122 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



The Missel Thrush in Shetland. A specimen of this bird was 

 shot near Lervvick in November last. Dr. Saxby says of this species : 

 "The very few Missel Thrushes which do visit us appear in hard 

 weather, doubtless for temporary shelter ; but they are as shy here 

 as elsewhere."- " Shetland News," iyth November 1894. 



Whitethroat and Ring Dove in Shetland. On the i3th of 

 June 1894 I saw a Whitethroat (Sylvia cinerea) searching for insects 

 in a cottage garden in Mid Yell. On the 4th of the same month 

 I put up a Ring Dove (Columba palumhus) from a little watercourse 

 on the top of the cliffs in the very north of Yell, almost opposite the 

 Gloup Holm. It was not wild, and soon alighted, and I had a 

 good look at it through my binoculars. The dates on which these 

 birds were observed may be considered of sufficient interest to 

 warrant me in placing these occurrences on record. NORMAN RAE- 

 BURN, Edinburgh. 



The Tree - Sparrow in Aberdeenshire. A Tree -Sparrow 

 (Passer montanus} was killed here on the 2nd November last by a 

 boy of mine. He had seen it occasionally about the house for some 

 time previous, but it always kept aloof from the common species. 

 This is the first authentic proof of it occurring here. GEORGE SIM, 

 Gourdas, Fyvie. 



Mealy Redpoll in Kirkcudbright. In January last a bird- 

 catcher who had been plying his vocation a few miles out of Dum- 

 fries, on the Stewartry side of the Nith, informed me that he had 

 captured two large Redpolls, which on inspection proved to be 

 undoubted Mealy Redpolls (Linota Iinaria\ a species which only 

 very rarely occurs so far to the westward as the Solway region. 

 ROBERT SERVICE, Maxwelltown. 



Waxwings in the South-East of Scotland. The appearance 

 of the Waxwing (Ampelis garnilus) in the south-eastern counties of 

 Scotland is too common an event to be always associated with a 

 severe winter. Nevertheless, long spells of frost and snow seldom 

 occur without some of these birds being observed, and the protracted 

 storm which characterised the first two months of the present year has 

 proved no exception. The first example that came under my notice 

 was captured near Gifford in East Lothian on loth January by Mr. 

 D. King ; on yth February another, which I had an opportunity of 

 examining in the flesh, was shot at Shielshaugh, Bowhill, Selkirkshire, 

 by Mr. Martin, gamekeeper ; and on 8th February a third was 

 picked up by a surfaceman on the railway near Earlston. All proved 

 on dissection to be males. WILLIAM EVANS, Edinburgh. 



The Shorelark near Dunbar. On i5th January 1895 a Shore- 

 lark (Otocorys alpestris) was shot on the beach near the "Vaults," 

 about two miles east of Dunbar. Only two birds were seen. The 

 specimen secured was a female. Its companion hung about the 



