ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 55 



of Buness. These birds are very rare in Shetland. It was a young 

 bird, and weighed 7^ oz. "Shetland Times," ist October 1904. 



[If this bird has been correctly identified, it is the second 

 authentic record for Shetland. The weight, however, must not be 

 regarded as conclusive evidence, especially in this case, for we have 

 received Common Snipe from Shetland weighing 7f oz. EDS.] 



Little Auk in Forfarshire. A Little Auk (Mergulus alle) was 

 brought to me on 1 6th November, the first which I have seen for some 

 years. It had been taken in a turnip-field on Seaton, within a mile 

 of the coast. As it seemed uninjured and fairly vigorous I took it 

 to the shore and watched it paddle off over the moonlit waters with 

 hopeful alacrity. THOMAS F. DEWAR, Arbroath. 



Breeding 1 of the Storm Petrel on the Bass Roek. When at 

 the Flannan Islands in September last, I was surprised to learn 

 from Mr. Ross, one of the lightkeepers, that the Storm Petrel 

 (Procellaria pelagicd) had bred on the Bass Rock during the past 

 summer. I was naturally much interested, and on my return to 

 Edinburgh I wrote Mr. Laidlaw, the principal lightkeeper at the 

 Bass Rock, for full particulars on the subject. Mr. Laidlaw most 

 kindly called upon me and related all the facts connected with the 

 discovery. These are shortly as follows: On the igth of June, 

 one of the keepers found a Petrel and its egg in a shallow burrow 

 on a bank near the old buildings. The bird was captured, and Mr. 

 Laidlaw had it in his hands, and examined it, ere it was set at 

 liberty, and he assured me that it was not a common Storm Petrel, 

 a bird with which he, both as a seaman and a lightkeeper, was 

 perfectly familiar, but a "Forked-tailed Storm Petrel" (Oceano- 

 droma leucorrhoa). On this point he was quite emphatic, and 

 accurately described the differences between the two species. The 

 egg, he informed me, was taken, and was then in the possession of 

 a collector at Portobello, near Edinburgh. I expressed a strong 

 desire to see the egg in order to set the matter of identification 

 beyond doubt, and Mr. Laidlaw promised to do his utmost to' this 

 end, and that he failed in his endeavours was, I am sure, due to no 

 fault on his part. 



But history was soon to be made of the information, for the 

 Rev. H. N. Bonar recorded in "The Field " for igth November, 

 (p. 908) the breeding of the Fork-tailed Petrel on the Bass Rock, 

 based, presumably on similar evidence to that given to me, as 

 related above. Soon after, however, Mr. Bonar succeeded where I 

 had failed, for he obtained a sight of the egg, which, from its 

 dimensions, he tells us is a Storm Petrel's after all (see "The 

 Field," 3rd December 1904, p. 983), so that, in spite of con- 

 flicting evidence, it is to be hoped the identification may now be 

 considered as satisfactorily established. That either of these 

 species should have been detected nesting on or off the East Coast 



