NOTES AND QUERIES. 235 



which season it is very fond of takiug up its abode by the water side. It 

 then feeds greedily on all the dead fish it can find, thus causing the Otter 

 to be accused of much destruction of which it is not guilty. Pollard willow 

 trees are very favourite abodes of the Brown Rat; I once found the 

 remains of a full-grown Partridge in one of these dwellings. It also 

 frequently makes its nest in thorn fences, not only in low-lying and wet 

 lands, but even on high ground. The Brown Rat can dive and swim very 

 expertly. It is far more common by the water side in summer than in 

 winter, probably finding the water too cold at the latter season.— E. W. H. 

 Blagg (Cheadle, Staffordshire). 



BIRDS. 



Nesting of the Stock Dove in East Lothian.— Having been informed 

 by Mr. McDonald, gamekeeper, Hailes, that a pair of Pigeons had taken 

 up their abode among the crags of Trapraiu Law, and that he was certain 

 that it was not the Ring Dove or the Rock Dove, I suspected it was the 

 Stock Dove [Colmiha anas). On visiting the spot on April 9th I found 

 my suspicion confirmed. The birds were very shy, but I managed to get 

 a very good view of them. A number of Jackdaws were persecuting them 

 unmercifully. Twice we saw one of the Stock Doves disappear among the 

 rabbit-burrows on the steep face of the hill, and have no doubt that they 

 were breeding there. We climbed up as far as possible, and observed one 

 of them issue from the place where we saw it disappear. I picked up a 

 feather, which I sent to Mr. Evans, of Edinburgh, and he pronounced it to 

 be undoubtedly one of the wing-coverts of the Stock Dove. Mr. McDonald 

 will, so far as he is able, see that the strangers remain unmolested. 

 A specimen — the first obtained in East Lothian — was exhibited by Mr. 

 Evans at a meeting of the Royal Physical Society on March 17th, 1886. 

 It was shot near Longniddry in January, 1886, while feeding in company 

 with a number of Ring Doves. A second specimen was netted, along with 

 Ring Doves, in the same locality on March 5, 1886.— G. Pow (Dunbar, N.B.) 



Plumage of the Tufted Duck.— Mr. Macpherson, writing under this 

 heading (p. 112), says, "Perhaps Mr. Whitaker can throw some light on 

 the subject." I can only say I have often noticed young birds of this 

 species marked with white or dirty white about the face, these markings 

 being usually small white patches at the base of the upper and lower 

 mandibles. Others have the white extending from the bill to the eyes. 

 These markings are invariably lost during the autumn, and are not 

 reassumed till the bird is very much advanced in years, and then only in 

 the females, so far as I have noticed. This marking in old birds must be 

 very rare, as in the many hundreds I liave seen I have only noticed it once; 

 and Mr. Hall, who has shot these ducks for fifty years, was very much 

 struck with it, he never having seen one ijefore. I shall (all being well). 



