NOTES 185 



Great Spotted Woodpecker Breeding on Loch Lomond- 

 side. — On 29th June, the nest of a stem-boring bird was reported 

 to me from the side of Loch Lomond, and two days afterwards a 

 young Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus major) was handed 

 to me from the same district. It was well feathered, but was found 

 dead at the base of the tree-stump in which the nest was situated. 

 As I had not previously known of this bird nesting on Loch 

 Lomond, I visited the site on 3rd July, but found the young had 

 flown, although they were still in the nest on 30th June. The nest 

 was in a silver birch which had been cut, or the upper portion blown 

 off, leaving a stump 14 ft. high. The nesting hole was quite 

 circular, cleanly cut, and placed about 8 ins. from the top ; the lower 

 portion of the stump was living, and there was a considerable 

 amount of fresh foliage sprouting on one side. The bird had been 

 boring for insects near the base of the tree, and I also noticed 

 another root-stump in the vicinity where there had been boring by a 

 Woodpecker. I was fortunate afterwards in getting a good view 

 of the adult bird feeding a young one, but distant from the nest 

 some 250 yards, and following up the young bird, which was strong on 

 the wing, procured several photographs of it resting on the bole of 

 an elm. — Charles Kirk, Glasgow. 



Herons Nesting near Stornoway. — The recent volumes of 

 the Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist, contain no mention of Herons (Ardea 

 altered^ L.) nesting in the Outer Hebrides, except that in Mr 

 Boyd Watt's list of Scottish Heronries (1908, p. 221), there occur 

 the names " Lewis, west side," and " North Uist." It will, 

 therefore, be of interest to record that two pairs nested in 1910, in 

 the tops of some high fir trees, on a hillock to the south-west of 

 Stornoway Castle gardens. There were already young birds in the 

 nests when the latter were found, but they were unfortunately killed 

 by some boys before they were able to fly. The nests do not appear 

 to have been tenanted since that time. — Donald Macdonald, 

 Stornoway. 



Remarkable Eggs of Tufted Duck.-— On 8th June I 

 came on the nest of a Tufted Duck (Fuligula cristata), containing a 

 somewhat remarkable clutch. The eggs— ten in number— were 

 mostly milk-white in colour, and the remainder exhibited a very pale 

 green hue. There was no doubt as to their identity, as I flushed the 

 bird off the nest and the down was typical. I am quite familiar 

 with the nests of this species, and up till now have always considered 

 that the eggs varied little from the ordinary greenish buff type. — 

 J. Kirke Nash, Edinburgh. 



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