240 



BIRDS, 



woods. Hinxman, in 1891, had the note that 'the unmistakable 

 song of this bird was heard in the birch-woods of Strathavon on 

 October 8th, 1891, after a succession of southerly gales. He had 

 never before in all the years he has been working in Banffshire, 

 seen nor heard the bird ' (Annals S. N. H. 1892, p. 135).i 



Mr, Archibald Craig, in the Scot. Nat. 1891, p. 92, records his 

 discovery of the Chiffchaff, in June 1890, in the Pass of Inver- 

 farigaig, from which he naturally draws the inference that they were 

 breeding. His remark that they frequented a clump of fir-trees 

 is not exactly in keeping with our experiences of their usual haunts, 

 although the allied Siberian Chiffchaff was particularly fond of 

 perching upon the top shoots of larch and spruce trees, as observed 

 by Seebohn and Harvie-Brown on the Petchora river in north- 

 east Eussia. 



Mr. 0. A. J. Lee informs us that he found a nest of the Chiff- 

 chaff near Forres on May 21st, 1887. 



Phylloscopus trochilus {L.). Willow Wren. 



Undoubtedly the very commonest warbler in the north. No matter 

 in what wood you may be, whether in the low lands or the wildest 

 glens, once May has set in, on every side you will hear these little 

 birds singing. 



This summer visitant goes up to the highest elevations of 

 birch-growth. Abundant, and generally dispersed, it arrives in 

 April, varying very little in the time of its advent. It does not 

 appear to vary much in numbers, and all local returns speak to 

 its abundance. 



We find by numerous entries in our journals and notes the 

 advent of the Willow Warbler chronicled on dates between April 

 23d, 1886, and April 19th, 1869 {Fauna of Moray), to April 27th, 

 1850 (ibid.), and one recorded as late as 27th May as a first appear- 

 ance (1844), but this can hardly be accepted as indicative of its 

 true time of arrival. In cold late springs, as in 1892, Willow 

 Warblers do not sing on their first arrival, and in consequence are 

 less conspicuous. We noted that they were particularly silent in 

 April 1892, and long into the summer, and we watched birds 



^ Only once have we met with it in the central districts of Scotland, viz. , in the 

 Forth area around Stirlingshire, and that was in the month of September. 



