REPORT ON SCOTTISH ORNITHOLOGY IN 1909 137 



From Lervvick comes the only record of Sabine's Gull 

 (Xema sabinii], it was seen by Mr. Tulloch on the 25th 

 July. 



An Eared Grebe (Podicipes nigricollis] is noted as 

 having been seen at Bishop's Loch near Glasgow in 1909. 



EXTENSION OF BREEDING RANGE. 



This is an important though difficult part of our Report, 

 and under it we have to deal with five species. The White 

 Wagtail (]\Iotacilla alba) is not uncommon with us on migra- 

 tion, and has been known to nest occasionally in England. 

 In 1909 it bred on the Fair Isle, this being the first time it 

 has been proved to breed in Scotland, though its probable 

 nesting at Spiggie (Shetland) in 1900, and at Killilan (N.W. 

 Highlands) in 1908, has been recorded in the "Annals of 

 Scottish Natural History." 



The Corn Bunting (Einberiza miliarid) is recorded by 

 Mr. Macdonald as breeding in Mull in 1909; hitherto he 

 has only observed it as a " sporadic spring migrant " in this 

 locality. It is curious that it should not have been found 

 nesting in this island before, as it nests in lona. In the 

 spring a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers (Dendrocopus 

 major} safely hatched their young on the estate of Brucefield, 

 West Fife. This bird breeds in various parts of the 

 south-east and centre of Scotland (as may be seen in Mr. 

 Harvie-Brown's useful map in the "A.S.N.H.," 1908, p. 209) 

 and has probably spread from there into Fife, where it has 

 not been previously reported as breeding, though it occurs 

 as an occasional visitor. 



Early in June two nests of the Gadwall (Anas streperd) 

 containing seven and five eggs respectively were found beside 

 a loch in the south-east of Scotland. The only previous re- 

 cord of the breeding of this species in Northern Britain was in 

 Peeblesshire in 1906. If unmolested there seems to be no 

 reason why this duck should not extend its breeding range over 

 Scotland, as several other of the Anatidae have done in the 

 last few decades. The Sclavonian Grebe {Podicipes auritus] 

 is recorded as breeding in Scotland in " British Birds " (vol. 

 iii. p. 380). In 1908 a bird of this species was seen in the 



