268 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



6.5 (inches); Head, 1.75; Ears, .87; Tail, 7.5; Forefoot and 

 Claws, .75; Hindfoot and Claws, 1.25. Mr. Barrett-Hamilton 

 further adds that the specimen was a small male. T. E. BUCKLEY, 

 Inverness. 



The occurrence of the Hooded Seal (Cystophora cristata, 



Erxleben) in Orkney. Mr. W. F. Dennison kindly informs me that 



a seal of this species was shot by Mr. B. Swanson in Otterswick Bay, 



Sanday, on the 6th of December 1890, and that another, apparently 



of the same kind, was seen in the bay at the time. Mr. Swanson 



presented the head of the specimen to Mr. Dennison. An accurate 



description of the teeth was submitted to Mr. Thomas of the 



British Museum, who named the seal as above. The example was 



8 feet 2 inches in length. T. S. PEACE, Kirkwall. 



[This seal has hitherto only had a place among the species reputed 



to have occurred in Orkney, vide " A Vertebrate Fauna of the 



Orkney Islands," by Messrs. Buckley and Harvie-Brown, 1891, 



pp. 71-72. EDS.] 



Whin Chat (Pratincola rubetra, L.) in Barra. When riding 

 round the island on the i6th of June last I saw two of these birds, 

 one on the east side, and one on the west. I have never met with 

 any of them in the long island before, although I believe they 

 have been noticed in Lewis and Harris. I believe they were pass- 

 ing migrants, as I saw no more of them after this date. JOHN 

 MACRURY, Barra. 



The Wood Wren (Phylloscopus sibilatrix, Bechstein) in West 

 Ross. The wood wren was seen and heard on three several 

 occasions in the latter part of May and early June, the localities 

 being birch woods at the head of Loch Shieldaig, and at Camas-an- 

 Eilean on the south shore of outer Loch Torridon. The above 

 facts may be worthy of record, since it is thought they indicate an 

 extension of the known range of this species ; which has not 

 hitherto, we believe, been noticed as occurring so far north-west 

 on the mainland of Britain. LIONEL W. HINXMAN, and W. EAGLE 

 CLARKE. 



Great Grey Shrike (Lanius excubitor, L.) in the Ste warty of 

 Kirkcudbright. I saw in the hands of a bird stuffer a specimen 

 of the Great ash -coloured Shrike {Lanius excubitor), killed this 

 spring in the neighbourhood of Castle Douglas. Some years 

 ago it used to occur not uncommonly in that neighbourhood, but I 

 have not seen one since. My attention was called to them by a 

 man who saw one with a robin in front of it, torn to bits and 

 hung on the thorns. ADAM SKIRVING, Dalbeattie. 



Kingfisher (Alcedo ispida, L.) in Barra. The occurrence of 

 this bird has, so far as I am aware, only been once recorded from 

 the Outer Hebrides, namely a specimen which was found in Rodel 



