212 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



basket and scramble over the stones into the sea. On going forward 

 I found she had a nest and five eggs in the basket. The basket 

 had been washed up by the sea and was reclining against a stone at 

 an angle of about 75, with the mouth of it to the north-east. It 

 was about 18 inches high and 9 inches wide at the bottom, tapering 

 to about 14 inches at the top. S. Baigrie, Isle of May. 



Ringed Plovers nesting under stones in Orkney. I 



notice an interesting thing regarding the Ring Plovers nesting here. 

 This year I saw a Ring Plover come out from under a stone, and 

 looking under the stone, I found a nest with four eggs quite 3 feet 

 in. The stone is only raised about 4 inches from the ground. 

 Searching along the beach, I got other three nests with eggs under 

 stones, but not so far in as the first one. These four nests are all 

 on the east side of the island ; on other parts of the beach they 

 nest on the shingle as usual. I think the reason why they go 

 under the stones on the east side is that there is a colony 

 of Common Gulls there. H. Laidlaw, Auskerry Lighthouse. 



Notes on Arctic Terns at the Pentland Skerries. We 



have had rather a curious experience with the Arctic Terns. 

 When they came here in May, and their numbers had increased to 

 thousands, they commenced to make their nests, and on the 7th of 

 June I saw three eggs and a few sucked shells. Then they 

 suddenly left the island, and only a few were seen off and on until 

 after the first week of July, when quite a lot were seen, fully a third 

 of which were youngsters. Now (21st July) they are thick as ever 

 they were ; and yesterday I saw about three dozen eggs and a great 

 number of nests ready for eggs, which I think is very remarkable and 

 cannot account for. John Bain, Pentland Skerries. 



Somatochlora arctica, Zett., in Spey District. On 9th 



July 19:3 I captured a male but somewhat teneral specimen of this 

 Dragonfly at a small marsh about 2 miles from Aviemore. On 

 referring to W. J. Lucas' British Dragonflies, and the same 

 author's and W. Evans' papers in the Annals of Scottish Natural 

 History for 19 10 and 191 1 respectively, I find that, outside the 

 Rannoch area, where the insect appears to be not uncommon, there 

 are only two localities recorded for Scotland Strathglass, where the 

 late Dr Buchanan White took a specimen in 1880; and Killin, 

 where Mr Morton took a specimen in 1895, and where again in 

 1905 Mr Evans saw another but failed to capture. Mr Evans 

 joined me about the middle of the month, and on the 17th he saw 

 the insect again and at very close quarters, but it escaped, disappear- 



