The Scottish Naturalist The Scottish Naturalist With which is incorporated The Annals of Scottish Natural History EDITED BY V. G. WYNNE-EDWARDS Regius Professor of Natural History Aberdeen University AND JAMES W. CAMPBELL Volume 62 OLIVER AND BOYD EDINBURGH: TWEEDDALE COURT LONDON: 98 GREAT RUSSELL STREET, W.G. 1950 Printed in Great Britain at The University Press, Aberdeen SPRING 1950 Price The Scottish Naturalist With which is incorporated The Annals of Scottish Natural History EDITED BY V. C. WYNNE-EDWARDS Regius Professor of Natural History, University of Aberdeen AND JAMES W. CAMPBELL All Articles and Communications intended for publication and all Books, etc., for notice, should be sent to The Editor, Natural History Department, Marischal College, Aberdeen. Subscriptions and Advertisements should be addressed to the Publishers, Messrs. Oliver & Boyd Ltd., Tweeddale Court, Edinburgh, i . Annual Subscription : 15s. ; single parts, 5s. CONTENTS PAGE Notes on the Behaviour of some Ducks — Henry Boase . . i Fair Isle Bird Observatory : Notes on Selected Species, Spring 1949 — Kenneth Williamson . . . . 17 Notes on Eilean Bulgach, Sutherland — James Fisher and Keith Piercy . . . . . . . .26 The Possible Occurrence of Somatochlora alpestris in Scotland — G. G. Blackwood ...... . 31 Fleas {Siphonaptera) from Birds in North-east Scotland — Ronald M. Allan ....... 33 Fleas [Siphonaptera) from Mammals in Aberdeenshire — George M. Dunnet . . . . . . .42 Zoological Notes . . . . . . . • 50 The Scottish Naturalist Volume 62, No. i Spring 1950 NOTES ON THE BEHAVIOUR OF SOME DUCKS Henry Boase Ihvergowrie by Dundee The following notes and the accompanying sketches are in some instances supplementary to articles dealing mainly with display which appeared in British Birds some twenty years ago. Since then, some additional notes have been made on behaviour, and opportunities have arisen to record the dis- play of some other species which were not dealt with in the original series. Further, it has been found that description alone can give but a vague idea of the actual attitudes used during display, and the attempt has been made to draw these attitudes in a semi-diagrammatic form as a means of making more definite the verbal descriptions given, both in the earlier articles and in the present account. Where a detailed account of display has been published, a short summary of the display action is given, giving refer- ence to the appropriate diagram, and the reference to the previous article is detailed so that the full account can be found. Sheld-duck Tadorna tadorna. Display. — The male uses a salute — a deliberate up-toss of the bill with neck extended vertically, used on land or afloat, on salt water or fresh, sometimes preceded by a dip of the bill, sometimes an extension of the neck horizontally. I AUG 2 - 1950 2 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol 6s There is a greeting display between the members of a pair, differing for male and female : that of the male a repeated upward and forward bow, that of the female a scooping action with extended neck. These actions are accompanied by calls — a “ whee ” or “ quee ” note from the male, a trill “ ak-ak ...” from the female. Fighting. — Male sheld-duck fight quite vigorously at times, commonly gripping each other at the base of the neck, and pushing, with open wings used as additional supports. The vanquished bird may fall over on its back, or may break away and take to flight, closely pursued by its opponent. In flight, an attacking male may try to drop on the other, and both may fall in a confused flurry of wings, disappearing under water with a splash. Once a male was watched as it tried to “ down ” the male of a pair it was pursuing. Commonly pairs show some jealousy when they meet on the flats, and both male and female may attack their opposite — male to male, female to female — the action generally ending in flight and chase, with the greeting ceremony between male and female when they alight. Treading. — Only on one or two occasions, out of hundreds of watching periods, has actual pairing been seen on salt water. On 25th March 1945 various individuals in a party of sheld-duck were diving, remaining under water ten to twenty seconds. Two birds dived together and came up well apart ; these immediately stretched and preened. Later, a male was seen swimming after and overtaking a female : the male was dipping the head past the eye with a rapid motion difficult to follow. The female settled low in the water, and skated ahead when the pursuer got too close. No further behaviour was noted. Later, a female dived, followed by a male, without any preliminary display of any kind ; they came up well apart, to shake themselves and preen. In another instance, one bird dived and the other seemed to swim about as though watching the submerged bird. Once a bird came up alone from a dive : once two birds dived almost simultaneously, but at least four feet apart. In another instance, while a preliminary chase seemed to be developing, the male was attacked by the male of a nearby pair and the action was broken. On one occasion, NOTES ON THE BEHAVIOUR OF SOME DUCKS 3 1950 SHELD-DUClr dr d-HEETm^l - xtiee-ft c*Tr. ^ di^EETinr^ NilT. H-So^sh 4 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST VoL 62 treading was seen on fresh water. In this instance, the birds did not dive, and there were no obvious preliminaries. The female just dipped below the surface as the male mounted. Feeding. — Although most food is obtained on the open flats by sifting the surface ooze, some is got by grubbing with head immersed in the few inches of water near the edge of the flood tide. Feeding by up-ending in the shallows along the edge of the sedges is usual. Some birds go into the sedges and feed there, either by sifting, grubbing, or up-ending, as the tidal conditions demand. The feeding of the downy young is mainly by sifting the surface ooze of the mudflats. Some do feed by diving in shallow water, both in salt water and fresh, but some juveniles either do not dive, or at times refrain from doing so. The feeding on the flats is very active, the brood or pack commonly sweeping in line to and fro on a broad front over a chosen area of the flats commonly near the edge of the sedges. The brood may feed right in among the sedges along with the attendant adult (or adults) ; they may rest there, as broods in a close huddle, with the adults nearby, have been found on drier patches. Even when full grown and fledged, the rate of sweep (side to side motion) and the rate of progress on the flats are noticeably more rapid than the like motions of the adult, sufficient indeed to make possible the separation of juvenile and adult at long range. Diagrams.^ — The first four lines show variations of the male salute display. Once, a female was seen to give a “ shadow ” of this display. The fifth and sixth lines show the male and female greeting action while swimming, while the seventh set shows the action on the flats, and a greeting display given in flight by a female on one occasion. References. — Brit. Birds ^ 27 : 218-224 (1935) and 31 : 367-371 (1938). Mallard Anas platyrhynchos . The display of the drake takes two forms — a bow and rise on the water varying in detail, and a spasm display when the neck is suddenly stretched upwards and the tail raised ; both forms are commonly accompanied by a call “ pee- reek ” given at the climax. The female also uses two forms 1950 NOTES ON THE BEHAVIOUR OF SOME DUCKS 5 — a rapid swimming to and fro among the males with head and neck in line, sometimes swinging up and down, and rapid swimming with neck retracted with the bill pressed against the upper breast towards one side, perhaps in the direction of the greater male activity. The drake may turn aside and scud a short distance after display : he may snap at passing insects with an upward toss of the bill : he may stretch — rising on the water with- out opening and beating the wings as is usual in less emotional occasions. The spasm display is very abrupt with only a slight raising of the head to mark its coming. The spasm may follow the bow. The sketches show a raising of the tail at the finish of the bow display and this may represent the “ shadow ” of the less usual spasm as a finish to the bow. The sketches show an “ intent ” attitude, an attitude used by birds which may give more active display later when the excitement has increased. All the ducks mentioned in these notes show this special attitude in some form and it is shown by both sexes ; sometimes in the female it shows only as a vague preening. Fighting. — Mallard are comparatively peaceful in display. Perhaps the usual equality in numbers of the sexes may be the reason. Only once has a male seemed aggressive, charging at a rival with neck extended and open bill, assisting its pro- gress with open wings. There is, of course, the flighting in threes, two males pursuing a female in swift flight, an associ- ation removed however from the bustle of open courtship in the flock, and which suggests a keener rivalry, yet the finish of these flights seems to the observer quite indecisive in most instances. Treading. — Both male and female bob the head up and down with level bill, the male starting first and the female responding presently : the speed of bobbing increases slowly and after a time, which varies widely, pairing follows. On one occasion, a male associated with two females (this is not unusual) bobbed and paired with one without the other showing any interest. Diagrams. — The first line shows the intent and forms of the bow display ; the second line the spasm display ; in 6 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST VoL 62 N/^LL/)7?D ^-TKe.--REEff ZBoiti 'SSiSTi^Y te/il enrol. irr4 cr»»«w7 ^9^ NOTES ON THE BEHAVIOUR OF SOME DUCKS 7 1950 the third line some minor mannerisms and two displays of the female. Reference. — Brit. Birds, 25 : 12-17 (1931). Teal Anas crecca. Display.- — The display of the male is similar to that of mallard — a bow and a spasm — but the speed of action is more rapid. The female shows no marked behaviour, merely showing pretence of preening when excitement runs high. There is a more marked tendency for the active birds to separate into groups and a party of four or five males may encircle a female, swimming and displaying as they pass before her. A minor display, where the male turns aside with a backward glance and an upward twitch of the tail, may serve to exhibit the deep velvety black and chrome yellow patches on the flanks near the tail (actually the outer tail coverts). When excited, the males show a definite raising of the plumage of the nape so that a step in the line of the feathering is clearly visible. Diagrams.^ — The first line shows progressive attitudes in the bow display ; the second line, the spasm display, stretch- ing rise, and a minor form of the spasm where the tail only is twitched. Below is a group of males encircling a female. Reference. — Brit. Birds, 19 : 162-164 (1925). WiGEON Anas penelope. Display. — Although wigeon have been watched on many occasions, only now and then has any real display been seen. For the most part, wigeon appear to occupy much time during ordinary daylight hours in feeding, at least while on fresh water, and only very occasionally show any real excitement. The male uses quite commonly an attitude with neck re- tracted, bill slightly up til ted, with wings raised as from the wrist so that they rest inclined upwards over the back, and calls a clear “ whee-oh,” but this appears to be more an aggressive attitude towards other males than an attitude of display towards the females. On 14th January 1940 a group was watched in more active display. In it, a female was swimming to and fro, followed by six males, of which 8 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol.62 only four appeared to be excited. The female attitude was little different from the normal, just the head held a little higher with level bill, with the neck straight and slightly inclined forward. Once or twice it nodded, or turned from side to side. The males used a rather vague bow, almost dipping the bill, then the head rising and swinging back until the bill is rather up-tilted, with a momentary upthrust of the tail. At times, one or more of the males used the attitude with raised wings and head held low, calling the “ whee-oh ” note. On another occasion, when only one male was active among several females, the male used the “ raised wing ” attitude, calling, and turning from side to side among the females, while they wheeled and jostled, calling a hoarse “ urth ” note. In another instance, several males swam around with wings up, calling, while a female in which they were interested wheeled and preened. On 5th April 1942, a male and female were swimming in line ahead, the female leading. The male started to bob the head up and down, in the same manner as mallard. The female stopped and turned to face the male, and also started to bob. The pace of the male’s bobbing increased, but presently the female turned away and stopped bobbing, and the male also ceased. Feeding. — Wigeon seem to prefer the hard slub of the outer Tay Estuary to the soft mud of the upper tidal water ; they appear to pick from the surface rather than sift. On fresh water, wigeon commonly feed in association with other species — with whooper swan, mute swan, pochard, coot, but only casually with tufted duck or goldeneye. Coot seem to be the favourite provider, often three wigeon to one coot, the ducks feeding on the weed left by the coot after it has picked the insects, etc., from it. Diagrams. — The first line shows the vague bow of the male ; the second line the male with raised wings, and two attitudes of the female. Shoveler Spatula clypeata. The shoveler is a summer visitor to the lochs in the Tay area and does not arrive there until the middle of March. Some NOTES ON THE BEHAVIOUR OF SOME DUCKS 9 1950 *10*0.^“ b«.tse 'u’Tffc* c«nT7 gHOVE.LER I.CVEL 20931X0. :BqB 3133 UIMQ. ToCH/=iTia> SC>»OP HUCHf I H TvwaW-xrten H.3^//>S£ 2 10 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST VoL 62 may linger in flocks on the larger lochs until December but seem to show very little excitement, although sometimes in pairs. Apparently the males come to the marshes before the females but this is made uncertain by the difficulty of detecting the females among the withered sedges. Display. — The only action noted has been a bobbing of the head up and down by extension and retraction of the neck, the bill held horizontal ; on occasions, the bill has been dipped to touch, or almost touch, the water in the lower position, and raised to about twenty degrees in the upper position. This bobbing action is used in various circumstances — drake bobs to drake as well as to the female, and the female may also bob. The male and female have a mutual act of “ bibbling,” as it is called, when the two birds circle or move together with head low, with retracted neck, bill almost horizontal and immersed to the base, and with the rear por- tion of the body raised an inch or more above its normal level. This action appears at first sight to be a form of feed- ing, but it seems actually to be a ceremonial, as normally feeding is done by up-ending in the shallows or sifting among the sedges, etc. The following reports of behaviour will give some in- dication of the display. A pair and one male were watched on a patch of open water on 19th April 1924. The paired male scudded at the other male, which immediately took to flight, followed by the pair. The paired male attempted repeatedly to jostle the other male in the air, threatening to drop on it. All three presently alighted and the paired male renewed his attack. Again the second male took flight followed by the pair. Presently the solo male dropped into the patch of open water and the pair landed in the sedges. The two males could see one another, and they sat, with extended neck and level bill for a short period, neither moving. Presently the paired male began to bob, and his mate also bobbed, the pair meanwhile passing to open water where they began to feed. On loth April 1944, a male feeding alone was joined by a second male and almost at once a swimming chase began. The chaser bobbed at intervals as it slowly overtook the other. The last foot or so was covered with a rush and 1950 NOTES ON THE BEHAVIOUR OF SOME DUCKS 1 1 the pursued male then rose and flew a few feet, sometimes followed by the other also in flight. Presently another male came out of the sedges and joined in the chase, but merely tailed along and did not bob. Finally, when the original pursuer had almost overtaken the first intruder, the latter had to turn into the wind to rise at the last moment, and the aggressor seemed to stretch the neck to reach up, but did not snap at the other. There the action ended. A later record of display was made on 5th June 1925, which seems a late date for such activity. Several males were seen together and these were bobbing to each other, for the most part with the bill held horizontal, but at times the bill was dropped so that the tip touched, or almost touched, the water and at the top of the bob was raised 15-20 degrees upward inclination. Presently a female appeared and was greeted by one of the males with the bob, sometimes swinging the bill up and down. The female also bobbed, but only with level bill, when close together, the pair swam round bibbling. After a few turns, the pair began to feed by up- ending in the shallows. Bobbing has been seen in late autumn — on 7th Nov- ember 1937 ; there appeared to be one pair at least in the flock. Diagrams. — These show the two forms of bobbing, and also the bibbling attitude. Common Pochard Aythya ferina. Display. — The display is in two forms — a salute in which the head is thrown back until the nape touches the back, or may stop short of that final position, and a lure position, with extended neck with head in line held low but not awash. There are minor displays — ^bill-tossing, and bobbing. The following accounts of display will indicate the use of these forms. At Thriepley Loch on 19th February 1923, there were a male and female together, and nearby a male asleep. Pres- ently the second male awoke, extended the neck vertically, with level bill, and joined the other two ; it bobbed once or twice. All three swam around, and one male (which, was 2 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol. 62 not certain) swung back the head so that the nape touched the back. This was repeated — probably both males were displaying, but the movement made it difficult to be certain — and once it appeared that there was a momentary pause with the head and neck in line at a steep angle before the swing back. Both males bill-tossed, and gave the rising stretch common to ducks. Presently both males left the female and swam to a third male which had come up, and one male displayed to it- — nape to back. Presently all three males returned to the female and gave further display, and after a few minutes all four began to feed. A more active display was seen at Lintrathen Loch on 23rd April 1939. The group consisted of two males and two females, of which only one female was interested. All were swimming about in a restricted space in open water, and when first seen were in active display. The males were using an intent attitude with extended upright neck and level bill, and some raising of the plumage of head and neck. They also used a luring attitude — head and neck in line held low, chin almost touching the water, and the bill rather up-tilted — neck only moderately extended. The main dis- play was a back throw of the head and neck from the intent attitude, either partial, stopping with neck at about sixty degrees over back and bill vertical, or with nape touching back, with bill vertical. The female used an intent attitude like the male. There was little formality about the display. The males swam around and after the active female, sometimes one intent, the other in lure, sometimes both in the same attitude, while the female wheeled and turned to one or other male and threatened him when he came too close. Now and then, one or other male gave the salute, generally the high form ; only twice did a male give the second attitude with the nape touching. One male was more active than the other. When in the intent attitude, the males sometimes bobbed the head up and down by extension and retraction of the neck, and the female also bobbed at least once. Breeding. — In one instance, a female which had been seen with a male up to 7th March, was always alone after that date, and was with a brood on 5th June. The downy young 1950 NOTES ON THE BEHAVIOUR OF SOME DUCKS 13 had a “jump” dive like the adult, and all dived together, in contrast to the rather ragged diving of a brood of tufted duck. Feeding. — On salt water, will feed in moderate depths by diving in the usual manner, but will also grub in the shallows and up-end like a surface-feeding duck. A drake fed on weed brought up by a coot and made no attempt to dive on its own account. Pochard will share weed, brought up by diving, with wigeon. Pochard is not a very active feeder during ordinary daylight hours and may associate with resting mallard on both fresh and salt water. Fear. — A full grown juvenile seemed frightened at the approach of a dabchick and swam away with backward glances. Diagrams. — The first line shows the intent attitude, the luring attitude, and the salute in two forms ; the second line a variant of the salute, the bill-toss, and bobbing pose. Tufted Duck Ay thy a fuligula. Display. — The chief form of display is a throw back of the head so that the nape touches the back. No inter- mediate forms, such as have been noticed for pochard, have been seen. The intent attitude of both male and female is similar — erect extended neck with bill held level, with the head feathers of the male at least expanded. There are minor displays — bill-tossing, bobbing, stretching with closed wings, and scudding swiftly on the surface similar to the behaviour of other ducks. A paired male, when its mate is courted by a rival male, assumes an attitude with head down level with the back, with level bill, giving a hunched appearance, and keeps on the far side of the female, well away from the direct attention of his rival. Display on salt water. — Although tufted duck are common on salt water in winter, on one occasion only has display been noticed. On 23rd January 1943, a pair swam together and both bill-tossed several times, and presently flew away together. Anger. — On 29th May 1935, at Lochendores, two pairs of tufted duck approached one another. The male of one pair rushed at the other male and he skated aside. Immedi- ately the mate of this second male drew aside and took wing, followed by her mate. The aggressive male seemed the more 14 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol 62 angry and swam about, with head held high, tossing the bill ' and calling, looking from side to side. He rushed at his mate and she scudded out of the way, and he continued to hunt around for a further few minutes. | Forceful treading of female. — On 5th June 1925, a male tufted duck made a most determined effort to tread a female, |J which resisted with the utmost vigour, diving and struggling || with open wings when gripped by the m.ale. Once the |j drake got over the duck, holding on to the nape feathers, |i but was shaken off after repeated dives. On another occasion, on 26th June 1948, at Duns Dish, a pair of tufted duck | alighted on the water. The female immediately turned | and snapped at the male. He approached repeatedly and | she turned about and bit him each time. He bit in return, |i and held on when he got a grip, whether neck or wing. | Finally he got a grip of the nape and struggled to tread the | female. Presently, they drew apart and preened quietly. I Feeding. — Some tufted duck have been feeding regularly | at sewer outfalls at Dundee in winter, diving in the tide | stream. During low tide, some grub in the shallows of runnels I' in the mudflats with the head submerged. Tufted duck have fe not been seen up-ending or sifting mud. Diagrams. — The first line shows the intent attitude, the | main display, the bill-toss, and the stretch ; the second line, f the scud, and the intent and bobbing of the female. The | group shows a mated male keeping well away from another j male displaying to his mate. | Scaup-duck Ay thy a marila. Display. — The following display was seen on salt water of the upper Tay Estuary on 19th January 1947 — one male in a group assumed an intent attitude with extended erect neck, and bill level, and presently bill-tossed once only : on the same water, on 22nd March 1947, a male in company with a female raised head and neck in line very erect in one abrupt movement. The female made no response. Feeding. — Has been found feeding at sewer outfalls, grubbing in shallows with head submerged, and sifting mud on the flats. Reference. — Brit. Birds, 19 : 226-230 (1926). NOTES ON THE BEHAVIOUR OF SOME DUCKS 15 1950 ro FTEli BUCK dOLBEN £ V£ i6 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol 62 Goldeneye Bucephala clangula. I Display. — The display varies in its details. The original notes in British Birds dealt with display on salt water during j winter. Since then some display has been seen on fresh i water in April, and while this has been for the most part similar to that seen on salt water, two additional forms were seen at the Long Loch of Lundie in Angus on 2nd April 1949. l The one was a sudden rise on the water with a throw up Jjl of the bill, as if snapping at a passing fly almost out of reach, the final position exposing all the breast with the bill pointing | ’ up at about seventy degrees. Two males gave this display to two females, which immediately took flight, followed |ji closely by the males. Later the other form was seen probably ; 1; from the same birds ; the group was very restless, taking ^ f wing and pitching again repeatedly. The display began with a sudden back-kick from both feet throwing water up in two spurts, perhaps with an up-thrust of the tail, followed J-j by an up-swing of head and neck in line, apparently with ll the “ urk ” call. There was no throw-back of head or rise ! i f-’l on the water. Feeding.- — The goldeneye has become a regular feeder at it sewer outfalls at Dundee. Numbers present are difficult to 5 j count. On one occasion repeated counts gave a figure of 24-25, yet on the sudden arrival of a cormorant among them, the goldeneye rose in flight, and the count was then f found to be sixty-three. f Diagrams. — The first line covers the normal display and scud, with two variations indicated in the second line — one a dip of the bill before the swing back of the head, the other | a sudden retraction of the neck following the nape on back | position, with an upthrust of the tail and up-kick of water. | The remaining figures in the second row and three in the i third line show additional forms of display seen on fresh j water. The remaining figure shows a common display | attitude of the immature male — that is, brown-headed males I with the white cheek-spot showing clearly. The fourth I series shows attitudes of the female. Reference. — Brit. Birds, 18 : 69-71 (1924). FAIR ISLE BIRD OBSERVATORY mo 17 FAIR ISLE BIRD OBSERVATORY Notes on Selected Species Spring 1949 Compiled by Kenneth Williamson, Director Despite the prevalence of easterly weather during the latter part of May 1949, spring migrants were disappointingly few. Nevertheless, the splendid ornithological tradition of Fair Isle was upheld by the appearance of several interesting and important species, and the present abstracts from the Ob- servatory’s “ Notes on Species ” book are concerned mainly with placing on permanent record the observations made on these birds. Two of the birds — the black-browed albatross and Kentish plover — are new to the Scottish fauna. The greenish warbler constitutes the third British, and the nightingale the fourth Scottish, record. Unless otherwise indicated, the observations are those of the Director : a key to observers’ initials is given below. References to The Handbook of British Birds (H. F. Witherby et aL, 1938-1941) are styled The Handbook^ with volume and page number in parentheses. A report entitled “ Notes on selected species. Autumn 1949 ” has appeared in British Birds, 43 : 48-52. Observers G. T. A. George T. Arthur, Kirkwall, Orkney. G. H. O. ’Commdr. G. Hughes-Onslow, Girvan, Ayrshire. M. K. First-Offr. Marion Kettle well, Wetherby, Yorks. J. P. John Peterson, Lerwick, Shetland. P. R. Pat Robertson, F.I.B.O. R. R. Mrs. Rosemary Russell, London. A. S. Alexander Stout, Fair Isle. J. A. S. James A. Stout, Fair Isle. 3 i8 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol. 62 W. P. V. Surgeon-Capt. W. P. Vicary, Winterbourne Dauntsey, Wiltshire. G. W. George Waterston, Edinburgh. K. W. Kenneth Williamson, F.I.B.O. J. W. James Wilson, Fair Isle. Greenish Warbler Phylloscopus trochiloides viridams. Occurrence. — A Phylloscopus with a single white wing-bar was seen in the Gully trapping-area by K. W. and J. P. on the morning of 2nd June. It was captured, and proved to be the greenish warbler — the second known occurrence of this bird in Shetland, and only the third for the British Isles. The previous records are of a female shot at North Cotes, Lincolnshire, on 5th September 1896 (G. H. Caton Haigh, Bull. B.O.C., 6 : 8), and of one collected by Mr. Sam Bruce at the Skaw of Whalsay on 12th September 1945 (see below, 20). The present specimen was ringed D8140 and released in the Gully, where it was watched for notes on field-marks and habits. Taxonomic. The bird was taken to the laboratory for examination. The wing measured 62 mm. and the weight was 6*68 g. Wing-formula. — The 3rd to 6th primaries were emargin- ate ; ist primary 6 mm. longer than longest primary covert ; 2nd primary 8 mm. shorter than 3rd and 2 mm. shorter than 7th ; 4th primary longest with 3rd and 5th very slightly shorter ; 6th primary 3 mm. shorter. Soft parts. — The bird had the stout, rather flattish bill characteristic of the sub-genus Acanthopneuste, with nasal hairs reaching beyond the distal ends of the nasal grooves. The bill measured 6 mm. from the feathers and was dark brown above. The lower mandible was yellow-brown distally, becoming orange at the base. The tarsi and toes were purplish-horn, soles brownish-orange. Iris dark brown. Plumage. — Mantle olive-green, head and tail browner. A streak from bill through eye and lores brownish, surmounted by a strong yellowish superciliary stripe. Yellow ring round eye. Cheeks and ear-coverts yellowish. Breast pale yellow, igso FAIR ISLE BIRD OBSERVATORY 19 becoming whitish on belly and vent, but with a slight yellow- ish tinge. Flanks greyish-white. Axillaries and under-wing coverts pale yellow. Outer webs of brown flight-feathers fringed green. Greater coverts greyer brown each with a whitish spot at tip of outer web, forming a white wing-bar. Outer web of outer tail-feathers brownish-white. Race. — The wing-formula, in which the second primary falls between 7th and 8th (and is much nearer to the 7th) establishes the race as Ph. t. viridanus. According to C. B. Ticehurst, A Systematic Review of the Genus Phylloscopus (London 1939), all other races except Ph. t. plumbeitarsus have the 2nd primary falling between 8th and 9th, or shorter. Ph. t. plumbeitarsus has a second slight wing-bar on the median coverts except in very worn plumage, and as there is a com- plete moult in the early spring this additional bar would have been evident in D8140 had it belonged to this race. Field-characters and behaviour. —Immediately upon release the bird flew to some willows and began to feed briskly. It moved from the willows to the stony bed of the stream and hopped about there for some time before going to a heather- covered slope above to continue its quest for food. Occasion- ally it took small dipterous flies with deft “ flycatcher ” sallies, presenting an orange gape as it snapped them up. It also resorted to sandy and stony banks bare of vegetation. It was seen on one occasion to pick up a small worm and beat it vigorously against a stone whilst eating it. It wiped its bill regularly with quick motions against stones, heather- stems or willow- twigs. The bird seemed much attracted to the immediate vicinity of the water. A restless flickering of its wings and tail accompanied its movements on the ground and in the willows. Its flights from place to place were short and very erratic, but on one long flight down the Gully on 3rd June the bird proceeded in shallow undulations. When confined in the trap-funnel on the 2nd it gave a marvellous exhibition of superbly con- trolled flight, persistently hovering for several seconds at a time in front of the catching-box, often turning in the air as it did so. The white wing-bar, though so slight when the bird was held in the hand, was an excellent field-mark and could be 20 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST VoL 62 distinguished in 9 X 35 glasses at a range of 30-40 yards. The yellowish breast was not very obvious except at close quarters and in good light, the bird usually presenting the impression of a small Phylloscopus with greenish upper and dull whitish underparts. The olive-green mantle made a slight but quite noticeable contrast with the brown of head and tail, and when a good close view was obtained the upper tail-coverts were seen to lack the greenish tinge and the outer webs of the outer tail-feathers appeared dusky-white. The yellowish supercilium and cheeks contrasted well with the dark eye-stripe. The legs appeared to be black. Summary. The distinct dark eye-stripe offset by the clear yellowish cheeks and superciliary band, the white wing- bar, blackish legs, and contrast between greenish mantle and brown tail were the most distinctive features in the field. The Whalsay specimen. — The Whalsay specimen of the greenish warbler, which I have been able to examine through the courtesy of Mr. Samuel Bruce of Lerwick, who collected it on 1 2th September 1945, shows some slight plumage dif- ferences from the Fair Isle bird. The upper-parts are more uniformly greenish-olive, darkening on the head ; the under- parts are more suffused with yellowish, the throat and breast pale greenish-yellow and the belly and vent creamy. The supercilium and wing-bar are yellower and the latter less obvious than in the Fair Isle bird owing to abrasion, a fact which suggests that the specimen, which is unsexed, is an adult bird. The outer webs of the emarginated portions of the 2nd to 6th primaries are whitish, and the outer webs of the outermost tail-feathers brownish- white. The wing measures 59 mm. Song Thrush Turdus ericetorum. Wintering. — A song thrush (race unknown) caught at the Haa trap on i6th November 1948 was ringed SP020 and released at North Haven 3 miles distant. It was recaptured at the Haa on 22nd January 1949, having apparently wintered on the island. Moult. — A song thrush, believed to be of the continental race Turdus e. philomelus, was trapped on 3rd June. Abrasion had made the upper-parts rather reddish-brown, except for 1950 FAIR ISLE BIRD OBSERVATORY 21 the rump and upper tail-coverts, which retained a marked greyish-olive tinge no different from that of skins of this race kept in the laboratory. The 2nd primary in the right wing was new, and also the right outer tail-feather. According to The Handbook (2 : 1 17) there is no spring moult in this species. Blackbird Turdus merula. Breeding. — A pair of blackbirds reared three young (out of four hatched and leaving the nest) in late May 1949. The nest was conspicuously placed on a wooden beam in an old storehouse at the South Harbour. Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe. Song. — That the song of the wheatear is “to some extent imitative ” is mentioned in The Handbook (2 : 146). On 22nd April a singing male gave almost perfect mimicry of the notes of the redshank, the tu and tu-hu-hu sequence being introduced into the normal song as a group of several seconds’ duration. On dates in May another male sometimes included the redshank’s tu and the spring call of the lapwing in its song. Common Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus. Moult. — A female redstart trapped at the Haa on 25th May 1949 was in heavy moult on body, tail and wings. New feathers were growing on the breast, mantle and rump ; one primary, the 6th in the right wing, was new and not fully grown ; all the greater coverts were new — blackish-brown fringed buffish-brown — and this moult was nearly complete in the right wing. Some lesser coverts were moulting, and the two new dark brown central tail-feathers were about 5 mm. long. There is normally no spring moult in this genus. Nightingale Luscinia megarhyncha. Occurrence. — A nightingale was trapped at the Haa by R. R. on 22nd May 1949. The bird was in its first summer, having slight buffish-brown tips to some of the greater coverts, and the wing-measurement of 78 mm. agrees with the minimum 22 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol 62 given in The Handbook for the female sex. The bird, which was ringed D8106, weighed 20 g. This constitutes the first record of this species for Fair Isle, and the second spring record of the four known for Scotland. Two of these occurrences were at the Isle of May (gth May 1911, 26th-2gth August 1931) and the third in G. T. Kay’s garden at Lerwick, Shetland (5th September 1929)- The wing-formula was checked and the bird compared with skins in the laboratory. The ist primary was rather broader than in the two skins examined, and the emargin- ation of the 4th primary was not very noticeable, owing to abrasion. Bluethroat Luscinia svecica. A female bluethroat was trapped in the Gully by G. H. O. and K. W. on 20th May 1949 and was watched after being released at the North Haven. At a distance of 40-50 yards the most striking feature was the breast patch, which showed clear white when the bird was facing the observers, or standing in profile. The white eye-stripe was very pronounced when the bird faced us, but was less distinct in profile. The bird stood up well in the short heather, and, as in the case of male birds watched in the autumn of 1948, the slenderness of build and long tarsi gave the species an unmistakeable appear- ance when perching. The reddish-chestnut tail with black terminal bar stands out only at fairly close quarters and in good view. Robin Erithacus rubecula. Wintering, — An immature robin taken in the Gully trap on nth December 1948 was ringed D8251 and released at North Haven where it was recaptured on 22nd January 1949. Dunnock Prunella modularis. Occurrence. — A bird trapped at the Haa on the evening of 14th May was apparently of either the British or Hebridean races. Prunella m. occidentalis or hebridium^ and the first specimen of other than the typical form to come under notice at Fair 1950 FAIR ISLE BIRD OBSERVATORY 23 Isle. In the wing-formula, which was carefully checked by G. W. and K. W., the 2nd primary was equal to the 7th. Hoopoe Upupa epops. Occurrence. — A hoopoe was watched by several observers on 2 1 St May 1949. It preferred close-cropped sheep pasture for feeding, and was very wild, defeating all attempts to trap it. The occurrence constitutes the fourth record for Fair Isle, the last one being noted on 21st October 1910. ? Black-browed Albatross Diomedea melanophris. Occurrence.- — What is believed to be a black-browed albatross was seen on 14th May 1949 by G. W., J. H. O. and W. P. V. circling about in the vicinity of the Sheep Craig. Later in the morning it was seen again, actually over the land at the south of the isle, by the same party and J. A. S. Two islanders, J. W. and A. S., reported having seen it off the north-west cliffs in the afternoon, and G. T. A. saw it in the evening off Malcolm’s Head. According to The Handbook (4 : 83) this would appear to be the first albatross recorded for Scotland, and the first in Britain since an exhausted bird was picked up near Linton, Cambridgeshire, on 9th July 1897. Field-characters. — Attention was immediately attracted by the noticeably large size of the bird compared with the herring and great black-backed gulls which were mobbing it. When first seen it was soaring off the south face of the Sheep Craig and glided over towards the party in a slanting attitude, the wings held in the shape of a bow, with the wing-tips lower than the belly of the bird. The breast and underparts were pure white, and the head was slightly greyish in colour. The upper parts of the wings and mantle were black. The rump and upper tail-coverts were white, and the lower part of the tail to the tip black. The undersides of the wings were white with a black margin all round, and black wing-tips. The fine, strong bill was very noticeable, but it was not bright yellow as depicted in The Handbook plate, but horn-coloured, a fact which, in combination with the greyish head, suggests im- maturity. The legs appeared to be pinkish horn-colour. 24 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST VoL 62 The long slim wings were a striking feature, as was the jl soaring and circling flight on motionless wings. It was not 1 heard to call. It was continually attended by gulls, and 1 according to A. S., who saw it in the afternoon, it was ruth- j' lessly mobbed by the ravens nesting at West Lother. G. W. ! y ii It seems wisest to prefix this identification with a question J j mark. There is no doubt whatever that the bird was an j | albatross ; but the smaller species of Diomedea known as ^ “ molly mauks ” are closely similar to one another, and ^ 1 there is no conclusive evidence in the observers’ description } \ that this bird was D. melanophris. In the North Atlantic ■ area this species has been recorded most often, but the yellow-nosed albatross D. chlororhynchos is recorded from Quebec and Maine, and the grey-headed albatross D. chrysostoma V from Norway. Any of these three might be fairly contained f in the above description, and while the “ horn-coloured ” bill (bright yellow in mature melanophris, mostly black with i yellow stripe along the culmen and some yellow at base r and tip in the others) may not seem dark enough, the j “ slightly greyish ” head fits with chlororhynchos and chrysostoma \ as well as with the immature melanophris ; the darker border ; on both edges of the underside of the wings appears to exclude / cauta and bulleri, — Editors. f i Kentish Plover Leucopolius alexandrinus . | Occurrence. — A Kentish plover, the first to be recorded in Scotland, was observed in the south of the island on 14th May 1949 by G. H. O., W. P. V., G. W., G. T. A., P. R., and K. W. ^ Field-characters. — The bird had an altogether paler ap- ^ pearance and more upright carriage than a ringed plover, J the latter probably due largely to the shorter tail and habit I of standing with the head retracted. It had the character- istic short, quick run and “ freeze ” of the ringed plover, J and its call was well described by G. H. O. as “ double- sanderling ” with an appreciable short pause between the two “ wick ”s. In flight a wing-bar was prominent, but | not so clearly defined as in the ringed plover. 1 The plumage was a clean sandy-brown above and pure FAIR ISLE BIRD OBSERVATORY 25 1950 white beneath. The head was rufous, dark on the fore- crown and with a narrow white line above the bill (much less evident than in The Handbook plate), and narrow white supercilium above the black eye-stripe. There was a white collar on the nape, and the broken pectoral band was dark brown, not black, suggesting a female bird. The bill and legs appeared to be blackish. Iceland Gull Lams glaucoides. Feeding-habits. — A single immature Iceland gull which re- mained on Fair Isle during the first fortnight of May 1949 was often to be seen following the “ iron horse ” motor- ploughs with herring and lesser black-backed gulls. As a general rule it rested apart from the other gulls, and on other occasions, when ploughing was not in progress, did not seek their company but fed alone on the broken soil. It permitted fairly close approach and the distinctive characters of the species — small, dark horn-coloured bill and long wing-point with the wing-tips meeting but not crossing beyond the tail — were easily observed. 4 26 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol. 62 NOTES ON EILEAN BULGACH, SUTHERLAND Eilean Bulgach, or Am Balg, often called Bulgie Island, lies off the west coast of Sutherland 7 miles south-west of the Cape Wrath lighthouse, opposite Sandwood Bay. The nearest point to it on the mainland of Scotland is a mile to the east-south-east, Rudh’a’Bhuachaille, a cliff-promontory with a prominent detached stack. Am Buachaille. This coast is lonely, and Bulgach is surprisingly inaccessible. We spent three hours on it on 6th July 1948. We can trace few previous ornithological visits to this island. It is small, a somewhat pudding-shaped knob of rock, with several stacks and skerries on north, east and south. The landing on the east side, guarded by a skerry upon which sit large numbers of grey seals Halichoerus grypus (but where they do not breed) is difficult in bad weather ; and the top of the island is reached by scrambling a “ stair- case ” up a cliff of about 120 feet. The highest point of the island is 146 feet above sea level. J. A. Harvie-Brown visited this island towards the end of June 1882, and landed on it. W. Norrie, Harvie-Brown’s photographer, landed on it on 12th May 1904 (his remarks are confined to shags). On 19th June 1914 the Duchess of Bedford approached closely to and circumnavigated the cliffs in a boat but was unable to land. On 7th July 1927 W. and A. B. Duncan landed and spent some time ashore surveying the birds ; apart from a mention of their observa- tion of fulmars in the subsequent Report on Scottish Ornithology, and the publication of the recovery of a razorbill which they ringed, their notes have never been published, and we are very grateful to Mr. Arthur Bryce Duncan for having dis- interred them from his files and given us full use of them. The changes in the bird-life are best illustrated by treating each species separately ; as no two parties have landed in James Fisher Ashton Northampton AND Keith Piergy Clifton Bedfordshire igso NOTES ON EILEAN BULGACH, SUTHERLAND 27 the same year the observers can be identified simply by dates — 1882 : Harvie-Brown ; 1904 : Norrie ; 1914 : Duchess of Bedford ; 1927 : Duncan and Duncan ; 1948 : Fisher and Piercy. Mammal Grey Seal Halichoerus grypus. On the 1948 visit about a hundred, some first-year animals, were basking on the rocks at the east landing-place and to the south-west. The fisher- men who landed us say that they do not breed on Bulgach. Birds Rock Pipit Anthus spinoletta. 1882 : “ Rock pipits were not abundant ... of birds the ordinary rock species * were present and fairly abundant, but rock pipits were, curiously enough, rather scarce.” 1927 : ‘‘ One observed.” 1948 : Five pairs occupying apparent territories. Peregrine Falco peregrinus. 1882 : “ The remains of one or two seabirds, with the flesh picked clean from the bones, suggested the periodical visit of the peregrine falcon.” Nobody has ever seen a peregrine on Bulgach, though it may well be that peregrines occasionally use it as an eating-place. Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo. 1882 : “ Cormorants and shags — the former scarce, the latter common — were drying their wings in the light air.” 1914 : “I saw 3 cormorants in full breeding plumage.” 1927 : No mention ; A. B. Duncan was quite definite, when questioned, that in this year the cliff-tops were occupied by shags. 1948 : A cor- morantry along the top of the west-facing cliffs was estimated to contain at least 50 nests ; young were in various stages — some flew as we disturbed them — and some nests also had eggs. Shag Phalacrocorax aristotelis. 1882 : See cormorant. 1904 : “ An extensive colony of shags populating the entire east face and slopes — certainly not less than thirty nests — some with eggs in different stages of incubation, and others * What does Harvie-Brown here mean ? 28 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST VoL 6s with eggs and young.” 1914 : “ On the south-west side were . . . some shags. The visible population . . . was a little under a hundred, including young ones.” 1927 : Colony in west clifF-top, more nests on steeper cliff below, unable estim- ate numbers, many had young already on wing, others eggs. 1948 : Nesting all round the cliffs (but not on west cliff-top) ; young in every stage, difficult to see into all cracks and crevices, but estimated at least 100 nests. Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis. 1882, 1904 : None seen. 1914: “A very few” breeding. 1927: “Breeding all along the cliffs ” on west and east sides ; 10 nests examined (7th July) had eggs just chipping, 2 had new-hatched young. 1948 : (Plate I) 80 nests seen in thorough search of whole island from land and sea ; 29 were closely examined, birds being put off if necessary ; of these 26 had eggs, 3 were “ incubating ” on empty nests ; one egg was chipping (6th July). This agrees entirely with other information we have about dates in the fulmar’s breeding-cycle, which is re- markably rigid. Oyster-catcher Haematopus ostralegus. 1882, 1904, 1914 : No mention, unless among “ ordinary rock species ” of 1882. 1927 : Probably 2 pairs breeding, i young marked. 1948 : 2 pairs on the island, demonstrating possession of territories. Herring Gull Lams argentatus. 1882 : “ Occupied the grassy top and interior of the island.” 1914 : “ The grassy top of the island was covered with . . . herring gulls.” 1927 : Mixed colony of herring and lesser black-backed gulls of 40-50 pairs, slight majority herring gulls. 1948 : Only one pair detectable on the island. Lesser Black-backed Gull Lams fuscus. 1882, 1914 : No mention. 1927 : See herring gull. 1948 : None. Great Black-backed Gull Lams marinus. 1882 : “ Two pairs . . . were perched on the topmost pinnacles of the [outlying] skerries.” 1914: “A few” on top of island. 1927 : One pair. 1948 : An immense colony, estimated at about 150 pairs, 15 young marked. . — Fulmar incubating among fairly dense growth of scentless mayweed Matricaria inodora, Eilean Bulgach, 6th July 1948. Plate i Face p. 28 1950 NOTES ON EILEAN BULGAGH, SUTHERLAND 29 Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla, 1882 : “ In a large colony but with many immature birds, principally on the north- west and west cliffs, or resting on the skerries,” and, of north- west Sutherland kittiwakes generally, “ there are many- roosting-places unoccupied by nests, such as one on Bulgie Island.” 1914 : “ The north-west precipitous side is in- habited almost entirely by kittiwakes ... on the south-west side were great numbers of kittiwakes.” 1927 : Colonies in positions noted 1914, of at least 150 pairs each ; other small colonies. 1948 : Colony of about 100 nests on south side, and another nearby of about 40 ; another under north-east cliffs of about 75 nests. Well-fledged young in most nests. Razorbill Alca torda. 1882 : Plentiful on east side. 1914 : Great numbers on south-west side. 1927 : Breeding among rocks and boulders of east ascent, and in all suitable cover ; abundant ; nestling ringed 7th July recovered Oslo Fjord, Norway, i6th October of same year. 1948 : Between 2 and 3 thousand birds estimated present, some in raft on sea, rest on cliffs breeding abundantly. 8 marked. Guillemot Uria aalge. 1882 : Plentiful on west, less plentiful on east side. 1914 : Great numbers on south-west side. 1927 : Climbed to nesting-ledge on south-west side, 3 out of about 12 eggs hatched ; breeding in fair numbers though not as many as razorbill. 1948 : Not a large breeding population, less than 200 seen on ledges, 13 bridled to 126 unbridled, i.e. bridled 9-3 per cent, of whole. Black Guillemot Uria grylle. 1882 : No mention. 1914 : “ I saw a few black guillemots.” 1927 : No mention. 1948 : One seen on the sea off the island. Puffin Fratercula arctica. 1882 : Very abundant along clifftops and slopes, and crevices in cliff-face. 1914 : “ The grassy top of the island was covered with puffins.” 1927 : Top of island and boulders full of puffin-burrows. 1948 : Many in raft on sea ; with those visible on cliff-tops estimated at between 600 and 1000. Insect Magpie Moth Abraxas grossulariata. One on the island’s top, flying. 30 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST VoL 62 Bulgach Island is scarcely ever visited by man (though in the last century three or four sheep were run on it) and changes in the numbers of birds on it have probably little to do with him. That there have been changes is clear ; fulmars, cormorants and great black-backs have remarkably increased, the two last in twenty years, all forming substantial colonies. The cormorants appear to have driven shags from their present breeding-grounds at the tops of the west cliffs, though the shags continue to prosper on other, less open parts of the cliff. The great black-backs have ousted herring gulls and lesser black-backs from the top (and from the island), and have guanoed their breeding-ground so that Scotch lovage Ligusticum scoticum grows very thick. The other species cannot be proved to have changed in status, though it is possible the rock pipit may have increased. REFERENCES Anon., 1928. Recovery of marked birds. Brit. Birds, 21 : 272-278, 295-302 (p. 301). Baxter, E. V. and L. J. Rintoul, 1928. Report on Scottish ornithology in 1927. Scot. Nat., 1928 : 105-121, 135-162 (pp. no, 113, 120). Bedford, The Duchess of, 1 9 1 4. Spring bird-notes from various Scottish islands. Scot. Nat., 1914 : 173-181 (p. 177). 1938. A Bird-watcher^ s Diary. London, printed for private circulation, ed. Arthur Bryce Duncan (p. 149). Harvie-Brown, J. a., 1885. The north-west coasts of Sutherland and their bird life. Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edinb., 8 : 485-497 (pp. 495-497). and T. E. Buckley, 1887. A Vertebrate Fauna of Sutherland, Caithness and West Cromarty. Edinburgh (p. 234). and H. A. MacPherson, 1904. A Fauna of the North-west Highlands and Skye. Edinburgh (p. 42). WiTHERBY, H. F., 1928. The “ British Birds ” marking scheme. Progress for 1927. Brit Birds, 21 : 2 12-2 19 (p. 214). ig50 OCCURRENCE OF SOMATOCHLORA ALPESTRIS 31 THE POSSIBLE OCCURRENCE OF SOMATOCHLORA ALPESTRIS IN SCOTLAND G. G. Blackwood Pitlochry I WAS very interested in Miss Cynthia Longfield’s article in Volume 60 of The Scottish Naturalist, and especially her remarks on Somatochlora alpestris. I immediately wrote to Miss Longfield and she sent me a copy of Col. F. C. Fraser’s article in the Entomologisf s Monthly Magazine of 28th March 1947. From this it appears that the facts were as follows : — Col. Fraser had asked K. J. Morton for Scottish specimens of S. arctica and had received two insects from him. One was labelled “ Inverness 28.6.26, coll. K. Morton ” and was in fact S. arctica ? . The other was labelled “ Inverness 7.7.26, coll. K. Morton ” and after Morton’s death was dis- covered by Col. Fraser to be S. alpestris S . Col. Fraser had previously received from Morton an alpestris S , taken in Austria, with which he was able to compare the second specimen. Being resident in the Highlands I hoped it might fall to my lot to establish fully the claim of alpestris to a place on the British list. My first step was to try to find the probable locality of the two captures, so one day when I was in Edin- burgh I called on Miss Morton to see if I might be allowed to consult her father’s diary for 1926. I should explain that I knew K. J. Morton well and when I lived in Edinburgh, prior to August 1914, I was a frequent caller at his house. I regret to have to say that the results of my investigations were very different from what I had hoped or expected. Miss Morton surprised me by saying that the family had spent their 1926 holiday in the Pyrenees but that she would look out the diary and send it to me. She very kindly did so and she also sent me all the diaries from 1924 to 1939 with the exception of one for 1929 which has been lost or mislaid. The first entry for the year 1926 is, curiously enough, on 28th June. It is “ Left Edinr.” The entry for 29th June is “ Left London for Paris ” and for 30th June 32 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol 62 “ Itxassou.” The entry for 7th July is “ Dull and showery. Onych. found teneral at little stream nr. hotel. One or two interesting Trichoptera.” Itxassou is about 20 kilometres from Bayonne and 7 from Cambo. The family remained in the Pyrenees till 24th August and there is no mention anywhere in the 1926 diary of either arctica or alpestris. The two insects sent to Col. Fraser were accordingly not collected by Morton on the dates stated on their respective envelopes.. They may have been collected in Scotland on these dates by some unidentified correspondent, but to put alpestris on the British list on the facts as they have now emerged is, I think, quite inadmissible. This is a very disappointing result of my investigations but, despite the negative evidence I have unearthed, it is quite possible that alpestris does in fact exist in Scotland, and I entirely agree with Col. Fraser that all supposed arctica specimens taken in future should be most carefully examined in case alpestris may turn up. I have scanned the diaries most carefully in the hope that a mistake had been made in the year of capture but I cannot connect the dates 28th June or 7th July with any entries. The nearest approach is in 1930 when two arctica ? were noted on 7th July from the Mallaig district. There is how- ever no note of a male having been taken on that date. Otherwise, neither insect is mentioned on any 28th June or 7th July in the whole series of diaries. There remains only the year 1929, but Miss Morton informs me that her father spent June of that year at Rannoch and was with the family in Corsica during July and August. Morton’s most successful year with both species was 1928 when he visited the Austrian and Italian Tyrol. He collected them on both sides of the frontier and had a good surplus available for distribution. This is shown by an entry at the end of the diary which gives the names of five friends who were to receive specimens. Col. Fraser is allotted one arctica 8 and one alpestris :: vegetation in most Shetland lochs, with consequent scarcity of ^ i food, there are not many places where whooper swans Cygnus 5, | cygnus winter in any abundance. There are a few places j 1 where small numbers are regularly to be seen (e.g. the brackish end of Strom Loch, Whiteness and some where they are to | ® be seen on occasions (e.g. Loch of Clumlie, Dunrossness), | but the two main wintering places seem to be the loch at^ Uyeasound, Unst (54 during winter 1948-49 : 31 during! winter 1949-50) and the Loch of Spiggie near Scousburgh. } These are fresh water lochs and Spiggie, with an average £ winter pH of 8-5 in the shallows, is considerably less acid | than the peaty lochs in the district. ^ Apparently the Scousburgh locality has been an im- portant winter headquarters for some time, for the Rev. John ^ Mill, in the Old Statistical Account of Scotland^ i793j says : I “ Swans in great numbers resort to this parish in October | and November, and remain about the lochs of Skelberry and | Scousburgh during the winter. In the end of April, or be- | j ginning of May, they migrate to Norway, where their young 1 1| are hatched.” Mill was a great character in his day and a I very observant man, an amusing and indefatigable diary T writer from 1740 to 1803. His “ this parish ” is Dunrossness ! and his “ lochs of Skelberry and Scousburgh ” are Brow * I and Spiggie. | Mr. T. Henderson of Scousburgh, the proprietor of Loch I Spiggie, tells us that in times past, when swans were shot fori * Spiggie and Brow are separated only by a narrow marshy belt, and for the ^ purposes of this paper Brow is treated as part of Spiggie. Brow is not much! frequented by the swans. ; : ig50 THE WHOOPER SWANS OF LOCH SPIGGIE, SHETLAND 143 food and feathers, the disturbance was such that few remained throughout the winter. This is substantiated by Edmonston (1809). He describes how a horse was used as a moveable “ screen ” for shooting from loch shores and adds : “ A few swans have been known to spend the winter in the loch of Scousburgh in the parish of Dunrossness.” Dunn (1837) says that : “ Large flocks of this bird annually visit Shetland and Orkney in the spring and autumn ... at which time they are frequently shot by the fowler, who secretes himself by the side of the water. . . . Five have been killed at one dis- charge in this manner.” Evans and Buckley (1899) con- sider December records for Spiggie so unusual as to be worth recording individually. Fortunately, swan shooting has prac- tically died out in Shetland and nowadays some, or all, of this spectacular herd can be seen on the loch from autumn to spring. How variable the numbers can be, comparing one winter with another, will be seen in the following communi- cation. Whoopers do not normally breed on Shetland, but a wounded pair did so successfully on Spiggie for a number of years. This appears to be the origin of the statement in the Handbook (3 : 171) that: “Pinioned birds bred Shetlands 1910 and one or two subsequent years,” but the present Mr. T. Henderson has given us further details (see also Henderson 1910). In 1905, when swans were still being shot, a bird with a permanently maimed wing was left on Spiggie at the end of the winter. A second wounded bird was left on Loch Clumlie in 1907, and this was caught and brought over to Spiggie where it joined the other bird. They proved to be a pair and first nested in 1910 when they reared three young. They continued nesting, but irregularly and not always suc- cessfully, into the war years of 1914-18. At the end of the war these birds, together with a pair of introduced mute swan Cygnus olor and their progeny, were all shot. We quote a note from Mr. Henderson (personal communication) on this : “ Actually they weren’t shot by poachers for food. I could have forgiven that. What happened was this. In 1919 all the youths of the district who had been at the war were returning home, and practically 90 per cent, of them brought home guns. They shot every darned thing that flew 144 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol. 62 during the winter of 1919-20, including our swans (both C. cygnus and C. olor) and, so far from these being used as food, the wing pinions were stripped and the carcasses left in 1, most cases to rot where they fell.” Prior to this the mute swans and their various families ' were comfortably established, but neither the adult whoopers nor their young ever settled down to regard Spiggie as their home. The cygnets always left with the northward migrants at the end of their first winter and they never returned to breed. When the passage migration was on in the autumn the pair of wounded birds would become very excited, call a great deal, and sometimes set off southward on foot while, in spring, as the last of the active birds were leaving, this pair would start walking northwards at least once a season and have to be turned back with the aid of a sheep dog. The Handbook (3 : 168) suggests that salt water, rather than fresh water, is the normal winter habitat. This is far from the case in Shetland. We have only seen whoopers on salt water on the Loch of Strom (and here they are almost always at the brackish north end), and occasional passagej :: migrants in sheltered bays. Saxby (1874) states that Bewick’sl swan C. bewickii was a regular spring and autumn passage! h migrant in his day, and gives the curious piece of information^ I that : “ ... its flesh is acknowledged to be far superior in flavour to that of the Hooper.” He noted that it was usually seen on salt water. We have failed to see this species on Shetland, and of recent years it has become far less common in Scotland, the Outer Hebrides and Ireland (George Water- ston. Dr. J. W. Campbell and Robert Ruttledge : personal communications) . Mr. T. Henderson tells us that he has not seen a Bewick’s at Spiggie since about 1926, but there is one recentrecord for Unst (Moore, 1948). Normally the Spiggie whooper swan population is practic- ally confined to the north end of the loch where the water is [j only 18 inches to 2 feet deep. On 27th October 1948, when 79 swans were present, the writers dredged twice across this area and specimens of all the plants collected were kindly identified by Dr. J. W. G. Lund at Wray Castle, Ambleside. ^ The floor of the loch here was completely carpeted by a small j form of the stonewort Chara aspera with occasional patches of !l ,j I ig50 THE WHOOPER SWANS OF LOCH SPIGGIE, SHETLAND 145 I amphibious persicaria Polygonum amphibium, creeping scirpus Eleocharis palustris, floating manna-grass Glyceria Jluitans and bogbean Menyanthes trifoliata. The following algae were I abundant, attached to and entangled among the roots of C. aspera : Rivularia, Cocconeis, Rhopalodia, Cymbella, Epithemia^ Navicula, Cosmarium, Aphanochaete and Coleochaete. Druce (1922 and 1925) records two more species of stonewort from Spiggie : C. delicatula and C. contraria. ' Here, in this extensive shallow area, the swans “ up-end ” and graze on the plentiful vegetation, sometimes first scratch- ing backwards with their toes if the water is shallow enough. A large flock of duck (mostly goldeneye Bucephala clangula and not infrequently tufted duck Aythya fuligula) usually feeds just downwind of the herd, reaping the benefit of the disturbed bottom. Miss Rintoul, Miss Baxter and Dr. J. W. Campbell tell us that they have seen similar associations between mute swans and wigeon Anas penelope, and whoopers and wigeon. Winter Population : Size and Mobility From 1947 to 1950 we were living close to Loch Spiggie and counted the swans several times each week throughout the winters. These counts are summarised in Table i, and more detailed observations are given below together with brief notes on the two previous winters. 1945- ^' — 50-60 swans wintered on Spiggie. 1946- 7. — The herd peaked at some 60-70 birds before mid-winter and these remained, mostly feeding at the north end of Spiggie, until the abnormally long and severe frost of February and March (see Venables & Venables, 1948) com- pletely froze all the iochs on Shetland. On no occasion during this period was any swan seen on salt water or attempting to feed there and, as the land was snow-covered, it is difficult to imagine what they could have eaten. After about one week of these hard conditions, all except 15 birds left Spiggie and were not seen again. Five of the remaining 15 died but 10 managed to survive. These stayed in the moving water of the outlet stream which they kept open by constant activity. The surviving whoopers on the Loch of Strom merely stood on the ice in a comatose way until the thaw. On a visit to 19 46 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol. 62 Scousburgh from 7th to 12th April we noted 13 swans, and the last bird, a passage migrant, was seen on 5th May. 1947-8. — The counts for this and subsequent winters are shown in Table i : each month is divided into four parts — Table i. — Average number of whooper swans per quarter month and percentage of cygnets per month Winter 1947-8 Winter 1948-9 Winter 1949-50 Total %of Total %of Total %of No. Cygnets No. Cygnets No. Cygnets Sept, D — — < I 0 I 0 Oct. A < I I 5 B 10 177 3 G 22 0 28 2 3*1 D — 74 39 Nov. A 86 60 B 10 88 58 C 23 11*5 61 22*5 62 5'4 D 28 58 69 Dec. A 34 68 62 B G 34 34 II-7 50 37 26-6 57 36 1*4 D 35 29 18 Jan. A 62 35 20 B C 74 86 9-8 23 23 33-3 21 21 0 D 83 18 18 Feb. A 81 21 18 B C 83 84 13-1 23 20 39*1 26 22 0 D 81 28 28 Mar. A 81 26 24 B G 32 5 16.7 18 13 43-0 1 1 14 0 D < I 8 5 Apr. A — 8 2 B G — 7 7 67*8 3 0 D — 6 — May A — — I* 100* — — * One, later two, first-year birds summered. IQ50 THE WHOOPER SWANS OF LOCH SPIGGIE, SHETLAND 147 the first three parts are normal seven-day weeks and the last covers the balance of the month. The figures give the size of the total Spiggie herd and were obtained by averaging the individual counts made during each period. The right-hand columns show the percentage of cygnets each month. For the winter under discussion the October figures repre- sent migrant flocks which settled on Spiggie for a few hours, or sometimes days, before moving on, but from 19th November onwards swans were always on the loch right throughout the winter, reaching their highest numbers by the third week of January. It will be noted that during this winter “ plateau ” the figures were seldom the same from week to week. This was due to occasional movement between Spiggie and ir- regularly frequented lochs. These wanderers were few in number and were all white birds without young. This point is emphasised by the fact that from 1 6th January to 5th March, though the number of white birds varied between 70 and 75, the number of cygnets remained constant at 1 1 . At the end of the first week of March there was a sudden spurt of activity and excitement — parties getting up and circling with their beautiful musical calls while others, on the loch below, were sitting upright with stretched necks and waving wings giving an answering clamour. The local saying about this spectacular behaviour is that the swans are clearing their anchor chains and singing their capstan shanty. This proved to be the case and the numbers rapidly fell off from that date, though there would be a temporary increase as northward-bound passage migrants passed through. The last birds, two adults with three cygnets, were seen on 25th March. 1948-9. — -After the autumn passage, the highest numbers (88 in the second week of November) were reached considerably earlier than in the previous winter. During that month, however, we had an abnormal series of severe gales which created such a surf at the shallow end of the loch that practic- ally all the vegetation was torn up and washed ashore. The carpet of Chara disappeared, the loch floor being left bare and as “ rippled ” as the sea sand at a low ebb. Almost immedi- ately the swans started to leave, and Table i shows how the numbers fluctuated at first and then fell off to the twenties 148 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol 62 ^ by January. It was established by means of enquiry, per- sonal search and correspondence in the two local papers that these missing swans did not winter in other parts of Shetland. | The remains of the herd almost deserted their usual quarters at the shallow end of Spiggie, and frequented the ^ west side, the marshy area between Spiggie and Brow, and also the small loch of Hill well, one mile to the south. In normal years this is only an “ occasionally-visited ” loch, but it has had to be included in the counts for this winter. Most of the remaining birds left in March, but a pair of adults with four young stayed until 29th April. These were fre- quently in the company of an apparently wounded cygnet that had been on Hillwell for most of the winter but, being almost incapable of flight, it was forced to remain behind when the family party migrated. By mid-June this bird was capable of flying to Loch Brow (one mile away) though it never stayed there for more than a few hours before returning to Hillwell, where it spent more of its time grazing on the shore than feeding in the water. By that time a really good view in bright light was necessary to see that it was not in fully white adult plumage. It had a little ash-brown flecking on the upper neck, head, face and^ back but this was far from distinct. The yellow of the bill was apparently as bright as in the adult. By mid- August it was indistinguishable from an adult bird. On the night of | 7th-8th July another first-year whooper appeared out of the ^ blue and joined the Hillwell bird. This newcomer was rather more heavily flecked on the upper neck, head, face and back and also had some flecking on the wings and rump. The yellow bill was equally bright. This bird, too, was indistinguishable from an adult by mid-August. These two birds kept together until the autumn migrants started passing through. One left with passage birds on 13th September and the other with more passage birds on loth October. 1949-50. — During this winter we took regular counts until 6th January. We were then away from Shetland until April, but Mr. T. Henderson, Mr. W. Leslie and Mr. R. Bairnson kindly counted the swans for us. The herd peaked at over 60 birds by mid-November, but | once again, and in spite of a very open winter, many of the | ig30 THE WHOOPER SWANS OF LOCH SPIGGIE, SHETLAND 149 I I birds left by mid-winter. It is by no means certain, however, Ij that they left the islands. On our return to Shetland in April we heard frequent stories of small parties of swans [ paying short visits to many of the lochs of Mainland (i.e. the main island of Shetland) throughout the second half of the i winter. A letter from Mr. Charles Inkster of Mid- Yell gives a similar report for the island of Yell where, normally, it is very rare to see a swan once the migratory movement is over. The remainder of the Spiggie herd was more mobile and scattered than usual so that we have had to include the whole group of lochs — Spiggie, Brow, Hillwell and Clumlie — in the counts given in Table I. Two possible theories to account for the failure of the main herd to winter on Spiggie suggest themselves. One is the great increase of duck shooting that year, including the introduction of a boat on Hillwell, leading to excessive disturbance. The other is greater mobility owing to the complete absence of cygnets (see below) . Normally the “ wandering ” birds are white birds with no young, and during this winter the whole herd came into this category. This suggests that the presence of family parties helps to anchor the herd to one spot and provide a nucleus to which the wanderers return. Winter Population : Family Size and Percentage of Cygnets It is well towards the end of the autumn passage before any cygnets appear on Spiggie (see Table i). It is not known however, whether the earlier “ white ” arrivals are second winter birds or fully adult swans that have failed to rear young. During the period of peak numbers in early November 1948, the individual family parties on Spiggie were counted separately. This was not particularly difficult as each adult pair and its young usually kept well together. On 2nd November and from 7th to 15th November there were 88 swans on the loch : 65 white birds and 23 cygnets. The cygnets were divided into eight families (5, 4, 4, 3, 2, 2, 2, i. Average = 2-9). The Handbook (3 : 170) gives five to six as the usual clutch of eggs, with four and eight as the extremes. 150 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol 62 Judging by the size of the families at the time of their arrival in Shetland there must be a considerable egg or chick mor- tality. This is borne out by counts in Shetland of 34 further families (10 ones, 5 twos, 9 threes, 8 fours and 2 fives. Average = 2*6.) Of the 65 white birds, 16 ( = 8 pairs : 24*6 per cent.) had cygnets while 49 (75*4 per cent.) had none. No doubt this high percentage without young is largely due to the presence of second winter birds in the herd. Dr. Finn Salo monsen (personal communication) informs us that whoopers do not nest until they are two, or possibly three, years old and, as we have shown above, birds slightly over one year old are indistinguishable from adults. Table 2. — Percentage of Cygnets on Spiggie Winter Nov. 0/ /o Dec. 0/ /o Jan. % Feb. 0/ /o 1947-8 11*5 II-7 9-8 13-1 1948-9 22*5 26-6 33*3 39*1 1949-50 5-4 1-4 0 0 Table 2 shows the startling drop in the proportion of cygnets for the winter of 1949-50. We saw only three broods (3, 2, i) and the last of these, the single, left in the third week of December. After this only white birds remained. This links up with information concerning the previous breeding season in Iceland. The summer of 1949 in Iceland was the worst and latest since about 1885. Mr. G. K. Yeates (per- sonal communication) tells us that it was mid-June before the lakes in south Iceland even began to thaw (presumably they would be still later in the north) and, from his own observa- tions, he doubts whether any swans managed to nest “ save an odd pair or so.” Other than a few pairs in Scotland, whoopers breed in Iceland and in north Scandinavia up to 70° Lat. (and also further east). The director of the Meteorological Office, Harrow, has kindly supplied data concerning the weather in north Scandinavia in June 1949. These show an average season with only slight deviations ( — 2*2° F. to +2*0° F.) I igso THE WHOOPER SWANS OF LOCH SPIGGIE, SHETLAND 151 j from the normal. The whooper nesting season is from mid- May to mid-June (Slater, 1901, and the Handbook), The fact that Iceland was icebound until mid-June while northern Scandinavia had a normal season, coupled with the surprising drop in cygnet numbers on Spiggie the following winter, ’ strongly suggests that our Spiggie herd is of Iceland stock. On the day the proofs of this paper were corrected (5th Novem- ber 1950) the Spiggie herd had built up to 47 birds, 31*9 per I cent, being cygnets. This high percentage of young may possibly be explained by the fact that as the 1949 breeding season had been such a failure, there would be a corresponding drop in the numbers of white birds during the winter of 1950-51. Summary Loch Spiggie, Dunrossness, has long been the main winter ( quarters of whooper swans Cygnus cygnus on Shetland. A pinioned pair bred there for a number of years. The feeding area has an average winter pH of 8-5 and a depth of 18-24 inches. A list of the bottom flora is given. Observations on the size and movements of the herd throughout the winter seasons of 1947-50, with brief notes on the two previous winters, show : — [a) Whooper swans in Shetland rarely make use of salt water even when long periods of severe frost restrict their fresh- water habitats. {h) The winter herd may be scattered by a prolonged frost, or by severe gales which tear up the bottom vegetation on which the swans graze. Excessive duck shooting may cause the herd to scatter locally. (r) The “ white ” birds without cygnets are most prone to wander, and family parties tend to anchor the herd to one locality. Notes are given on the plumage changes of two cygnets which remained throughout one summer. The average number of cygnets per successful pair in November 1948 was 2*9 though the average clutch size is 5*5. There was a sudden drop in the percentage of cygnets in the winter of 1949-50 (Table 2). 1949 was an extremely late and severe spring in Iceland but was normal in northern THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST VoL 62 152 Scandinavia. These facts suggest that the Spiggie herd is of Iceland stock. ( Acknowledgements The writers wish to acknowledge the very considerable help I; they received from Mr. T. Henderson, the proprietor of Loch i Spiggie, who gave them much information, read the manu- script of this paper and took counts when the authors were away from the district. It is due to Mr. Henderson that this beautiful herd of whooper swans is now protected. The writers wish also to acknowledge their indebtedness to Mr. W. Leslie and Mr. R. Bairnson for observations at Lochs 1 Hillwell and Clumlie respectively. | REFERENCES Druce, G. Claridge, 1922. Flora Zetlandica. Supplement to Report of . Botanical Society and Exchange Club for ig2i. Arbroath. Pp. 457- ,j 546. il 1925. Additions to the Flora Zetlandica. The Secretary's Report ^ for IQ24 of the Botanical Society and Exchange Club of the British Isles. | Arbroath. Pp. 628-657. Dunn, Robert, 1837. The Ornithologist's Guide to the Islands of Orkney | and Shetland. London. | Edmondston, a., 1809. A View of the Ancient and Present State of the Zetland I Isles. Edinburgh. 2 vols. Evans, A. H. and T. E. Buckley, 1899. A Vertebrate Fauna of the Shetland '• Islands. Edinburgh. j Henderson, T., Jun., 1910. Whooper swans breeding in Shetland. I Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1910 : 245. j Moore, N. W., 1948. Bewick’s swan in Shetland in September. | Brit. Birds, 4.1: 215. Saxby, H L. and S. H. Saxby, 1874. The Birds of Shetland. Edinburgh. Slater, Henry H., 1901. Manual of the Birds of Iceland. Edinburgh. Venables, L. S. V. and U. M. Venables, i 948. A Shetland bird popula- ! tion : Kergord Plantations. Journ. Anim. EcoL, 17 : 66-74. Fig. 2. Head of a small Pilot Whale, showing teeth, tongue and eye, and the characteristic colour marking under the throat. Plate II Fig. I. General view of school looking south. Face p. 153 153 1950 PILOT WHALES STRANDED IN EAST LOTHIAN NOTES ON A SCHOOL OF PILOT WHALES STRANDED IN EAST LOTHIAN David Steven Edinburgh The stranding of a considerable school of pilot whales Globi- cephala melaena on the coast of East Lothian, at Thorntonloch on Saturday 13th May 1950, attracted nation-wide interest, and was extensively reported at the time in the press and on the radio. The purpose of this article is simply to put on record certain observations made during two visits to the scene on the 14th and 15th May respectively. According to eye-witnesses the whales came ashore on a rising tide about 9.0 a.m. The exact number originally stranded is not known, since a small group, estimated at about fifteen individuals, managed to free themselves and were not seen again. One or two dead whales also floated off, and may not be included in the total number of corpses eventually disposed of, which was one hundred and forty-seven. It appears that efforts were made on the first day to tow some of the smaller whales into deep water, but that all of them returned immediately to the beach. ^ My first visit to the scene was at midday on Sunday 14th May, accompanied by Dr. A. P. Meiklejohn of the Department of Medicine of the University of Edinburgh. The site of the stranding was a gently shelving sandy beach about 400 yards south of the cottages at Thorntonloch. The 5-fathom depth contour at this point is some 600 yards from the shore. The whole school lay along about 100 yards of the beach near high water mark, the whales being so close together that in many places they were three or four deep and had damaged one another considerably in their struggles. Plate II, fig. I shows the general scene at this time. The tide was almost full, and most of the whales were lying in I or 2 feet of water. Rather more than half of them still showed signs of life, though obviously they were very weak. 20 154 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol. 62 Some were blowing fairly regularly, others only occasionally, while many were seen making spasmodic attempts to swim. An official of the R.S.P.G.A., who had spent some hours on j the spot, told me that many of the whales, which had appeared to be dead when the tide was out, had revived as soon as the water reached them. The conditions at high tide, with the whales just awash, were particularly favourable for observing their swimming movements, though this was made difficult by the close tangle of bodies and the breaking surf. Figure 2 shows a close view of the anterior end of a small whale, on which the principal features are clearly visible. The tongue, which is flesh coloured, can be seen between the slightly parted jaws, and the teeth, of which there are ten pairs, on the right side of the lower jaw. The eye is situated a short distance posterior and dorsal to the angle of the lower jaw. Also prominent are the “ beak ” and the characteristic heart-shaped area of light grey skin on the ventral side, as described by Williamson (1949). Although not visible in the photograph, the region around the mouth of this and other specimens examined was marked with the circular scars made by the suckers of cuttlefish. Since most of the whales were lying on their sides and had sunk into the sand to a depth of several inches, their muscular efforts, which often reared their tails and heads well clear of the water, were quite ineffective to shift them. We noticed only one small individual still able to make rhythmical swimming movements which might have been sufficiently powerful to propel it, had it been able to free itself from the sand and from the others around it. From observing the amplitude of the stroke of the body and tail in the dorso-ventral plane, I estimated that even the smallest whales would require at least five feet of water in order to swim effectively. We were not able to determine the sex and age composi- tion of the school, since so many of the animals were still alive and in the water. There were three full-grown dead bulls, each over 20 feet in length, with the penis extruded. Each of these bulls was closely attended by two or three full-grown cows and a number of smaller whales, which gave the im- pression that the school had consisted of three distinct family 1950 PILOT WHALES STRANDED IN EAST LOTHIAN 155 groups, each following its own bull. This seems to agree with the statements of eye-witnesses that they came ashore in three or possibly more groups, separated by short intervals of time. It seems likely also that the small group which managed to free iself represented another family. In this connection, Williamson (1948) has recently recorded a fact well known in the Faroe Islands, where this species is still extensively hunted by the population, that a single whale will nearly always rejoin the herd, but if a party breaks clear from the ring of boats driving them it will not return. The behaviour of the small whales which were towed off shore on the first day supports this observation. It seems clear that the majority oi the whales comprising a school of this gre- garious species have no individual freedom of action in this respect, and that judgements and decisions as to the course of behaviour must rest with one or a relatively small number of individuals, possibly the adult bulls. On my second visit the following afternoon the tide was out, and the remaining whales had been killed. On this occasion I counted fifteen bulls of various sizes with the penis extruded. Some of them were quite small, only about 10 feet in length. By this time the local authorities had already re- moved some of the corpses from the beach, so that the total number of bulls was probably greater. Most of the whales still alive at midday on Sunday were small or of medium size. All the largest specimens of both sexes were already dead. I was informed that the largest bull, which was just under 24 feet in length, died about 4.0 p.m. on Saturday, about seven hours after the stranding. It seems likely that the relatively rapid death of the larger whales was due to collapse of the thorax, since the ribs do not connect with the sternum, and, being therefore unsupported at their ventral ends, cannot sustain the weight of the body wall when the animal is out of water. This is clearly not true in the case of the smaller ones, since many of them had already survived two periods of low tide before our visit, and were still breathing regularly. More than sixty were eventually despatched by an official of the R.S.P.C.A. late on Sunday afternoon, some thirty hours after the stranding. The smaller whales probably died from exhaustion and buffeting, possibly 156 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol 62 hastened by dehydration and sunburn. Saturday 13th May was an exceptionally fine day, hot and cloudless, and most of the whales had sustained extensive sunburn blisters, which had broken down in many places, particularly where they had been rubbed by the bodies of other whales, exposing the underlying layer of blubber. There seemed, however, to be very little haemorrhage from these wounds. At my second visit on the Monday one of the smallest whales was taken back to Edinburgh, and was later dissected at the Royal Dick Veterinary College. It was hoped that an examination of the stomach contents would yield information on the food taken shortly before the stranding, which might throw some light on the cause of the event. Unfortunately the stomach was empty, and the intestine contained only a yellow bile-stained fluid with no recognisable animal remains. We had noticed on our first visit that many whales had vomited a yellow fluid, so that any undigested solid matter previously vomited was probably washed away by the tide. The specimen we dissected was an immature female, 6 feet 9 inches in length. It had been killed by gunshot, and ap- peared to be healthy and in good condition. The lungs were not collapsed, and there was no extensive internal haemorrhage. The blubber layer was about i inch thick over most of the body. The skull, flippers, a scapula, the cervical and some other vertebrae, a portion of the skin and blubber, the heart, part of the lungs and trachea and the kidneys were kept, and are preserved at the Department of Zoology of the University of Edinburgh. REFERENCES Williamson, K., 1948. The Atlantic Islands. London. P. 106. 1949* Notes on the Caaing Whale. Scot. JSfat., 61: 68-72. CAPERCAILLIE IN SCOTLAND 157 i 1950 THE HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE CAPERCAILLIE IN SCOTLAND Ian D. Pennie Tongue Part 2 Moray and Nairn From the various scattered and sometimes rather in- coherent notes available on the early history of the capercaillie in Morayshire it is somewhat difficult to piece together the true sequence of events. The earliest record is of an attempted introduction by the Earl of Fife, who obtained a few birds from Norway about 1852 and liberated them at Loch-na-bo, near Elgin, but they were never seen again. About i860, eggs were placed under greyhens in the Castle Grant woods, but an unusually severe frost killed all the young birds in a single night (Harvie- Brown and Buckley 1895). ^ further attempt at Loch-na-bo took place in 1878 (Harvie-Brown 1879), but presumably this too was unsuccessful as there is no further reference to it in any of the papers. About 1883, the Earl of Moray obtained eggs which were hatched out under hens, but again the young birds all died, although it is noted that a cock bird was seen in the spring of 1883 (Harvie-Brown and Buckley 1895). In 1884, however, the keeper found a nest containing ten eggs at Darnaway and saw three coveys of young birds. On 15th February 1886 a hybrid blackcock-caper was found dead in the Darnaway woods, where there were “a few more of such exactly the same”, and in 1888 another was trapped about six miles from Forres (i.e. almost certainly in the Darnaway woods). A third was shot at Loch Loy in 1889. By 1890 they had increased to such an extent that fifteen pure-bred capercaillies were seen at Darnaway in a single day, and in 1892 there were nine nests with an average of eight eggs each, but a letter received by Harvie-Brown in November 158 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol 62 1894 Stated that they had all disappeared, and that none had been seen for the past nine months. A successful introduction to the Clunas woods, Ferness, is described by Thompson (1900), who states that in 1884 a j hatching in Clunas woods was very successful and by 1892 there were several to be seen. However, in a letter to Harvie- Brown dated 21st May 1892, Thomson says that the introduc- ® tion took place “ about eight years ago ”, and as Clunas woods are only about seven miles from the centre of Darnaway forest, it seems safe to assume, in absense of other evidence, that this was the origin of the Darnaway stock. Attempts at the hatching of eggs were made in several places about this time, but, as occurred so often, the eggs hatched safely but the chicks died within three weeks. In 1888 eggs ] were placed under a greyhen at Gordon Castle, and although at least one bird was seen in the grounds for eighteen months after this, they finally disappeared. An introduction of n birds at Gordon Castle in 1897 was attended by greater success (Steuart Menzies 1907). Two males and several females were turned out by the Duke of Richmond in that year ; they became successfully established, and the population was estimated ten years later at about thirty birds (Davidson 1907). The Spey valley provided an admirable route south from this last centre, and in the season 1898-99 two males and three females were seen at Craigellachie, and a male hybrid blackcock- caper was shot at Carron in 1900 (Buckley 1900). The first pure-bred capercaillie in this area was shot in the Drum wood at Carron in 1903 ; this was a male, which was preserved and is still in Carron House. The story is told of this unfor- tunate pioneer that the beaters at a shoot arrived in great excite- ment about an enormous pigeon (or was it a muckle doo ?) sitting in a tree in the Drum wood. One of the keepers returned and shot the bird which proved to be a cock capercaillie. In 1907 twelve broods were known to have hatched out at Craigellachie, and in the same year the first capercaillie, a female, was seen on the Binn Hill, Elgin, and later, two males and a female. A cock was killed at Pluscarden, and two more seen, a male and a female, all in 1907. There were no further records from Darnaway forest until 8th January 1908, when a cock capercaillie was observed at CAPERCAILLIE IN SCOTLAND 159 \1950 close quarters during a roe shoot. This occurrence was notified to the Earl of Moray in a letter dated i8th January 1908 in which the writer states : “I understand this bird is very rarely seen in your woods The first entry of caper- caillies in the Dainaway Castle game book is in 1912, when nine were killed in the season. The possibility of spread to Moray from the successful introductions in the neighbouring part of Inverness must of course be borne in mind. By this time the capercaillie was becoming plentiful inland, and a few years later began to make its appearance in the coastal woods. Gaper hens were seen at Lochloy about 1918, where there was at first some interesting interbreeding with blackgame which were plentiful in the district, and by 1922 they had spread into the Culbin forest. A more recent advance is recorded from a young plan- tation of Scots pine at Roseisle, near Burghead, where a hen was shot in 1945 and another in 1947. A third was seen on 9th March 1948, but so far none has bred in this forest. There has been a similar appearance during the past two years in the Lossie forest, due probably to the felling of timber in the surrounding districts. In this forest there are a few 70 year old Scots pines, a large area of 1 5 to 20 year old Scots pine and three acres of scrub larch. So far no nests or broods have been seen, but the number of adult birds is said to be increasing. Present Distribution The capercaillie is generally well distributed throughout all the larger coniferous woods in the two counties, in varying density, being most plentiful in the coastal forests, the upper Spey valley and Darnaway forest, restriction of habitat being responsible for a diminution in numbers elsewhere. From the area east of the Spey, around Fochabers, two returns have been received. Caper have decreased throughout the area but are now stationary. In the eastern section of the Speymouth forest, restriction of habitat by timber- felling and, it is thought, a succession of wet breeding seasons, have prevented any increase, but they are breeding regularly in the 900 acres of Scots pine, larch and old birch. On the Vol 62 160 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Seafield estates over three-quarters of the old Scots pines ( have been felled during the last thirty yeais, leaving about 500 acres of mature Scots pine and larch in which caper are now scarce, but breeding regularly. In the western section of the Spey mouth forest there are 400 acres of Scots pine varying in age from 50 to 100 years, and mature birch ; the capercaillie population is similar to that of the eastern section. From the area between this and Rothes only one return has come in, from Teindland forest, where there has been a marked decrease during the past thirteen years due to felling of many of the old woods in the locality, I and the capercaillie is now scarce, but still breeding where the older trees remain. From the remainder of the Morayshire I portion of the Spey valley reports state that the capercaillie is still numerous and on the increase. Between Elgin and Forres, returns have been received from Pitgaveny, Monaughty forest, and Dallas and Rafford districts. ^ On the Pitgaveny ground, caper have gradually disappeared over the past twenty years and are now seen only occasionally. On Monaughty, there are about 2000 acres of suitable woods, but numbers were kept down by the Forestry Commission until two years ago, and, although a few breeding pairs are present, there has so far been no increase, the birds for the most part keeping to the higher ground as they have been continually disturbed by road reconstruction work in the vicinity. In Dallas district, again scarce, estimated at about five breeding pairs in 200 acres of old pine owned by the Forestry Commission, and correspondingly scarce on Dallas estate ground with a similar area of suitable wood. Broods of young birds have hatched in those woods but have subsequently disappeared after about a fortnight. To the west of the localities just mentioned, birds are generally more plentiful on the lower ground but scarcer on the higher parts, as in Glen Ferness where there has been extensive felling and consequent decrease, and also at Regulas and Dunphail. The woods at Newtyle, Altyre and Darnaway hold considerably greater stocks, stationary in numbers although there has been a decrease in the felled areas. At Cawdor they are stated to be on the increase. 1950 CAPERCAILLIE IN SCOTLAND i6i In the coastal forests between Nairn and the mouth of the Findhorn the capercaillie is particularly common. There is said to be a “ fair number ” at Loch Loy, and they are plentiful in the Gulbin forest (5000 acres of Scots pine and Corsican pine, ages from 10 to 70 years) although the head forester at Gulbin reports that in 1948 the number of young birds seen was very small in proportion to the number of eggs hatched, many clutches of seven and eight having dwindled, later in the season, to one or two young birds. Inverness The earliest reference to attempted reintroduction of the capercaillie to Inverness-shire is of eggs being sent on several occasions prior to 1843 from Perthshire to Beaufort Castle, but the hatching was unsuccessful (Harvie-Brown 1879). The next attempt was about i860 when Lord Seafield made an introduction from the Duke of Athole’s estate, but the birds died out, the last one, a young male, being found dead at Balmacaan in 1866 (Harvie-Brown and Buckley 1895). An introduction to Guisachan in 1868 was no more suc- cessful. Thirty-nine birds were brought there and were confined in pens, prior to being released, where they were unfortunately attacked by polecats and all were killed except two males. Following this disaster, eggs were hatched out and the young birds reared, but apparently they did not fiourish, as, in a letter dated 27th December 1879 (Harvie- Brown 1880) it is stated that they “ have now nearly died out at Guisachan.” In 1873 birds were introduced at Invereshie, but again never became fairly established. A cock was shot there in 1875 and in 1878 one hen only remained. Harvie-Brown (1879) states that the keeper had instructions to introduce them again, by birds, in 1879, but there is no record of whether this was done. On 24th July 1881, while passing through Dalwhinnie in the train, Harvie-Brown saw what he was almost certain was a female capercaillie on the fence of a young plantation, and subsequently discovered that this bird had been there for about three weeks. On 27th November of the same year 21 i62 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol. 62 a male was shot at Dalwhinnie (Harvie-Brown and Buckley 1895). These are the first records of capercaillies having arrived of their own accord in Inverness-shire, but it is doubtful whether there was any further spread from this direction as circulars sent out by Harvie-Brown in 1890 brought negative returns from all estates in Badenoch, from the parish of Laggan and Kingussie and from all other parts of the county. The next account of the species was in 1885 when it was reported that “ capercaillies had at last reached into Spey- side,” but this remained unconfirmed and was discredited by Harvie-Brown. However, in a note by Dr. W. Eagle Clarke (1898), there is a record of a pair of hybrids obtained from Aviemore on loth November 1890 and of a brood of these hybrids at Rothiemurchus about this time. In the autumn of 1890 four capercaillies were seen in Rothiemurchus, and in the same year a hybrid capercaillie-pheasant was shot in that district. In 1891 five were shot “much lower down the valley than Lynwilg ” (Harvie-Brown and Buckley 1895). These birds were probably vagrants from Morayshire, and one of them was a male, the first cock caper to be seen on Speyside, but no eggs or young birds were found. Another female was shot in 1893. It is highly probable that the capercaillies would ultim- ately have colonised Inverness-shire of their own accord, as they were already established, though in a small way, in Morayshire, and on the east were by this time on a firm footing and rapidly advancing north in Aberdeenshire ; but a series of introductions from 1895 onwards altered the natural course of events. These introductions were begun in Strathnairn about 1892 by Mr. W. Dalziel Mackenzie of Farr. Early attempts were unsuccessful, and again in 1894, when a dozen birds from Norway died before being released. In the winter of 1895, however, thirty-one imported birds were turned out on the estate, and some every year for the next five years. The following circular letter issued by Mr. Mackenzie gives the main facts of the introductions. For many years it was Mr. Mackenzie’s custom to fine any gun (himself included) who shot a caper on Farr a sum of five pounds, which was sent to the Royal Northern Infirmary, and it was not until 1950 CAPERCAILLIE IN SCOTLAND 163 after the South African war that any caper were allowed to be shot on the estate. Important. Farr, Inverness. CAPERCAILZIE {Tetrao urogallus) in STRATHNAIRN Dear Sir, May I ask your kind assistance in my endeavour to acclimatise Capercailzie in this district. If the Proprietors, Shooting Tenants and Keepers will refrain from shooting them for some years to come, there is no reason why this grand bird should not become as common on the North side of the Grampians &c, as on the South. I may shortly state that I introduced about 10 or 12, from Norway, in the winter of 1894, but, owing to insufficient pen room and the severe weather, they all got cramp, and eventually died. Last winter, however, during the months of November and December, I imported 31. Most of them were turned out at once, a few were put into a large pen, from which, with the ex- ception of 2 or 3 pinioned, they gradually made their way out. Birds were constantly seen through the spring and early summer of this year in the neighbourhood of the pen, others about a mile off. Latterly they have not appeared. It is to be hoped that some may have nested, and brought off the chicks. Two hens in the pen have not laid at all, although a cock constantly flew in to them. They may, presumably, be birds of one season only and probably like black game, may not breed till their second year. A few, we know, have died, but we have reason to believe that the majority are still in the Strath. Any information as to their appearance will be much appreciated by me. It is on record that the last native bird was killed near Inver- ness at the end of the last century, and as Inverness-shire, thanks to the large tracts that have been planted with pine during the last 50 or 60 years, is eminently suited to Capercailzie, it is to be hoped that attempts to reintroduce them may eventually be suc- cessful. I am. Yours faithfully, W. DALZIEL MACKENZIE. 25th July, 1896. If Map showing distribution of the Capercaillie — 1949 Map showing disiribution of the Capercaillie — 1949 showing of the Capercaillie 1879 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol 62 168 A second letter giving further details was issued three years later and was reproduced in Annals of Scottish J^atural History (1900). These birds were turned down into an area of mixed Scots pine and larch, the whole plantation being approximately 35 acres, and containing some open spaces with birches, bracken and some berries. This area was never disturbed in any way, and all the conifers were mature trees except for one small stand which had been planted about 1890 ; but at the same time as the caper were introduced, a con- siderable planting programme was being carried out on the estate, almost entirely Scots pine and larch. In addition to the area in which the birds were put down, there were a few stands of old Scots pine, each of which, once the capercaillies were established, held a nest or two, according to its size, but there was at first no attempt to make use of the young plantations, and the spread was mostly in a north-easterly direction. However, once established on the estate, the capers did not increase in numbers to any appreci- able extent. By about 1910 they began to make use of some of the plantations, which were by then about 20 years old, both at Farr and in Strath Dearn in the Upper Findhorn valley, but it was noticeable that they showed great preference for plantations in which there even one or two very old coni- ferous trees. Consequent on the heavy felling of timber during the war years in Strathnairn, there has been more than one attempt at nesting in mature birchwoods. Meanwhile, similar efforts at reintroducing the capercaillie were taking place in other parts of the county. In the spring of 1895 eggs were obtained from Kinfauns, Perthshire, by the late W. MacNicol, Dorback Lodge, which were placed in the nests of greyhens by his neighbour, the late D. Collie, in the Abernethy forest, as there were very few blackgame on MacNicoFs ground. Establishment was slow, and in the first few years several hybrid blackcock-capercaillies were seen, two being observed at blackcock leks in 1902, and two shot in 1904 or 1905. By 1900 there were a few pure-bred capers in the district, and in 1912 they were still scarce, but they increased con- siderably during the 1914-18 war. ;j 1950 CAPERCAILLIE IN SCOTLAND 169 i In view of the slowness of establishment, and of the occur- rence of the parties of caper hens in 1890 and 1891, it is probable that the success of this introduction was influenced by further influx of birds from Morayshire and, later, from I Strathnairn, where establishment and spread were more rapid. A third introduction to Inverness-shire took place about the same time at Guisachan, where there had been an un- successful attempt in 1868. About 1895 or possibly earlier, eggs were brought to Guisachan from Taymouth by the late Mr. MacGillivray, keeper to Lord Tweedsmouth, which were placed in greyhens’ nests on the estate. Some immature birds were also turned down at the same time, but details of the numbers are not known. From the introduction at Farr the spread was rapid, at first mainly to the north-east following the river valley and sending an off-shoot south-east into Strath Dearn. On the west side of the Canal the first record was of one shot on Dunain Hill in 1897, but the next was not killed there until 1905, although they had been observed between these dates. The first arrivals were seen near Beaufort about 1902 and the birds were well established there by 1907. There was considerable and rapid increase for the next three or four years, by which time they had reached their maximum numbers in the district. With regard to the arrival at Beau- fort, this was almost certainly from Guisachan, as there was a healthy spread from there, having reached well up Glen Strath Farrar by 1907. A note in the Field (R . . . 1912) states that “ The caper is greatly on the increase in the Beauly district and the neighbouring part of Ross-shire. The birds were introduced at Guisachan, and are now plentiful over a large area.” Glenurquhart was probably colonised too from Guisachan, but no dates of arrival or establishment are avail- able. In Glenmoriston they have been present for about forty years but have never been numerous. Down the east side of Loch Ness the spread seems to have been much slower, and even in 1923 a report of one seen between Foyers and Inverfarigaig was doubted locally, al- though they became more plentiful in the following few years. In the Spey valley, caper were scarce in the Abernethy forest in 1912, and in Rothiemurchus rare before 1914. The 22 170 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol. 62 first available record from Kincraig was in igi2, but there was a general increase in all these districts during the 1914- 18 war. From the Laggan area no positive records are available of when capercaillies first made their appearance, but they were certainly well established prior to 1920. Here the possi- bility of colonisation from Perthshire must of course be borne in mind. In Glen Spean caper have appeared only since the felling of timber was carried out along Loch Laggan. A single cock bird was observed at Ferindrish, where it remained throughout the whole winter of 1947-48, feeding regularly with poultry, and there have been other reports of caper seen in the Roy Bridge area during the past year or two. Usher (1949) records a hybrid blackcock-caper observed in Glen Spean in 1948 at a blackcock lek. This occurrence also suggests an extension of range in this direction. An interesting report has come from the west side of the Great Glen at Invergarry where two nests were found on Graig Liath in 1935, the first known in the district. There was a slight increase for four years, but since then the total population has remained stationary at six to twelve birds, inhabiting scattered groups of old pine trees. Present Distribution In the Aird district capercaillies have been generally much reduced by timber-felling during the war. On Beaufort the area of suitable woodland has been reduced from 4,000 to 400 acres, and, where previously there were very large numbers of caper on the ground, probably about a thousand, there are now few left. On the neighbouring estate of Moniack, where there are 150 acres of pine, the numbers have remained stationary at between fifty and one hundred. On Newtonhill caper were very plentiful from 1936 to 1939, but in 1940 all the old trees were felled and the birds conse- quently became extremely scarce. None was seen in 1946 or 1947, but one brood of young was seen in August 1948. It is suggested that poaching may also have contributed to the decrease. 1950 CAPERCAILLIE IN SCOTLAND 171 In the Dochfour-Dunain Hill area caper were formerly plentiful, but very heavy felling during the war years again altered circumstances. The birds, however, appeared to be loath to desert the district and moved into any patches of old trees which remained, and some are known to have migrated over the Beauly Firth to the Black Isle. Game- book entries show the highest numbers between 1930 and 1937, the peak season being 1932-33 when 54 were killed. From 1937 onwards there has been a marked decrease in the number shot, but it is pointed out that this is as much due to a drop in the quality of the shooting and scarcity of beaters as to scarcity of birds. At Guisachan, although some woods were cut the suitable habitat was not seriously affected, as many of the old woods of Scots pine and birch, with open spaces of heather and blaeberry, still remain. In spite of this, however, there has been a marked decrease in the capercaillie population and they are now scarce. The same situation pertains in Glen Strath Farrar where the old woods remain but capercaillies have become very scarce for no obvious reason. In Glenurquhart the habitat has been restricted by timber- felling, but, in addition, caper are shot at every opportunity on the Forestry Commission ground, and on the 2,500 acres under their control the capercaillie has been virtually ex- terminated. In Glen Moriston it appears that the species has never been plentiful, and none has been seen in Portclair forest since 1937 when the old Scots pines were felled. A few were seen on Craig nan Eun in 1947, but none in 1948. East of Inverness, although still breeding in restricted numbers in the Culloden area, felling of the older trees has reduced the suitable habitat, while near Croy none has been seen since 1944 for the same reason. On Loch Ness-side, while still plentiful near Loch Doch- four, they become scarcer further south where most of the woods have been cut during both wars. A few remain near Errogie, but there are none on the Forestry Commission land at Inverfarigaig. In Farr and Glen Kyllachy caper are still regular breeders, but in an area reduced from 350 acres to 60 acres of suitable 72 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST VoL 62 woods. In Strath Dearn they are not plentiful but breeding regularly, and here the numbers have been stationary for the past twenty years. In the Spey valley, although considerable areas have been I felled, there are still many thousand acres of standing timber and young plantations. From Abernethy and Rothiemurchus there are reports of a fair stock of birds, well distributed throughout the forest, and slowly increasing. Here there is regular shooting, but also adequate control of foxes and hoodie crows. They are numerous and increasing in the Queen’s forest, Glenmore, and moderate but increasing on Inchriach. In Newtonmore district the area of forest is much smaller, but a small regular stock is maintained in Glentruim _ and also at Cluny. A hen was seen in April 1948 on the moor at Ralia, two thousand feet above sea-level and two miles ' from the nearest wood. In the Laggan district capercaillies are found in woods which stretch between Drumgask and Moy at the west end of Loch Laggan. The area from Drumgask to the east end of Loch Laggan has been felled during the war, leaving only fringes of stunted fir scrub along what were the Strathmashie woods. The birds all left this area when the woods were felled, but have now returned in fair numbers to the scrub. The Black wood, on the north side of the glen, consists of about one and a half square miles of 50 to 60 year old Scots pine. Here only small blocks of larch have been felled and there is still a fair stock of caper. The area between the River Pattock and the east end of Loch Laggan has been cleared of trees and also of capercaillies, but the Ardvereikie wood, stretching unbroken along the whole of the south side of the loch, remains standing.* This wood consists of Scots pine with numerous ornamental pines along the 2j-mile avenue to the lodge, and here the birds remain practically undisturbed. On the north-west side of the loch is the Moy wood, which, although little over 100 acres in extent, holds a few residents, while in Glen Pattock are eight or nine plantations, of about this size, of 30 to 40 year old Scots pine, which have not attracted any capercaillies. It has been suggested that * Now being felled. 1950 CAPERCAILLIE IN SCOTLAND 173 this may be due to the fact that any possible nesting cover has been trampled down by deer. Ross AND Cromarty On the history of the capercaillie in Ross-shire very little has been written, and previous authors on the subject (Ritchie 1920, Darling 1947) have assumed that the introductions to Strathnairn were responsible for the appearance and spread of the species in Ross and Sutherland. Harvie-Brown (1911) gives circa 1907 as the date of establishment at Fairburn, and “ A.R.” (1912) states that “The caper is greatly on the increase in the Beauly district and the neighbouring part of Ross-shire ; ” but, beyond these, there are no early records for the county. During the course of the present investigation it became apparent that the capercaillie has been present in Ross-shire much longer than is generally supposed. A record was re- ceived of a first appearance at Fairburn in 1898, and a game- book entry of caper shot in 1896 at Foulis, six miles north of Dingwall, suggesting that there must have been an intro- duction to Ross-shire hitherto unrecorded. After consider- able correspondence to all parts of the county the following letter was received : — Die BIDALE, Glencalvie, Ardgay. 20th Jan. 1949. Dr. I. D. Pennie. Dear Sir, I have received a letter from Novar to-day and my friend says that the Capercaillie were introduced to Brahan Estate some 60 years ago, from there they multiplied and spread to the adjoining estates. I think this information should be quite reliable as the man who gave it has been a forestry worker in that area all his life. He is now over 70. Hoping this may help. Sincerely yours, HUGH FRASER. 174 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol. 62 This would make the date of the first introduetion to the county at about 1890, and fixes the starting point for an inter- esting series of records. The first caper was shot at Foulis, eight miles north of Brahan, in 1896, and the date of appear- ance at Novar, a further three miles, is given as “ about 1900.” In Ardross the first was shot in October 1911, but it is interesting to note that a year previously they had already crossed the Dornoch Firth, having been seen at Skibo in 1910. No dates are available for the Easter Ross woods between the Cromarty Firth and Tain, but presumably these were colonised between 1900 and 1910. On the west of Brahan, the earliest record is 1898 from Fairburn, where the capercaillie was established as a breeding species by 1907 [vide supra) and one was seen at ScatweJl about 19 1 1 (Harvie-Brown 1911). The woods west of these localities are less extensive and it was not until much later that colonisation was effected, and on a smaller scale. In the Black Isle an unsuccessful attempt was made in 1888 at Rosehaugh to rear caper from eggs hatched under domestic hens. Several other attempts were made in follow- ing years with the same result, but in 1910 or 19 1 1 a successful introduction was made by bringing several pairs of adult birds from Foulis Castle. Outwith the areas listed above, colonisation was later and slow. Birds were present in the Kildermorie wood, above Ardross, until recent felling, and the first record is stated to be April 1932. On the borders of Ross and Sutherland caper have been present in the Strathkyle woods, which lie on the south side of the Oykell valley, since the 1920’s, having pre- sumably spread west along the valley from south-east Suther- land. None have reached the Amat wood which is reputed to be a remnant of the Caledonian forest. In the remainder of the county capercaillies have at no time been plentiful. Not until 1932 were they recorded in Strathconon, where they had a brief existence, having been since exterminated by timber felling. Similarly in the district of Carve a few pairs were seen from 1933 onwards, and a pair in 1942 in the Inchbae wood, but all have disappeared since felling of the woods during the war years. A single pair appeared at Lochluichart in 1934, where there are 100 CAPERCAILLIE IN SCOTLAND 05 1950 acres of 70-year fir, and remained there until 1941. No young birds were ever seen, none was shot, and no trees felled. Apart from a single record of a female at Plockton in October 1929 (Reid 1930), the furthest point reached in this direction was the Strathbran wood, Achanalt, where a few capercaillies took up their abode about 1920. These planta- tions, between 500 and 600 acres of fir and larch, were then about 30 years old, but were not a very suitable habitat, "being composed of trees not properly thinned and so thick that it was not easy to make one’s way through them. Caper were observed on a few occasions during the next twenty years, but 500 acres were felled during the war and the re- mainder thinned out, and it is certain that the birds are no longer there. An introduction was attempted at Coulin, near Kinlochewe, about twenty years ago, by hatching out eggs. Four or five birds were reared to maturity and these made their way to a young plantation at Achnashellach where they finally dis- appeared. It may have been one of these birds which was seen at Plockton in 1929. Present Distribution In Mid Ross the capercaillie has been generally scarce in recent years though still breeding regularly in some localities. No information has been received from the area between Brahan and Strathpeffer, but many of the woods there have been felled. In Fairburn district, now scarce and decreasing, but still breeding regularly in 400 acres of old pine and larch which remain standing. Disease of young birds is stated to be a contributory factor to the decrease. Between this and Strathconon, where caper were formerly plentiful, most of the woods have been felled and they are now scarce and probably non-breeding. Black Isle : generally scarce, but does not appear ever to have been really plentiful. A decrease is noted from the north and east of the peninsula, from Findon, Mulbuie, Newhall and Poyntzfield, but still breeding in reduced numbers. Tree felling has played a large part in the decrease but various 176 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST VoL 62 causes have probably contributed, viz., increase in mechanical cultivation of moorlands, especially moorlands with scattered clumps of natural fir ; poaching during the war years ; and control by the Forestry Commission workers. Elsewhere in the Black Isle, although not numerous, the same decrease is not noted, and there has been a slight increase in numbers in the Redcastle area where a few clumps of young pines have attracted birds crossing the Beauly Firth from the felled areas on the Inverness side. North and East : a few remain in 20 acres of conifers at Foulis, where most of the woods were felled during the 1914-18 war, and there has been a decrease in the last ten years on Novar estate — 1,500 acres of Scots pine — but caper are now protected and numbers again stationary. In the Ardross woods a campaign of shooting at all seasons, together with destruction of eggs, has been in force for ten years, but in spite of this, extermination is not yet complete. Precise details have not been forthcoming from the area between Ardross and Tain, which contains considerable stretches of coniferous woodland and where capercaillies were formerly abundant ; but in general there has been a marked decrease, large areas having been felled during the recent war, and, where some years ago there used to be hundreds of caper, there are now very few. On the other hand an increase is recorded from Morangie on the north-west of Tain where there is a small area of 50-year pine, due, presumably, to an influx of birds from the felled areas, but here numbers are being kept down. In Strathkyle there has been a gradual increase during the past eighteen years, and where two or three would formerly have been seen in a day’s walking there would now be thirty or forty, and this in spite of a considerable amount of felling which has left about 100 acres of standing timber. Sutherland An attempted introduction by hatching out eggs at Skibo in 1870 is described by Harvie-Brown (1879) Ritchie (1929) records one capercaillie seen at Skibo in 1927, otherwise there are no published references to the species in Sutherland. The first capercaillies to cross the Dornoch Firth arrived 1950 CAPERCAILLIE IN SCOTLAND 177 at Skibo in south-east Sutherland in 1910 and rapidly became established, but at a later date a war was declared on them and every nest found was destroyed. These measures how- ever were too late to prevent further spread, and caper were seen in Balblair wood, on the north side of the Little Ferry, in 1912. Four were seen in this wood in 1915 and there was a pair at Dunrobin in 1922, which may have been there before that date. Caper have since bred regularly in small numbers in this area and have been present in Ben Bhraggie wood since 1928, and came to Uppat wood, Brora, “ about fourteen years ago, perhaps more.” Uppat shares with Rosehall the distinction of being the northern limit of distribution of the capercaillie in Scotland. To the latter they spread west along the Kyle of Sutherland and have been there for “ at least thirty years.” They have also recently taken to some of the younger plantations in south-east Sutherland : since 1932 in 670 acres of young Sitka spruce and Scots fir near Dornoch, and since 1935 at Carbisdale and Balblair, Invershin — 862 acres of young fir and spruce. Breeding has not yet been recorded in any of these, and numbers are small and not tending to increase at present. Present Distribution From west to east : in Rosehall wood, still breeding but becoming scarcer and more scattered throughout the younger plantations since most of the old fir trees were felled. The distribution in Inveroykell is similar to that in Strathkyle, Ross-shire. In Balblair wood, Invershin, and Carbisdale wood — both young plantations — they are scarce and non- breeding, but numbers are being kept down. Between Bonar Bridge and Spinningdale most of the wood was lost by fire a few years ago and felling has completed the elimination of practically all suitable habitat. A few pairs bred annually at Spinningdale until three or four years ago, and there are still approximately three cocks and eight hens at Ospisdale. Skibo probably holds more caper than any ground in the south-east corner. At least three broods were reared in 1948 23 78 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol 62 and packs of as many as fifteen birds have been seen within the past two years. Between Skibo and The Mound a few pairs bred annually until 1942, but all have been driven out as no woods remain standing. To the Forestry Commission ! woods near Dornoch caper come to feed only and breeding has not been recorded, but their presence is not encouraged, j The population of Balblair wood, Golspie, has remained | constant at about two pairs since the birds became established I there, and there is a similar number in Ben Bhraggie, Dun- robin and Uppat Woods, north of which none has ever been recorded. There is no record for Caithness. [To be continued) 1950 ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 179 ZOOLOGICAL NOTES Imported Earwigs at Leith. — Several foreign species of Dermaptera (as also insects of other orders) are frequently imported with cargoes at our sea-ports. Some of these are able to maintain themselves in warehouses or heated premises for greater or lesser periods, and may even increase to the extent of becoming nuisances, while others fail to become established. My father, Mr. D. K. Kevan of Edinburgh, has forwarded to me several males, females and nymphs of the cosmopolitan species Prolabia arachidis (Yers.) and Anisolabis [Euborellia) annulipes (Lucas) taken on timber which formed part of a mixed oriental cargo landed at Leith on 28th September 1948. Two less commonly imported species. Labia curvicauda (Mots.) and Spongovostox gestroi (Burr), each represented by single males, were taken by him in a Leith timber yard about a year previously (23rd September 1947) under the bark of African mahogany. The former is known to have established itself under glass at York but the latter has not, so far, managed to maintain itself in this country. I am indebted to Mr. W. D. Hincks of the Manchester Museum for determining or confirming the species mentioned. — D. K. McE. Kevan, Nottingham. Humming-bird Hawk-moth in Cupar. — At 1.30 p.m. and again at 7.30 p.m. on 22nd July 1950, a humming-bird hawk-moth Macroglossa stellatarum, was seen working the jasmine creeper on the south side of my house. I understand that it is comparatively rare in this district. — A. E. Thomson, Cupar, Fife. Courtship Feeding of Carrion Crow. — After a very wet morning on 19th March 1950, with rain still falling, two carrion crows Corvus cor one alighted on our garden wall. The dominant bird, which I presumed to be the male, flew down to the lawn and proceeded without hesitation to some bread crumbs on the path. The other bird followed to the lawn, but apparently could not pluck up courage to approach the crumbs on the path. The male, after feeding, returned to the lawn, and just at once both birds seemed to catch sight of a crumb on the lawn. The male roughly pushed its mate aside, whereupon the female postured in a soliciting manner with wings partly spread and lowered. Upon this dis- play the male fed the crumb to the female. — Hugh Halliday, Midlothian. i8o THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol 62 Pied Flycatcher in Midlothian. — I was pleased to see a male flycatcher Muscicapa hypoleuca near Penicuik on 14th May 1950. — Ian Hay, Edinburgh. Pied Flycatcher in Argyll. — On 21st May 1950, about midday B.S.T., I first heard and then saw a male pied flycatcher Muscicapa hypoleuca in a wooded glen close to Loch Sunart, North Argyll. About 4 p.m. I returned with Theed Pearse, Niall Campbell and Clifford Simmons. After a few minutes’ wait, the bird reappeared in the same spot and we watched it for about half an hour. It had one or two song perche*?, mainly on a tall ash growing beside the burn, and from these it made periodic excursions, at tree- top height, for at least a hundred yards in several directions. The song was full and sustained and compared favourably with the majority of those heard where the species nests ; there was nothing to suggest that this bird had a mate, though it was unfortunately not possible to re-visit the locality, which was ecologically very similar to valleys in Wales where the species is common. I cannot find any previous record of the pied flycatcher in Argyll. An alleged record on i6th April 1911 {Bull. B.O.C., 30 : 1 12) was subsequently shown to refer to the spotted flycatcher M. striata {Glas. Nat. 5 : 47 and 6 : 55). — Bruce Campbell, Oxford. Pied Flycatcher Nesting in Perthshire. — On 24th May 1950, I found a nest of the pied flycatcher Muscicapa hypoleuca in one of my nest boxes on the north shore of Loch Tay, with six eggs and the hen sitting. I had the bird in my hand for identification, and the eggs were seen. The nest was of the type which I have found usual, perhaps because most of the two to three hundred I have seen have been in oak woods or scrub : a base of dried oak leaves with bark, dry grass and roots and a little moss, quite different from the tits and redstart, the other species using boxes here. The box was ten feet up, in an oak in the hardwood scrub along the shores and within about twenty feet of the water’s edge. I returned later, and the hen came off and performed all the usual flycatcher tricks, hawking insects but alighting on a different branch, and flirting the tail and wings. I could not see the cock, but this is not unusual while the hen is sitting. I thought I heard his song once, but cannot be sure. The hen, the nest and site, and the eggs make the identification certain. As far as I know, this is the first definite record of this species nesting in Perthshire, but I think it has been seen recently. Loch Tay-side is warmer than the rest of the country, and the north 1950 ZOOLOGICAL NOTES i8i shore gets all the sun there is, so the locality is a likely one for the start of the colonisation from the south which has been expected for two or three years now. On 6th June, four young had just hatched out, with two eggs ; on 13th June, there were five young and an addled egg, now in the Perth museum ; on 4th July, there were two fully-fledged dead nestlings, so three had flown. The box was one of six along the shore, in a stretch of about 150 yards — the one furthest down the loch, that is the one which would be reached first by a bird coming up the loch from below. Elsewhere when valleys are newly colonised, I have found that colonisation proceeds from below up-stream. The male of this pair was still in immature plumage. I have seen this in Yorkshire and Northumberland, and in one case the bird bore a ring indicating that it was only a year old. (There was another normal, black and white male here of the same age.) The sexes are difficult to tell unless they can be seen together, as the difference is that the white is slightly more extensive in the male than in the female, and the male usually has a white forehead. While watching the nest, there seemed to be two birds, one with more white than the other, and once a bird flew off up the loch from the nest, and within ten seconds a bird came from the opposite direction ; apart from any colour differences, I do not think the first bird could possibly have got round in the time. I could never definitely see the white forehead, which is in any case variable. G. L. Aitchison, C. G. Andrews and H. A. Rowlands were with me on 13th June and agreed that there were two birds. The circumstances suggest that the male was not very vigorous : coming so far north, he has presumably been unable to hold a territory in the normal habitat ; he failed to assume adult plumage ; there was an addled egg ; and two out of five nestlings died, six eggs not being a big clutch. The first egg was laid about i6th- 1 7th May, about normal, but perhaps late for this year. There was a box in a Douglas plantation, close to the edge and about a hundred yards away, which contained the beginnings of a nest of oak leaves, a type which I have not found used by any other bird here in boxes. From the date at which it was found, this looks like the abandoned start of a second nest. If events elsewhere are a guide, this pair should be the first of a new colony, part of the general spread already noted in the borders and south Scotland. — J. M. D. Mackenzie, Balbeggie, Perthshire. The above records of the pied flycatcher are important as they supply further evidence of an extension of range, which we have been expecting for some time. There are, of course, previous THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol 62 182 records for Midlothian, including breeding, and breeding has also once been recorded near Pitlochry for North Perth {Scot. Nat., 1934 : , 128 and Brit. Birds, 28 : 87). As there has been some doubt concerning the latter record, ^ we have made further enquiries, and are much indebted to Dr. Bruce Campbell for the information that there is in fact insufficient evidence to substantiate a record of actual breeding. Colonel Ronald Campbell, Dr. Campbell’s father, who first recorded the pied flycatcher near Pitlochry, saw only a male visiting an old nesting hole of a great spotted woodpecker ; no female, nest, eggs, or young were ever seen. Indeed, subsequently the hole visited . by the flycatcher was found to be occupied by starlings. We have not traced any further published record of breeding in North Perth, so that Mr. Mackenzie’s record appears to be the ' first. Several occurrences of pied flycatchers seen in recent years in North Perth were reported in the Scottish Naturalist (61 : 119). Since the receipt of Dr. Bruce Campbell’s record for Argyll, Dr. James Campbell has informed us that Mr. Arthur Duncan heard or saw at least six males south of Oban in spring 1949. We are also indebted to Miss Lees for permission to record the breeding of a pair of pied flycatchers in 1948, 1949 and 1950 in West Inver- ness. It is probable that breeding occurred also in 1947 ; although the nest was not found, the birds frequented the same site as that used in the following years. In the past, breeding has been recorded in East Inverness and East Ross. There seems little doubt, in view of the above evidence, that a genuine extension of range is in progress ; indeed, owing to the scarcity of observers throughout the Highlands, it is possible that this is already more advanced than existing information suggests. Elsewhere pied flycatchers have taken readily to nest-boxes, and in view of the scarcity nowadays of attractive nest sites in otherwise suitable habitat in the Highlands, it seems very probable that an intelligent distribution of nest-boxes would produce useful results. It will be interesting to trace this change in status, and therefore we will welcome further records of the pied flycatcher in the Highlands . — Editors . Osprey in Morayshire. — On 13th June 1950, while walking down the banks of the Findhorn River between Dunphail and Forres, my wife and I saw an osprey Pandion halietus which suddenly appeared over the tree-line and obligingly circled us for some ten minutes at about thirty feet. At that short distance and with 8 X 30 binoculars identification was greatly simplified. 1950 ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 183 The bird was being indifferently mobbed by a few black- headed gulls who soon made off. The pale underparts, the black line running from the ear coverts down the side of the neck, the rather mottled brown and white head were clearly seen and during the whole period the alarm note “ keeyick keeyick ” was uttered almost incessantly. The wing angling during soaring was somewhat different from that of the buzzard which is seen in the area, being more marked in the case of the osprey. The bird flew off in a westerly direction and was not seen again. Although keepers are frequently on the river, especially in June when fish are running, enquiries of them elicted no further in- formation and none had seen, or heard of, osprey in the district for some years. Two subsequent visits within the week were abortive. — Eric M. Hunter, London. Garganey in Outer Hebrides. — On 3rd June 1950 a pair of gargeney Anas querquedula was seen by us on a marshy lochan in South Uist. Excellent views were obtained of the pale blue shoulders and the white band on the head of the drake. Dr. James Campbell informs us that the only previous record for the Outer Hebridies is of a female shot in Benbecula on loth November 1927 {Brit, Birds^ 21 : 284). — F. Hamilton, R. J. W. Smith, C. Walker, Edinburgh. Wood Sandpiper in East Inverness-shire. — An unexpected visitor, on 5th June 1950, to a hill pool at 1000 feet above Newton- more, where one or two pairs of redshanks nest, was a wood sand- piper Tringa glareola. Feeding industriously in the mud surround, this bird was perhaps unusual in being absolutley silent and in its reluctance to get on the wing, preferring to run swiftly. Salient plumage features were the prominent whitish superciliary stripe and, in flight, the ragged and indefinite whitish patch on the rump. Other points were rusty-brown shoulders, spotted back and wings, marked brownish band, crown and nape. Flight with irregular wing-beats like redshank. Bobbing on ground persistent. The previous day a tern, probably Sterna macrura, possibly hirundo, had visited the shingle beaches in the Spey, on which a few common gulls nest. — Richard Perry, Newtonmore. There appears to be only one other record of the wood sand- piper in East Inverness, one — said to be ‘‘ very tame ” — having been seen by the late Ian Molteno at Loch Insh, near Kingussie on i8th May 1940 (Brit. Birds , 34 : 68). — Editors. 184 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol 62 Dotterel in Wester Ross. — On 2nd July 1950 a dotterel Charadrius morinellus was seen at the summit cairn of a high hill, over 3000 feet, in Wester Ross. The bird was very tame and followed us closely as we wandered around the top. — Margaret Swan, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. This is an interesting record as the dotterel formerly bred in Wester Ross. — Editors. White Oyster -catcher on Handa Island. — Mr. R. W. Hay- man and I spent the 21st and 22nd June 1950 on Handa Island and, whilse there, had several views of a white oyster-catcher Haematopus ostralegus. It was first seen flying singly over the sea at about 11.30 a.m. on the 21st, and puzzled us for a moment till we caught sight of its bill. At about 9 a.m. on the 22nd it was standing rather dejectedly on a small grassy area near the rocks, and an excellent view was obtained through 9 X 35 binoculars at about fifty yards. The bird was pure white all over except for a yellowish tinge about the face that may well have been due to some stain from feeding. Its bill and feet were normal, but the bill appeared a slightly less intense red and with a larger pale area at the tip than other adults seen. When a breeding pair disturbed by my presence flew near it, expostulating (at me), it seemed alarmed and flew off to the tidal rocks where it perched near a pair of hooded crows. After five minutes or so the hoodies left and a few minutes later a normal oyster-catcher alighted near and ran at the white one aggressively. The latter ran away at once and was not pursued, but it seemed cowed and ill at ease and when the normal bird approached it (this time so far as I could see merely in the course of its foraging and without ill intent) it took wing and flew away. That afternoon R. W. Hayman saw it flying with the flock of about thirty non-breeding (?) birds, the members of which constantly attacked it. — Derek Goodwin, Virginia Water, Surrey. Early Arrival of Sandwich Tern on Ayrshire Coast. — On 25th March 1950, while walking on the beach north of Ballan- trae harbour in Ayrshire, I observed a tern diving some hundred yards or so off shore. On returning ten minutes later with X 6 bincoulars I was able to identify the bird as a Sandwich tern Sterna sandvicensis. The day was one of brilliant sunshine with strong S.E. to S.S.E wind. — S. D. Stevenson, Glasgow. A High Blackheaded Gull’s Colony — Walking last month in the deserted hill country of Galloway, I was surprised to find ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 185 i I I 1950 I on Loch Enoch, Kirkcudbrightshire (twelve miles north of Newton I Stewart as the gull flies) the highest and loneliest loch in the “ province ”, a flourishing colony of blackheaded gulls Lams ridibundus. The nests were on two islands in the loch, and although j it is difficult single-handed to arrive at a satisfactory estimate, I am of the opinion that there were not less than 1 500 birds present. I The Ordnance Survey gives the height of the loch above sea- level as 1617 feet. Although there are, of course, many sheets of water further north at a higher altitude than Loch Enoch, I am j wondering whether you have details of any higher gullery in Scotland. — J. M. P. Whipp, Knutsford, Cheshire. The Report on the ig^g Survey of Black-headed Gull Colonies, carried out by P. A. D. Hollom for the British Trust for Ornithology, gives a colony on Greensett Moss, Yorks, at about 1925 feet as the highest in England [British Birds, 33 : 203, etc.). No details of altitude are given for Scotland, and a check with a map, of some of the colonies known to us personally in the Highlands has not revealed any so high above sea-level as that recorded above. The colony at Loch Enoch was not included in the list of sites for Kirkcudbright in the 1938 census, but it is stated that little in- formation was received concerning this county. — Editors. Unusual Records as exemplified by Bone Relics Great Northern Diver Colymbus immer. — This bird is found in in northern localities of Great Britain, most frequently seen in coastal waters. In winter it visits singly inland deep freshwater lakes more than other related species of Divers. It was therefore rather a surprise to find remains of the great northern diver in material obtained from an excavation placed as far south as Essex and well inland at Chesterford. This site is dated as between third and fourth century a.d. It is possible that early in the Christian era there was at this place an extension of the Fen country. Today there is here an upper stretch of the River Cam, a water scarcely extensive enough to attract a bird favouring deep water for its normal habitat. Common Crane Grus grus. — This bird bred in East Anglia up to 1 590, and subsequently became a winter visitor ; though of late it is little more than a very rare bird of passage during migration in any part of Great Britain. It must, however, have been widely dispersed in most parts of Britain in early historic time, for then conditions were more suitable, e.g. fens and marshland were more widespread than at present. Consequently it was hardly sur- prising, though none the less interesting, to find bones of the 24 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol. 62 186 common crane among Mesolithic remains at Seamer in Yorkshire. They were indicative of our rich native fauna, which is fast dis- appearing as a result of the encroachment of civilisation. — Margery I. Platt, Royal Scottish Museum. Barnacle Geese in East Lothian. On 15th October 1950, while watching a group of waders on the shore at Aberlady Bay, East Lothian, we observed 2 1 barnacle geese Branta leucopsis. They flew in low over the sea and turned parallel with the edge of the tide, which was high at the time, giving us excellent close views. The wings and body appeared silvery grey, while the head, neck and upper breast were black, with white cheeks and foreheads. The call was short and guttural, like a bark. After turning again they flew towards the middle of the bay and alighted on the water. It is interesting to note that barnacle geese were seen in Berwick- shire in November 1949 {Scot. JVat., 62 : 126-127). — Frank D. Hamilton and Keith S. Macgregor, Edinburgh. Pheasant x Capercaillie hybrid. Messrs. A. G. and W. J. Riddoch recently forwarded for identification a bird shot on their estate of Tarryblake, near Rothiemay, Banffshire, on i8th November 1950. It is evidently a pheasant-caper hybrid, and, like the four previous authentic records in this country, it is a cock bird. (Eagle Clarke, A.S.N.H., 1898 : 17-21.) This specimen was quite appropriately described to me as “ a rather unusual capercailzie Its most pheasant-like charac- ters are (i) the patch of vermilion skin surrounding the eye ; (ii) the almost bare tarsus, with ‘ phasianine ’ feet (as in all previous cases) ; and (hi) the long middle tail feathers, which, though black-tipped, bear transverse dark bars through most of their length. The bird is marked with buff barring and vermiculations on the top of the head, back and upperside of the wings ; the rest of the head, the neck and upper breast have black feathers with glossy green tips, and on the lower breast and underside most of the feathers are deep chestnut and black, darker than a cock pheasant’s. The tail is longer than that shown in Millais’ illus- tration {Game Birds and Shooting Sketches, 1892, facing p. 16), but shorter than that in Sim’s photograph {Vert. Fauna of Dee, 1903, facing p. 163). In general our bird resembles the latter more closely than the former. It is not desirable to give a fuller description here ; the skin is preserved in the Aberdeen University collection and is available for study if required. The length was 87 cm. (34.3 in.), wing 33 cm. ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 187 (13.0 in.) ; full extent of wings 104 cm. (41 in.). The bird appeared to be in its first winter ; the testes were small and flecked with dark pigment on their peritoneal surface ; the crop and stomach were filled with oat grains, probably picked up in the stubbles. No such hybrid appears to have been obtained since 1897. This and the much commoner blackcock-caper cross are frequently I associated with periods of expansion of the capercaillie’s range, ! when the hens apparently do the pioneering, and accept alien I cocks for want of their own. Dr. Pennie records {Scot. Nat. 62 : 87) I a sudden increase in the caper population at Rothiemay in the last two (now three) years, which might imply some such conditions of rapid expansion. — V. C. Wynne-Edwards, Aberdeen. THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol. 62 188 BOOK REVIEWS The Tunicata. By N. J. Berrill. Pp. iii + 354. London : The Ray Society, 1950. 27s. 6d. This book, written by an acknowledged authority, fills a very real need for the British naturalist. Until recently he has had to rely on Alder & Hancock’s British Tunicates^ written nearly eighty years ago, and never completed. Dr. H. Thompson’s Tunicates of the Scottish Area, which covers only Scottish and Arctic Ascidiacea, and Harant & Vernieres’ volumes in the Fame de France series. Much remains to be known about tunicates, particularly about their remarkable life histories, but in order to investigate an organism one must first identify it, and the great external variability of tunicates makes their identification particularly difficult. As a result the early naturalists regarded as specifically distinct many forms which are now known to be ecological varieties, and the 141 species appearing in Alder & Hancock have been reduced in the course of time to 46 in the present volume. The first fifty pages are devoted to an account of structure, physiology and classification which is completely up to date, papers as late as 1949 being quoted. Then each of the 76 species now known from British waters is treated in turn. Under each name is to be found an adequate synonymy, an account of distribution, habitat and life history, and a clear description. The numerous line drawings illustrating the distinctive characteristics of the various species are an important feature. There is also a useful bibliography of 23 pages, and an index. The only omission noted was Cyclosalpa bakeri, which has been taken off the coast of Sutherland in 1932 and 1937. Unfortunately the published records of these finds are rather easily missed, and Dr. J. H. Fraser’s paper The Distribution of Thaliacea in Scottish Waters doubtless appeared too late for consideration. It is interesting to notice that the author supports the opinions of Garstang and Van Name that the Larvacea are the most advanced of the tunicates, standing close to the origin of the vertebrates, while the sessile Ascidiacea are primitive rather than degenerate. Accordingly, in the arrangement of species the Ascidiacea have been placed at the beginning, and the Larvacea at the end. The number and arrangement of the families in the Ascidiacea has been the subject of much discussion in recent years. The old method of classification according to branchial structure was very convenient, but has been shown to be incorrect, while the more correct method — according to the form of the epicardium — makes use of a character which is very difficult to observe. Prof. Berrill is known to support the latter method, but the system adopted here is a compromise which should give the field naturalist no trouble. A few misprints were seen, but none of them, not even the unpro- nounceable anagram on page 82, appeared likely to mislead. P. A. O. BOOK REVIEWS 189 1950 Natural History of Ireland. By R. Lloyd Praeger. London : Collins, 1950. Pp. 350. 25s. Since the publication in 1856 of the last volume of William Thompson’s Natural History of Ireland (published after his death) a great deal has been written about Irish Natural History, but unfortunately widely scattered in different journals. Dr. Praeger, who has long been recognised as one of Ireland’s most distinguished naturalists, has now collected this information into a long awaited volume. The book is divided into several sections starting with a general account of the geography and geology of the country followed by a discussion of the general structure and history of the flora and fauna. There follow sections on ecological and topographical regions and finally the second half of the book is devoted to sections discussing the different groups of the flora and fauna respectively. This lay-out seems clumsy and involves a certain amount of repetition ; one particularly feels that the sections on ecolo- gical and topographical regions might have been united, or at least that the topographical regions should be grouped according to the type of habitat they represent. The biological interest of Ireland chiefly centres around its position in relation to the European continent and in consequence the paucity of its flora and fauna. Throughout the book the author pays special atten- tion to the smaller species-composition of Ireland in relation to Great Britain, and also to the origin and history of the different groups. As the whole country was at one time or another covered by ice, but never all at one time, these latter points are of especial interest. Some organisms may have survived in refugia of unglaciated areas ; support for this thesis is drawn from present day conditions in Greenland where many species exist near the limits of the ice. Others probably arrived across post-glacial land connections with the continent or mainland Britain. Special attention is paid in these respects to the Lusitanian, American and Arctic elements of the flora and fauna. The later sections on the flora and fauna are valuable chiefly for the references they give to the literature on the groups in question and for showing the enormous gaps in our knowledge of Irish biology. A few small points deserve criticism. Rarities seem to be given undue prominence in relation to their importance ; this is particularly so in the case of the Fishes. The statement that the “ Carrion Crow is strangely rare ” makes peculiar reading to those familiar with the geographical distribution of this species and the hooded crow. One must also deplore the haphazard use of trinomials in some of the scientific names ; thus two bones of the great spotted woodpecker found in caves, are referred to Dry abates m. major. However, these are small points when one considers the size of the task which Dr. Praeger has undertaken and fulfilled in such a brilliant manner. We owe him a deep debt of gratitude for collecting together this wealth of information which was previously so hard to find. I. M. G. THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST VoL 62 190 Studies in Bird Migration, being the collected papers of H. Chr. C. Mortensen, 1856- ig2i. Edited by Paul Jespersen and A. Vedel Taning. Copen hagen : Ejnar Munksgaard, 1950. Pp. 272. 18 Danish Crowns. Nineteen papers and articles by the pioneer of scientific bird-marking are presented in English translation. The book is edited by our good friends Jespersen and Taning, who were among the most eager of Mortensen’s youthful assistants in the early days before the 1914-18 war. Dr. Taning contributes a brief but illuminating account of Mortensen’s life and work : he was a quiet, kindly man, the son of a well-known amateur botanist, and for over forty years a' schoolmaster in Copenhagen and at the Cathedral school in Viborg. He had equal gifts as an experimenter, as a naturalist of meticulous accuracy, and as an inspiration to his devoted pupils and friends. After various trials he devised leg-rings made from flat aluminium strips, stamped with a serial number and address and then bent into the required shape : the design, in fact, which has undergone practically no alteration in the succeeding half century. The first ring of this successful type was placed on a starling in June, 1899. Much of his earlier attention was given to starlings, which he caught for marking in a useful automatic trap called a “ starling-pincher ” ; it is noteworthy that he experimented also with individual colour markings. From the outset he was in close touch with Eagle Clarke, and one of the original international notices of his starling experiments was inserted in the Annals of Scottish Natural History in 1900. In spite of serious ill-health, which brought sadness to his later years, Mortensen marked (with hand-made rings) over 5000 birds of thirty-three species. His classical results were derived from distant recoveries of the starling and white stork : of the former he ringed 2133 (one of the recoveries being made in East Lothian) ; and of the latter 1633, which brought seventeen recoveries in Africa south of the equator, and clearly established the migration route of the Danish breeding population. Mortensen deserves the greatest respect from ornithologists in general and bird-ringers in particular. The memory of the rising generation is necessarily short, and it has evidently been the editors’ purpose to make this book an international memorial of his work. The papers presented vary a good deal in interest : some are largely devoted to details of re- coveries ; two or more are not directly concerned with migration ; and there is a certain amount of repetition. The translation is the work of Dr. H. M. Kyle, well-known author of The Biology of Fishes ; it carries an unmistakable air of contact with the original Danish. The editing and printing are very good ; the cover is of heavy paper, attractively designed. British booksellers now have the book in stock. V. C. W-E. r950 BOOK REVIEWS 191 Robin Redbreast. By David Lack. Pp, 224. 8 plates in colour and 15 illustrations in text. London : Oxford University Press, 1950. 15s. Dr. Lack’s newest book is, in some sense, a return to the eighteenth century “ collection ”, a miscellany of writings which deal with a single subject : but the compiler has not followed the old tradition of asking his friends for original contributions on that subject — which might have produced some bizarre results — ; he has, instead, collected what has been written about the robin in our literature and sub-literature. The result is an odd mixture of the sublime, the curious and the trivial : Shake- speare and Mrs. Trimmer, with the Brighton Herald between them, are strange bedfellows. Less interesting mentions of the robin have been omitted, but are referred to in the notes : an unfortunate oversight is the robin which sang in the cell of the Hermit of Gouda, in The Cloister and the Hearth. Dr. Lack has always written well and here shows, in addition, a good critical sense, though we note a slight Victorian tendency towards Goldzweigismus (or Preoccupation with the Golden Bough), as in his sup- position that The Death of Cock Robin may be based on “ an ancient and widespread but now forgotten rite He insists, however, that the object of the book is entertainment, and entertain it certainly does. Not least successful are the well-chosen illustrations. The book provides an ad- mirable Ghristmas present for erithacophils, young and old. M.F.M.M. The Birds of Greenland. By Finn Salomonsen (text) and Gitz-Johansen (plates). Parti. Copenhagen: Ejnar Munksgaard, 1950. Pp. 158, small 4to ; 22 plates. 60 Crowns per part. This handsome and important work is to be completed in three parts. The part under review contains a foreword by the Danish Prime Minister, followed by a brief introduction, and articles on twenty-two species, namely divers (2), petrels and shearwaters (3), swans, geese and ducks (16), and the cormorant. The text is bilingually printed in two columns, Danish on the left and English (in italics) on the right, in excellent type on high quality paper with wide margins. Each article is illustrated by one of Gitz-Johansen’s plates, and bears a title decorated by a small line-cut of the bird, with the name in Danish, English and Eskimo, and the scientific name. The coloured plates are a notable departure from traditional bird-book portraits. Mr. Gitz-Johansen is a gifted water-colourist with a direct style, well-known for his Greenland studies. Each plate shows a single bird drawn on a large scale, in a very free but tolerably accurate manner ; of the ducks, only the drake is shown. The background gives an impression of the arctic scene, and a bold, but not uniformly successful, attempt is made to depict the birds in the rapid and difficult technique of the water- colour sketch. Dr. Salomonsen is the foremost living authority on Greenland birds, and his text is wisely confined to giving an accurate and documented account 1 92 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol 62 of the status of each bird in Greenland, of its habits there, and of details about it that are either new or known to comparatively few students. This will insure the book a lasting value to palaearctic and nearctic ornithologists, whether they are specially interested in Greenland or not. Less than half the information in these pages is in fact available elsewhere in English, and much of it concerns habits and life-history material of general interest. The author is also an authority on systematics, and it may be noted that he favours the division of the Atlantic fulmar into two subspecies on the basis of size, the smaller form breeding only in Arctic Canada, but visiting Greenland waters (and the western Atlantic) ; our own experience confirms this. He combines the blue and snow geese, recognises the Greenland white-fronted goose of Dalgety and Scott, and rejects the American race of the pintail. The reviewer himself read the proofs of this volume, and should there- fore have no criticism to make. However, there is a minor inconsistency in the selection of English (and Danish) bird-names ; some, like ‘ Greenland Mallard ’, ‘ Richardson’s Goose ’ or ‘ Arctic Eider ’, designate particular subspecies of widespread birds ; others, for example ‘ Teal ’ and ‘ Cor- morant ’, do not even identify the species precisely, at least to American and other non-European readers, who are familiar with several kinds of both teal and cormorant. For a book which will have such wide currency the selection of acceptable ‘ international ’ names is clearly desirable, though undeniably difficult. — V. C. W-E. INDEX Albatross, Black-browed, 17, 23-24 Grey-headed, 24 Yellow-nosed, 24 Allan, Ronald M., Fleas {Siphonaptera) from Birds in North-east Scotland, 33-41 Anderson, D. R., 57 Andrew, D. G, See Maw and Andrew Angle Shades, 122 Arthur, George, 57-58 Auk, Little, too, 105, 128 Badger, 54-55, 59 Bat, Pipistrelle, 96 Baxter, Evelyn V., and Leonora Jeffrey Rintoul, 50, 52, 56-57, 93-97 Blackbird, 21, 89, 94, 99, 107 Blackcap, 99, 103, 106, 125 Black Game, 67, 68, 74, 86, 157, 158, 170 Blackwood, G. C., The possible occurrence of Somatochlora alpestris in Scotland, 31-32 Blackwood, R. C., 124 Blue, Common, 97 Bluethroat, 22, 105, 107 Boase, Henry, Notes on the behaviour of some ducks, 1-16, 60, 127-128 Book Reviews, 188-192 Boyd, J., 50-51 Brambling, 106 Brian, Michael V., and Anne D., Bird predation of defoliating cater- pillars, 88-92 Bullfinch, 94 Bunting, Black-headed, 100, 106 Girl, 106 Corn, 106 Lapland, 99, 106 Little, loi, 106 Ortolan, 106 Red-headed, 100 Reed, 94, loi, 106 Rustic, loi, 106 Snow, 106 Yellow, 89, 94, 106 Yellow-breasted, 106 Butterfly. See under English name of each species. See also Lepidoptera Buzzard, 57, 95 Campbell, Bruce, 180 Campbell, James W., 55, 57, 125 Campbell, J. L., 122 Capercaillie, The history and dis- tribution of, in Scotland, 65-87, 157-178 Pheasant X Capercaillie hybrid, 186- 187 Caterpillars, defoliating. Bird predation of, 88-92 Chaffinch, 89, 90, 94, 106 Chiffchaff, 55, 99, 102, 106, 125 Chough, 94 Cinnabar Moth, 97 Clancey, P. a., 56, 128 Coot, 13, 37 Cormorant, 16, 27, 30, 95 Corncrake, 96, 105, 107 Cramp, Stanley, 63-64 Crane, Common, 185-186 Crow, Carrion, 94, 179 Hooded, 70, 75, 94, 172 Cuckoo, 95, 107 Cunningham, David, 50, 51 Curlew, 96 Dabchick, 13 Dark Arches, 122 Diptera, 97, 1 22-1 23 Display, Distraction, 58-59 Courtship, 177 Injury-feigning, 60-61 Diver, Great Northern, 1 85 Dormouse, European, 37 Dotterel, 182 Douglas-Home, Henry, 125-126 Dove, Rock, 35, 93, 96 Turtle, 100, 107, 128 See also Pigeon Dragonfly. See Odonata Duck, Common Eider, 58, 59, 95, 107 Mallard, 4-7, 13, 95 Scaup, 14 Sheld-, 1-4, 95» io7 Steller’s Eider, 57-58 Tufted, 1 3-1 4» 145 Ducks, Notes on the behaviour of some, 1-16 Duffey, Eric, Non-breeding in the fulmar Fulmarus glacialis, 111-121 Dunlin, 60 Dunnet, George M., Fleas {Siphonaptera) from mammals in Aberdeenshire, 42-49, 54 Dunnock, 22-23. Sparrow, Hedge 193 194 Earwigs, 1 79 Eider, Steller’s, 57-58 Common, 57, 58, 59, 95, 107 Eilean Bulgach, Sutherland, Notes on, 26-30 Elder, Hugh F. D., Isle of May Bird Observatory and Field Station, Bird Report 1948 and 1949, 98-108 Fair Isle Bird Observatory, Notes on Selected Species, Spring 1949, 17-25 Falcon, Peregrine, 95, 107 Feathered Thorn, 122 Fieldfare, 56, 106 Fisher, James, and Keith Piercy, Notes on Eilean Bulgach, Suther- land, 26-30 Fishes, 52, 53-54, 1 29-1 41 Fitter, R. S. R., 60 Fleas (Siphonaptera) from birds in North- east Scotland, 33-41 ; from mam- mals in Aberdeenshire, 42-49 Flycatcher, Pied, 99, 102, 106, 124-125, 180-182 Red-breasted, 102, 106 Spotted, 89, 106, 180 Food of birds : sheld-duck, 4 ; wigeon, 8 ; shoveler, 10 ; common pochard, 13 ; tufted duck, 14 ; scaup-duck, 14 ; goldeneye, 16 ; Iceland gull, 25 ; capercaillie, 72, 88-92 ; black- eared wheatear, 104 ; swan, 145 Forester moth, 51 Forrest, Aileen, 53 Fox, 70, 75, 78, 97, 172 Fulmar, 28, 30, 107 ; Non-breeding in the fulmar Fulmarus glacialis^ 1 1 1 - i 2 1 ; 192 Gannet, 95, 107 Garganey, 183 Goose, Barnacle, 126-127, 186 Pink-footed, 126 Goby, Fries’, 53-54 Godwit, Bar-tailed, 59, 60 Black-tailed, 59, 60. Goldcrest, 94, 106 Goldeneye, 16, 145 Goodwin, Derek, 184 Gordon, Seton, 60 Grebe, Little, 95 Greenfinch, 89, 94, 106 Grosbeak, Scarlet, 100, 106 Grouse, Red, 96 Guillemot, 29, 96, 107 Black, 29, 96, 128 Gull, Black-headed, 96, 184-185 Common, 96, 183 Great black-backed, 23, 28, 30, 96 Herring, 23, 25, 28, 30, 36, 96, 107 Iceland, 25 Vol. 62 Gull, Lesser black-backed, 25, 28, 30, 96, 107 Hall, David W., A note on the dis- tribution of the peacock butterfly Nymphalis io in Scotland, 1 09-1 10 ( Hamilton, Frank D., and Keith S. Macgregor, 186 Hamilton, F., R. J. W. Smith, C. Walker, 183 Hare, Brown, 44 j Hawfinch, in East Lothian, 124 e Hawkmoth, Death’s-head, 50 Humming-bird, 50, 179 Hay, Ian, 178 Hayes, R. E., 59-60 Heath, Small, 97 Hedgehog, 43, 45 Hen Harrier, 126 Fleron, 57, 95 Hewson, R., 54 Home, W. M. Logan, 126-127 Hoopoe, 23 FIunter, Eric M., 182-183 Hymenoptera, 52, 91, 124 Injury-feigning, 60-61 (oyster-catcher) Isle of May Bird Observatory and Field Station Bird Report, 1948 and 1949, 98-108 Jackdaw, 94 Jay, 70, 75 Kestrel, 95 Kevan, D. K. MgE., 179 Kittiwake, 29, 63-64, 107 Knot, 59 Lapwing, 21, 96 Lark. See Skylark, Shore Lark, Wood Lark Lepidoptera, 29, 50, 51, 97, 122, 179 ; defoliating caterpillars, 88-92 ; peacock butterfly, 1 09-1 10 ; orange- tip, 122 Linnet, 94, 106 Macgregor, Keith S. See Hamilton and Macgregor Mackenzie, J. M. D., 181 Magpie Moth, 29 Mallard, 1-7, 13 Mammals, 34, 35 ; fleas from, 42-49 ; 54. 59, 70, 75, 78, 97, 153-156 (whales), 161 Martin, House, 35, 37, 40, 56-57 Sand, 34, 35, 40, 45 Maw, M. C., and D. G. Andrew, 59 Meadow Brown, 97 Meinertzhagen, R., 55 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 1950 Merganser, Red-breasted, 58, 95 Migration, 59, 60 Mole, 43, 44, 46, 48 Mollusca, Terrestrial, 53 Moorhen, 37, 96, 107 Mosquitoes, in Moray, 1 22-1 23 Moth. See Lepidoptera Mouse, House, 44, 48, 97 Long-tailed field, 44, 47, 48 Wood, 44, 97 Natural history notes from the Isle of Gigha, 93-97 Nelson, Scott, 60-61 Nightingale, 17, 21-22 Oak Roller Moth, 90, 91 Odonata, 31-32, 97 Opah Lampris guttatus, A history of the, 129-141 Orangetip, 122 Orkin, Philip A., A history of the Opah Lampris guttatus, 1 2 9- 1 4 1 Osprey, 182-183 Otter,' 97^ Ouzel, Ring. See Ring Ouzel Owl, Little, 125-126 Long-eared, 107 Short-eared, 107 Oyster-catcher, 28, 60-61, 61-63, 9^? 107, 184 Painted Lady, 50, 97 Parasites : fleas, 33-49 ; ticks, 34, 70 Partridge, 96 Peacock butterfly, 50, 51, 97 ; A note on the distribution of the, in Scotland, 1 09-1 10 Pearly Underwing, 50 Pennie, I. D., 54-55 » 56, 58-59 ; The history and distribution of the capercaillie in Scotland, 65-87 ; Part 2, 157-178 Peregrine, 95, 107 Perry, Richard, 183 Phalarope, 60 Pheasant, 68, 96 X Capercaillie hybrid, 186-187 PiERCY, Keith. See Fisher and Piercy Pigeon, Wood, 36, 95 Rock, 40 See also Dove Pipit, Meadow, 94, loi, 106 Rock, 27, 30, 94, loi, 106 Tree, 89, 106 Platt, Margery, I., 185-186 Plover, Golden, 105 Kentish, 17, 24-25 Ringed, 24, 60, 96 Pochard, Common, 11-13 Polecat, 1 61 195 Porpoise, 97 Puffin, 29 Rabbit, 44, 97 Rail, Water, 100, 105, 107 Rat, Brown, 44, 47, 97 Raven, 24, 93 Razorbill, 26, 29, 107 Red Admiral, 50 Redpoll, 100, 106 Redshank, 21, 96, 183 Redstart, Black, 99, 107 Common, 21, 107 Redwing, 56, 103, 107 Richter, R., 122, 124, 126 Ring Ouzel, 99, 103, 107 Rintoul, Leonora Jeffrey. See Baxter and Rintoul Robin, 22, 89, 91, 94, 107, 191 Rook, 89, 94 Rosy Rustic, 122 Ruff, 59, 60, 100, 107 Sanderling, 60 Sandpiper, Common, 96 Curlew, 59, 100 Wood, 183 Sawfly, 91 (larvae) Saxon Moth, 51 Scoter, Common, 95, 127 Velvet, 127-128 Seal, Grey, 26, 27, 96-97 Shag, 27-28, 58, 95, 107 Sheld-duck, 1-4 Shore Lark, 99 Shoveler, 8-1 1 Shrew, Common, 43, 48, 54, 96 Pigmy, 35, 43, 45, 46, 54 Water, 43, 46 Shrike, Great Grey, 99, 102, 106 Red-backed, 99, 102, 106 Silver- Y, 50, 122 Siskin, 99, 100, 106 Skua, Great, 96 Skunk, 59 Skylark, 35, 94, 106 Snipe, 96 Somatochlora alpestris, The possible occur- rence of, in Scotland, 31-32 Sparrow, Fledge, 22-23, 89, 94, 107 House, 36, 94, 1 01, 106 Tree, 99, 106 Spiders, 124 Squid, Giant, 52-53 Squirrel, Grey, 49 Red, 48 Starling, 36, 89, 94, 106, 190 Stephen, A. C., 52-53 Steven, David, Notes on a school of pilot whales stranded in East Lothian, 153-156 INDEX 1 96 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST Vol. 62^ ig^o Stevenson, S. D., 184 Stonechat, 95, 107, 125 Swallow, 95, 107 Swan, Margaret, 184 Swan, Bewick’s, 144 Mute, 95, 143, 144, 145 Whooper, 1 42-1 52 Swans, the Whooper, of I.och Spiggie, Shetland, 1 42-1 52 Swift, 107 Sylviidae, 55-56. See also Warbler Teal, 7, 95 Tern, Arctic, 107, 183 Black, 60 Common, 96, 107 Sandwich, 107, 184 Thin, R. G., 125 Thomas, H. J., 53-54 Thrush, Song, 20-21, 89, 94, 107 Mistle, 89 Tit, Blue, 36, 89, 91, 94, 102, 106, 124 Coal, 89, 94, 106 Great, 89, 90, 124 Long-tailed, 99, 106 Tortoiseshell, Small, 97, 122 Tree Creeper, 55, 89, 99, 106 Triple-spotted Clay moth, 51 Tunicata, 188 Turnstone, 59, 107 Venables, L. S. V. and U. M., The whooper swans of Loch Spiggie, Shetland, 142- 152 Vole, Bank, 34, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49 Short-tailed, 43, 46, 47 Water, 43 Wagtail, Pied, 94, 106 Warbler, Aquatic, 102 Barred, 99, 103, 106 Garden, 99, 103, 106 Wagtail, Grasshopper, 99, 106 Greenish, 17, 18-20 Icterine, 103, 106 Reed, 102, 106 Sedge, 56, 94, 106 Willow, 55, 89, 91, 94, 106 Wood, 55, 99, 102, 106 Yellow-browed, 102, 106 Wasp, Common, 52 Wood, 52 Waterhen. See Moorhen Weasel, 43, 46 Whales, Pilot, Notes on a school of, stranded in East Lothian, 153-156 Wheatear, 21, 94, 107 Black-eared, 103, 107 Whimbrel, 60, 96 Whinchat, 107 Whipp, J. M. P., 184-185 White, Green-veined, 97 Large, 97 Small, 97 Whitethroat, 56, 89, 94, 106 Lesser, 99, 103, 106 WiER, R. S., 128 Wigeon, 7-8, 13, 95, 145 Williamson, Kenneth, Fair Isle Bird Observatory, Notes on Selected Species, Spring 1949, 17-25 ; 61- 63 Winter moth, 91 Wolverine, 59 Woodcock, 96, 107 Wood Lark, 102 Woodpecker, Great Spotted, 105, 107 Wren, 36, 89, 94, 107 Wryneck, 107 Wynne-Edwards, V. C., 185-186 Yellowhammer, 89, 94, 106 Zoological Notes, 122-128, 179-187 I NOTICE TO CONTRIBUTORS HE SCOTTISH NATURALIST is devoted to the study of Scottish Natural History, and is therefore concerned with all the many aspects, zoological, botanical, geographical, topographical and climatic embraced by this title. Contributions in the form of articles and short notes, and papers and books for review, should be addressed to the Editor of The Scottish Naturalist, Department of Natural History, Marischal College, Aberdeen. Contributors should observe the following points and endeavour to conform with the arrangement and set-up of articles and notes adopted in the current number. 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