128 



BIRDS. 



Crossbills which have occurred on migration at outlying stations 

 in the north, as at Shetland and Flannen Isles, have been identified 

 as of continental origin. How far those which have been recorded 

 from western localities, such as Mull and even the Outer Hebrides, 

 can be relegated to specimens of foreign or of home extraction, 

 I think, still remains to be decided. 



Crossbills have been found in the pine-trees around Monteath- 

 mount Moor, Guthrie, by Mr. M'Connochie, who recognised them 

 first by their notes. 



Mr. Berwick, Monimail, Fife, speaks of the Crossbill as an 

 "occasional visitor, not common. A large flock visited Stravithie 

 in 1856, when a large fir- wood was cut down. The birds fed upon 

 the fir-tops." 



Later in the chronology, and since the above was typed off, 

 Mr. Milne informs me that there was a flock of about fifty in the 

 Drumtochty Woods on October 1, 1905, as seen and reported by 

 Da\'id Mitchell, who resides there and upon the estate. 



In fact, there is a distinct indication of this southward trend by 

 1904-5, towards the south, "bursting" out from their former head- 

 centres in Spey, etc., and from the better-wooded fringes of our 

 present area along the northern boundaries. In this way it may be 

 exampled : Formerly, only a winter visitor, they appear now both in 

 winter and late spring at many points, staying late into February 

 and March, and evidently making preparations for a more permanent 

 residence. They had been noticed at Bonskeid as winter visitors 

 only for a number of years, but of late as remaining later and later, 

 and probably intending to nest. This was prominent in March 

 1905, as I am informed on the authority of the Misses Barbour 

 of Bonskeid, through Mr. Godfrey. We know that the species has 

 already bred further south than that point, but that need not affect 

 the new notes regarding their more abundant occurrences as above. 

 That, in my estimation, merely depends upon the growth and ages 

 of timber, and local amenities, and ought not to be confused with 

 the phenomena of a more general dispersal. 



[Loxia bifasciata {C. L. Brehm). Two-barred Crossbill. 



Loxia leucoptera, Gmel White-winged Crossbill. 



Col. Drummond Hay believed he identified some six or seven " "V^'hite-winged 

 Crossbills" at Kinfauns about six years prior to 1874 — say 1868 — but lie 

 failed to obtain a specimen. Although Col. Drummond Hay was probably 

 acquainted with the American White-winged Crossbill (and, so fjir as I 



