228 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



Reoccurrence of Pityophagus (Ips) ferruginous in the 

 Forth Area. — On 2nd May I obtained two specimens of this 

 beetle on Scots Pine roots near Balerno. The first was found in 

 the gallery of Hylastes ater, and the second crawling on roots which 

 I took home for breeding purposes. P. ferriigineus is not mentioned 

 for Forth in Sharp's list, and I am indebted to Mr Wm. Evans for the 

 following old records. James Hardy records it from Pease Bridge 

 neighbourhood in Hist. Berw. Nat. Club, vol. i., p. 229, 1840; 

 R. K. Greville records it from near Edinburgh in the Zoologist, 



i843> P- 340- 



Apparently the fact that Pityophagus is a root-dweller, or at 

 least more so than its near neighbours Ips (proper) and Rhizophagus, 

 accounts for its having been overlooked. — J. W. Munro, Edinburgh. 



Tree-sparro^w near Glasgow. — I caught a female Tree- 

 sparrow here on loth July. The state of its plumage seemed to 

 me to indicate that it had nested this season. I have never 

 seen a Tree-sparrow here before, and Mr John Paterson did not 

 include it in his paper in the Glasgow Naturalist (February 19 10) 

 on "The Birds of the Glasgow District." Since then there is 

 a record for the Glasgow district of two birds seen at Clarkston 

 by Mr Hugh Wilson, as mentioned in the paper on "The Birds 

 of Renfrewshire" in the Scottish Naturalist (August 19 15) by 

 Messrs John Robertson and T. Thornton Mackeith. — James 

 Bartholomew, Torrance, Glasgow. 



House-sparrows utilising Nest of Blackbird. — A week 

 ago (20th June 19 16) I saw the brood leave a Blackbird's nest. 

 The nest was situated about 12 feet from the ground in a 

 rhododendron shrub. Yesterday (26th June) I was surprised 

 to find a pair of House-sparrows had erected a dome of dry grass 

 over this nest and converted it into one for themselves. — D. J. 

 Balfour Kirke, Burntisland. 



Two Queen Wasps apparently constructing the same 



Nest. — While capturing Queen Wasps a fortnight ago (13th 

 June 1 9 16), I saw one go into a small bush of boxwood and 

 remain for three or four minutes. On its coming out I missed 

 catching it, and on looking into the bush saw that it was attending 

 to its nest. I waited for its return, allowed it to go into its nest, 

 and captured it coming out. I then removed the nest, and while 

 doing so a Queen Wasp arrived and flew all round where the 

 nest had been, and settled where it had been attached to the bush, 

 and kept flying round the bush. This one I also captured. The 

 two Queens seem to have been constructing the same nest. — D, J. 

 Balfour Kirke, Burntisland. 



