ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 247 



1 2 feet of water. The Swans seem to be very fond of it, as they 

 pull up an immense quantity of it and it then comes ashore. The 

 Swans are all on Loch Vasapol, and do not seem to frequent the 

 other lochs. The weed does not grow in any of the other lochs." 

 P. ANDERSON. 



[From an examination of specimens submitted it appears that 

 the weed is Potainogeton pectinatns, L. EDS.] 



King-fish at Shetland. At the beginning of July I saw on the 

 shore at Maywick, near Scalloway, Shetland, a King-fish or Opah 

 (Lai/ipris luiia.*) It was seen alive in the bay before stranding. In 

 length it measured rather over 3 feet. ERIC B. DUNLOP. 



Alepidosaupus ferox off St. Kilda. An example of this fish 

 was captured about the yth or 8th July in about 200 fathoms some 

 50 miles south-west of St. Kilda. It measured 6 feet 5 inches in 

 length. JOHN SAWERS, Glasgow. 



Lapwings and Black-headed Gulls. The habit mentioned by 

 Mr. Ussher ("Birds of Ireland," p. 322), and referred to before in 

 our pages by S. E. Brock, Kirkliston (loc. cit. p. 117, 1909), 

 of the persecution of the Lapwings by the Black-headed Gulls, is 

 growing apace. Not only when the ground is hardened by frost, or 

 alone in the winter months, but also when the grass-lands are dried 

 up by drought and the Lapwings first flock in the months of July 

 and August, are the poor persecuted birds attended by famishing 

 and hungry Black-headed Gulls. A fleet of say 50 Lapwings 

 alighting in our meadow or alluvial haughland here, are constantly 

 attended by about from 4 to 6 Black-headed Gulls ; and whenever 

 a Lapwing catches a worm or grub, the nearest sentinel Gull makes 

 a dash for the prize. This is of constant occurrence. See also 

 earlier records of same in winter by Mr. Laidlaw, op. cit. 1908, p. 141; 

 also by W. Evans and W. E. Clarke, op. cit. 1908, p. 255. 

 J. A. HARVIE-BROWN. 



Bass in "Scotch Waters."- A small Bass now preserved in 

 Dunipace House was captured in my presence by a friend, on a 

 small " Jock Scott " Salmon fly, at the tide-run of the Sea-pool of the 

 River Aylort in Moidart, and was given to me. It was a gamer 

 fish than any sea-trout of similar size I ever met with ; indeed 

 appeared oftener to be some 3 feet above the water than in it, after 

 being hooked. It weighed i lb., and was as bright as a new shilling 

 all over back and side alike, like a gleaming bar of silver. I mention 

 it here, as a record of a somewhat rare Scottish fish or otherwise 

 one seldom seen. Bass, however, are not so rare as supposed, and 

 are known to occur, and are fished for and caught, in the Kyles 

 of Durness and Tongue by Anglers frequenting these quarters. 

 T. A. HARVIE-BROWN. 



