ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



Hawfinch in Upper Forth District. On i8th March last, Mr. 

 Simpson, gamekeeper at Touch, Stirlingshire, shot a Hawfinch, 

 which has been preserved and presented to the museum of the 

 Smith Institute at Stirling. J. A. HARVIE-BROWN. 



Great Spotted Woodpecker in " Forth and Tay." I have 

 evidence of the Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus major) 

 appearing and remaining to nest in several new localities in Scotland, 

 namely, in Stirlingshire and Perthshire. Two pairs have been 

 observed in one locality in the former county. My friend, Mr. 

 J. G. B. Henderson of Nether Parkley, Linlithgow, adds yet another 

 locality for the advance of the Great Spotted Woodpecker in 

 Scotland, viz., as follows: "At least one bird has been in the 

 neighbourhood of Dupplin (Tay) this spring. The keeper has 

 known of it for some time, and my friend, Mr. Seton M. Thompson, 

 saw it on the 24th of May. J. A. HARVIE-BROWN. 



Probable Occurrence of the Great Spotted Woodpecker in 

 the Loch Awe District. Last year a proprietor on the shores of 

 Loch Awe noticed that a Woodpecker (^Dendrocopus major] had 

 most evidently been at work boring in a Wellingtonia in his 

 grounds. The bird was never observed, but this year they have 

 again begun in the same tree. My informant, who was lately there, 

 saw r the tree, with several circular holes about one and a half or two 

 inches in diameter, not quite through the bark, some apparently 

 freshly chipped and with white splashes of excrement around them. 

 Another visitor who was lately there said that he had recently seen 

 just the same thing on the shores of Loch Fyne. Although the 

 bird has not yet been seen, I presume that there can be little 

 doubt but that it is the work of the Great Spotted Woodpecker, 

 and is interesting in view of the recent reports of its nesting in other 

 parts of the county. CHAS. H. ALSTON, Letterawe, Loch Awe. 



Wanted : Notes on the Osprey. I have for many years back 

 been engaged in collecting information on the Osprey's haunts in 

 Scotland, with a view to publication, and shall be obliged to our 

 readers for any items they may be able to afford me. J. A. HARVIE- 

 BROWN, Dunipace, Larbert. 



Garganey in Shetland. You will no doubt be interested to 

 hear that I was fortunate enough to obtain on i4th April, a very 

 good specimen of the Garganey (Querquedula circia\ a male; also 

 two Brent geese out of a flock of eight. I have never come across 

 the Garganey before. No other rarities to report so far, though I 

 am hoping ere long some will turn up. T. EDMONDSTON SAXBY, 

 Baltasound, Shetland. 



Pintail in Clyde Area. With reference to Mr. Harvie- 

 Brown's note in the "Annals of Scottish Natural History" on 

 " Pintail in Forth Area " it may be of interest to note that I saw a 



