lists given by some observers who are known to have had an accurate knowledge of birds. Thus, it is included in Don's Fauna of Forfarshire, and also in Mr Kinloch's statistical account of the parish of Kirriemuir in the same county, the compilers of both being men of more than ordinary shrewdness and discrimination in matters relating to natural history. The species was likewise observed by the late Dr Landsborough at Stevenston in Ayrshire, and by the minister of Luss in Dumbartonshire, from whose excellent list, published upwards of seventy years ago, I have taken the Gaelic name originally applied to the Wood Lark. Pennant includes it in his 'Caledonian Zoology,' which was prefixed to Lightfoot's Flora Scotica,' published in 1777, and the late Dr Fleming, in the short remarks given in his work on British animals, does not speak of it as a bird of restricted distribution. In the county of Caithness it had been found by the late Mr Sinclair, surgeon, Wick, in whose collection a specimen was seen by Mr James Wilson, who refers to the species in his Voyage Round Scotland, vol. ii., p. 179. Mr Edward informs me that he has procured the species in Banffshire, and it appears to have been oftener than once observed in Aberdeenshire by Mr Angus, who has sent me the following notes on its occurrence there:

"In the last week of March, 1863, I shot a male Wood Lark in the enclosure at Scotston House.* Being the first time I had heard this pleasing songster, I was particularly struck by its mode of singing. It continued flying in circles, trilling its sweet music without intermission for half-an-hour or longer, except once or twice when it alighted for a moment on the top bar of a wooden fence. I again observed the species one frosty morning in March, 1865, at the rifle range near the powder magazine. The sun was strong and clear, and the song of the bird was as jubilant as if it had been uttered in the middle of summer." Mr Brown informs me that this bird breeds on the confines of Torwood in Stirlingshire. I have myself seen it on one or two occasions near the Bridge of Allan in the same county, and also in the vicinity of Forres in Morayshire-the only two localities in which I have met with it in Scotland. Mr Thomas M'Ilwraith, now resident in Hamilton, Ontario, C. W., writes to me that he watched a pair of Wood Larks near Ayr in 1853. "The male," says Mr M'Ilwraith,

* Mr Angus has since shown me the specimen.

LAPLAND BUNTING-SNOW BUNTING.

125

"sang very sweetly, rising from the dead projecting limb of an oak, and, after making a circle, singing as he went, would return again to his starting point, near which, I think, the female was sitting."

The most northern locality for the occurrence of the Wood Lark that I have been able satisfactorily to trace is Orkney, a specimen having been shot in Mr Dunn's garden at Stromness on 20th February, 1844. A manuscript note by one of the authors of the Fauna Orcadensis states that it has occurred in Shetland, but neither date nor locality is given.

INSESSORES.

CONIROSTRES.

THE LAPLAND BUNTING.

PLECTROPHANES LAPPONICA.

EMBERIZIDE.

A SPECIMEN of this bunting, shot in Caithness many years ago, is in the collection of the late Mr E. S. Sinclair of Wick. Mr Shearer, in referring to this specimen, states that the species has been found twice in that county, but gives no particulars. (See Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society, Edinburgh, vol. ii., p. 338).

THE SNOW BUNTING.

PLECTROPHANES NIVALIS.

Eun an t' sneachdai.

IN the winter season the Snow Bunting may be said to be a very common species over the whole of the western counties, arriving generally in October and taking its departure in April. A few stragglers remain some weeks later, and are occasionally taken on the low grounds in May, but these are exceptional cases. In the Outer Hebrides it is, so far as I can ascertain, strictly migratory, and does not prolong its stay beyond a few weeks in the early part of winter. I have obtained specimens from Benbecula and other islands, chiefly in the month of October. The flocks there are not large, seldom exceeding eighty or an hundred birds; they always come with westerly winds, and pitch upon the low grounds on the

western side of the Uists and Benbecula, where they are first noticed. These flights are probably migrants from Iceland, none of the Hebridean mountains being of sufficient elevation to detain the species in summer. I cannot learn whether the birds are

again seen on their return journey.

Large flocks of Snow Buntings are observed in Ayrshire and Lanarkshire during the months of November and December. These are principally observed on flat pasture lands, where they keep in compact bodies, reminding one of large flights of starlings. In this way they often appear on Glasgow Green, and grounds of a similar character within a few miles of the city; and are also known as regular winter visitants in the neighbourhood of the Campsie Hills, where they attract attention when flying about like drifting clouds along the hill sides.

It is very difficult to establish the fact of this species breeding regularly in Scotland, but that it does so in limited numbers can hardly be doubted. The nest is not easy of discovery; indeed, in many cases it must be almost inaccessible, at least to any one but the most enthusiastic egg collector. Our highest mountain tops, where alone such a treasure as a snow-flake's nest can be found in this country, are but seldom visited, save by wandering shepherds, whose attention is taken up with more important objects than small birds. Many of these men whom I have consulted tell me that they see the Snow Bunting in small parties throughout the year. I have most satisfactory information of this nature from persons who at regular intervals traverse the mountains of Aberdeen, Banff, and Inverness, extending from east to west, including Lochnagar, Ben-na-buird, Ben Avon, Ben-macdhui, Glasmheal, Cairngorm, and Cairntoul. Again, in Ross-shire, Ben Wyvis, Ben Dearig, and an entire group of "Bens" lying to the south and east of Gairloch, are likewise frequented by small flocks in summer. All my informants seem to know the bird perfectly by its Gaelic name, and from some of them I have obtained specimens in summer plumage; but it has been a source of wonder to them how they have never happened to find its nest. The birds are generally met with on the summit of the mountains, where there are large masses of splintered rock lying scattered about in wild confusion, and it is on ground of that nature that the search should be made. Wearied shepherds, however, at the close of a toilsome climb of three or four thousand feet cannot,