ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 183 



cock and hen birds near a rotten ash-tree. I eventually managed 

 to climb to a hole 10 feet from the ground, and on looking down, 

 assisted by a gleam of sunlight, I saw clearly two green-blue eggs at 

 the end of a cavity nine inches deep, with a very narrow entrance- 

 hole. There were probably more eggs, but the light only showed 

 me two. I returned on 3151 May and ist June and watched both 

 birds going in and out of the hole, and got several photographs of 

 them both. The hen was so tame that she sat unconcernedly on 

 the eggs while I looked in at her. The male's song surprised me. 

 I did not know that this species had anything more than a call note. 

 I have seen this bird in the country before, but as it was not paired, 

 I suppose it did not sing. The cock entered the nesting-hole with 

 food in his bill for the sitting hen on several occasions. H. N. 

 BONAR, Saltoun. 



Icterine Warbler in Shetland. A fine specimen of Hypolais 

 icterina was obtained near Lerwick on the i5th of May 1910, a 

 day on which a number of migratory birds were observed on passage. 

 It was observed on the lee side of a hill some distance from the 

 town, where Redstarts and Blackcaps were also present. I had 

 always been a little doubtful as to its identity, and recently sent 

 the specimen to Mr. Eagle Clarke for his opinion on it. I believe 

 this is only the second record of the occurrence of this species in 

 Scotland, the previous known visit having been obtained at Fair Isle 

 in 1908. GEORGE W. RUSSELL, Lerwick. 



Continental Great Spotted Woodpecker in Aberdeenshire. 

 It may be useful to record that a Great Spotted Woodpecker which 

 occurred near the village of Sauchen in December 1909 belongs to 

 the Continental race Dendrocopus major major. Having seen 

 several records of the visits of birds of this race to Scotland, I 

 thought it well to send my specimen to Mr. Eagle Clarke for precise 

 determination. DAISY HAMILTON, Skene House, Aberdeenshire. 



Wig-eon Nesting on Loeh Awe. That the Wigeon nests on 

 Loch Awe was established by the Misses Baxter and Rintoul who 

 found a nest there on 2yth May 1908, as reported at the time in 

 the "Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist." A nest was found on loth May last 

 by Colonel Lister Kay of Cladich on one of the islands of Loch 

 Awe, and an egg, down, and flank feathers identified by Mr. J. A. 

 Harvie-Brown. Several pairs of Wigeon were seen by the same 

 observer in April, and later the drakes by themselves. CHAS. H. 

 ALSTON, Letterawe, Loch Awe. 



[To the above note by Mr. Alston I may add that Mr. William 

 Evans informs me that he knew of their breeding in the Loch Awe 

 district about ten years ago, and has a note of a nest found there by 

 Mr. R. Godfrey, on 25th April 1906. I am aware of their having 

 bred in fair numbers on the Moor of Rannoch as long ago as 1874, 

 which district is not far removed from the valley of the Orchay, via 



