346 The Scottish Naturalist. 



at the mouth of the Tay and in the Bay sometimes in spring and 

 autumn, its visits can only be looked upon as merely occasional ; 

 and in the same way as the above, it affords instances of having 

 been got in several places far up the river, as well as inland, 

 but all in immature plumage. Examples have been shot above 

 the North Inch of Perth. 



138. Phalacrocorax carbo, Gould. (Cormorant.) 



Though never very numerous in the Tay, I have frequently 

 noticed one or two near the mouth at all seasons, and occasion- 

 ally a solitary individual may be seen with outstretched neck and 

 rapid flight ascending the river, which they do even as far as Loch 

 Tay. During the salmon close-time, when the river is quiet, they 

 often come up with the tide, and may then be seen fishing and 

 diving in many places not far below Perth : these, however, are 

 ahvays in immature plumage. Its congener, the Green or 

 Crested Cormorant {Phalacrocorax gracidiis, Leach), which seems 

 more confined to the western coast and the Orkneys, where it is 

 abundant, I have never been able to ascertain any authentic 

 instance of having occurred on the Tay or its vicinity, though 

 in the places above mentioned it is generally the commoner 

 of the two. 



( To be continued .^ 



Chserocampa nerii at Crieff. — la a small collection of British insects 

 made by Mr \V. Grant of Strathearn, Crieff, I find among other things 

 chiefly common, a very fair specimen of Chcerocampa nerii. It was found 

 in 1873 by Mr Grant's gardener among some grass wliich he was cutting, 

 prol)ably about July. The owner of the specimen was aware that it was an 

 Oleander Hawk, but was quite ignorant of its rarity. — G. H. Raynor, 

 Schoolhouse, Crieff, i^tJi June 1880. 



Boldness of the Common Tern. — While I was walking through a grass 

 field near the house here, on the loth of this month, I heard the lamiliar cry of 

 the Common Tern, which is a bird so bold and fearless that if a person 

 approaches near one of the young birds that may be concealed in the grass, 

 the parent bird will dart down again and again so close as almost to touch 

 his hand or ear. This I have frequently experienced before ; but on this occa- 

 sion the bird repeatedly descended with great rapidity and struck me on the 

 top of the head at least five or six times, apparently with its beak, so sharply 

 that if I had not been wearing a cloth cap the smart raps would have been 

 decidedly painful. Now, if it is at all a matter of doubt whether the Tern 

 ever strikes or only threatens to do so, this note may perhaps be worthy of a 

 place in your columns. — WiM. Traill, N. Ronaldshay, 2%tJi July 1880, 



