266 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



Pied Variety of the Shrew. While pulling flax at 

 Auchendcwnie, about a mile north of Largo, Fife, on 26th August 

 19 rS, I caught a pied Shrew (So rex araneus) among the crop. 

 The ground colour was a good deal lighter than in a normal 

 specimen, and it was patched with white, especially on the hind 

 quarters. As pied varieties of the Shrew do not appear to be 

 very common, this seems worth a record. M. J. Marr, Largo. 



Gadwall (A. strepera) Nesting in Fife. I have to record 

 the nesting of this species in my district of East Fife. Though I 

 have reason to believe that the bird has bred for some years in 

 Scotland, this is the first nest which personally I have come 

 across. 



The nest was shown to me on 25th May by the finder, who had 

 chanced upon it about half an hour previously. It was placed 

 beneath a small tuft of dried bracken, on dry ground, but within a 

 short distance of a small loch, and contained ten eggs. I am not 

 a collector, but the bird which rose from the nest puzzled me, and 

 I accordingly took two eggs for identification, and a little of the 

 down with which the nest was lineJ. The eggs proved to be 

 slightly incubated, were a yellowish cream in colour without any 

 tinge of green, and measured as nearly as possible 56 x 41 mm. A 

 month later I was again on this ground, and had the pleasure of 

 seeing the old duck and her eight ducklings swimming out on the 

 loch. 



Still I failed to make her out with certainty; and it was not 

 till the 4th of August, when among a mixed bag of ducks I found 

 we had killed two young Gadwalls, that I became convinced the 

 nest had been that of a bird of this species. Later in the day a 

 duck which I shot flying high overhead proved to be the old 

 female ; I think had I recognised her in time she would have been 

 allowed to escape. 



By the kindness of Mr Heatley Noble, who has made the down 

 of ducks a special study, I was permitted to send him an egg and 

 some down for identification ; and Mr Noble now writes me that 

 he has no hesitation whatever in pronouncing the egg, down, and 

 body feathers to be those of the Gadwall, and the matter may 

 therefore be regarded as established beyond question. William 

 Berry, M.B.O.U., Tayfield, Newport-Fife. 



Black Tern near Glasgow. -On 18th inst. I shot a Black 

 Tern (Hydrochelidori nigra) here. It was not in company with any 

 other birds, and Mr Chas. Kirk informs me that it is a male bird 

 of this year. James Bartholomew, Torrance. 



