REPORT ON SCOTTISH ORNITHOLOGY IN I9I4 163 



Redwings were particularly numerous in East Fife in 

 January and the first half of February, and Bramblings were 

 plentiful in several places. A note from the Bell Rock 

 says that Gannets and "Duck" (probably Eider or Long- 

 tailed Duck) were there during the whole winter. Whimbrel 

 were shot at Cramond (i. 19 14, 95) and Galson (O.H.), and 

 a good many Iceland and Glaucous Gulls are recorded from 

 the Northern Isles. 



The end of 1914 saw an irruption of Little Auks 

 along our coasts. An easterly gale in the middle of 

 December drove large numbers on to our shores and even, 

 in some places, far inland. The first notes of their 

 abundance come from the north earlier in the month ; 

 after the gale, however, they were present in numbers all 

 down the East Coast, and many were cast up dead or dying. 

 In addition to these we have many notes of Little Auks 

 being found inland and in the West of Scotland. The records 

 come chiefly between loth and 20th December, and although 

 the mortality of the species must have been great, the wreck 

 was not on as large a scale as that of January 191 2. In the 

 winter of 1914-15 there were more Hoodies than usual in 

 East Fife. Linnets are recorded as very numerous at Oxton, 

 Berwickshire, and Goldfinches were seen in Wigtownshire 

 and Peeblesshire. The notes sent with regard to the dis- 

 tribution of Bramblings this winter are very interesting ; 

 they were plentiful in Lauderdale, Duns, Melrose, and New 

 Galloway, and seen at Peebles on several occasions, but none 

 was seen either at Largo (E. Fife) or Dundee. Our Lauder- 

 dale correspondent also tells us that Tree-sparrows have 

 been more plentiful this winter than in all his experience. 

 The wintering Turdinae seem to have been particularly 

 numerous this season ; they are reported in unusually large 

 numbers from many localities in the southern half of Scot- 

 land. Grey-lag Geese were very numerous in Wigtown Bay 

 in the winter of 1914, and Goldeneye were on the Tweed 

 about Melrose all season. Immense flocks of Eider usually 

 winter in the sea off Rattray Head, but this year no large 

 numbers were there, nor were the usual wintering flocks seen 

 in East Fife (i. 191 5, 116). Wood-pigeons were more 



