REPORT ON SCOTTISH ORNITHOLOGY IN I917 151 



Largo Bay on 28th July, single birds from the River Eye on 

 3rd August, Morton Loch (N. Fife) on 1st September, 

 Swona on 4th September, and the loop of the Kelvin on 8th 

 and 9th September, two at Largo Reservoir on 21st and 

 22nd September and one there on 26th September. On 

 15th September an adult male Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa 

 limosd) was shot on Morton Loch (N. Fife), and a Little 

 Gull {Larus minutes) is reported from Barra Head on iSth 

 March. 



Hybrids. 



On 17th November a Mallard x Wigeon was seen 

 on Duns Lake. It approximated pretty closely to the 

 Mallard in plumage and size, but had the rufous head of the 

 Wigeon ; it stayed on the lake for a few weeks. 



Summer and Nesting. 



This year, again, we have a. goodly number of observa- 

 tions which come under this heading, and a gratifying 

 number of increases are noted. From Banff we have notes 

 of more Jackdaws, Chaffinches, Corn-buntings, Wood-pigeons, 

 Whinchats, Yellow Buntings, Starlings, Sand-martins, Pied 

 Wagtails, Skylarks, Meadow-pipits, and House-sparrows 

 breeding; from Duns we hear that all summer visitors, 

 with the exception of Blackcaps, were more numerous than 

 usual, and on the Isle of May, where only one or two 

 pairs of Tree-sparrows used to breed, we are told there 

 were "a dozen or so" all summer. In Largo (Fife) 

 district Whitethroats and Willow-warblers were unusually 

 numerous, as were the last-mentioned in the neighbourhood 

 of Dundee and at Cullen. A new nesting-place of the 

 Linnet was found near Kilmacolm (1. 191 7, 275). Wheatears 

 were " very rife " in North Uist. Blackbirds and Skylarks 

 had increased considerably there (1. 1917, 136), and were 

 very plentiful in Edinburgh and the south country in the 

 summer of 19 17. The Swallows and Cuckoos at Durris 

 were quite up to the numbers seen of late years, and House- 

 martins and Cuckoos were unusually plentiful at Darvel 

 (Ayrshire). Common Sandpipers showed an increase in 



