ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 121 



boisdale. I had only gone a short distance when I saw a great 

 flock of birds flying towards me from the north. They came right 

 up and almost over my head, and then began to fly round in 

 circles, dropping until near the ground, and again rising, but 

 still sweeping round in circles. They were snipes, and in hundreds. 

 After they had behaved as described for perhaps half an hour, 

 detachments of them broke off from the main body, and went away 

 in various directions, until the whole had disappeared. I have 

 never seen snipes in flocks like dunlins on the ooze, or fords. 

 Occasionally in hard weather they may be seen about the shores, 

 but never in flocks. ANDREW M'ELFRISH, Lochmaddy. 



Common Tern nesting in the Shetland Islands. During last 

 summer I received for identification several adults, young, and eggs 

 of the Common Tern (Sterna flumatilis) from a holm in an inland 

 loch in western Shetland, where they were breeding in some 

 numbers. I much wish that my correspondent would have sent 

 a communication on this subject, because this bird has not hitherto 

 been known as breeding species in the islands, but since he has 

 failed to do so, I venture to make known the interesting fact myself, 

 rather than it should longer remain unrecorded. -WM. EAGLE 

 CLARKE. 



Adder taking to water. Dr. Gerald Leighton in his sug- 

 gestive paper in our present number asks for information on this 

 subject. When fishing in Loch Coultrie, in west Ross-shire, in 

 June 1892, I surprised an adder on the shore near to the 

 water's edge. The reptile took the water to escape capture, and 

 swam out a few yards, with apparent ease, and landed on a low flat- 

 topped rock, whence I drove it back to the shore and secured it. 

 If any of our readers have any information on this, or on the other 

 points requiring elucidation mentioned by Dr. Leighton, I trust 

 they will send their notes to the " Annals."- WM. EAGLE CLARKE. 



Spanish Bream on the Kincardine Coast. On 3rd December 

 1 90 i a specimen of Pagelhts bogaraveo was captured in a trawl six 

 miles off Sod Head, and was brought into Aberdeen market. 

 This is a southern form, and is of irregular occurrence in British 



' O 



seas, and I am not aware that it lias been hitherto recorded for the 

 north-east coast of Scotland. G. SIM, Aberdeen. 



Black Fish in the North Sea off Aberdeen. In addition to 

 the specimens of Centrolophus niger reported by Dr. Traquair in the 

 January number of the "Annals," I may mention that one, 23.5 

 inches long, was caught twenty miles off Aberdeen on 3oth April 

 1887, and is still in my possession. As Dr. Traquair had no 

 opportunity of examining his example in a fresh state, so as to note 

 its internal characters, perhaps space may be granted me for a few 

 remarks on this subject. The number of vertebrae, 25 ; pyloric 



