GLEANINGS 239 



GLEANINGS. 



In British Birds for September appears (pp. 107-117) an article by Abel 

 Chapman, entitled "Spring-Notes on the Borders (1911-12)." The following 

 birds are noted as breeding in Scottish counties : the Great Crested Grebe, 

 Wigeon, and Pochard, in Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire, and the Little Grebe 

 in the latter. Full details are given, with the number of known stations. 



An article signed " F. N. S.," on the " Winter Birds of Oronsay," is published in 

 the Field of 31st August. The paper deals with the bird-life observed during a 

 five months' stay on the island, October 1902 to March 1903. It is stated that 

 69 species were noted, but no list is given. 



The Zoologist for August contains (pp. 281-292) an article by Fredk. J. Stubbs, 

 bearing for its title "Notes on the Habits and the Coloration of the Common 

 Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)." 



In the Field of 24th August (p. 441) appears an interesting article by Seton 

 Gordon, on " The Snow-Bunting." The author states that in the central highlands 

 of Scotland the birds are never, so far as his experience goes, found below an 

 elevation of 3000 ft. lie found the nest most commonly at an elevation of 

 3600 ft. Full particulars are given of the song of this interesting bird, and 

 the article is illustrated by two photographs, showing respectively the young 

 bird resting on the rocks surrounding the nest, and a scree where the- Snow- 

 Bunting breeds. 



Ornithologists will be inteiested in an article by Professor C. J. Patten, on 

 " Rock-Pipits on Migration," observed at the Tuskar Rock. It is published in 

 the Irish Naturalist for September (pp. 164-170). 



In the Proceedings of' the Zoological Society of London, 1912, Part III., published 

 in September, appears an interesting paper by Julian S. Huxley, entitled "A 

 First Account of the Courtship of the Redshank {Totanus calidns, L.)." The 

 scope of the paper may be gathered from the titles of the various sections : 1. 

 Introduction ; 2. Locality ; 3. The Courtship proper ; 4. Other Habits of the 

 Pairing-Season — (a) the Love-flight, (//) the Combats of the Males, (c) Calling 

 from a conspicuous perch ; (5) Discussion. The observations were made in North 

 Wales. 



M. Portal, in British Birds (September 1912, p. 121), records the occurrence of 

 an adult male Red-backed Shrike (Lanius c. collurio) near Portpatrick, Wigtown- 

 shire, on the 14th August. In the same journal (p. 123) F. W. Smalley mentions 

 having received in the flesh an adult female Sooty Shearwater from the island of 

 Graemsay, Orkney, on the 18th October 191 1. 



The first nesting of the Common Eider in Ireland is recorded by H. W. 

 Robinson in the same journal (p. 106). Two nests were found on a small island 

 off the coast of Donegal on 2nd June. \_A r ol County Down as printed— -fide H. W. 

 Robinson, in litt.~\ 



Two interesting notes on "The Fulmar in Ireland," by C. V. Stoney and R. J. 

 Ussher, are printed in the Irish Naturalist for September (pp. 180-181). Mr 

 Stoney's contribution refers to a breeding-place on an exposed headland on the 



