184 



BIRDS. 



" In the first part of the summer of 1903 they were tolerably numerous 

 at Eoroe and the Trondjem Fjelds, and also in Finmark. In 1904 

 there was a Lemming year in Finmark from the spring till middle 

 of June, when every one disappeared. In the southern fjelds there 

 were hardly any Lemmings that summer." ^ 



Of the occurrences of the Rough-legged Buzzard close up to the 

 Dee watershed, there is a "glac" or deep "scaur" or "sheugh" 

 in Strathfinella Hill which faces north, and Avhich was pointed out 

 to me by Mr. Milne as the haunt of this species when on migration, 

 and where specimens have been procured. 



Pernis apivorus (L.). Honey-Buzzard. 



Rare visitant. 



I have no evidence of the Honey-Buzzard nesting within this 

 area. 



Don merely includes it in his list without any remarks. 



In 1866 Mr. P. Henderson, of Dundee, had one in the flesh 

 which he dissected, and later on he told me the results, when I 

 exhibited others sent by him in 1878. Two of these latter were 

 shot at Mill Hill in Forfarshire, and at Balmuir respectively ; one, 

 a female, at the former locality, and another, a male, at the latter. 

 These two were shot within three days of one another, viz. the 

 female on the 10th, and the male on the 13th September 1878. 



Mr. Henderson said that these were the first he had handled 

 for fourteen years, and he added the information that the last one 

 he had seen he had dissected, which was in 1866 (slight discrepancy 

 here), and he found in its stomach the remains of eighteen legs of 



^ For further information on such points refer to Coliett s paper for other Lemming 

 years, and place tliem in juxtaposition with the greatest "Rough-legged Buzzard 

 years." Seebohm takes notice of Collett's remark that Snowy Owls do not always lay 

 so many as ten eggs at a time. Naturally their doing so, or laying any unusual number, 

 depends upon the supply of food. Thus in Lemming years, when the favourite food is 

 most abundant, the birds are found to lay more eggs than they do in times of scarcity ; 

 and this also occurs with other species, as we have good evidence to show took place 

 with the Short-eared Owl at the time of the Vole plague in our Border counties. The 

 Snowy Owl did lay unusual numbers in 1871 — the year after that in which E, R. Alston 

 and I were in Norway, and when we captured many Lemmings ; and these birds were 

 recorded as breeding far further south than had been known before. The greatest 

 number of eggs we got — taken for us hy Ole J. Lysne — was eight in a nest, but we learned 

 that ten was by no means uncommon. As stated above, the Rev. Francis C. R. 

 Jourdain instances nine in a "clutch " in Novaya Zemlia. Alston and I witnessed the 

 commencement of a Lemming year on the Fille Fjeld in 1871. 1903-4 was another 

 Lemming year. 



