AVEST COAST OF SCOTLAND. 53 



December. Spring : Great numbers. Eazorbills flying north on 

 Jan. 7th, at Skervuile. Puffins seen at Butt of Lewis March 

 3rd. " Rock Birds " in April, all day, flying south at Ushenish, 

 and arrive last week in April ; breed first week in May. Hundreds 

 of Puffins flying south on May 10th and 11th at Ushenish. 

 "Auks " flying south at Skervuile. " Puffins " at Dhuheartach 

 on 2nd and on 20th. Auks, Puffins, &c., at Ushenish, Skervuile. 

 Earliest July 31st ; latest Oct. 18th, 19th, and 20th, at Ushenish. 

 Rush : Thousands at Ushenish, along with Gannets and Kitti- 

 wakes, feeding and flying south all day. 



Great Northern Divers. — Spring : At Skerrj^vore, two seen in 

 June. Autumn : At Sound of Mull two seen feeding, male and 

 feeding ; at same place, two on 10th. 



General Remarks. 



In 1879 there was scarcity of birds at many important 

 stations, such as Butt of Lewis and Monach Island, Skerryvore and 

 Dhuheartach. In that year westerly and N.W. winds prevailed. 

 In 1880 larger numbers were noted. In that year easterly 

 gales and winds prevailed all through the migratory season. In 

 1879 migrants were scarce at the more northerly stations, being 

 compressed by the westerly winds more towards the south, but 

 in 1880 they reached much further north, being expanded by the 

 following easterly gales and winds, as we have seen in treating 

 of the east coast of Scotland this year. 



The stations visited by the largest numbers of birds are the Bell 

 Rock and Isle of May, both being stations pretty far southward, 

 and Pentland Skerries, a more northern station. We now find 

 also that on the west coast the stations sending fullest numerical 

 returns are also southerly stations, and for the most part are 

 situated south of the Firth of Clj^de. Both on east and west 

 coasts all returns coming in from north of Firth of Clyde in 

 west, and north of Fu'th of Tay in east, except Pentland Skerries, 

 report scarcity of birds as compared with last season (1880), and 

 after November birds were unusually scarce. Writing from 

 North Ronaldshay Mr. Tulloch tells us that birds seldom come 

 so far north during migration, but usually trend more towards 

 the mainland. On the west coast, at Rhu Stoir, very few birds 



