Dr Smith's Ornithological Notes. 207 



female. They were shot ou the property of Sir George H. 

 Leith, Bart., at Loch Lomond, towards the end of September 

 last. The bird is one of our regular summer visitors, and is 

 not very common, Mr Gray says, especially in the west of 

 Scotland. It is late in leaving us compared with many 

 others of our migratory birds. In his " Birds of the West of 

 Scotland," Mr Gray states that he had no authentic instance 

 of its having been taken in the west, north of Renfrewshire. 

 These examples may therefore be of interest a>s having occurred 

 a little farther to the north. 



(3.) Rallus aqiicdicus, the Water Rail. — I may mention that 

 an allied bird to this, the water rail, seems to have occurred, 

 or at least to have been taken, in quite unusual numbers this 

 autumn (October). Mr Small, birdstuffer, has kindly sent for 

 exhibition with these spotted crakes, a specimen or two of the 

 water rail. He has had various water rails sent him from 

 the neighbourhood of North Berwick, Portobello, etc., etc., and 

 also from the district round Loch Lomond. 



(4.) Larus Sahini, Sabine's Gull. — The next bird I have to 

 exhibit is a very rare visitor to the British Islands, to w^hich 

 my attention was kindly called by our Secretary, Mr Gray, 

 who wrote to me that Dr Crombie, of North Berwick, had 

 asked him to look at a little gull he had sent to Mr Small. 

 On examining it he found it was an immature specimen of 

 Sabine's gull, the only British example he had seen. " It was," 

 Mr Gray writes, " shot by a fisherman on the 2d of October, 

 about two miles out at sea, off North Berwick ; and Dr Crombie 

 informs me it was flying in company with a small flock of kitti- 

 wakes. Judging from " Harting's ' Handbook,' the present 

 instance is the twenty-fourth of the occurrence of the species 

 in Britain, and the third in Scotland." This bird is so named 

 after Captain Sabine, R. A., who discovered one of its breeding 

 places in 1818 in the Arctic regions, which are its true home. 

 It also occurs in winter along the northern coasts of North 

 America. Like the sno^^^ owl already mentioned, it may 

 have come to us from America, being blown out to sea by 

 gales of wind from the usual course of its winter migration. 

 It has been described by Mr William Thompson as noticed 

 in the neighbourhood of Belfast ; and one or two have since 



