6 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



Common Shrew in Raasay. When on Raasay from the 

 middle of June to the middle of August 1916, I several times found 

 dead Shrews lying on the roads at the south end of the island. I 

 sent one to Dr Eagle Clarke, who identified it as Sorex araneus 

 castaneus, Jennings. Few specimens of the Common Shrew have 

 been examined from the Western Islands, so this record may be of 

 interest. Millais, in his Mammals of Great Britain a?id Ireland, 

 vol. i. p. 143, says: "The record of this species for Iona is an 

 error ; for in all the Outer and Inner Hebrides, as well as in Skye, 

 the Lesser Shrew takes its place. ' : 



The authors of the Fauna of Argyll and the Inner Hebrides, p. 8, 

 also doubt the presence of the Common Shrew in Iona, which 

 rests on a statement of H. D. Graham, 1852-67. On the other 

 hand, specimens of the Common Shrew have been obtained in Islay, 

 and it is recorded from Mull by Mr D. MacDonald {Annals 

 Scot. Nat. Hist., 1904, p. 186). One Shrew, which I saw on 

 Raasay but unfortunately did not preserve, was very small, and 

 may have been a Lesser Shrew, but the others were without doubt 

 the same as the one sent to Dr Eagle Clarke. Jean Helen 

 Gaskell, Lahill. 



Red-breasted Flycatcher and Black Redstart on the Isle 

 of May. Seeing Mr John Bain's records of these species in Orkney 

 this autumn, I think it may be of interest to mention that they 

 occurred here about the same time. The Red-breasted Flycatcher 

 {Muscicapa po.rva parva) put in its appearance on the 28th 

 September. The wind was easterly and had been so for some days 

 previously, and there were a good many migrants on the island. 

 Exactly a month later, viz., on 28th October, a Black Redstart 

 (Phcenicurus ochrurus gibraltariensis) visited us. This species 

 occurs almost every spring and autumn on the Isle of May, but 

 always in small numbers. Sim Baigrie, Isle of May Lighthouse. 



Lapwing's Unusual Nesting Site. In June 191 6, at 

 Williamwood, Cathcart, a Lapwing's nest containing four eggs was 

 situated only four and a quarter yards from the nearest rail of the 

 Ardrossan line. Notwithstanding that some fifty or sixty trains pass 

 along this railway daily during six days of the week, and a few on 

 Sundays, the eggs were duly hatched out, though one of the young 

 was a weakling and died before it was able to leave the nest. John 

 Robertson, Glasgow. 



