nOTES 



CARRION-CROWS IN THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



With reference to the note on this subject (antea, p. 176), 

 it is perhaps worth recording that I saw some of these birds 

 at Barvas (Island of Lewis) in early July, 1914. Unfortu- 

 nately I did not realise that this record was of any special 

 interest, and therefore did not make a detailed note as to 

 how many were seen, but merely added " Carrion-Crow '' 

 to my list of the birds of the district. 



G. Bathurst Hony. 



UNUSUAL SITE FOR NEST OF LINNET. 



On August 7th, 1914, I foiuid the nest of a Linnet (CardueU-^ c. 

 cannahina) in a small plantation in a garden on Carnarvon 

 Bay. It \\'as built at the top of a dwarf alder tree <it least 

 eleven feet from the ground, and contained four unfledged 

 young. The Linnet — unlike the Redpoll — generally selects 

 a low position for its nest, sometimes placing it on or very 

 close to the ground when gorse or other bushes are not 

 available. The nest was composed entirely of dried grass- 

 stems and roots, and lined only with sheep's wool and a 

 few horse-hairs. S. (t. Cummings. 



FOLK-LORE OF THE YELLOW BUNTING. 



The Yellowhammer (Emheriza. c. citrinella) is known in 

 western Carnarvonshire indifferently as Penfelen (i.e. Yellow- 

 head) or Gwas y neidr (i.e. Servant of the Adder). The 

 latter name is also applied to the Adder-bolt or Dragonfly. 

 A common Welsh name for the Meadow-Pipit is Gwas y gog 

 (i.e. Servant of the Cuckoo) and it is alleged that the Yellow- 

 hammer cherishes and feeds an adder just as the Meadow- 

 Pipit cherishes and feeds a CHickoo. Opinions differ as to 

 whether an adder is actually hatched from an egg in the 

 Yellowhammer's nest or whether it is merely fed in the 

 open as a young Cuckoo is, as a matter of common observa- 

 tion, known to be : but the significance of the writhing 

 serpents depicted on the eggs cannot be disregarded. The 

 Yellowhammer is persecuted and its nest destroyed when- 

 ever occasion ofl^ers, not only because of its supposed 

 association with adders but because, as some aver, it has 

 ])oisonous properties itself. So bad indeed is its character 

 that bovs who catch birds with line and riddle in the winter 



