NOTES ON SOME SCOTTISH BIRDS OBSERVED IN I915 79 



tame, and crept about among the undergrowth quite close 

 to them, chuckling and singing its pleasing song. They 

 returned on several occasions to the same place, but never 

 saw the bird again. At this time there were enormous 

 numbers of Common Whitethroats and VVhinchats every- 

 where about Arisaig ; these passed on in the next few days, 

 and it was thought the Lesser Whitethroat must have 

 departed with them. 



This species bred in West Ross-shire in 1890, when a 

 nest and eggs were found at Inverbroom, by the late Sir 

 Arthur Fowler, Bart. These were submitted to the writer 

 for his opinion. , 



V. New Bird for Fair Isle. 



Unfortunately, as the result of the war, we have lost the 

 services of Jerome Wilson, who for several )'ears had served 

 us so well as the bird-watcher at Fair Isle. Wilson rightly 

 considered it his duty to join the Naval Brigade early in 

 February 191 5. Among the birds which he recorded in his 

 diary previous to his departure was one new to the avifauna 

 of the island, namely, a Red-necked Grebe {Podiceps grisci- 

 gend), a female, on 9th February. The addition of this bird 

 brings the grand total of the species and subspecies observed 

 at Fair Isle as the result often years' investigations to 226 — 

 a very remarkable record. When peace again prevails over 

 these realms we hope to renew our work there, for its 

 ornithological resources are by no means exhausted. 



Little Gull at the mouth of the Don. — A specimen of the 

 Little Gull {Lams minnii/s) was shot by my son, Ernest Gordon 

 Paterson, at the mouth of the Don, on 3rd January, and is being 

 preserved. Professor J. Arthur Thomson has seen it, and describes 

 it as a beautiful specimen. The taxidermist to whom the bird was 

 entrusted for preservation thinks it is a young male. The bill is 

 black or nearly so, and there is a slight trace of brown on some of 

 the feathers of the back. In Sim's Vertebrate Fauna of Dee, it 

 is stated that a specimen was last obtained on 26th October 1888, at 

 the mouth of the Dee. — George Paterson, Cults, Aberdeenshire. 



