ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 251 



Bird Notes from the Island of Tiree. The first young ducks 

 I saw this year were a brood of Pochards (Fuligula ferind) on Loch 

 Vassapol, and there were several other pairs on this loch. I also 

 saw a pair of Tufted Ducks (Fuligula cristata) on the same loch 

 through the breeding season, but as I was busy rearing Partridges I 

 had not time to ascertain whether they bred or not. There are 

 hundreds of Pochard on Loch Vassapol and Loch a Phuil every winter, 

 and scores of Tufted Ducks. The Gadwall (Anas strepera) has not 

 bred here yet, so far as I know ; but they are the latest among the 

 migratory birds to leave here, and the first to appear in the autumn. 

 I have not seen any Sandwich Terns (Sterna cantiaca) or Scoters 

 (CEdemia nigra} this year, owing, I believe, to the fact that every 

 man, woman, and child takes the eggs of every bird they find near 

 the shore and elsewhere. Snipe (Gallinago ccelestis) have been very 

 scarce all summer, and very few have bred here. I saw a pair of 

 Smew (Mergiis albellus) in Gott Bay on the 23rd of August, which 

 I thought had returned earlier than usual. PETER ANDERSON, Tiree. 



Garden Warbler in Perthshire. With regard to the distribu- 

 tion of this species (Sylvia hortensis) in Scotland (" Annals of 

 Scottish Natural History," 1895, p. 194), I heard one in June sing- 

 ing near the keeper's lodge, by the roadside, in the Black Wood of 

 Rannoch in Perthshire. I also heard and saw the Tree Pipit 

 (Anthus trivialis) in the same locality. JOHN CORDEAUX, Great 

 Cotes, Lincoln. 



Goldfinch in Perthshire. On 8th July I observed a pair of 

 Goldfinches (Carduelis elegans) on a cherry tree at Ballinluig in the 

 parish of Logierait, Perthshire. During the succeeding fortnight I 

 saw a single bird almost daily, and frequently several times during 

 the day, in the same locality. As the birds were always observed 

 about the same place, I have little doubt that they were nesting in 

 the immediate vicinity, but I was not fortunate enough to find the 

 nest. BRUCE CAMPBELL, Edinburgh. 



Swallow and Blackbird in Shetland. On yth May 1895 I 

 saw a solitary Swallow (Himndo rustica) flying up and down the 

 shore of the Isle of Noss, opposite Bressay. The weather was very 

 fine, and the bird was apparently obtaining numbers of insects. On 

 the gth of May the powerful and sweet notes of the Blackbird (Turdus 

 merula), a strange sound in Shetland, attracted my attention while 

 approaching Lerwick from the south. The song was first heard at 

 fully a third of a mile's distance. The singer proved to be perched 

 on one of the fairly tall trees at Helendale near Clickahimen Loch. 

 The Blackbird is best known in Shetland as an autumn visitor. 

 Vague reports of its having nested near Lerwick do, however, exist. 

 HAROLD RAEBURN, Edinburgh. 



