REPORT ON SCOTTISH ORNITHOLOGY IN I915 163 



berries on 2nd August. A young Hedge-sparrow was seen 

 at Braemar trying to fly across the Clunie Water — it dropped 

 into the stream about two feet from the shore ; " it seemed, 

 however, to be quite able to swim to the rock, and scrambled 

 up it, looking very much pleased with itself." Our observer 

 at the Bass Rock records, under 15th May, two immature 

 Gannets seen salaaming and rubbing beaks and behaving 

 like a mature pair. Some immature male Goldeneye were 

 displaying in the sea near Portmahomack on 27th April. 

 Our correspondent at Melrose tells us that he noticed in the 

 winter that Wild Ducks, when flushed off" the river, nearly 

 always make for a quiet )3ay or backwater. Whereas 

 Goosander, when flushed, fly, as a rule, upstream and alight 

 on the water in the centre of a strong stream. He has never 

 seen them alight on the water on a quiet smooth stretch ; 

 "certainly their plumage harmonises with the foam and 

 waves of the rough stream, and they are difficult to see after 

 alighting. I wonder if it is a way of concealing themselves." 

 The same observer writes : — " During the frost, in November, 

 I often used to see Wild Duck under the beech trees near 

 the Tweed, presumably feeding on the beech - mast." A 

 female Merganser in Largo Bay was attacked by an imma- 

 ture Greater Black-backed Gull, which stooped at her when 

 she came up from a dive. The first time it happened she 

 dived again, but on being again attacked opened her bill, 

 elevated her crest, and drove the Gull awa}-. 



A Wood-pigeon at Corsemalzie was seen eating cherries on 

 24th July, and in late autumn several birds of this species were 

 found dead or dying, covered all over with warty excrescences 

 and in a very emaciated condition. Notes of Golden Plover 

 and Black-headed Gulls being attracted by lighted tents 

 appeared in the Scottish Naturalist, 1916, 23, and young 

 Lapwings were seen to swim thirty or forty yards across 

 parts of Knapps Loch, Kilmacolm (i. 1916, 94). On 19th 

 June Black-headed Gulls were seen in Renfrewshire, about 

 9 P.M., flying over a hayfield after Ghost Swift Moths 

 {Hepialus humuli), and this species was courting on the 

 Cromarty Firth on 23rd April; "one of them regurgitated 

 some food which it put on the sand ; the other, which was 



