200 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



20th ; we flushed it from the grass by the side of the road, and 

 when it rose to fly it repeatedly uttered its loud note : this is 

 the second recorded occurrence of this Wagtail in Forth. 

 Sand-martins were passing on the 21st and 22nd, and a male 

 Pied Flycatcher appeared on the former date. The pair of 

 Shags have nested in exactly the same place ever since 191 1, 

 and their three bare black babies hatched on the 2 1st. On the 

 22nd and 23rd a continental Robin was on the island, and a 

 fresh incursion of summer migrants occurred on the 23rd, 

 there being quite a rush of Common Wheatears of both 

 sexes, and a good many of these came to the lantern in the 

 early morning. Five Golden Plover passed about midday, 

 going due north at a great pace, while the only Common 

 Sandpiper of our visit was noted on the 24th. Fieldfares 

 were seen up to the 23rd May, Purple Sandpiper to the 20th, 

 the greatest number seen being on the 13th, when twenty- 

 two were counted; Curlew to the 15th, and Turnstones till 

 the 24th. Lesser Black-backed Gulls were more en evidence 

 this year than ever before in spring ; some were on the island 

 throughout our stay, the majority being adult birds. The 

 stock of Tree-sparrows has dwindled to three, and we know 

 of one nest. On several occasions we watched male Greater 

 Wheatears displaying, they crouched down, spreading and 

 depressing their tails so that the white was very conspicuous, 

 and uttering a peculiar sharp note, then lifted their wings 

 stiffly and remained so for a moment. They also sang 

 vigorously. 



On 1 6th May, when looking at the birds breeding on the 

 cliffs, we watched a pair of Kittiwakes that were standing on 

 a nest, and saw the one that had been sitting on the nest 

 apparently fed with regurgitated food brought up by the 

 other. The one on the nest we took to be the female, she 

 seemed to ask to be fed, making queer coaxing noises and 

 sometimes a clapper-like sound, caressing the head and beak 

 of the other with her bill, and sometimes striking an attitude 

 with bill straight down on the nest. Her mate, after a good 

 deal of coaxing, opened his beak wide, and she thrust hers 

 right down his throat, then withdrawing it she swallowed 

 something. This occurred several times ; there was nothing 



