2r4 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



Little Bittern in Shetland. On the evening of 29th May 

 a Little Bittern (Ixobrychus minutus) was captured alive at Burrafirth, 

 Unst. It was being mobbed by Herring Gulls, and had been 

 very severely punished. I forwarded the bird to Dr Eagle Clarke 

 for the Royal Scottish Museum, where the specimen proved to be 

 a welcome addition to the collections, which did not contain a 

 Scottish example of this species. Dr Eagle Clarke informs me 

 that the bird is an adult female, and, so far as he is aware, the 

 third recorded visit of this Central and Southern European breed- 

 ing bird to the Shetlands. T. Edmondston Saxby, Halligarth, 

 Unst. 



Rare Birds in Berwickshire. On the 8th April last an 

 example of the Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea), a rare casual 

 visitant to Scotland, was observed within a short distance of the 

 town of Duns. My attention was called to the bird by two men 

 who had noticed it standing among some withered rushes on the 

 bank of the lade near Duns mill, and they wished to know to what 

 species the dark-coloured Heron belonged. As I was quite familiar 

 with the appearance of the Purple Heron having seen many of 

 them in the marshes of the Camargue I had no difficulty with the 

 identification. By making a detour through a field we were enabled 

 to get within twenty yards of the bird before it flew, and so 

 obtained an excellent view of it. Although the bird was looked for 

 on several subsequent occasions, it was not seen again. When 

 walking through Duns public park on the 28th May, a note some- 

 what like the "tick" of the Garden Warbler, but not quite so 

 loud, arrested my attention, and I suspected a Lesser Whitethroat 

 {Sylvia curruca). Standing quietly by for a few minutes I got 

 glimpses of the bird in the thicket, and at last got a clear view 

 of it, when the smoky grey head and dark earcoverts at once 

 confirmed my suspicions. It continued hunting insects for some 

 time, and confined its search to the tangle of bushes where it 

 was first heard. Since then the monotonous song has frequently 

 been heard near the same spot, from which it would appear to 

 be nesting, although, so far, the nest has not been found. T. G. 

 Laidlaw, Duns. 



Hawfinch in Linlithgowshire. In May last I had handed 

 to me an adult male Hawfinch which was found dead in Dalmeny 

 Park, West Lothian, on or about the 12th of the month. The spot 

 where it was picked up is about a mile east of the locality where the 

 nestling I recorded in this magazine was got in May 191 1. Bruce 

 Campbell, Edinburgh. 



