NOTES 279 



the following observation on that of the Partridge {Perdix perdix) 

 seems worth recording. On 18th October I received from Dr 

 Harvie-Brown, part — about a third — of the contents of the crop of 

 a Partridge shot on the 15th, "on rushy, rough, grass-land" on his 

 Denny Hills shootings, Stirlingshire. The material sent I found 

 consisted almost entirely of small flies, of which 1373 were counted, 

 all belonging to one species, namely, Bibio lepidus, Lw. (specimens 

 have been shown to Mr Grimshaw). The only other things noticed 

 were a few blades of grass and bits of Galium saxatile, and one or 

 two seeds of Juncus. If the remainder of the contents of the crop 

 were similar to the portion sent me — and I have been assured it 

 was— the total number of flies in the crop must have been about 

 4000. The crop of another Partridge killed at the same time is 

 stated to have been filled with the same food-material. Curiously 

 enough, Bibio lepidus has not previously been recorded from the 

 Forth Area. In the above material males far outnumbered females, 

 the ratio being something like twenty to one. — William Evans. 



The Little Gull near Dunbar (Forth). — On 2nd October 

 1912, a Little Gull (Larus minutus) — young male — was shot at the 

 mouth of the Tyne, near Dunbar, and taken to Mr D. Bruce, who 

 kindly forwarded it to me. It was evidently a "piner" — very thin, 

 and infested with Mallophaga. These belonged to four species 

 representing as many genera, the most abundant being Nirmus 

 eugrammicus^ Nitzsch, a prettily marked species apparently peculiar 

 to the Little Gull, and only recently recorded as British (see my 

 paper on " Forth " Mallophaga in Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc, xviii., 

 265). — William Evans. 



Tunny stranded at Weisdale, Shetland. — On 26th 

 September a large fish was found stranded at the head of AYeisdale 

 Voe, which on examination was found to be a line specimen of the 

 Tunny {Orcynusihynnus). The fish had every appearance of having 

 reached the shore quite a short time previous to its being found. 

 The Tunny measured 8 feet in length, 6 feet in girth, and the tail 

 was 35 inches from tip to tip. This is the first Tunny found in 

 Weisdale Voe in living memory. — John S. Tulloch, Lerwick. 



Tunny in the Firth of Forth.— On 18th October we found 

 a Tunny {Orcynus thynnus) stranded in Largo Bay. It was about 

 8 feet long, but had been considerably mutilated, so that the sex 

 could not be determined, as we are kindly informed by Professor 

 MTntosh. The skeleton has been secured for the St Andrews 

 University Museum. This fish seems worth a record, as few Tunnies 



