I 9 4 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



minute or two later a small brown bird slipped out of a clump of 

 bog-myrtle almost at my son's feet. A few seconds sufficed to find 

 the nest a genuine Grasshopper Warbler's, neatly made of withered 

 grass, and containing five closely freckled pinkish eggs, in which 

 incubation had scarcely, if at all, begun. Though placed well down 

 in a patch of rushes and bog-myrtle, the nest was nothing like so 

 well concealed as I had expected ; indeed, when looked at from 

 above, the eggs were quite visible. On our going back next day to 

 get a better look at the bird, we found her again on the nest and 

 saw her quit it as before a short flight of a couple of yards or so, 

 then a rapid mouse-like movement among the grass for about the 

 same distance, and she was gone. Presently a distinct, but not loud, 

 tick, tick, tick indicated that she had made her way to some bushes 

 thirty to forty yards off, and was there watching our proceedings. 

 The only previous record of a nest of this species in " Forth " with 

 which I am acquainted is that in MacGillivray's " British Birds " 

 (vol. ii. p. 403) of one found by Durham Weir on the Bathgate 

 Hills in the beginning of June 1835. ^ u t no doubt others have 

 been found, though not recorded. WILLIAM EVANS, Edinburgh. 



The Little Gull (Lams minutus) in East Lothian in May. On 



the i ith of May last (1897) a Little Gull an adult female nearly in 

 full summer plumage was found lying dead in a field a mile south 

 of Ballincrieff, East Lothian, and handed to Mr. James Lamb, 

 Aberlady, who kindly sent it on to me. It bore no outward mark 

 of injury, was in fair condition, and in beautiful plumage. The 

 whole of the feathers of the under parts were suffused with a rosy 

 tint of the most delicate description, and in a few days the black 

 hood would no doubt have been fully acquired. As it is there are 

 still a good many white winter feathers about the forehead and 

 throat ; these, unlike the newly acquired black ones, are all worn 

 at the tips, and beneath them tiny black feathers just bursting 

 through their sheaths can readily be seen. In this instance the 

 change seems clearly to be one by moult, and not rejuvenescence 

 and recoloration of the old feathers. WILLIAM EVANS, Edinburgh. 



The Fulmar on the Solway. Although the Fulmar (Fulmarus 

 glacialis) is sometimes said to be in the aggregate one of the most 

 numerous birds in the world, it is uncommon enough in the Solway 

 Firth. I am not aware that it has been got here on more than two, 

 or perhaps three, previous occasions. In December a storm-driven 

 example was found on Mersehead bank. It was in a sadly emaciated 

 condition. This fine bird is, however, fairly often observed out at 

 sea, betwixt the Mull and the Isle of Man. R. SERVICE, Maxwell- 

 town. 



Abundance of the Cockchafer in the Solway District. Are 



we going to have an outbreak of this troublesome and most 



