ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 183 



Pintail Duck (Dafila acnta) which was shot on 9th January 1903 

 near the river Kelvin at Balmore in Stirlingshire. Although this 

 is in " Clyde " area it is not so very far distant from the part of 

 Forth of which Mr. Harvie-Brown speaks. JAS. BARTHOLOMEW, 

 Kinnelhead, Beattock. 



Smew (Mergus albellus) in "Forth."- On 8th January last 

 an immature Smew, which I had the pleasure of receiving in the 

 flesh, was shot by one of the Dun bar gunners near the mouth of 

 the Belhaven burn. On examination I found it to be a male. The 

 specimen was exhibited by me at a meeting of the Royal Physical 

 Society on 28th January. I also received, through the kindness of 

 Mr. D. Bruce, an Eared or Black-necked Grebe (Podicipes nigricollis], 

 male, killed on 3rd January on the coast about two miles south of 

 Dunbar. WILLIAM EVANS, Edinburgh. 



Swans in the Outer Hebrides. In the April "Annals," Mr. 

 Kinnear records having seen a flock of Whooper Swans (Cyg/n/s 

 musicus] in the Outer Hebrides on ist June 1906, a rather surprising 

 date. I dare say Mr. Kinnear is not aware that small flocks of 

 Mute Swans are quite common in the islands, and they come and 

 go during summer between Barra and Tiree. PETER ANDERSON, 

 Tiree. 



Food of the Wood Pigeon. Mr. Simpson, gamekeeper, at 

 Touch, Stirlingshire, informs me that the crop of a Wood Pigeon 

 (Columba palumbus], which he shot on the i ith April, was full of little 

 grey slugs. This I think is unusual. J. A. HARVIE-BROWX. 



Pied Flycatcher in Kirkcudbrightshire. Hitherto all the re- 

 ferences to the occurrence of this beautiful and interesting bird as 

 a local species have been in the Dumfriesshire portion of Solway. 

 It now gives me very great pleasure indeed to record its 

 presence and nesting in Kirkcudbrightshire. An explicit statement 

 of locality will not be made in the meantime, as I am disgusted to 

 find that the "collector" has at last reached this district. 



The discovery is not mine, but was made by a friend whose 

 name is also not to be mentioned, as it would surely indicate a 

 locality. My friend, having seen the birds and found their nest, 

 took me to the spot on the 6th June current, where I had the 

 supreme satisfaction of putting my eye to the aperture in a tree trunk 

 and seeing the hen bird not four inches away. We saw an egg 

 peeping out from beneath her, but did not disturb her further. While 

 we were "keeking in," the cock (which, however, we had already 

 thoroughly examined with the glasses) came on a branch not more 

 than four feet above our heads and sat there with a beautiful air of 

 assumed indifference. The hole in the bole of the tree is quite a 

 small one, and there is not much room for the sitting bird inside. 

 The nest is about five feet from ground level. It is believed there 



