Rushes took place on August 16th at Isle of May, and again on 22nd, with easterly wind and fog, principally of Wheatears, culminating on night of Sept. 2nd-3rd, and being accompanied by Redstarts, Chiffchaffs, Robins, Sedge Warblers, Wood Warblers, and Golden and Grey Plovers; Thrushes apparently totally absent. A single adult Blue-throated Warbler, with bright blue breast, was observed at Isle of May. The rush was on Sept. 4th, at Pentland Skerries, with strong N. wind. Another rush, about Sept. 15th, of Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs; and, on 22nd, of Robins, accompanied by a single recorded Goldcrest. A rush of the latter took place on Oct. 10th at Isle of May. Common Wrens, not in large numbers, also migrated on Sept. 22nd and 23rd.
Another feature of the 1883 Report is the abundance of Finches, which usually travel with the Thrushes, but whose migration appears to be extended over a longer period of time than that of the Thrushes in 1883.
It will be gathered from the Report that the dates of rushes on our E. Scottish coasts were slightly later than those on the E. English coast, averaging from twenty-four to thirty hours by the schedules, and that the migration past the more northerly stations of Scotland were in proportion later than in the south. And also that the dates of the heaviest rushes on the E. coast agree fairly well with the dates of the W. coast.
While closing our 1883 Report it is perhaps desirable to call attention to the very great spring migration of Woodcocks, which appears to have crossed Scotland between Clyde and Forth on March 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th, 1884. On the 10th our covers here (Dunipace) were full of Woodcock. Torwood also held large numbers on 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th; at Glenbervie, close to this, also unusual numbers were observed. From the Ayrshire coast they are reported numerous, but not more so than usual at this season, indicating that the Ayrshire coast, or properties along the coast, are usually visited in the spring migration. At Fassaroe, Bray, Co. Wicklow, Mr. Barrington made enquiries, but no extraordinary numbers have been noted there. At Islay Mr. Ballingall reports unusual numbers about the time mentioned.
At Ross Priory, east side of Loch Lomond, a good many were observed, there being snow on the ground at the time; but at Arden, on the west side, and almost immediately opposite, no additions were observed. At Aberfoyle and neighbourhood very large numbers were observed. In East Kilbryde Parish, to the south of Forth and Clyde isthmus, two were seen at a locality where none were ever seen before. At Callander no unusual number was noticed, a good many appearing here at this season, which is usually called "The Return of the Woodcocks." Mr. Robert Ferguson, on the 11th, flushed eight within a mile-radius, "a most unusual circumstance here,"—at Whitehill, Rosewell, Midlothian,—and large numbers were observed near Innerleithen in Holylee Woods and vicinity. To the east of this county no numbers of any consequence were noted at Tulliallan or West Grange, in Fife.[30] All the birds seen by myself were small red Scandinavian birds, which I consider are quite unmistakable and distinct from home-bred birds. One with an injured muscle under the wing was brought into the house,—also a red bird,—which was found alive in a ditch close to.
[30] Subsequently I received a note from Mr. Seton Thomson, of Kinnaird House, Stirlingshire, to the effect that the gamekeeper, on March 1st, on taking a bee-line to Airth, two and a half miles over moss-land (Airth is on the Stirlingshire side of the Firth of Forth, where about three hundred yards of water separate it from Tulliallan) put up half a dozen Woodcocks in a place where Woodcocks are very rarely seen. Many also were seen about the garden at Kinnaird House; these were observed not to be the usual Woodcocks, but a much redder-looking bird. There appears to have been a great flight of Woodcocks at Aberfoyle about March 15th. Mr. R. Ker's keeper flushed five in about two square yards, and kept putting them up all over. Two were seen also at Crutherland, by East Kilbryde, on the 12th, where a Woodcock was never seen before.
I would like further to have ascertained the boundaries within which this migration was observed; how far to the north and how far to the south of the catchment Basin of Forth it extended. Here I can do little more than direct attention to the facts, so far as known to me. But it seems evident that, though so abundantly observed at Airth and Kinnaird, scarcely any increase was noticeable just across the Forth at Tulliallan or West Grange, or in Fife; and though numerous at Ross Priory and Loch Lomond on the east side, no increase was observed at Arden and the west side of the loch. When the birds "lifted" from Kinnaird and Airth, their next probable resting place would be Norway or the continental coast, possibly Heligoland, as no notice is taken of them in the 1884 spring returns from Isle of May or Bell Rock. Nor does there appear to have been any corresponding movement through the Pentland Firth.
I should like in this place to record the occurrence of the Black Redstart in the following form. It is previously recorded by me in the Proc. Royal Physical Society, Edinb. of April 23rd, 1884:—
| Date. | Locality. | Species. | Age—Adult or Young. | Sex. | Alone, or | with others, | of its own, | or other Species.* | Direction of Wind, | and Strength. | Prevailing Wind for past Few Days. | Weather. |
| 1884. Mar. 31. | Pentland Skerries. | Ruticilla titys (Scop.). | Ad. | ♂ | — | X | — | X | S.E. | Strong. | S. & S.E. | Clear on 28th. Fog on 31st. |
| Remarks. * If with other species, name them here:—1 Robin, Sandpipers, 1 Yellow Bunting, 1 Chaffinch, "Stonechats" (i.e., Wheatears), 1 G. C. Wren, 1 Common Thrush. | ||||||||||||