ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 187 



length. As this species is new to the coast of Aberdeenshire, and 

 as the late Sir John Struthers never procured a Sowerby's Whale, I 

 thought the occurrence was worth recording in the "Annals." 



I think it worth mentioning that the colour of Mesoplodon bidens 

 varies greatly. In all the four Moray Firth ones that I have 

 examined, two males and two females, no two were alike. 



First male was black all over, with a few faint lines. Second 

 male was black and slate colour, beautifully cross-hatched with white 

 all along the sides, like Flower's figure of Grampus griseus. 



First female was black all over with no pale markings at all. 

 Second female (half-grown) was dark slate colour with white patches 

 on sides, and nearly white on median ventral line. Sowerby's type 

 of this whale was dark above and white beneath, and was a full- 

 grown male. 



There is not the least doubt that all the specimens belong to the 

 same species as all the skulls are preserved, nor can they be 

 " varieties," as my two females were mother and daughter. WILLIAM 

 TAYLOR, Lhanbryde. 



Occurrence of the Raven near Cramond. On Thursday, 2ist 

 March a Raven (Corvus corax) was picked up in one of the fields 

 in East Craigie Farm. It was not quite dead when found, but had 

 evidently been shot. I have no previous record of the Raven occur- 

 ring in this neighbourhood. CHAS. CAMPBELL, Cramond Bridge. 



Jays in Argyllshire. Mr. Heatley Noble is mistaken in regard- 

 ing the occurrences of G. glandarins in Argyllshire, mentioned by 

 him in a note in " Annals " of April last, as constituting " the first 

 undoubted records of Jays in Argyllshire." Had he consulted the 

 authorities, say Gray's " Birds of the West of Scotland," or Harvie- 

 Brown and Buckley's "Fauna of Argyll," he would have found that 

 this bird is well-known and widely distributed in that county. 



It is a regular inhabitant of the Inveraray Woods, where it may be 

 seen and heard any day. Colonel F. C. Lister Kay of Cladich, 

 Loch Awe, tells me that there have always been some about the 

 woods there ever since he can remember, but were more numerous 

 than ever last year, and had evidently bred there. They are also 

 regularly seen at the Pass of Brander on the opposite shore of the 

 loch ; and recently one was seen at Taynuilt, at the foot of the 

 River Awe by my son. Colonel Kay observed last autumn that a 

 brood of Jays, which had evidently been bred there, were constantly 

 to be seen perched on the stocks in a corner of an oat field ; I do 

 not know if this habit of feeding on grain has been noticed before. 



The Jay is evidently one of the increasing species in this locality ; 

 and is perhaps as common in Argyll as in any county of Scotland. 

 CHAS. H. ALSTON, Letterawe, Loch Awe. 



Occurrence of the Hawfinch at Skerryvore Lighthouse. I 

 enclose a Hawfinch got on the lantern on 28th of April. It is 



