i.i8 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



year is always a good Snipe year. The ground never was in better 

 condition for Snipe, but they are not at all plentiful. 



Wild Swans, and especially Bewicks, are unusually numerous on 

 all the lochs on the Island. On the East Church Glebe at Gott, 

 there is a small pool caused by a choked drain ; and there has been 

 from a dozen to eighteen Bewick's Swans on it daily for several 

 weeks. The pool is only about half an acre in extent, and is within 

 100 yards of the manse door. The Swans don't pay any attention 

 to the inmates moving about. They must be getting some feeding 

 of which they are very fond. Previous to being flooded, the place 

 was a mass of " Silverweed." I wonder if it is the rotting Silverweed 

 they are feeding on ! 



The winter has been very mild, and we have not had any frost 

 or snow up till now, 28th February 1908. It has not been a good 

 Snipe year. Snipe were never very abundant all winter, although 

 the ground was in capital order. Golden Plover were thick in 

 the beginning of October, and they are so also at present with this 

 bad weather. They are always most abundant when there is nobody 

 here to shoot them. PETER ANDERSON, Tiree. 



Pied Flycatcher Nesting 1 in Kirkcudbrightshire. In the July 

 "Annals " (p. 183) I recorded the finding of a nest of this species, 

 and in doing so, hinted that further discoveries were anticipated. 

 While standing beside the tree in the trunk of which the afore- 

 mentioned nest was situated, I had noticed a male Pied Flycatcher at 

 some little distance away sitting upon the top of a wire fence, and 

 concluded that it was a different bird from the male on which I had 

 put the glasses only half a minute previously, but of course could 

 not be sure owing to the rapid and confusing movements of the 

 birds. But my friend, resident near the spot, and whose name is 

 not to be mentioned lest it should lead to the locality, continued his 

 watch and within a few hours unravelled the mystery by discovering 

 another nest with eggs scarcely one hundred yards away from the 

 other. It was placed in a position such as a robin would choose 

 within a hole in the tree trunk just at the same level as the grass. 

 My friend, who knows the Pied Flycatcher well in most of its English 

 haunts, said he has never known of a nest in such a low-down 

 position before, and says it was exactly similar to many Wrynecks' 

 that he had seen. It is most gratifying to know that both nests had 

 their contents duly hatched out and fledged, so that in all prob- 

 ability we have now a permanent summer colony that in future seasons 

 will be watched with interest. ROBERT SERVICE, Maxwelltown. 



Waxwing in Banffshire. It will, perhaps, be worth while to 

 record the fact that a Waxwing (Ampelis garrulus) was shot at 

 Garronhaugh, Rothiemay, on 2oth November 1906. The specimen 

 is now in my possession, and is the only one I have ever seen. 

 JOHN YATES, Banff. 



