ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 55 



are only four in number on each wing. Since the bird came into 

 my possession it has eaten doghips, haws, rice, grapes, and apple, 

 but its favourite food seems at present to be currants. R. L. 

 RITCHIE, Dunloe, Tranent. 



Persistency in nesting- of Song 1 Thrush. - - Mr. Wm. 



MacGillivray of Barra sends me the following note upon the per- 

 sistency of a Thrush in nesting this season in Eoligary garden. He 

 says : A Mavis nested in an ivy tree in Eoligary garden and 

 laid five eggs on the 28th April 1910. These eggs were destroyed 

 by rats. In the third week in May it nested a second time in 

 a rhubarb plant and had four eggs. These also were destroyed by 

 rats. In the second week in June, it nested a third time in a pear 

 tree and had one egg. This also was again destroyed by rats. In the 

 first week of July it nested a fourth time in the St. Barr Churchyard, 

 Eoligary, and hatched four birds, which were on the wing the last 

 week of the month. J. A. HARVIE-BROWN. 



Albino Wood-Warbler in Dumfriesshire. A perfectly pure white 

 specimen of the Wood- Warbler (Phylloscopus sibilatrix] was obtained 

 near Drumlanrig, Thornhill, at the end of July 1910. It only 

 lived some four hours after its capture, when it was stuffed by Mr. 

 Lockerbie, Chemist, Dumfries. The specimen, which I have seen, 

 is now in the possession of Mr. Jas. Graham, Carronbridge. HUGH 

 S. GLADSTONE, Capenoch. 



Hen Harriers in Peeblesshire. About the beginning of 

 November two Hen Harriers (Circus cyaneus) were seen hunting the 

 moors in the West Linton district, and on the ryth one of the birds, 

 an adult female, was shot on the " White Moss," at Medwyn. Its 

 crop contained the flesh of a grouse. The Hen Harrier is now a 

 very rare visitor to the district. T. G. LAIDLAW, Halmyre. 



Migration of Whooper Swans. The passage of Whooper 

 Swans northwards over the Orkneys commenced this year (1910) on 

 25th March with a herd of eleven, which, coming from the south, 

 alighted on the Loch of Harray, to be joined later in the morning 

 by other herds of five and eleven. After washing themselves in the 

 fresh water, they all departed in the middle of the afternoon in one 

 herd. The main migration over Orkney of this species takes 

 place during the second week of April, when thousands may be seen 

 heading N.N.W. and flying comparatively low, very few breaking 

 their journey then, as they are possibly in a hurry to reach their 

 breeding grounds. H. W. ROBINSON, Lancaster. 



Wigeon nesting 1 in Forth. In the October number of the 

 " Annals " there appeared an interesting note from Mr. Evans on 

 the nesting of the Gadwall and the Wigeon in " Forth." It seems 

 evident from what he says that the first identified Gadwall's nest, 

 found at the loch referred to, was that recorded by Misses Rintoul 



