REPORT ON SCOTTISH ORNITHOLOGY IN 1916 161 



seen in the Arbroath district on 5th September: "one 

 parent had the underparts grey, the mantle black ; the other 

 was a Crow and the young were all black." 



In the end of April or first week of May a Black-headed 

 Gull was found dead in a gullery. partly in immature plumage 

 (wings and tail) and partly in mature plumage ; the black hood 

 was perfect. " It is a male and apparently a breeding bird " 

 (W. Evans). And at Tentsmuir, on 21st June, a bird of the 

 same species was found dead beside a nest in a most 

 interesting stage of plumage : the black hood had a sprinkling 

 of white feathers, there were strong marks of immaturity 

 on the wing coverts, and a black bar across the end of the 

 tail. Unfortunately the bird was in too advanced a stage of 

 decomposition for the sex to be determined, and it was 

 impossible to say whether it had bred. 



Food, Habits, Etc. 



Notes on the persecution of Rooks by Carrion Crows 

 were again sent from Beith, but as these have appeared in 

 extenso in the Scottish Naturalist, 191 7, p. 69, it is unnecessary 

 to do more than allude to them here. On 28th August 

 about 6 P.M. eight or nine Spotted Flycatchers were watched 

 feeding on flies over a big pool in the Malzie Burn, 

 Corsemalzie, and one was seen several times to alight 

 on the still water. During the cold spell of northerly wind 

 in the beginning of June, a pair of Pied Wagtails at Lahill 

 (East Fife) built a protecting rampart round the north side 

 of their nest as a shelter (1. 1916, 264). A Whinchat near 

 Cathcart on 18th May was heard imitating the twittering 

 and alarm note of the Swallow, and at Corsemalzie on 24th 

 March a Peregrine was chased by a Herring-gull which was 

 calling and stooping at it, they circled higher and higher 

 till nearly lost to sight. A Kestrel at Swordale on 26th May 

 was seen carrying a rabbit, 8 to 8h inches long, in its talons 

 (1. 1917, 140), and a Buzzard in the same locality on 21st 

 June was chased and mobbed by a Black-headed Gull. On 

 30th August a Wood -pigeon in the Arbroath district was 

 67 and 68 U 



