30 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



An old male is three times the length of his skull. So, a 

 19-ft. skull means a 57-ft. whale. I think a female would be 

 four times as long as her skull. So, an old female skull 10 

 ft. long might equal a 40-ft. whale or thereby. 



Wiedersheim, in his Comparative Anatomy of Verte- 

 brates, says whales have an os penis. Flower says they 

 have none, but Sir William Turner has figured and described 

 this bone in Bahcna biscayensis. A day or two later I cut off 

 the huge penis and carefully opened it up with a knife, from 

 end to end in longitudinal section. I examined it thoroughly 

 for bone, as it lay on the sand spread open. There was no 

 trace of a bone or even a cartilage that might represent one. 

 So there is certainly no os penis in the Sperm Whale. I 

 did not find one in Sowerby's Whale. 



This Fort George beast was nearly as large as the model 

 of the Sperm Whale in the British Museum. 



NOTES ON BIRD-LIFE IN THE OUTER 

 HEBRIDES AS OBSERVED DURING MAY 

 AND JUNE 1913. 



By Mary G. S. Best, F.Z.S., E. L. Turner, H.M.B.O.U., 

 and Maud D. Haviland. 



In May and June 1913, we spent some weeks in studying 

 and photographing birds in the Outer Hebrides. Most of 

 our expeditions were made along the west coasts of the 

 islands, and we did not visit the more mountainous districts ; 

 but in most cases, for obvious reasons, it has been necessary 

 to suppress the locality. 



From the nature of the country desolate peat bogs 

 and bleak machar we found Passerine birds scarce. 

 Indeed, of the smaller species, the only ones that were at 

 all abundant were the Wheatear, Skylark, Twite, Meadow- 

 pipit, and, along the shore, the Rock-pipit. The Song-thrush 





