ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 109 



Bird Notes from Carmiehael, "Clyde" Area. KINGFISHER 

 (Alcedo ispida). Last season this species nested on the banks of 

 Carmiehael Burn, beside the Manse. Four young ones were observed 

 (4th June 1898). During the winter this bird has been by no means 

 rare, and it is to be hoped that the pleasant experience of last season 

 may be repeated. 



BRAMBLINGS (Fringilla montifringilld) appeared on the i2th 

 October, and have continued throughout the winter to be abnormally 

 abundant. During frosty weather they simply swarmed wherever 

 there were beech trees. At this date (i6th March) they are still 

 here. There is no more interesting sight than to watch the move- 

 ments of an enormous flock of this species foraging, so active and 

 graceful are they. 



POCHARD (Fuligula ferina). On 24th November 1898, Robert 

 Barbour, Esq., younger, of Bolesworth, Cheshire, when duck shooting 

 by the Clyde, killed a Pochard $ , the first noted for this district. 

 In addition to the Pochard, the following varieties were shot : Teal, 

 Mallard, Golden-eye, Scaup, Tufted Duck, and Widgeon. On the 

 2ist July, on coming from Glasgow, I saw a small flock of Pochard 

 sitting quietly within stone-cast of the passing train on the sheet of 

 water to the south of Wishaw Station. At this date, for a few days, 

 the species was common in the district, as I also observed several 

 small parties on the Clyde, near Prett's Mill Bridge. 



TREE SPARROW (Passer montanus). On loth December a few 

 individuals of this species were seen in the hedgerow beyond Cross- 

 ridge Smithy, the place where they were observed in January 1897. 

 J. D. W. GIBSON. 



Bramblings in Argyllshire. During the past winter a large 

 flock of Bramblings (Fringilla montifringilla) frequented the island 

 of Innis Chonain in Loch Awe. They were first reported to me, as 

 Snow Buntings, on the izth of December, and it is possible that 

 there may have been some birds of that species with them, though I 

 was unable to find any. The people here seem to know the Snow 

 Bunting, but not the Brambling. The winter had been exceptionally 

 mild, but very stormy. The bird is said ("Fauna of Argyll," etc.) 

 to occur apparently only in excessively severe seasons, and very few 

 instances are known of its visits to the faunal region of Argyll. 

 CHARLES H. ALSTON, Allt-Garbh, Loch Awe. 



Lesser Whitethroat in the Outer Hebrides. A Scottish speci- 

 men of the Lesser Whitethroat (Sylvia curruca) is a rara avis, and 

 the occurrence of an example in the remote island of Barra worthy 

 of record. A specimen shot on the 24th of October last was 

 submitted to me for determination by my friend Mr. W. L. Macgil- 

 livray, of Eoligary, Barra, who obtained the bird on the west side of 

 the island. This species has not hitherto, I believe, been obtained 

 in the Outer Hebrides. Mr. Macgillivray shot another Hebridean 



