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THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



Whinchat imitating Swallow's Notes. — On i8th May 

 1 916, near Cathcart, I heard a Whinchat imitating the sweet 

 twittering of the Swallow. This it did repeatedly, and, while 

 so engaged, a Rook passed over, momentarily startling it and 

 causing it to utter quick notes of alarm or annoyance ; not its own, 

 however, but iho. feet-a-feet, feet-a-feeiit (as Saunders expresses them) 

 of the Swallow when alarmed, especially if the bird is concerned 

 about the presence of some prowling cat. Both the twittering and 

 the alarm notes were uttered so well that, had I not seen the bird 

 in the act, I should have said that they were really the genuine 

 notes of the Swallow, which, I think, I know pretty well. What 

 seemed remarkable was that the bird, when startled, did not make 

 use of its own notes, the well-known utick, utick. Of course, 

 the Whinchat is known to be a mimic. Besides its own short but 

 pleasant song, difficult to describe, I have frequently heard it emit 

 notes rather like some of those of the Common Whitethroat; and, 

 occasionally, in a May gloaming, my attention has been arrested by 

 a series of peculiar jarring notes, that, on the spur of the moment, I 

 did not recognise, but which, on reflection and investigation, I 

 traced to a Whinchat stirring late.-^JoHN Robertson, Glasgow. 



Easterness Mollusca : Additions. — In my paper in the May 

 number I overlooked three species collected by Mr G. A. Frank 

 Knight in 1894 or 1895 and published in the Annals of Scottish 

 Natural History for July 1895, p. 151. Two of these, Unio 

 niargari lifer, of which a single valve from the River Spey was sent, 

 and PisidiuDi nitidum, of which there were a few from Loch 

 Morlich at an elevation of 1046 feet, are additional to the list, 

 bringing its total enumeration up to twenty-nine species. ^ Of the 

 third, Limncca peregra, there were numerous examples of its van 

 ovata from Nethy Bridge. I shall be glad to hear of further 

 additions to so small a number.'- — W. Denison Roebuck, 259 Hyde 

 Park Road, Leeds. 



1 The first had previously been recorded from the Spey, at Kincraig, near 

 Kingussie (W. Evans, August 1889), in my Scottish "Census," 1890. 



- It should be said that a number of species not included in my recent list, 

 collected "at and near Aviemore " in May 1893, were assigned by me to Easter- 

 ness, in Aj!I!. Siot.A'a/.HisL, 1893, pp. 169-170. Mr Evans, from whom they were 

 received, believes most of them were found within the limits of Easterness, as 

 shown in my sketch map ; but corroboration of the records is desirable. 



