g4 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



the ditch. Where this belated traveller had come from it would 

 be impossible to say, but it seems unlikely that it had been for 

 any length of time in the immediate neighbourhood of the spot 

 where it was found, which had been frequently visited by some 

 ornithological friends and myself, and does not in winter afford a 

 superabundance of cover. Possibly it had been somewhere else 

 in the district until a change of quarters in the frosty weather 

 brought it to notice. If the weather records between October and 

 the end of December were examined, I believe it would be found 

 that the weather was continuously unsettled, and gave little 

 opportunity for so small a passenger to continue on migration. 

 The identification has been confirmed by Mr Eagle Clarke, who 

 examined the skin. George W. Russell, Lerwick. 



Grey Shrike in Shetland. On 22 nd February I saw a 

 Grey Shrike chasing some Twites across a stubble field near the 

 Knab, Lerwick. On 26th I flushed one, probably the same bird, 

 from the foot of our garden in Lerwick. He rose and hovered 

 in a hawklike fashion for a time, giving me an excellent view, and 

 then flew away very leisurely. J. S. Tulloch, Lerwick. 



[The dates are interesting for the occurrence of this bird 

 in Shetland. Eds.] 



Ringed Grouse. With reference to Mr Cowan's letter about 

 the Ringed Grouse in your last number, I may say that the letters 

 R.P. stand for Racing Pigeon. I wrote to the manager of 

 The Racing Pigeon, who kindly replied that he had written to 

 the owner of R.P. x 093218, from whom I would likely hear in a 

 day or two, but so far I have not heard from him. If Mr Cowan 

 would make enquiry among the children of local shepherds or 

 farmers he might find who took a ring off a dead pigeon and 

 put it on a grouse. I know of such a case in Dumfriesshire. 

 James Bartholomew, Torrance. 



Lesser Black-backed Gull in Orkney. The Lesser Black- 

 backed Gull (Lams fuscus affinis) leaves Orkney altogether during 

 the winter, arriving back usually early in March, this fact being well 

 known to the Orcadians. In 1904, however, it is very probable 

 that some wintered there, for they were to be seen about Stromness 

 when I arrived there in the middle of January. Whether these 

 were the Scandinavian sub-species Larus fuscus fuscus or the 

 British breeding species Larus fuscus affinis, I cannot say. In 

 1905 I saw the first two on 16th February, and in 1906 a flock 

 on 9th March in the Pentland Firth. In 1908 the first I saw 



