94 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



of winter visitors to the continuous westerly winds; neither during 

 the migration season nor later in the winter have we had any of the 

 easterly type of weather which brings such large numbers of these, 

 and many other species of birds, to our shores. Dr Eagle Clarke 

 kindly informs us that in 1887, when similar weather conditions 

 prevailed, Redwings and Fieldfares were equaliy scarce. The various 

 species of Duck and Wader, on the other hand, have been in their 

 ordinary winter numbers, and Little Auks have been quite plentiful. 

 Evelyn V. Baxter and Leonora Jeffrey Rintoul, Largo, Fife. 



Extension of the Range of the Great Spotted Wood- 

 pecker in the Tay Area. In June 191 6 I saw a Great Spotted 

 Woodpecker (Dryobates major), and fjund several borings, a good 

 deal further into the centre of Perthshire than it has previously 

 been noted; so in 191 7, when I happened to be near the western 

 boundary of the county, I kept a special lookout in likely spots. 

 I saw a bird (or birds) of this species several times, and on 29th 

 June I found two nests with young one in an alder tree at the 

 foot of a hillside, the other in a birch tree on a steep bank near a 

 small burn. In both cases I saw the parents go into the nests and 

 feed their clamorous young. In one case the young were so well 

 grown that they were able to climb up the inside of the nesting- 

 hollow and thrust out their heads. I need not indicate the nesting 

 localities further than to say that these two nests were within 10 to 

 15 miles of the western boundary of the county. It seems to me 

 that the cutting down of the larger and thicker woods for war- 

 purposes is driving the Woodpecker into the smaller woods which 

 fill many of the remoter glens. H. N. Bonar. 



Cuckoo Reared in a Window-box. A pair of Pied Wagtails 

 came every year to a house in Stirlingshire, and there, in a window- 

 box, built their nests one among the tulips and forget-me-nots, and 

 the second one when the begonias were in flower. Last spring 

 (191 7) they appeared at the usual time, the nest was built, and four 

 eggs laid in it. A few days after the last one had been laid, four 

 broken eggs were found in the paved court underneath the window, 

 but the little Wagtail sat patiently on a rather larger egg which was 

 now in the nest. When the egg hatched out, the Wagtails continued 

 to foster the bird, which grew and grew until it was too big for the 

 nest. Then it lay outside among the forget-me-nots in the window- 

 box, and grew like a large mavis of a speckled brown colour, with 

 an enormous mouth always open and waiting for food. When the 



