of that district. It seems, in fact, a very local species, and is less given to shifting about than the Cole Tit or the Blue Tit.

In Mr A. G. More's paper, published in the Ibis, Perthshire, Aberdeenshire, and Inverness-shire are mentioned as counties in which this bird has been found breeding, the most northern breeding haunts being Inverness, so that the range of the species extends considerably beyond the limits formerly assigned to it.

So far as I have observed, the name Marsh Tit has been misapplied, at least a more appropriate one might have been chosen, as the bird does not confine itself to marshes or moist places. Writing from the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire, Mr Alston informs me that, though not so numerous as the preceding species, the Marsh Tit is not uncommon in his neighbourhood, and nests there regularly, frequenting natural birch woods and pine plantations; and I have also been informed by Mr Brown that in autumn he has seen numbers threading their way through the bushes within the policies of his residence at Dunipace, in Stirlingshire.

THE LONG-TAILED TIT.

PARUS CAUDATUS.

THIS singularly restless little bird is tolerably common in many parts of the West of Scotland, but is more noticeable in winter, when flying in numbers alongside the bare hedgerows, than in summer, when it betakes itself to the woods. It is, perhaps, nowhere more common than in the neighbourhood of Loch Lomond, where I have seen, I may say, hundreds in the course of a day's walk. In the dead of winter they traverse the hawthorn hedges with amusing quickness, always keeping before the pedestrian, and bounding away in flitting groups, alighting every fifteen or twenty yards, and repeating their movements when approached. I remember one breezy day in October of seeing great numbers at Luss on the march in this way, and of being struck with their curious appearance on wing, apt as they were to have been mistaken for leaves blown off the twigs. Flights like these are occasionally seen in the outskirts of Glasgow. Once or twice I have observed busy companies searching the trees near some of the streets, moving briskly from one tree to another as if they meant to examine hundreds before nightfall. On these occasions they are easily

known by their call-note, which is plaintive, yet shrill, and quite in keeping with the slender figure of the bird. It is found also on some of the inner islands, being rather common in Islay, as I have been informed by Mr Elwes, and likewise in some parts of Skye.

The nest of this bird is a very beautiful structure, and is remarkable for the extreme profusion of feathers it contains as a lining. The late Professor Macgillivray had one in his possession which, on being taken down, was found to contain 2379 feathers, belonging chiefly to the pheasant, wood-pigeon, rook, and partridge, and which, when shaken, were sufficient "to fill a hat of moderate phrenological pretensions."

Dr Saxby has met with the Long-Tailed Tit in Shetland, where, however, it is of extremely rare occurrence.

OBS.-It may here not be out of place to state that the BEARDED TIT (Calamophilus biarmicus) is catalogued as a Forfarshire species in Don's fauna and flora of that county, published in 1813, and that a writer in Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, etc., for 1830, states that he saw a specimen at Inchinnan, in Renfrewshire, where the river Gryfe joins the Clyde.

INSESSORES.

DENTIROSTRES.

AMPELIDE.

THE BOHEMIAN WAXWING.

BOMBYCILLA GARRULA.

THIS lively and beautiful bird may be said to be a frequent winter visitant to the eastern counties, but in the midland and western counties its appearance is extremely irregular and uncertain. It is recorded by the Rev. W. Patrick, that a vast flock of waxwings appeared in the haughs of Hamilton, in the winter of 1782. Three specimens were shot there in 1830.

I have not been able to trace the occurrence of this species on any of the Outer Hebrides, but several specimens were seen and shot in the Isle of Skye in 1850. It has likewise been obtained in Argyleshire and Wigtownshire. A specimen which I saw was taken alive at Portpatrick in the winter of 1866. Early in December of that year, waxwings were observed in various parts of Britain, in large flocks, greatly exceeding those of former years; and from one or two correspondents I learned that these migratory

flocks had spread themselves over a large tract of country. In the north of England they were observed in the month of November, and I heard of as many as fifty-seven specimens having been killed in a single week in one county alone. On the eastern side of Scotland examples occurred sparingly in nearly all the counties, but in Aberdeenshire and Morayshire, they were seen in flocks of forty or fifty birds. In the western counties, on the other hand, I could not learn of a single instance of the bird's capture; but in midland districts small parties were observed. One of these stray flocks, consisting of five birds, made its appearance near Lanark, in a garden where there were several rowan trees, on the berries of which the birds fed, until by their tameness they attracted the attention of a bird-stuffer, who managed to shoot them all after they had been some days in the neighbourhood. The arrival of these erratic birds in such numbers in the year referred to at once suggested a winter of unusual severity, a surmise which was afterwards abundantly verified, though at the time of their first appearance it was difficult to believe there could be such a thing in prospect, the weather being then remarkably mild.*

In addition to this occurrence of the waxwing, there were numerous records from the eastern counties of England of an extraordinary migration of the grey phalarope to those shoresanother species usually associated with hard winters. Both had come to us even weeks before the storm which their presence predicted, and immense numbers fell victims to the rage for collecting, now unhappily rife among naturalists. In all likelihood they had come from the north-east, and had either already experienced the winters of hard frost and heavy snow which followed in their train, or instinctively quitted their native districts on its approach. The waxwing and phalarope are supposed to breed extensively in Siberia and the north of Asia generally. These great flocks, therefore, had probably travelled along the northern extremity of Lapland and Norway, and down the western side of the latter country, extending their flight across the North Sea to the shores of Britain-a long journey, indeed, but perilous to the poor birds only at its close. I question the fairness of killing these beautiful creatures, coming to us, as they do, for shelter.

* Severe winters are not necessarily connected with the bird's appearance; that just passed-1869-70-memorable for heavy snow-storms, was not heralded, so far as I can learn, by the appearance of a single waxwing.