REPORT ON SCOTTISH ORNITHOLOGY IN I916 155 



nests on 30th January. On 10th February the Shags had 

 returned to their nesting ledge on the Isle of May, and by 

 the 26th they are reported as building at Sule Skerry. 

 Ravens had a nest built at Beattock on 25th February ; this 

 was afterwards deserted, owing, it was thought, to persecution 

 by Peregrines. With March come records of nesting of our 

 earlier breeding birds ; Missel Thrushes, Thrushes, Blackbirds, 

 Dippers, and Stock-doves were building, while fresh borings 

 of the Great Spotted Woodpecker are recorded on the 12th 

 from Williamwood and Giffnock district. The late cold 

 season, however, delayed these early nesters, and we have 

 such notes as the following : " Rooks began to build a few 

 days earlier than usual at Dundee, but the completion was 

 delayed by bad weather" ; " Rooks in Balsusney Park (Kirk- 

 caldy) trees stayed by their partly finished nests in spite of 

 heavy falls of snow." This was on 25th March and the 

 Rooks had only begun to build a few days before. From 

 the Butt of Lewis, under 19th March, we are told that the 

 Shags there began to build, but the nest was destroyed by 

 bad weather; and on the 31st the Isle of May reports 

 " although the Shags have returned to their old nest, the 

 other cliff birds have not settled yet, they are coming and 

 going according to the weather ; Kittiwakes have only newly 

 arrived." In April the nesting of all our common breeding 

 birds was in full swing Starlings, Tree-sparrows, Yellow- 

 hammers, Blackbirds, Thrushes, Mallard, Grey Wagtails, 

 Hedge-sparrows, Great Crested Grebes, Wood-pigeons, Stock- 

 doves, Lapwings, and Black-headed Gulls all had eggs or 

 young. On the 15th two Great Spotted Woodpeckers were 

 seen in the Castle grounds at Lauder, where they nested later, 

 both old and young being seen. The species is also recorded 

 from several other localities along Leaderside. Thrushes 

 had flown at Corsemalzie on 30th April, and on the same 

 day a Stonechat's nest with four young two or three days old 

 was found there. Black-throated Divers were nesting by a 

 loch in West Inverness-shire during this month. By May 

 the summer visitors had begun to nest and second clutches 

 of early breeders are recorded. A colony of Jackdaws in a 

 wood near Mochrum, visited on 3rd May, was found to have 



