NOTES 287 



NOTES. 



Bird Notes from Shetland. So far, the migration has not 

 been productive of many rarities. Two specimens of the Great 

 Tit (Continental?) were procured in Lerwick in the last week of 

 October, and on the 30th I had a Black Redstart which had been 

 got in Bressay, given me. I gave it to Mr Robert Russell, North 

 Ness, and he tells me it was an immature male. 



There was a big rush of Redwings on the nights of 16th and 18th 

 October, thousands I should say, judging by their cries and the vast 

 space they appeared to extend over, as they were apparently just as 

 plentiful at both ends of the town, as they were passing from east to 

 west. The first Woodcock I heard of being shot was on 26th. 

 There are a few Robins in, and I heard one on the 27th. John S. 

 Tulloch, Lerwick. 



Bird Notes from Leith. The following ornithological notes 

 have been made from the sea-wall at Leith Docks, between 3rd and 

 21st October 1914. 



Common Terns were numerous up to the 13th, but on the 14th 

 only a few were seen, until by the 21st they seemed to have all gone 

 except one bird. Up to the time of writing, three Skuas are still 

 giving the gulls a hard time of it, while Kittiwakes are in fair 

 numbers. A very tame Whimbrel arrived on the 6th, and was 

 flushed feeding on the east pier breakwater. On the nth, about 

 the same place that I saw the Whimbrel, a Purple Sandpiper was 

 disturbed, and three Turnstones were also noted on the 13th. Just 

 within the west end of the sea-wall, a confiding female Redstart 

 let me approach to within a yard and a half of it, and whilst on 

 sentry during the night of the 19th, I got rather a start by an Owl 

 flying over my head. It flew from the Seafield Road into the docks, 

 near the sea-wall. Reginald Page, Edinburgh. 



Increase of the Tree-sparrow in Lauderdale. In a 



series of observations extending over some time, I have been greatly 

 struck by a considerable local increase in the number of the Tree- 

 sparrows. A few years ago, a bird of the kind was a very rare 

 sight. The first pair seen came to the trees by my house, and 

 reared two broods during the summer in a nesting-box set up in a 

 little wood. Last season or two, however, these birds have become 

 comparatively plentiful in Lauderdale. About many of our farm- 

 steads are one or more pairs in company with the familiar House- 



