REPORT ON SCOTTISH ORNITHOLOGY IN 1910 141 



from the same station in spring. There are an unusual 

 number of records of the Green Sandpiper (Helodromas 

 ocJiropus] this year ; it is recorded from Fair Isle on 

 four days in spring and fourteen in autumn, one to three 

 birds at a time. A Green Sandpiper was seen on 

 ist August beside the Medwin between Peeblesshire and 

 Lanarkshire, and on the same day one is recorded near Largo 

 (Fife). On i6th August a male was found with a broken wing 

 close to a telephone wire on Dunipace property, and on the 

 i 8th a male was shot at Westerdale, near Halkirk. Spotted 

 Redshanks (Totanus fuscus) were again seen at Waulkmill 

 Glen Dam on seven occasions between the 26th June and 

 1 8th September, one to three each day (2. ii. 142), and on 

 3<Dth August a bird of this species was seen at Donmouth 

 near Aberdeen (1.1910.249). There is only one previous 

 record of this species in " Dee." On 3<Dth March and 8th 

 April a Black -tailed God wit (Limosa limosa) in summer 

 plumage was seen on the Cromarty Firth (1.1910.247), and 

 on /th June one is recorded as having been seen in Orkney, 

 "very tame" (3.iv.22i). There is no previous note of this 

 species in Orkney. In Tiree, on 7th September, three very 

 wild Black-tailed Godwits are recorded. Red-necked Grebes 

 (Podicipes griseigena) are reported from Lerwick in autumn ; 

 one was seen on 2ist October and four on the 26th one of 

 these had "summer plumage partly moulted only." Finally 

 Sooty Shearwaters {Puffinus griseus) were seen on three 

 occasions in the Firth of Forth one not far off Elie on 

 8th September, one near Fidra next day (i. 191 i.i 14), and 

 one off the Isle of May on i6th October (1.191 1.6). 



SUMMER AND NESTING. 

 As will be seen from the details given below nesting was 



o o 



earlier this year than in 1 909 ; although the spring was very 

 cold, it was extremely dry, and the birds seem to have reared 

 their broods pretty successfully. Blackbirds are described 

 as an increasing species in Orkney, nesting all over the 

 mainland (3.iv.22o) ; and in Clyde the Sedge Warbler has 

 almost recovered its normal numbers after the scarcity of 

 1909 (2.iii.47). Swallows were nesting both at Bunscarth 



