ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 249 



Tufted Duck nesting 1 in West Lothian. With reference to 

 Mr. Brock's notice in the July number of the "Annals," I may 

 state that I have known the Tufted Duck to nest regularly in the 

 eastern portion of West Lothian during the last ten years.- BRUCE 

 CAMPBELL, Edinburgh. 



Dotterel in Mull. On the iQth of May I accompanied a friend 

 in a climb to view the grand panorama to be seen from the summit 

 of one of the mountains of N.W. Mull. The sight was very grand, 

 but to me a more interesting one was in store, for my eye caught 

 sight of a plover-like bird, and within a few feet of it its brighter- 

 coloured mate a pair of Dotterels (E/idromias morinellns). We 

 had our binoculars, but there was little need for them, as the birds 

 were so confiding as to permit our approach to within ten yards of 

 them. During the hour we watched them they were engaged seek- 

 ing insects, which they found among the coarse herbage on the hill- 

 top. They were never more than a few yards apart while thus 

 engaged, as each bird would move three or four feet, pick up an 

 insect, stand for a second or two, and then repeat the process. I 

 visited the scene again on the 24th, but, as I expected, both birds 

 had taken their departure. D. MACDONALD, Tobermory. 



Woodcocks in Dumfriesshire. Of recent years the nesting of 

 Woodcocks in this locality has become more and more frequent. 

 Their nests are to be found in woods and coverts, and in the spring 

 at twilight Woodcocks may be seen " roding " up and down the 

 sides and edges of the coverts. In June and July the broods, accom- 

 panied by their parents, may be flushed in the more open parts of 

 the woods. In August they seem to have left the woods and taken 

 refuge in the great stretches of bracken, which grows here in some 

 places to the height of four or five feet. Such patches of cover, if 

 near a wood, may be almost counted on to hold a Woodcock. This 

 season (1907) they have been more than usually plentiful, and already 

 (ist September) many have been shot. On iyth August five couple 

 were shot while walking up grouse. It was noticed that they were 

 usually flushed at the edge of a clump of brackens, and that where 

 one was flushed another Woodcock was nearly certain to be within 

 thirty yards ; but never were two birds flushed at a time, so 

 close did they lie. When on the wing they flew "like owls," in a 

 dull, heavy, direct way, very different from their autumnal zigzag flight 

 in the coverts. On three or four occasions we saw, say at a hundred 

 yards in front of us, one of these birds flutter up out of the 

 bracken and settle down again a few feet off. This happened 

 presumably when the bird wished to move and was unable to do so 

 on foot because of the too dense undergrowth of heather or dead 

 bracken. It would be interesting to know if this increase in numbers 

 of Woodcock is general throughout Scotland this season. HUGH S. 

 GLADSTONE, Capenoch, Thornhill, Dumfriesshire. 



