NOTES. 31 



Ceremonial Gatherings of the Magpie. — With reference 

 to Mr. F. J. Stubbs' note on this subject (Vol. III., p. 334), 

 Mr. F. B. Kirkraan wTites us that similar gatherings have been 

 noted in the case of Jays, notably by Mr. W. H. Hudson in 

 Birds and Man{ip. 232), while further accounts of the gatherings, 

 both of Magpies and Jays, have been recorded by M. Xavier 

 Raspail in the Bulletin de la Socieie Zoologique de France 

 (XXVI., p. 104). 



Greenland Falcons in Ireland and Scotland. — Mr. D. C. 

 Campbell records {Irish Nat., 1910, p. 103) the following 

 examples of Falco candicans, which seem additional to those 

 already mentioned (Vol. III., pp. 307 and 329), as having 

 occurred in Ireland during the past winter : — -November 20th, 



1909, female at Burton Port and another near Killybegs ; 

 December 30th, a male at Dunfanaghy ; in the middle of 

 December, a female at Glenties ; in the first week in January, 



1910, one seen at Inch, Lough Swilly, and about the same time 

 a male near Derry. In the Field (14, v., 1910, p. 860), Mr. J. J. 

 Neale notes that one alighted on a steam-trawler on November 

 27th, 1909, in the Atlantic, a good many miles south of Ireland, 

 and about the same time another alighted on a steam-trawler 

 off the south-west of Ireland. Both birds were very tired and 

 allowed themselves to be captured. Messrs. Harvie-Brown 

 and Eagle Clarke record [A^m. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1910, p. 119) 

 the following nine occurrences in Scotland : — December 15th, 



1909, one shot, and December 2oth one seen at Barra ; one 

 seen late in December near Inverbroom ; one seen in December 

 at the Flannan Isles ; an adult female seen on January 4th, 



1910, near Pitlochry ; an adult male seen on January 23rd 

 near Blairgowrie ; one seen on January 25th at the Flannan 

 Isles ; one said to have been shot early in the year on 

 Schiehallion ; another seen during most of January in South 

 Uist. 



Scottish Heronries. — Mr. H. Boyd Watt gives {Ann. Scot. 

 Nat. Hist., 1910, pp. 68-70) additions and corrections to his 

 list of heronries noted in Vol. II., p. 244. 



Scottish Records of the American Bittern. — Mr. Hugh 

 S. Gladstone gives {Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1910, pp. 70-74) 

 a very useful detailed summary of the seven occurrences of 

 Botaurus lentiginosus recorded for Scotland. Full details are 

 given regarding an example recorded as killed on Dinwiddle 

 Moors near Jardine Hall, Dumfriesshire, in the middle of 

 October, 1844, and this record seems to have escaped the 

 attention of the authors of our standard works. 



