NOTES AND QUERIES. 4-13 



Yellow-browed Warbler in Lincolnshire. — On Oct. 7th I shot a 

 specimen of the Yellow-browed Warbler, Phylloscopus superciliosus 

 from a hedge near the sea-bank at North Cotes. It flew out of the 

 hedge as I was walking along the bank, and I saw at once, from its 

 quick and even flight and brighter colour, that it was not a Goldcrest. 

 There was a fresh west breeze blowing at the time, and no sign of 

 migration among the smaller birds, which were singularly scarce in 

 the sea-side hedges. Probably this bird had crossed on the previous 

 day, when the wind blew lightly from the east, bringing with it the 

 first Snow Bunting. — G. H. Caton Haigh (Grainsby Hall, Great 

 Grimsby, Lincolnshire). 



Introduction of Ptarmigan into the Faeroe Islands. — In ' The 

 Zoologist' for 1890 (p. 392), Mr. J. J. Dalgleish referred to Herr H. C. 

 Midler's report that on the 21st of August, 1890, a pair of Ptarmigan 

 were observed (on Kirkeboe Rein) near Thorshavn, with eight or ten 

 young ones nearly ready to fly. So far the experiment appeared to be 

 most successful, and I hoped to hear favourable accounts of increase. 

 I regret to state that such has not been the case, and since 1890 only 

 two Ptarmigan have been met with, viz. one shot in 1891 at Huisavick, 

 in Sandoe, another in the same year Tranjisvaag, in the island of 

 Suderoe. These birds must have flown across sea channels from the 

 island of Stromoe, where they were originally turned out, and were 

 killed in ignorance of that fact. In company of friends, I was three 

 weeks in the Faeroe Islands last summer, and we visited most of the 

 islands in the group. Many of the higher hills, including the highest 

 Slatteritinde, were ascended by members of our party, a careful look- 

 out was kept for any traces of Ptarmigan, and inquiries were made 

 from all shepherds met with, or those whose avocations took them to 

 the hills, but we could neither see nor hear anything that justified the 

 hope of Ptarmigan being still alive in the Faeroes. This result is very 

 disappointing, and it is not easy to understand why Lagopus nqmtris, 

 introduced from Greenland, and breeding successfully in Faeroe two 

 months after introduction in 1890, should apparently have died out. 

 There is quite a sufficiency of suitable food in the Faeroes for Ptar- 

 migan ; in Grinnell Land L. rupestris subsists almost entirely on 

 Saxitile oppositifolia, and there is abundance of that plant on the 

 higher hills of Faeroe. The damp and comparatively mild climate 

 of the Faeroe Islands, very different from the drier and colder climate 

 of Greenland, in winter, may have been the reason for the birds not 

 living, and it would be interesting to see whether an importation 

 on the same scale of the species from Iceland might not prove more 

 successful. It is just possible that some of the Ptarmigan may be 



