﻿64 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



menon of migration, as it presents itself at a lighthouse tower 

 on a favourable night. Much as we have learned from the 

 Isle of May, it has still much to tell us. 



My list of " Forth " birds extends to 248 species. Fully a 

 dozen others have been recorded, but on evidence which in 

 my opinion is insufficient ; some, indeed, are palpable errors. 

 On the other hand, there are half a dozen or more species, 

 any of which might be detected on our east coast any year. 

 I feel sure the Yellow-browed Warbler, the Barred Warbler, 

 the Eed-breasted Flycatcher, the Lapland Bunting, and 

 Temminck's Stint, for example, visit us occasionally, and 

 will yet be obtained.^ 



In order to show the character of our Avifauna, the 248 

 species might be grouped in various ways. For the present 

 it may suffice to say that 125 of them have been found 

 breeding in the area, 94 being residents out-and-out or 

 partial, and 31 summer visitants ; and that of the 123 

 non-breeders, 58 are winter visitants, 28 transmigrants or 

 birds of passage, and 37 casuals that have occurred less than 

 say five times in the area or just outside it.^ It must be 

 remembered, however, that it is a feature of our bird-life for 

 many species to be partially resident and partially migratory. 

 Thus, while some of our Song Thrushes are resident all the 

 year round, a large proportion are essentially only summer 

 visitants ; others, again, visit us merely as birds of passage, 

 and it may be that some play the part of winter visitants. 

 Such cases, it will be seen, render satisfactory grouping 

 difficult, and show the importance of the study of geographi- 

 cal races.^ Land-birds, sea-birds, shore-birds are all, as one 

 would expect, well represented in our area. The Golden 

 Eagle, Ptarmigan, and Goosander reach in " Forth " the 

 southern limit of their breeding-range in the eastern drainage 

 areas of Britain, while the Grasshopper Warbler and Chifi'- 

 chaff seem as yet seldom to nest north of this. A marked 



^ Several additions to tlie list — including these two Warblers, which. Misses 

 Baxter and Rintoul have detected on the Isle of May {A. S. K. H., 1907) — 

 have been obtained since the above was written. 



^ Some of these will probably prove to be entitled to rank as birds of 

 passage. 



^ British Song Thrushes are stated by Dresser and others to be darker in 

 colouration than Continental ones. 



