ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 51 



Little Bustard in Aberdeenshire. On the 24th of October 

 last, when out shooting partridges at St. Fergus, part of the Pitfour 

 estate in Aberdeenshire, I shot a bird which the Pitfour keeper 

 and Mr. Sim the Aberdeen naturalist have pronounced to be a 

 Little Bustard (Of is tctrax). The bird was first seen in a turnip- 

 field. It got up out of shot, and flew with a slow, leisurely flight. 

 It seemed to be weak, as if wounded. I went after the bird and 

 secured it. Mr. Mutch, the keeper, when skinning it found a swan- 

 shot embedded in its thigh. It may be mentioned that for about 

 ten days before, N.E. gales of unusual severity had prevailed on this 

 coast. This may account for the presence of so rare a visitant. 

 Mr. Sim remembers one other having been got near Aberdeen a 

 good many years ago. J. G. WALKER, London, W. 



Gray Phalarope on the Solway Firth. A small specimen of 

 this Phalarope was brought to me at the Carlisle Museum on 

 loth December, when I ascertained that it had been shot on the 

 coast near Cardunock the previous day. No doubt it had been 

 driven up the estuary by the strong S.W. winds. It was not in full 

 winter dress, as one would have expected a December specimen to 

 be. On the contrary, the upper parts still retained a large pro- 

 portion of the first feathers ; so that it might well have been 

 procured in September in the same garb. A fine old bird which 

 was procured locally on the 24th of December 1894, and added to 

 the same collection, is in perfect winter livery, except that it still 

 retains a single feather of the red summer dress upon the rump. 

 H. A. MACPHERSON, Allonby, Cumberland. 



Solitary Snipe near Elgin. A specimen of the rare Gallinago 

 major, rare at least in the north of Scotland, was shot on Saturday 

 1 5th October 1898 by Mr. J. Brander-Dunbar at Pitgaveny, near 

 Elgin. The bird rose out of a fairly dry grass park, along with a 

 Common Snipe. It had a scar on the breast, probably done against a 

 wire fence or telegraph wire. I weighed it on the following Monday 

 morning, and found its weight was exactly 8 oz. T. E. BUCKLEY, 

 Inverness. 



Spotted Redshank, Ruff, and Curlew Sandpiper in East Ren- 

 frewshire. We have had great hopes of adding something to our 

 list of East Renfrewshire birds this autumn, owing to the consider- 

 able sheet of water known as Balgray Dam being very low leaving 

 a great portion of the bed of the dam exposed, in this we have 

 not been disappointed. The Curlew Sandpiper (Tringa sitbarquata), 

 of whose appearance on fresh-water lochs in Scotland there are few 

 or no notices, was again observed (and see "Annals," 1897, p. 124) 

 this autumn, between 25th September and 23rd October, both inclu- 

 sive, never more than three birds being noted at one time. A Ruff 

 ( Machetes pugnax), apparently a bird of the year, a species we have 



