REPORT ON SCOTTISH ORNITHOLOGY IN 1917 159 



Blackbird of a pair in the garden has a bill as yellow as 

 a male." At the same place an albino Ringed Plover 

 was seen on 13th September, 20th October, and 6th 

 November. On 5th August an adult Golden Plover, with 

 several white secondaries in each wing, visited Largo Bay, 

 and our correspondent at North Unst writes under date 

 of nth September: " Coming over the hill from Baltasound 

 I flushed a flock of Golden Plover : there was one among 

 them with white pen feathers in each wing." From the same 

 station we hear of a semi-albino Great Skua, seen on 

 30th April : it had a white head and neck, a few white 

 feathers on the back, and two white bars on each wing. 

 On visiting a nesting colony on 17th June our recorder 

 found this Skua had paired and was sitting on two eggs ; 

 she ultimately brought out two young. The watcher at 

 the nesting colony says he has never seen one " out of 

 the ordinary" before. Varieties of the Red Grouse are 

 reported from Swordale (E. Ross) on 22nd August, and Ayr- 

 shire (a ? ) on 9th October: the former is described as a yellow 

 variety, the latter had the reddish-brown bars and markings 

 both above and below replaced by very pale greyish-brown, 

 and the usual golden tips to the feathers by silky white ones. 

 The feathers on the feet and legs were whiter than in normal 

 specimens (1. 1918, 22). 



Food, Habits, etc. 



Under date of 24th February we have the following note 

 from Cullen (Banffshire): "A Starling imitates the note of 

 the Lapwing exactly, also the cry of the Herring-gull 

 and chirp of the House-sparrow." The same species was 

 seen in a field of oats, at Summerston ; " the corn had been 

 recently cut and the Starlings were probing the stubble with 

 their closed bills, causing the tube to split down. When the 

 diameter of the stubble-tube was too narrow, they deftly 

 used the upper mandible for this purpose." Our correspondent 

 adds : " I do not know what insects or insect larvae they 

 were seeking, but the purposeful way in which they went 

 about the business showed that they knew what they were 

 after. Practically all of a pretty large flock were thus 



