two miles west from 

 Alloa, on the estate of Shawpark. It had been observed for 

 some time previously. When obtained, it had been feeding 

 upon the hips or seed-vessels of the wild rose. Writing on 

 the occurrence of these specimens, Mr Harvie-Brown informs 

 me that, from the returns which he and Mr Cordeaux have 

 received from the lightships in the English Channel, of the 

 migration period of the autumn of 1880, it appears that, 

 contrary to precedent and to the experience of 1879, the 

 lines of migration were, during the whole autumn of 1880, 

 from the French coast to the English coast ; and that Great 

 Grey Shrikes were unusually numerous in Great Britain, and 

 crossing Helisjoland from east to west about the end of 

 November, and Great Snipe not uncommon ; while somewhat 

 earlier, or on 21st September, an Esquimaux Curlew {Numenius 

 lorealis, Forst.) was obtained in Kincardineshire, and a Glossy 

 Ibis (Falcinellus igneus, Gm.), on October 4, in Aberdeenshire 

 — these all pointing, in his opinion, to an unusually large 

 wave of migration westwards during the late autumn. 



