NOTES 



NOTES. 



Birds attracted by Lighted Tents. — AVhen in camp at 

 Glencorse, I was interested in observing on i8th September at lo 

 P.M., a large flock of Golden Plover hovering round the camp, 

 evidently attracted by the whiteness of the tents. Their general 

 behaviour was not unlike the flitting to and fro of bats. They kept 

 very low but none came in contact with the tents. On the 23rd 

 September at 10.30 p.m., during a dense fog, a flock of Black-headed 

 Gulls, apparently lost in the mist, kept flying round the tents, till 

 shortly after midnight when it became clear. During the night of 

 7th to 8th October I heard small birds twittering, evidently unable 

 to locate their bearings in the mist. These I think were mostly 

 Pipits and Wagtails, and next morning the whole place was dotted 

 with Pied Wagtails, very tame. There were some sixty or seventy 

 searching the gravel for insects on the barrack square. All these 

 birds seem to have been under the influence of the white tents and 

 the lamps which shone through them, the whole having much the 

 same effect as a lighthouse. — Fred S. Beveridge, 3rd Batt. Royal 

 Scots. 



Strange Diet of the Song Thrush. — Over a year ago I 

 recounted in the '•'■Scottish Naturalist" an interesting incident in 

 regard to Song Thrushes feeding their young with the full-blown 

 flowers of the common daisy. By coincidence in the same issue 

 Mr William Evans recorded that he had observed a Blackbird 

 indulging in a similar diet. Last spring I again saw evidence of 

 the Song Thrush extending its bill of fare in flower dietary. On 

 this occasion I observed the full-fledged young being supplied with 

 the flower-heads of the Meadow Rush {Luziila canipestris) which 

 they eagerly accepted from the parent bird as she plucked them 

 from the stem. As on the previous occasion, this incident took 

 place in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden. — J. Kirke Nash, 

 Edinburgh. 



Uncommon Birds in Orkney. — On 6th October I was taking 

 my usual turn round the island, beating up the turnip and potato 

 patches, though in no great hope of seeing anything uncommon, 

 nothing having been on the island for the last week, in spite of the 

 wind having been easterly. However in the last patch of turnips 

 I flushed a Yellow-browed Warbler {Phylloscopus siiperciliosns) and 

 next day, there being a moderate gale from the south-east, on the 

 lee side of the island on the grassy side of a small geo, I saw a 



