Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 4 (1846).djvu/168

1334 Reed Bunting, Emberiza Schœniclus. Is partially migratory, the main body departs in October, and returns in March.

Skylark, Alauda arvensis. Departs from this and all the interior parishes of the county about the middle of December, and returns by the end of January or beginning of February, and shortly joins the vernal chorus of the song-thrush, chaffinch, and hedge-chanter; a few individuals will remain behind their fellows in the interior: whence the main body departs for so short a season can only be sur- mised. I have looked narrowly to the comparative numbers found on the sea-bound farms throughout the year, but I cannot state whether or not the exiles from the interior take up their residence there ; I have some good grounds for believing that they depart for the milder re- gions of the south.

Golden Plover, Charadrius pluvialis. Comes down in large flocks in the cultivated fields from the Lammermoors in August and the two following months, very few haunt the hills throughout the year ; they are by no means so numerous during midwinter as they are in March and April, when their presence and call-notes give additional charm to the season. I feel assured then that they are also migrants or shifters to a partial extent.

Lapwing, Vanellus cristatus. Departs from our cultivated fields late in October, and after lingering on our sea-coast for a short period the flocks depart, and we see no more of them till March, about the time that we sow field beans, when they once more haunt the sea-shore for a few days previous to dispersing over the country, but a late snow storm drives them back to the coast for food. I leam from the list of winter birds found in the Hebrides and in the neigh- bourhood of Edinburgh, as given in Professor Macgillivray's work, (vol. i.) " that this bird is a permanent resident in the Western Isles, and is common on the shores of the Firth of Forth, near Granton, and on the plains of Corstorphine, in the neighbourhood of the city."

Curlew, Numenius arquata. Leaves the Lammermoors in strag- gling parties early in August for the shores of the Firth ; a few birds may spend a day or two in some pasture field in the interior when on their way to the coast, where they feed along the tide-way, and along shore, and in the neighbouring fields till the season of love recals them to their summer haunts: this return movement takes place in April.

The above list is confessedly incomplete, especially as regards water birds. There are many difficulties attendant upon the study ot their habits and distribution, however the result of the labours of the