334 Letters, Announcements , ^c. 



few tliat were about seemed agitated and stung virulently. 

 Probably the mass of them had been driven off or eaten by 

 the Woodpeckers. The tunnel the latter had made was 

 about two inches in diameter and four inches long, bored 

 horizontally in, and ending in an irregular-shaped egg- 

 chamber about ten and a half inches in cross diameter, but 

 narrowed by the branch of pyingado, which pierced the nest 

 through and through, and crossed the egg-chamber diagonally. 

 The bottom of this chamber alone was smooth, but there was 

 no lining, and the two translucent white eggs of the Wood- 

 pecker had rested on the bare boards, so to speak, of the 

 ants' house. In the excavations c c c made by the ants 

 themselves there were neither eggs, larvae, nor pupse ; pro- 

 bably these all had been removed when the Woodpeckers 

 invaded the nest.^' 



Birds at Scotch Lighthouses. — At the meeting of the Royal 

 Physical Society of Edinburgh held on the 20th of May 

 last^ the Secretary drew the attention of the meeting to 

 several interesting birds that had been taken during the 

 month on the island of May by Mr. Agnew, lighthouse 

 keeper, and forwarded to Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown, in whose 

 collection they have since been placed. These were two 

 specimens of the Ortolan Bunting and others of the Pied 

 Flycatcher and Red-backed Shrike. The Secretary remarked 

 that these birds had appeared during their spring migration, 

 and that in the case o£ the Ortolan Bunting, the capture 

 proved that any Scotch specimens of the birds that have been 

 recorded could not be said to be escaped birds, seeing that 

 they had been in company with well-known migratory 

 species, and were in all likelihood on their way to Scandi- 

 navia, where they are known to breed. 



Mr, R. B. Sharpens Departure for Simla. — In our last 

 Number {supra, p. 236) we spoke of the negotiations going 

 on for the transfer of Mr. Hume's celebrated collection 

 of Indian birds to the British Museum. Mr. Sharpe started 

 for Simla the end of April to superintend the packing 



