Mr Ilarvic-Brovms Further Notes on North Uona. 295 



of these birds on tlie northern peninsula of Eona, and, as 

 already related, all their actions were distinctly indicative 

 of their having a nest or yonng. This seems an interesting 

 link in the breeding distribution of the species — i.e., if we 

 accept our own experience of bird-action as indicative of 

 breeding ; and as we know that Rona lies in the direct main 

 line of their spring migration, such an event happening is 

 scarcely to be wondered at, if we regard also their presently 

 known breeding range. The nearest point at which the 

 Whimbrel is known to breed with certainty, to my knowledge, 

 is on one of the southern islands of Orkney, and this they 

 did. certainly twenty years ago. Faroe and. Iceland seem 

 to be their headquarters in the west of Europe. They pass 

 most numerously north along the coasts of the Outer Hebrides 

 in May, more abundantly on the west coast than on the east 

 coast, occur not so abundantly on the Inner Hebrides, com- 

 paratively scarcer on the west coast of the mainland, and 

 still more infrequently on the East Coast of Scotland. They 

 are known, however, by us to cross over Scotland at certain 

 passes, as, for instance, up the Spean Valley, and down the 

 Spey in spring. The distribution and migration are in great 

 measure dependent upon one another — a simple fact which 

 must force its importance upon the notice of ornithologists 

 as regards many species. 



Barrington shot one male bird on Rona in 1886, but it 

 does not appear to have been noted by Swinburne. The 

 birds we saw were silent, crouching, and running, and did 

 not get on wing. All their actions were distinctly those of 

 breeding birds. The birds that Barrington saw, he thinks, 

 were not breeding. 



Charadrius hiaticida (Linn.) — Ringed Plover. — We met 

 with one pair of the Ringed plover on the north peninsula, 

 evidently nesting, though neither Swinburne nor Barrington 

 seems to have seen the species on the island. 



Falco yeregrinus, Linn. — Peregrine Ealcon. — Swinburne 

 observed a pair near the south-west part of the island, where 

 he considered they had a nest, " from the outcry they made 

 when that portion of the island was approached." We saw 

 nothing of them in 1885, but we did not go near the cliffs of 



