NOTES 293 



Note on the Water Vole. While a boy was digging potatoes 

 at Elgin in August last, a brown Water Vole {Arvicola amphibius) 

 came up out of the ground, where it had been working like a mole, 

 throwing up heaps of soil. The situation in which it was found is 

 quite half a mile from any of the ditches in which I frequently see 

 the black Water Vole. This is the first brown example of this 

 rodent I have found here. William Ogg, Elgin. 



Note on the Singular Nesting of the Tree Creeper. 



This summer four pairs of Tree Creepers {Certhia familiaris) nested 

 simultaneously and reared their broods in safety in a small toolshed 

 adjoining my garden at Stenton, near Dunkeld. The dimensions 

 of this shed, which is open in front, are 10 ft. by 8 ft., and the 

 nests were built between the boards forming the back and sides and 

 the four corner posts, which are the mainstay of the little building. 

 I may say that these birds are abundant in the wood which almost 

 adjoins the garden. Gladys Esme Graham Murray, Stenton. 



Spoonbill in the Outer Hebrides. On the 6th of October 

 a Stornoway shore-shooter brought me a Spoonbill {Piatalea 

 leitcorodid) which he had shot on the muddy fiats on the shore of 

 Broadbay. As the bill was only 6 ins. long at the culmen, the 

 specimen was probably a bird of the year. This is the first time 

 I have known this bird to have occurred in the Island of Lewis. 

 Donald Mackenzie, Stornoway. 



[We believe this to be the first known occurrence of the 

 Spoonbill in the Outer Hebrides. Eds.] 



Occurrence of the Cuckoo Ray in Forth. Records of 

 the Cuckoo Ray (Raia circularis) in the Firth of Forth are not 

 common. In the Atmats of Scottish Natural History (1900, p. 

 204) three examples, recorded in the Report of the Scottish Fishery 

 Board for 1893 and 1894, are referred to by Dr Eagle Clarke from 

 this area, and we have not been able to find any subsequent note of 

 this fish in Forth. We therefore think it worth recording that one 

 was cast ashore in Largo Bay on 27th May 191 7. It was identified 

 at the Royal Scottish Museum as belonging to this species ; it was 

 23-4 inches long and 14 across the disc; the lateral spots showed 

 distinctly. A small Thornback Ray (Rata clavata) was found 

 lying near the Cuckoo Ray. Evelyn V. Baxter and Leonora 

 Jeffrey Rintoul, Largo. 



