NOTES 57 



my visits on these days I had it under fairly close observa- 

 tion. It had the characteristic of the Common Sandpiper in 

 bobbing up and down its tail as it fed assiduously at the side of 

 the water. It confined itself to about 200 yards of the river, as at 

 no time did it go further but just doubled back, either up or down 

 stream, when I endeavoured to get a nearer view. Nicol Hopkins, 

 Darvel. 



Winter Bird Notes from Central Perthshire. We have had 

 a bigger number of winter migrants this year than since the war 

 began. I have often wondered if the fighting going on in Europe 

 had anything to do with the scarcity of our usual winter migrants, as 

 there were so few here all through the war. This season (1919-20) 

 Bramblings were unusually plentiful, and in autumn there was a great 

 migration of Siskins. I saw a flock of the latter on the Earn which 

 I estimated at two thousand. I never saw anything like it in my 

 life. I also saw a flock of about twenty Mealy Redpolls ; they were 

 feeding high in the birch trees. I went back several times to try to 

 see them again, but failed to do so. John Cranna, Dupplin. 



Giant Squid cast ashore on N. Uist, Outer Hebrides. 



Mr George Beveridge sends us information regarding the appear- 

 ance of a large Squid which was washed up on the shore of Vallay, 

 N. Uist, in the beginning of February 1920. The description is 

 too indefinite to indicate clearly the species to which the individual 

 belonged, and unfortunately no portion of the creature was preserved 

 for examination ; but the general description and the length of the 

 Squid, which was between 3I and 4 feet, with arms about a foot 

 long, show that it probably belonged to one of the two genera, 

 Architeuthus or Sthenoteuthis, both sufficiently rare in British waters 

 to make the present occurrence worth recording. James Ritchie. 



Aphodius scybalarius^ P., melanic variety. On 25th 

 June 1916, about twenty specimens of this beetle were found under 

 decaying refuse in my garden. They exhibited great variation in 

 colour, ranging from the typical form with yellowish elytra to 

 unicolorous deep black. The late W. E. Sharp, to whom I sent 

 examples, wrote : " The dark unicolorous form is probably the var. 

 fuscus, Torre. I have never seen an English example." This 

 black form is not mentioned in Fowler's Col. Brit. Islands, vol. vi. 

 During the last three years the beetle has been very scarce, only 

 an occasional specimen of quite typical colour having been found. 

 A. E. J. Carter, Monifieth. 



99 AND 100 H 



