"We had a succession of black nights going up the river, and it was observable that whenever we landed and suddenly inundated the trees with the intense sun-burst of the Electric Light, a certain curious effect was always produced: hundreds of birds flocked instantly out from the masses of shining green foliage, and went careering hither and thither through the white rays, and often a song bird turned up and fell to singing. We judged that they mistook this superb artificial day for the genuine article."--Mark Twain, in '_Life on the Mississippi_,' p. 452. "Yea, even the fowl-- That through the polar summer months could see A beauty in Spitzbergen's naked isles, Or on the drifted icebergs seek a home-- Even they had fled, on southern wing, in search Of less inclement shores."--_The Fowler._ EAST COAST OF SCOTLAND, &c. From Skykkesholm, in Iceland, comes our first return from that country since the commencement of our work. M. Thorlacius, to whom we are indebted for this return, writes as follows:--"As this list cannot nearly comprise all the Icelandic birds of passage, of which especially the sea-birds are wanting, I shall complete this by next mail, and send you the continuation along with a complete list of the appearances of birds of passage in the present year (1883). The dates quoted opposite each species is the day on which they were first observed here. The approximate date of departure will be given later." The following notes are copied direct from M. Thorlacius' schedule, and are most useful to the Committee, serving as they do as finger-posts on the route of migration, indicating the important dates of arrival at their breeding-quarters of Icelandic summer migrants. When M. Thorlacius sends his autumn departures of migrants and the other good things he so kindly promises us, we will have useful standpoints, the spaces between which can be more easily filled in when these are fixed:-- Skykkesholm, Iceland, 1882, lat. 65° 4′ N.; long. 22° 43′ W.