M o THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



specimen of the Common Swallow (Hirundo ntstica, Linn.), so 

 recently dead that a Liotheid parasite was still to be found moving 

 over the skin of the lower neck. Miss Moodie in lit. remarked : 

 " We caught this little bird the other day and put it in a cage, but it 

 soon died." The actual date of capture was 27th March. This 

 must surely be an early date for Shetland. The bird in question 

 appeared to be not quite moulted. One or two pale feathers 

 amongst the warm chestnut throat plumage came off with little 

 handling. — James Waterston, The Manse, Ollaberry, Shetland. 



Size of Immature Smew Drake. — Concerning the note of 

 the occurrence of a Smew in Elginshire, I think from the fact that 

 the specimen was larger than an immature male in your corre- 

 spondent's collection points to its also being an "immature male, 

 rather than an adult female, the immature males in the Mergansers 

 and Diving Ducks proper always being larger than the adult females, 

 and not smaller, as your correspondent states. Comparisons 

 between stuffed specimens are, of course, no guide. — H. W. 

 Robinson, Lancaster. 



[The indication of size certainly points, as Mr Robinson says, to 

 the specimen being a male. — Eds.] 



Smew in Wigtownshire. — The Smew has been but seldom 

 noticed in our county, but on the 12th April I watched an 

 immature specimen for some time on the Castle Loch (Mochrum), 

 a loch situated amid the moors some two miles from Luce Bay. 

 Several times the Smew tried to join a party of seventeen Golden- 

 eyes feeding near, but each time one of the latter rushed out and 

 put it to flight. Two adult Drakes among them took no part in the 

 affray. — J. G. Gordon, Corsemalzie. 



Smew on Duddingston Loch. — An adult $ example of the 

 Smew (Mergus albellus) was observed on Duddingston Loch by Mr 

 John Currie on nth February last. The loch was frozen over at 

 the time, and the Smew was feeding in a hole in the ice along with 

 Tufted Duck, Mallard, Moorhen, and Coot. Mr Currie watched 

 the bird through his glasses for some considerable time, and 

 observed that in diving it kept under water much longer than the 

 Tufted Duck, one of the most expert of our diving ducks. 



Most of the Smews recorded in the last issue of The Scottish 

 Naturalist were females, and were either seen or obtained on the 

 coast, so that it is interesting to be able to record the occurrence of 

 a male bird away from the shore, and in the immediate vicinity 

 of Edinburgh. — Hugh Mackay, Edinburgh. 



