ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 183 



to tip of ear-tufts if inch. For the facts connected with the 

 capture of this specimen I am indebted to Sir John Gilmour, who 

 has also kindly asked me to record it for him. 



In the second edition of Saunders' "Manual" (1899) only five 

 occurrences of this pretty little Owl in Scotland are mentioned, 

 namely : one in Sutherland in May 1854, two near Perth in May 

 1864, one in Aberdeenshire in September 1891, and one in Orkney 

 in June 1892. Since then three have been reported from Shetland 

 — two in April 1900, and one in August 1905 ; but only one of 

 them can be said to have been identified with certainty {cf. 

 "Annals," 1900, p. 184, etc. — William Evans, Edinburgh. 



Greenland Falcon at the Flannan Islands. — On the 8th of 



March a Greenland Falcon visited Eilean Mor, and raided the 

 Guillemots until it was shot. The bird, a fine adult, is now in 

 the collection of British animals in the Royal Scottish Museum. — 

 W. Eagle Clarke. 



Osprey, etc., in Shetland. — Mr. T. Henderson writes me he 

 saw a pied Flycatcher, an Osprey, and any number of Fieldfares 

 "lately" — i.e. in May — around Spiggie. This appears to be good 

 evidence of the lateness of arrival of some species. He adds : 

 " There has been a lot of the smaller migrants about lately during 

 the east winds. The Osprey has frequented (Loch) Spiggie for 

 a week now, and the other day he was seen to capture a large 

 trout, and wing his way toward Fitful." — J. A. Harvie-Brown, 

 Dunipace. 



Bitterns in East Lothian. — My friend F. G. Thatcher sent me 

 on 24th April the head and wing feathers of a Bittern {Botaurus 

 stellaris) which he had found lying dead on Gullane Links. From 

 the state of the head the bird must have been dead at least a 

 month, probably more. This makes the third Bittern which has 

 occurred in East Lothian this year, as Mr. Geo. Clark of Luggate, 

 on 29th February, flushed a bird from the same spot where he 

 secured the wounded one mentioned by Mr. W. Evans in the April 

 "Annals." He writes me that he is absolutely certain of its 

 identity, and when he saw it he believed that it was the wounded 

 Bittern which he had taken to Mr. G. Pow to be cured of its 

 wound, as it had been determined to release this bird whenever it 

 was able to take care of itself. But on communicating with Mr. 

 Pow he replied to Mr. Clark that the Bittern had just died. The 

 fact that two birds should have occurred in the same spot within 

 a few weeks is somewhat remarkable. Of course there is a possi- 

 bility that the Gullane Bittern may be the same bird as the 

 second one seen by Mr. Clark. — H. N. Bonar, Saltoun, Pencait- 

 land. 



[Mr. H. Geoffrey Thatcher informs us that the Bittern men- 



