Red-necked Phalarope. Phalaropus hyperboreus.—Was first seen on May 28th, near Fokstuen, where we afterwards found them in considerable numbers. We tried hard for the nests, but never found one, and doubt if they had begun to lay.
Shoveller. Spatula clypeata.—A boy at Fokstuen, June 13th, brought in six eggs, with the down from the nest. Mr. Harvie Brown has courteously examined these, and pronounces them to be of the above species. The average size of the eggs is 27⁄64×129⁄64 inches.
Teal. Querquedula crecca.—Plentiful at Fokstuen. A nest of eight fresh eggs was taken on June 2nd, on marshy ground close to the water, and sheltered a little by a stick arching over. Another, with nine eggs, a few days sat, was taken on the 13th.
Scoter, Oidemia nigra; Velvet Scoter, Oidemia fusca; Scaup, Fuligula marila.—These all appeared on the marsh on June 2nd, in considerable numbers, but no eggs were taken by us. Our German friends, mentioned above, had completely demoralised the ducks.
Long-tailed Duck. Harelda glacialis.—One seen flying over Fokstuen early in June, the only individual observed.
Red-breasted Merganser. Mergus serrator.—A male was brought to us at Grut on May 19th, shot on the river with a rifle-bullet through its neck.
Black-throated Diver. Colymbus arcticus.—A pair were seen on May 28th, whilst driving from Jerkin to Fokstuen, one of the large lakes by the road-side having got the ice away from about one hundred square yards of its surface. They were left alone in the hope that their eggs might be secured, but were never seen again.
Lesser Black-backed Gull. Larus fuscus.— One seen on June 8th, flying over the marsh opposite Fokstuen.
ON THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS.
By John Cordeaux.
In the last part of the 'Ornithological Miscellany,' under the heading of "Hirundo rustica," Mr. George Dawson Rowley[1] has propounded an original and startling theory on the migration of birds, a theory which reduces the bird itself to little more than a passive agent, and the act of migration to a great mundane law
- ↑ See: Ornithological Miscellany vol. 2 (1877), p. 79 (Wikisource-ed.)
