NOTES 163 



was killed at Menquhill, near Dairy, at the end of March last ; while 

 another was caught on 14th May, by a gamekeeper, on Newton 

 Hill, near Gatehouse. The latter was recorded in the Dumfries- 

 shire and Galloway Standard of 18th May. — Hugh S. Gladstone, 

 Thornhill, Dumfriesshire. 



Continental Song-Thrush in the Moray and Solway 

 Areas. — On the night of 3oth-3ist March 191 1, one Continental 

 Song-Thrush (Turdus philomelos philomelos) and eight Skylarks 

 struck the lantern at Tarbatness Lighthouse. Weather conditions 

 at the time were : wind east, light ; some haze. On the same night, at 

 Mull of Galloway Lighthouse, the following birds were killed : two 

 Continental Song-Thrushes, one Blackbird, one House-Sparrow, ten 

 Starlings, and five Skylarks. This is the most western record of the 

 occurrence of Turdus philo?nelos philomelos for the British Isles, as 

 this subspecies has not yet been reported from Ireland. To Mr H. 

 F. Witherby my thanks are due for the identification of this racial 

 form. — Annie C. Jackson, Swordale. 



Northern Form of Willow- Wren in Solway. — I have to 

 report that a Willow-Wren, which was obtained at Mull of Galloway 

 Lighthouse on i6th-iyth May 191 1, is of the Northern form 

 (Phylloscopus trochilus eversmanni). This, I believe, constitutes the 

 only western record of this subspecies for the British Isles. To Dr 

 C. B. Ticehurst I am indebted for the identification. — Annie C. 

 Jackson, Swordale. 



Fatality amongst Rooks. — The almost complete absence of 

 Rooks this spring and summer is the cause of my troubling the 

 Editors of the Scottish Naturalist with the following notes. We had 

 quite the usual congregation busy repairing old tabernacles, and 

 "building new ones," and quite the usual bowing and scraping, and 

 "how-d'ye-do's," while consultations progressed. Then came the 

 calm of contentment, and the brooding half of the population settled 

 down to their ordinary quiet life. Then, alas ! for their peace and 

 future welfare — the heavens opened and the winds blew, and soon it 

 was observed what a scarcity of the black-coated gentry was to be 

 seen around their parochial homes. Many trees were blown down 

 in that severe gale in early April, and it was forced upon our observa- 

 tion that there had also been a catastrophe amongst the inhabitants 

 of our "Craw-hill." When the season approached for shooting the 

 birds, almost none was to be had, and few even of the old birds were 

 to be seen. They had emigrated — at all events they had quitted 

 this part of the country. 



The fact is— to cut a longer story short — it was with the utmost 



