NOTES 287 



an example taken at Hawick some time previous to 1895, but 

 without date. It might be interesting if other readers of the 

 Scottish Naturalist could add to these records. — George 

 BoLAM, Alston, Cumberland. 



Spotted Redshank (Totanus fuscus) in Fife. — On 30th 

 August this year, I saw at Morton, near Tayport, a bird which 

 was entirely new to me. The bird itself might have passed without 

 remark as a Redshank, but its note was one which I had never 

 heard before. It (or rather they, for I saw two of them at different 

 places) rose from the sides of little pools among the rushes, where 

 I expected to find Snipe. They were exceedingly shy, rising at 

 150 yards, and going away at once, right out of sight ; but their 

 note could still be heard after the birds themselves were no 

 longer to be seen. My brother, Captain R. Berry, Northumber- 

 land Fusiliers, who was sitting beside one of the lochs, and who 

 has lived in India for many years, told me that the note was one 

 with which he was quite familiar, and that it took him back in 

 memory to the Tanks in Mysore; but the bird that uttered this 

 note there, and which he described, was undoubtedly a Black- 

 winged Stilt, and these were much smaller birds. The following 

 week, on 5th September, I was again at Morton, accompanied this 

 time by Miss Baxter and Miss Rintoul, and they both saw one 

 of these birds, and also heard its call. They expressed the opinion 

 that it was a Spotted«Redshank ; but I had not as yet been near 

 enough to it on any occasion to have an opinion of my own. On 

 8th September, I went to Morton to look for it, and this time 

 I was successful in stalking and shooting it. The bird proved, as 

 expected, to be a Spotted Redshank, a young male, in fairly good 

 plumage though somewhat in moult. I have of course handed it 

 over to the Royal Scottish Museum. The Spotted Redshank has 

 not so far been authoritatively recognised as occurring in "Tay," 

 In Harvie-Brown's "Fauna of the Tay Basin," there is a record 

 from Montrose, which, however, he declares to be doubtful. But 

 while not a common bird, it is one which occurs with moderate 

 frequency along the eastern coasts of Scotland and England, more 

 particularly on autumn migration. It is not known to breed 

 anywhere outside the Arctic Circle. To a casual observer, the 

 bird's note will, in my opinion, be the best key to its identity. 

 According to Seebohm, "its ordinary note is a shrill, clear whistle, 

 closely resembling that of the Redshank. Naumann expresses it 

 as tyuit pronounced as one syllable." My comment on that 

 statement is that the note is accurately described as a shrill, clear 



