August 1, 1898.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



177 



reference. A word may, however, be said in reference to 

 Timor, which, as already mentioned, forms the eastern 

 extremity of the line of the Sunda Islands — that is to say, 

 the line including Sumatra, Java, and Floras, which is 

 evidently a broken-up peninsula. By most writers that 

 portion of the chain lying to the eastward of Java and 

 Bali has been assigned to the Australasian region, and it 

 has consequently been assumed that the deer found in 

 Timor must have been introduced by man. Timor and 

 Flores also contain several other mammals common to the 

 Oriental region, notably a monkey, a civet, a porcupine, 

 and a palm civet ; and although it is quite possible that 

 they may have been introduced by the Malays (as some of 

 them appear to have been into the Moluccas), the absence 

 of any typically Australasian mammals except a cuscus 

 (whose presence may be accounted for in the same way as 

 in Celebes) is, to say the least, very remarkable. More- 

 over, the birds of Timor show at least as many Oriental 

 as Australasian features, and it accordingly seems more 

 consonant with the known faits to regard the whole chain 

 of the Sunda Islands, which are geographically one, as 

 having formed a part of the old Asiatic continent. 



Bvttisf) 0vmrt)oIofficaI Notes. 



Conducted hij Hakry F. Witiierby, f.z.s., m.b.o.u. 



Pied Flycatcher in Caithness. — A pair of these birds 

 took up their quarters in our garden about the middle of 

 May. The male appeared first and remained four days. 

 Two days after it disappeared the female put in an appear- 

 ance, but did not remain. Messrs. J. A. Ilarvie-Brown 

 and T. E. Buckley, in their "Fauna of Sutherland and 

 Caithness," say : " The first known to have occuiTcd in 

 the county was obtained by ourselves in a very wild burn 

 some eight or nine miles from Brora on the 27th of May, 

 1872." Now this appears to be a mistake, because in 

 May, 1867, I shot and preserved a pair, male and female, 

 which they notice on the next page from Mr. Osborne's 

 MS. On May 10th, 1881, I again saw several specimens, 

 one of which I preserved. — James Suthekland, Wick. 



Ked-backed Shkike IX Caithness. — A pair of these birds, 

 obtained in the neighbourhood oj Wick on the 20th of May, 

 has been sent to me for preservation. In the " Fauna of 

 Sutherland and Caithness " it is stated : " One is recorded 

 as being in Dunrobin Museum, but there is no history 

 attached to it." A young bird of this species is in the 

 Duke of Portland's collection at Welbeck Abbey, but there 

 is no precise date or locality given beyond the general 

 statement that all the birds in the collection were shot on 

 the Duke's property in Caithness. A specimen of this bird 

 is mentioned by the late Dr. Sinclair, of Wick, as having 

 been killed in the county. — James Sutherland, Wick. 



Protection of Birds in Scotland. — The question of 

 the protection of birds by law has again been under 

 consideration. In Scotland, as was foretold in the 

 appendix to the last annual report of the Society for 

 the Protection of Birds, an excellent proposal by Lord 

 Balfour of Burleigh is now before the various County 

 Councils of that country. The suggestion is to divide 

 Scotland into two districts, northern and southern, the 

 dividing line being the southern boundary of Argyll and 

 Perth (Bute and Arran to be included in the northern 

 division), and for the County Councils in each of these 

 areas to seek identical Orders under the Wild Bu-ds Pro- 

 tection Acts, so that all concerned can readUy make them- 

 selves acquainted with the provisions of the Orders in force 

 for the protection of birds and their eggs. 



A list of thirty-two birds is given, which shows what 

 species shoiJd receive protection in hnth districts, and also 

 lists of the additioniil bkds which should be protected — 

 fifteen species in the northern and eleven in the southern 

 district. 



Bird lovers will be glad to note that some species are 

 recommended for protection all the year round. Cannot 

 some of our ornithological friends help to draw up a 

 similar scheme for the grouping of coimties in England ? 



The Home Secretary would no doubt welcome such a 

 scheme, were it presented in a practical form. — M. L. Lemon, 

 Hon. Sec. Society for the Protection of Birds, July 15th, 

 1898. 



The Loti'-taiUd DucJc in Killala Bay and ihe Estuary of the 

 Moif. By Robert Warven. (/rwAjVa/umZi.^, May, 1898, pp. 121-124.) 

 — We have liere detailed accounts of tlie various occurrences of this 

 duck (uncommon in Ireland) in tlio districts named. 



Mr. Robert Patterson records in the Irish Naturalist for July, 

 1898, p. 170, the following rarities which he believes have not been 

 before recorded : — 



Rouyh-ler/ged Buzzard. — A male was shot at Portaffery, Co. Down, 

 on November 8th, 1W95. 



Grei) Phil larope.— One was picked up at Ballymonev, Co. Antrim, 

 in October, 1896. 



ITawfinch. — A male was shot at Hillsborough, Co. Down, on 

 December 30th, 1897. 



The Whinchaf, Ortolan Bunfinff, and Pied Flycatcher in Shetland 

 (Annals of Scottish Natural Itistory, July, 1898, p. 178).— Mr. 

 W. E. Clarke here records the capture of the above species by Mr. 

 Thomas Henderson, jun., in Shetland, during a remarkable visitation 

 of migrants. All three species arc new to the avifauna of Shetland. 



Marsh Harrier in Dumfriesshire {Annals of Scottish Natural 

 History. July, 1898, p. 182). — Mr. R. Service records that a male 

 Marsh Harrier (a very rare species in Scotland) was shot in Carmichael 

 early in May, 1898. 



Ring Dove nesting in the City of Edinburgh {Annals of Scottish 

 Natural History, j'uly, 1898, p."l83).— Wliile so much attention has 

 lately been directed to the nesting of Wood Pigeons in London, it is 

 interesting to hear from Mr. Arch. Craig that a pair of these birds is 

 nesting in Edinburgh. 



Oil Birds olserred in the Island of Tiree. By Peter Anderson 

 {Annals of Scottish Natural History, July, 1898, pp. 153-161).— This 

 is a hst of one hundred and twenty-eight species of birds observed on 

 Tiree during the author's twelve years' residence in the island. 



On the nesting of the Pintail {Dafla acuta} in the Forth Area. 

 By William Evans, F.K.S.k. {Annals of Scottish Natural History, 

 .July, 1898. pp. 162-164). — Up to the time of the publication of tliia 

 article there were only two or three reliable records of the nesting of 

 the Pintail in the British Islands. It is, therefore, very satisfactory 

 and of the greatest interest to learn from Mr. Evans, in this careful 

 and incontrovertible report, that several pairs (perhaps six or seven) 

 of Pintails have nested this year on Loch Leven, in Kinross-shire. 

 Mr. Evans carefully identified the bii-ds which rose from the nests 

 he found, and even went so far as to hatch two of the eggs in an 

 incubator. 



Woodchat Shrike in Sussex (Zoologist. June, 1898, p. 267). — Mr. 

 Or. W. Bradshaw records the occurrence of a male Woodchat near 

 St. Leonards-on-Sea on May 1st, 1898. 



Hawfinch in Midlothian (Annals of Scottish Natural History, 

 April, 1898, p. 114).— Jlr. W. Eagle Clarke reports that ou March 9th 

 au adult female Hawfinch was picked up dead at Arniston. lu 

 Ausust. 1894, a j'oung Hawfinch was captured at the same spot, and 

 Mr, Clarke jjoints out that these two records are of great interest, 

 since the Hawfinch was fo^'uierly only regarded as a rare winter 

 visitor to Scotland. Although large and conspicuous, the Hawfinch 

 is of a shy nature and retiring habits, and a little further search may 

 result in adding the species to the list of birds which are resident in 

 Scotland. 



Melodious Warblers in South-Easf Derail (Zoologist, June, 1898, 

 p. 2G5). — The Rev. Murray R. .Matliew describes how he watched 

 and listened to quite a number of Warblers, which lie identified as 

 Hypolnis polyglotta, in a wooded undercliff at Ware, near L>ine 

 Regis, in the beginning of May this year. Clear views of the birds 

 were obtained at the distance of a yard. The Melodious Warbler 

 very closely resembles the Icterine Warbler (see note. Knowledge, 

 November, 1897, p. 257). 



All contributions to the column, either in the way of notes 

 or photographs, should be forwarded to Harry F. Witherby, 

 at 1, Eliot Place, Elackheath, Kent. 



