ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 51 



The Lesser Kestrel in Aberdeenshire. A female of the very 

 rare Falco ccnchris was shot by the Rev. Elton Lee on the estate of 

 Boynalie on the 25th of October last, and was sent to me for 

 preservation. This appears to be the third record of the species for 

 Britain, one having been obtained in Yorkshire, and another near 

 Dover. Thus the one now noted is the first instance of its occur- 

 rence in Scotland. The weight of the bird was barely 4^ ounces, 

 expanse of wings 25^ inches, length from beak to tail ii| inches. 

 Claws white. In the stomach were beetles, grubs, and eggs of 

 insects. GEO. SIM, Aberdeen. 



The Scaup in Inland Waters. Last winter I noted in these 

 columns that the Scaup (FuUgula marila], usually described as a 

 marine species, seldom frequenting inland waters, was a regular 

 winter visitor to the lake sanctuary at Monreith. Afterwards, early 

 in April, I visited the lake, and saw seven or eight Scaup still there, 

 nearly all the other winter ducks having departed. I did not see 

 the lake again until the first week in August, when, to my surprise, I 

 found a fleet of nine or ten scaup. The summer plumage of ducks 

 is very deceptive, so that I could not be sure how many of these 

 were young birds of this season, nor do I know whether they were 

 bred on the shores of the loch, but the strong probability is that the 

 parents had never left it. I examined them to-day (ipth September) 

 very carefully through a glass, and saw that one adult drake was well 

 on with his winter plumage. There were four Pochards with them in 

 August, apparently adult birds, and these are still there to-day, and 

 two or three Tufted Ducks (Fuligiiki cristata}. I do not think the 

 male Pochard (Fiiligula ferina) undergoes such a complete summer 

 change as the drakes of most species. The heads of these in 

 August were quite red and comely, though the Mallards are still, at 

 this date, in a very unsightly condition. 



The Great Crested Grebes (Podidpes cristatus] bred again this 



year, the second in succession, on this loch, but they have moved to 



a moorland loch in the northern part of the parish. This morning 



(2oth September) the first winter flight of Tufted Duck have arrived 



about twenty. 



Since writing the above, an interesting fact has come to light. A 

 lady who lives in my neighbourhood told me she was in great distress 

 because some of her young Pochards had come to grief by swallowing 

 fragments of glass which had fallen into her lake during a glass-ball 

 shooting competition. " Young Pochards ! " quoth I, " where do you 

 get them ? " She then told me that the gamekeeper on an adjoining 

 property had given her a brood of young Pochards, and also one "of 

 those little black and white diving ducks," i.e. Tufted Duck. You may 

 be sure I was interested ; and, on making further inquiry, I found that 

 both Pochards and Tufted Duck had bred for the last five or six years 

 at least in a group of seven moorland lochs in Wigtownshire. This 



