ii 4 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



keeper ; and Mr. Devvar, bird-dealer, Edinburgh, tells me he saw 

 at the bird-show in Berwick-on-Tweed in the end of November 

 a " Russian " bullfinch which had been recently caught in that 

 neighbourhood. This is not the first occasion, however, on which 

 this large race has occurred on the coast of East Lothian. One 

 which I have a note of and used often to see, was captured at 

 Ferneyness on the coast near Longniddry, about the end of October 

 1884 by a mason named James Chirnside, who was very proud of 

 it and kept it alive for several years. Chirnside's " big bully " was 

 well-known in the neighbourhood. 



Among the many Mealy Redpolls that visited the Lothians in 

 the latter part of October and beginning of November there were 

 numbers of those large birds to which the trinomial A. I. holboelli 

 has been given. One which I obtained at Skateraw, near Dunbar, 

 on 29th October is, Dr. Hartert considers, correctly referred to this 

 form, and I have seen others from Tranent, Prestonpans, Leith, etc. 

 It is doubtful, however, if holboelli merits even subspecific rank ; 

 but, in whatever light it may be regarded, it is clear the Mealy 

 Redpoll from near Edinburgh, figured by Selby in 1825, was this 

 large form. 



Besides the Waxwings already reported in the " Annals " one 

 was killed near Gilmerton, Midlothian, in December, and another, 

 which I saw in the flesh on the 8th of that month, was shot near 

 Kirriemuir, Forfarshire. On iith November a Great Grey Shrike, 

 was shot at Tyne Estuary, near Dunbar. 



Little Auks were fairly plentiful in the Firth of Forth throughout 

 the winter. The first I have a note of was a disabled one which 

 I very nearly captured on the beach at Skateraw on iyth October. 

 Altogether I handled about a dozen examples that were shot or 

 cast on the beach, mostly near North Berwick, during December 

 and January, though one was from as far up the Firth as Cramond. 

 On 1 4th January I found a dead Fulmar at North Berwick, the 

 third got there since autumn. Not far off Elie on 8th September, 

 I saw from the steamer what I am sure was a Sooty Shearwater, 

 and about a week later the Kellys, North Berwick, who know the 

 bird well, told me they saw one, quite close to their boat, near 

 Fidra on gth September. WILLIAM EVANS, Edinburgh. 



Mealy Redpoll and Siskin in Mull. On 2ist October last I 

 identified for the first time in Mull the Mealy Redpoll (Acanthis 

 linaria) feeding along with Twites on the seeds of Centaurea nigra. 

 On 2nd and 3rd November, fully twenty Siskins (Chrysomitris 

 spinns) were seen feeding also on the seeds of above. Only once 

 before have I noticed the latter species here. D. MACDONALD, 

 Tobermory. 



Supposed Cirl Bunting- in Sutherland : a Mistake in Identi 

 flcation. Having recently had occasion to look into the Scottish 



