158 Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain on the 



appears to me to be intermediate between Pica leucoptera 

 aud Pica rustica, but varies greatly in the amount of white 

 on the quills. Specimens from Transcaspia labelled Pica 

 bactriana all had the tail less glossed with green and almost 

 uniform in colour, whereas P. rustica has a distinct purple 

 band at the end of it, but Persian specimens were inter- 

 mediate as regards the coloration of the tail. 



Scops Owls from Transcaspia, which Baron Loudon said 

 he was going to describe as a subspecies and to name Scops 

 I a ranica, differed but slightly from Scops yiu in being less 

 grey and more rufous in coloration. A female measured : 

 culmen 1*1 in., Aving 5'9, tail 3"0, tarsus 0*5. 



Athene caucasica Zarudn. & Loud, differs from A. bac- 

 triana in having the upper parts darker, the head more 

 clearly spotted, and the under parts more closely and boldly 

 striped. Astur cenchroides differs very slightly from Astur 

 brevipes in having a slightly longer and somewhat more 

 barred tail. 



I examined and took notes on several more species and 

 subspecies in the collection, but will not weary the readers 

 of this article by giving my notes in extenso. After 

 leaving Lisden and my hospitable host and hostess, I spent 

 one day in seeing Riga, and then returned direct to England, 

 via Eydtkuhnen and Berlin, having had a most enjoyable 

 holiday. 



XIV. — On the Discovery of the Nest and Eyys of the Solitary 

 Sandpiper (Totanus solitarius). By the Rev. Francis C. 



R. JOURDAIN, M.A. 



As little has hitherto been recorded with regard to the 

 breeding-habits of the Solitary Sandpiper {Totanus solitarius), 

 perhaps a few details of the recent discovery of its nest and 

 eggs may be of interest to English ornithologists. 



Early in the year 1903 Mr. Walter Raine, of Toronto, 

 engaged Mr. Evan Thomson to collect for him in Northern 

 Alberta. At the close of the season Mr. Thomson's field- 



