mountainous parts of Switzerland, Baden, Bavaria, and elsewhere on the Continent in the course of the current winter, that it has been generally warmer in the elevated districts, on the hills and mountains, than in the plains and valleys. A Berne paper prints a correspondence from Flerden, in the Grisons, dated the 28th ult., in which the writer says:-' For a month past we have had only two days of cloudy weather; otherwise it has been always a cloudless sky, with the most beautiful prospect. I have been able to write at the open window, as the sun shines from 8 a.m. till 5 p.m. into my room. At 9 a.m. we have had the thermometer standing at 15° Réaumur (66° Fahrenheit), and at one o'clock 17° Réaumur (or 70° Fahrenheit). It is only in the night that the mercury sinks a little under freezing point.' Similar reports come from the Black Forest. At Triberg, 2268 feet above sea level, it is stated that the inhabitants have enjoyed the most beautiful winter known there for a generation past."

The thaw continued general over Scotland till the 22nd December, with alternating frosts, but ice did not clear off the stagnant pools till 24th December. As high as 11° of frost were frequently registered in central Scotland during the night. During this time much fog prevailed, and dark gloomy weather.

Gales of wind succeeded from S.W., accompanied by dark gloomy weather and much rain, culminating in the terrific hurricane of the 28th December, between 7 and 8 p.m., which resulted in the appalling accident to the Tay Bridge, besides much other damage throughout the country. The force of the wind reached that of a hurricane-force from 9, 10, to 11 being registered—and reaching a velocity in some places of 96 miles an hour, and even 110 miles an hour, or nearly double the speed of an express train.*

Great was the destruction to trees all over the track of the storm. On Athole estates, 80,000 trees, said to be worth £30,000, were blown downt [v. Journal of Forestry, vol. iii., p. 826]. Viewed from the railway at Blair-Athole, the hill-sides appear to be half

* For a full, interesting, and scientific account of this great gale see the Journal of the Scottish Meteorological Society, New Series, vol. v., nos. xlix.-lxiii., pp. 355-360.

+ For a general account of destruction to forests in Scotland, see Journal of Forestry, vol. iii., p. 670, et seq., and of the effects at Blair-Drummond, op. cit., p. 103.

denuded of trees. On Lanrick Castle grounds, near Doune, 4561 trees, mostly, however, of small size, were blown down.

At Dunipace, a very large beech succumbed, and almost the entire flat roof of the house was stripped of the lead—some 18 cwt. One piece of 3 cwt. was carried outwards from the house 32 feet, and the remainder was wrapped round the north chimney like a huge Ulster coat or Highland cloak- -one great mass lying over the

top and projecting like a hood [op. cit., p. 730].

On the 30th December snow fell in considerable quantities in various parts of Scotland.

In the gale of 28th December many sea-birds are reported to have perished among the Hebrides, and southwards, towards the Mull of Kintyre, scores of dead ones having been seen floating. At Dougalston, Stirlingshire, 89 trees, mostly spruce, were blown down in an area about 70 by 20 yards.

The following letter from Professor Grant appeared in the Glasgow Herald on December 30th :

"(To the Editor of the Glasgow Herald.)

"The Observatory, December 29, 1879. "SIR,―The storm with which Scotland was visited on Sunday, the 28th inst., and which, alas! will be hereafter associated with an event that may be justly said to have brought sorrow to every hearth of our country, was one of the most violent that has occurred for many years. Nothing approaching to it has passed over Glasgow since the memorable storm of January 24, 1868. The system of self-recording instruments which has been established here, in connection with the Meteorological Office in London, enables us to obtain a complete pictorial representation of the various meteorological circumstances which occur from the commencement to the final termination of every storm which passes over the Observatory. It may, therefore, not be uninteresting to place before the readers of the Herald some of the results which have been obtained in connection with the late storm.

The aspect of things on Saturday, which was the day preceding the storm, was ominous of a change for the worse in the state of the weather. The barometer continued to fall steadily during the day, resulting finally in torrents of rain, which fell without intermission during the whole night. On Sunday morning, however, the heavens wore a more favourable aspect. The barometer was

Time.

found to be rising, the minimum depression having occurred at 1 a.m.; the wind also, which blew with considerable force during the night, had almost entirely died away. Soon, however, the atmosphere assumed more gloomy indications. At 10 a.m. the

barometer again began to fall, and continued to do so till 5 p.m. At the same time the wind, which was blowing from the southwest, began to veer towards the south, and thence to south-east. A little before 3 p.m. the wind suddenly returned to the south, and commenced to blow violently and with increasing intensity. At 3 p.m. the hourly velocity of the wind was 24 miles, at 3.30 it was 42 miles, at 4 it was 42 miles, and 4.20 it was 60 miles. At 6 p.m. the velocity was also 60 miles, but at 7.10 it reached 72 miles, and again at 8 p.m. there occurred a gust which brought the velocity up to 72 miles. This was the highest velocity attained, I do not entertain

so far as could be indicated by our measures.

the least doubt, however, but there occurred from time to time sudden gusts of wind which attained a velocity of 90 miles an hour. This is equivalent to a pressure of 40 lbs. on the square foot. On the occasion of the great storm of January, 1868, the maximum pressure, as indicated by Osler's anemometer, amounted to 42 lbs. on the square foot. The conclusion at which I have arrived is that the storm of last Sunday was somewhat less intense than the great storm of 1868, but that it almost equalled it in this respect. "I subjoin some of the numerical results obtained from the records of the anemograph, the barograph, and thermograph:

Dec. 28. 11.0 A.M.

The

Numerous are the reports on the continued general scarcity of birds from many parts of the country, partly the effect of the severe winter of 1878-79, but also partly owing to a much smaller migration for the reasons above given-viz., the deflection caused by the prevalence of N. W. winds in October and November, 1879. Mr. J. Crawford, writing from Tongue in January, 1880, says:"Bird-life in this quarter is on a diminished scale this year. severity of last winter, and especially during the spring months of 1879, must have destroyed many of our feathered tribes. No doubt many left the district and have not returned, but there has been great mortality. Blackbirds, Thrushes, Titmice, Yellow Hammers, and Linnets are all much less numerous, &c. ;" and many similar reports have reached me from both east and west coasts.

And that this scarcity has continued in many localities, even up to the last days of summer of 1880, is equally certain, as the following notes supplied to me by Mr. Robt. Warren, of Ballina, Ireland, will clearly show. His letter is dated 25th July, 1880:

"I am sorry to say that no Golden-crested Wrens have visited this place yet, but the Thrushes and Blackbirds are perceptibly increasing, but only from the broods of the survivors—there having been no addition to their numbers by any migrants that I can make out up to this time. Still, Thrushes are very scarce, but the Blackbirds are just beginning to make an impression on our red currants, and on a neighbour's strawberries. They were not touched last year. Our Robins and Wrens are also increasing fast, especially the latter. As one of your correspondents remarks,* the Robins died from cold, as well as from starvation, for several that we fed quite regularly disappeared before the end of the frost. The Wood Pigeons of this neighbourhood were kept alive by a large field of rape, upon which they fed when the ground was covered by frozen snow. Whenever we have the ground covered by snow and hard frost, the Blackbirds, Thrushes, Skylarks, and Starlings always take to the sea-shore, feeding amongst the sea-weed; but, strange to say, the northern birds, Redwings and Fieldfares, are the first to die off, then the Starlings, and the latter seem to suffer most from cold of any of our birds of similar size and strength.”

Light frosts at nights succeeded from about the 10th January, varying in different parts of Scotland, with gloomy, hazy, or misty weather during the day. On 12th and 13th, 9° frost registered

*Vide First Report, antea, p. 152.