ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 185 



R. Henderson, to gather information relating to the appearance of 

 our summer visitors and birds of passage. We were delighted to 

 make there the acquaintance of the Black-tailed Godwit in brilliant 

 summer dress, strongly contrasting with the fresh green of the grass. 

 In flight they presented a remarkable appearance owing to their 

 high coloration and purity of the white on the wings and its extent 

 on the rump against the deep black of the tail. There were three 

 birds, but they disappeared over night. JOHN PATERSON, Glasgow. 



Tufted Duck (Fuligula cristata) in West Lothian. On the yth 

 June last I found a Tufted Duck's nest for the first time in this 

 county : this was on an island in a small loch, and contained a clutch 

 of nine eggs. On the loch itself were several other ducks of the same 

 species. On later inquiry I was informed that the " Goldeneye " 

 as the Tufted Duck is named locally bred on this loch last year 

 (1906), which was the first occasion to the knowledge of the keepers 

 on the estate on which it had done so. S. E. BROCK, Kirkliston. 



Lesser White-throat (Sylvia currucd) nesting 1 in " Tay." On 

 the afternoon of 26th May, I sat reading in my little town garden. 

 That garden is within the Burgh of Forfar, but on the fringe of the 

 populous part ; and, owing to the fact that the plants in which I am 

 particularly interested are all microscopic, it is, to say truth, in a 

 sad tangle of weeds and herbage ; most of all is this the case in an 

 odd acute-angled corner occupied by a score of neglected gooseberry 

 bushes. Now as I read, the interesting and suspicious movements 

 of a little bird among these bushes attracted my attention. By the 

 use of a field-glass I saw that it was a White-throat. As I watched, 

 it made many journeys to and fro so that I was able to fix the scene 

 of its operations to a nicety ; and lo, when I went in among the 

 tangled undergrowth to corroborate, there was the nest in process 

 of construction in the gooseberry bush, somewhat hidden by herb- 

 age and about 16 inches from the ground. I did not visit it again 

 till 3oth May. On that day I found the nest apparently completed, 

 but, to my surprise, by no means like a typical or well-built 

 White-throat's nest ; considerably less neat and delicate, indeed. 

 When I returned on Sunday, 2nd June, there were three eggs, but 

 they were not White-throat's eggs. When I went to inspect the 

 nest on Monday, 3rd June, a fourth egg was there. The bird is 

 so stealthy in its movements that is not easy to see ; but the result 

 of several recent glances have confirmed my original view that it 

 was a White-throat. To-day, I have solved the difficulty by taking 

 an egg and examining it carefully : it is a typical egg of the Lesser 

 White-throat, whose nesting in North-eastern Scotland has hitherto 

 been a matter of considerable doubt. THOMAS F. DEWAR, Forfar. 



Note on the Breeding of the Snow-Bunting in Buehan. I see 



in the April "Annals" the record of the nesting of the Snow-Bunting 



