loH THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



only some late nests still have eggs. In the first week of 

 July a family party of Crested Tits was seen in a wood 

 about three miles from Forres (i. 1918, 216). A Pheasant 

 at Corsemalzie was sitting on nine eggs on the nth, and 

 Common Terns on a rocky islet in Castle Loch, Mochrum, 

 had still a lot of unhatched eggs on the 13th, although 

 nearly full-grown young were also to be seen. Cormorants, 

 too, at the same place on the same date are described as 

 " in all stages, quite a few eggs, to full-grown young, some 

 speckled, others with quite white breasts." By ist August 

 all the breeding colony of Black-headed Gulls save one 

 adult and one late young bird had left Loch Chesney, and 

 on the same day a brood of five Black Grouse about a 

 week old is reported from Corsemalzie. On the 7th the 

 Cormorant Isle at Mochrum Loch was crowded with white- 

 breasted birds ; many of the older young were fishing round 

 the island. On the i6th, two Wood-pigeons shot at 

 Corsemalzie contained eggs ready for laying. A Sedge- 

 warbler, with tail scarcely developed, was being fed by 

 its parents fully a mile from the nearest nesting-place in 

 the neighbourhood of Dundee on 25th August. The last 

 young Fulmar left its nest at North Unst on the 3rd 

 September, but there seem to have been quite an unusual 

 number of late nests in September 1918. Young Sand- 

 martins were still in the nest at Darvel on ist, and Wood- 

 pigeons with eggs are reported from Corsemalzie and Darvel 

 on 5th and 22nd September respectively. On 4th September 

 Mallard, Pheasants, and Partridges all had young unable 

 to fly at the former place, and three young Black Grouse 

 on the moor there on that day are described as "like Dab- 

 chicks." A Skylark's nest full of young was found at 

 Westray (Orkney) on 19th September, three nests of Wood- 

 pigeons, near Darvel, on 13th October, with two, two, and 

 one young respectively, while up to 26th October Starlings 

 were feeding their young in the nest in Edinburgh. 



Winter. 



The principal feature of the winter of 1 917- 18 was the 

 scarcity of P'ieldfares and Redwings in all parts of the 



