390 



writes, " I have no doubt that this species is a frequent, if not an annual, visitant to the 

 eastern shores of Scotland, ranging from the Ythan to the Tweed. In January of the present 

 year (1870) similar flights to those already mentioned had apparently visited the same estuaries. 

 On the first of the month a specimen was shot near St. Andrews, and was procured by R. G. 

 Wardlaw Ramsay, jun., Esq., of Whitehill, Lasswade, who saw the bird before it was skinned. 

 Mr. Ramsay obligingly forwarded the specimen for exhibition to a meeting of the Natural- 

 History Society of Glasgow, and has informed me that, when killed, the bird was flying in 

 company with Snow-Buntings. Lord Binning informs me that a Shore-Lark was shot by a 

 Dunbar fisherman on Tyne Sands, East Lothian, in the end of November 1869, and is now in the 

 collection of Mr. Balfour, of Whittingham, and also that there is a specimen in the Mellerstain 

 Collection which was shot in Spittal Sands at Berwick-on-Tweed in 1840. I am, therefore, 

 indebted to Lord Binning for an opportunity of recording the earliest, and, with the exception of 

 Mr. Ramsay's notice, the latest examples of this species that have been taken on the shores of 

 Scotland." In Ireland it does not appear to have ever occurred. 



It appears to be rare in Greenland, as Professor Reinhardt (Ibis, 1861, p. 8) only records 

 the occurrence of a single specimen, which was shot at Godthaab, in October 1835, and presented 

 to the Royal Museum by Holboll. I do not, however, find any record of its occurrence in 

 Iceland ; and it does not appear to occur in the Fseroes. In Scandinavia it is a northern and 

 eastern species, being found numerously during the breeding-season in the extreme north, but 

 seldom occurs in the southern and western districts. In a letter just received from Mr. R. 

 Collett, of Christiania, he writes as follows: — "The line of migration would appear to be east 

 of Norway ; for it is very seldom met with in the southern districts. Two specimens were shot 

 some years since near Christiania; and one of my friends saw a large flock late in April 1874 at 

 Hamar, near Lake Mjosen, and shot several, which he sent to me for examination. These are 

 the only instances known of its occurrence in Southern Norway." It breeds numerously on the 

 Varanger fiord; and notes on its habits, as observed there by Pastor Sommerfelt, are given 

 below. Nilsson, speaking of its range in Sweden, brings it forward as a special illustration of 

 the gradual change in our ornithological fauna, and the increasing migration into Europe from 

 the east of many species of birds. He states (Skand. Fauna, pp. 443, 444) that " when first 

 noticed by Linnaeus in 1758, and Brisson in 1760, it was only known as an American bird. 

 Later on it was discovered in those parts of Asia which are nearest to the American continent ; 

 and Pallas informs us that in his time it was abundant throughout all Siberia. Thence it 

 has gradually migrated into the north-eastern portion of Europe, through Russia to Lapland. 

 Even as late as about twenty years ago scarcely a single specimen had been observed within 

 the limits of the Scandinavian peninsula. The first who saw and shot it here appears to be 

 Professor S. Loven, who saw a flock at Vadso, in East Finmark. It has since been found by 

 Mr. Lowenhjelm breeding at Quickjock, and by Mr. Malm in several fell-swamps between 

 Mortensnses and Vadso (1841-43)." He further gives many instances of its occurrence in 

 Southern and Central Sweden of latter years. Mr. Wheelwright met with it at Quickjock, but 

 did not find its nest. He says (Spring and Sum. in Lapl. p. 290) that it was " the common fell- 

 Lark; and on this year they appear to have been more common around Quickjock than usual. 

 On the 28th April I shot the first, a single specimen, close to the house ; and after that small 



