66 



BIRDS. 



very full account of this rare occurrence, consult the original record 

 by Col. Drummond Hay (Trans. Perth. Soc. Xaf. Science, vol. i. pp. 

 135-8). After referring to the only other occurrence of the species 

 in Britain, which will be found figured in Gould's British Birds, 

 Col. Drummond Hay goes on to say that it was not until the early 

 part of 18S9 that he found trace of this Perthshii^e specimen, and 

 after careful inquiry he ascertained the following facts connected 

 with it. I give them in his own words : " I ascertained that in the 

 month of February of the very severe winter of 1878-9, ten years 

 pre-siously, Mr. Eobert Gloag, stone-mason, a keen observer of nature 

 with a good knowledge of birds, as he was going down the road by 

 the Friarton with his gun, was suddenly arrested by hearing the 

 noisy call-notes of a couple of birds, which struck his ear as perfectly 

 new to him. ... He found them, and secured one ... on a spit of 

 waste ground running into the river, and covered with docks and 

 ^vild sorrel, on the seed of which they seemed to be feeding."' Col. 

 Drummond Hay goes on to say : " Fortunately Mr. Gloag had the 

 bird preserved, and gave it to his brother, Mr. John Gloag, living at 

 Almond Bank, in whose possession it has remained ever since." The 

 latter gentleman presented it to the Perth Museum, and it is now 

 deposited in their local collection.^ 



Col. Drummond Hay gives a very lucid sketch of the known 

 distribution and life-history of the species in its continental haunts 

 — an excellent epitome of the subject. 



The specimen will also be found recorded in the Ibis, 1889, p. 579. 



T Urdus to rquatus, jL. Ring-Ouzel. 



Old Gaelic name, Bhubh craige (old Statistical Account, OMct. Kev. 

 Patrick Stuart). 



Summer ^dsitant. Xever noticed in the Lowlands by Col. 

 Drummond Hay, even during migrations. Confined to the upper 

 districts, but there of very general occurrence, and quite common. 

 Arrives in April. Breeds. Abounds in the mountains. Descends 

 in early autumn to the gardens of the hill-farms, and becomes, for a 

 short time, destructive to small fruits. These are usually old birds, 



^ I take this opportunity of emphatically agreeing with Col. Drummond Hay's 

 remarks in the paper just quoted, as regards the cause of the occurrence — mostly of 

 young birds — of such great rarities from the far east, as against Mr. Gould's %-iews, when 

 he instances the irruption of Pallas's Sand- Grouse in proof of them, and as compared 

 with the present visit of this species. Col. Drummond Hay says of the Sand -Grouse : 

 " They were impelled westward, after long intervals, by some strong influence bearing 

 upon them prior to their breeding season.'' There is wisdom in these words (see also 

 under Sand-Grouse, hura), as compared with the migrations of young birds in autumn. 



