u8 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



(?) birds which might have stayed and nested? In the summer of 

 1905 there appears to be no doubt Woodcocks did nest in Shetland. 

 It will be remembered that an unusual " rush " of Woodcocks took 

 place to Shetland in the autumn of 1903-4, in which season 

 R. R. Haldane shot over 130 to his own gun. J. A. HARVIE- 

 BROWN. 



Richardson's Skua at Kineardine-on-Forth. On iSth Septem- 

 ber Mr. Joseph M'Naughton shot at Richardson's Skua (Stercorarius 

 crepidatus) at Kincardine-on-Forth, and six others were seen. This 

 record is interesting, because these birds are not often seen so far 

 up the Firth. J. A. HARVIE-BROWN. 



Are Birds' Eggs destroyed by Wasps? On 29th May, 1904, 

 I visited an old sand-pit where a colony of Sand Martins (Coti/e 

 riparia) used to nest. I found the birds still there but in reduced 

 numbers. On examining their nesting holes, I discovered four 

 with the paper-like wasps' nest suspended from the roof. These 

 I destroyed, and found that there were eggs in each of the nests, 

 but all of them had been pierced by a hole, so small as to be 

 scarcely visible, and sucked empty. Could this possibly be the 

 work of the wasps ? Three of these nests contained five eggs each, 

 and the fourth had six. I am sorry that I did not secure a specimen 

 of the wasp. T. THORNTON MACKEITH, Caldwell, Renfrewshire. 



[\Ve have never before heard of such a case. EDS.] 



Insects from Fair Isle. As the Coleoptera and Diptera collected 

 by Mr. W. Eagle Clarke on Fair Isle in September last year will be 

 dealt with in separate papers, it may be of interest to place on 

 record the few insects belonging to other orders obtained there at 

 the same time. The Lepidoptera are represented by two species, 

 viz. Plusia gamma, L. (three specimens) and Hydrcccia micacea, Esp. 

 (three specimens), and the Hemiptera by three examples of Calocoris 

 bipunctatiis, F., and a male, female, and nymph of Velia currens, F. 

 The Hymenoptera are of much interest, inasmuch as there are nine 

 specimens (i $ and 89 9) of the beautiful" Bomlnis smitliiamis, 

 White, varying in size from 10 to 20 mm., a male of the race 

 ruginodis of Myrmica nibra, L., and a single specimen of an 

 Ichneumon allied to or perhaps identical with extensorius, L. The 

 Trichoptera, Orthoptera, and Aptera are respectively represented by 

 a species of Limnophilus (one specimen), several females of the 

 common Forfiaila ai/ricn/aria, L., and numerous examples of 

 Mac/u'/is maritima, Leach. Mr. Clarke informs me that a native 

 showed him specimens of Pyramcis carditi, L., which had been taken 

 on the island. PERCY H. GRIMSHAW, Royal Scottish Museum, 

 Edinburgh. 



Flea from the Orkney Vole. A flea taken from a specimen of 

 the Orkney Vole (Microtus orcadensis) captured at Stromness last 



