Note on the Water Vole. 325 



or to have . frequented the island regularly. It also bred 

 formerly on the Bass Eock. 



Cormorant, Phalacrocorax carlo, L. — A few pairs breed ; 

 and they are common on tlie Isle of May, using the higher 

 parts of the cliffs as roosting-places, and fishing in the 

 neighbourhood all the year round. About fifty pairs formed 

 the winter colony in 1884. Most abundant in winter. 

 Movements local and not regularly taken note of. So long 

 ago as 1828 this cormorancy in winter was taken note of, 

 and even then " a few " are noted as remaining to breed 

 {Edin. New Phil. Journ., vol. vi., p. 190 — "Zoology"). 



Shag, Phalacrocorax cristatus, L. — Common breeding 

 species, but scarcer in the autumn, and much scarcer than 

 the last-named species at that season. 



XXII. Note on the Water Vole (Arvicola amphibia, Jenyns). 

 By Professor Duns, Vice-President. 



(Read 16th March 1887.) 



On the 21st of April 1880 I read a short paper to the 

 Society on the Water Vole, in connection with two speci- 

 mens which seemed to present exceptional aspects of habit. 

 One of these had made a " run," and had thrown up mole- 

 like " hills " in a grass plot of the late Eev. Walter Wood's 

 garden, Elie, Fife. The other had been trapped in the garden, 

 14 Hope Terrace, Edinburgh. The specimen referred to in this 

 paper was captured in Dr Eonaldson's garden, 18 Bruntsfield 

 Place, Edinburgh, and handed to me by Mr Evans, a fellow 

 of the Society, on the 4th of this month. The Elie garden 

 is near the shore of the Firth of Forth. The v/ater nearest 

 Hope Terrace is the Jordan Burn, on the north side of Black- 

 ford Hill, about a quarter of a mile distant, and Bruntsfield 

 Place is about the same distance from the Union Canal. In 

 each case the animal had wandered a considerable distance 

 from its usual haunts, and taken up its abode in places 

 whence it could have no ready access to water. The Elie 

 specimen was not known to have done damage to any plants 

 in the garden. The contents of the stomach were grass root- 



