NOTES 277 



with the remains between each mouthful, and cutting off another 

 steak on his appearance on the surface. During these operations 

 the animal stood, as it were, in the water in a perpendicular 

 position. It was by no means shy, for I was seated in an 

 exposed position not more than 25 yards away and saw all 

 the proceedings most clearly through my binoculars. I blew a 

 loud blast on a shrill whistle after the acts just described had 

 closed, but the Seal was in no way perturbed by the unusual 

 sound. — Wm. Eagle Clarke. 



Jays in Dumfriesshire. — The Jay (Garrulus glandarius) 



being a local resident in this county, confined more or less to the 

 littoral parishes, it is interesting to know that a bird of this species 

 was seen near Dardarroch (Glencairn) from 1st to 7th October, and 

 that three were seen near Capenoch (Keir) on 26th October, 191 2. 

 No specimens having been handled, it is impossible to say whether 

 these individuals indicate a local movement, or are from continental 

 Europe. — Hugh S. Gladstone, Thornhill, Dumfriesshire. 



The Winter Quarters of the Yellow Wagtail.— In an 



article on "The New Nomenclature of British Birds," in the Scottish 

 Naturalist for September 191 2, p. 198, it is stated that the" winter 

 quarters of the Yellow Wagtail extend as far south in Africa as the 

 Transvaal and Natal. In the Handlist of British Birds, p. 39, on 

 the other hand, it is stated that the British Yellow Wagtail migrates 

 through West Europe to West Africa. This is mentioned by your 

 reviewer as a mistake on the part of the writers of the Handlist, but 

 I venture to say that the statement in the Handlist will be found 

 to be absolutely correct. Yellow Wagtails undoubtedly migrate 

 south to the Transvaal, Natal, and exceptionally even Cape Colony, 

 but these birds are not the British race, M.flava ravi, but the very 

 similar M. flava campcstris, which breeds in the Kirghis Steppes and 

 migrates through East Africa. The British race, on the other hand, 

 passes through the Iberian peninsula and Western Africa south to 

 the Congo, but most birds appear to winter between Senegambia 

 and the Benue (see Hartert, Vogel, Pal. Fauna, i., pp. 294-5). 

 Seebohm regarded the two forms as identical, and they are certainly 

 closely allied, but it is now generally admitted that they are 

 distinguishable. — F. C. R. Jourdaix, Ashbourne. 



[We are quite aware of all that Mr Jourdain sets forth in the 

 above note. Stark, in his standard work on the Birds of South 

 Africa (1900), treats the two forms as identical, and we have yet to 

 learn that it is possible to distinguish between the two races in their 

 winter plumage. — Eds.] 



