258 Ornithological Notes, by Mr. Robert Gray, F.RS.E. 



young male was shot at Seacliffe, East Lothian, on 10th 

 October, 1874, and exhibited by Dr. Smith at a meeting of 

 the Royal Physical Society, Edinburgh. This specimen, 

 like all the others I have seen killed in the county, was in 

 immature plumage, being of chocolate-brown with a yellow- 

 ish-white patch on the occiput. 



Pied Flycatcher (M uscicapa atricapilla). — A male bird 

 of this species, now in my collection, was shot at North 

 Berwick by Mr. W. Paterson, on 23rd May, 1872. Another, 

 which I have seen, was procured near Prestonkirk in the 

 beginning of May, 1870. It has already been recorded in 

 several instances as a Berwickshire species. 



Snow Bunting (Plectrophanes nivalis). — Snow Buntings 

 occurred in very large flocks along the coast from Gullane 

 to Granton, early in December, 1874. The severe frost, 

 however, which set in shortly after their arrival, broke up 

 the flocks, and hundreds of the birds perished in the snow- 

 storm which ensued. 



Green Sandpiper (Totanus ochropus). — This bird — one 

 of the scarcer of our Scottish Sandpipers — seems now much 

 more common than it was thirty years ago. I have in 

 several instances heard of its following the windings of the 

 Forth. A specimen shot at Innerleithen, in Peeblesshire, on 

 15th August,' 1874, seems sufficiently near the confines of 

 Berwickshire to merit remark. 



Little Stint (Tringa minuta). — Thirty years ago, this 

 diminutive Sandpiper was extremely rare in any part of 

 Scotland. It may now, however, be regarded as a regular 

 winter visitant to the eastern counties, ranging in its dis- 

 tribution from Berwick to Aberdeen. It is met with every 

 autumn in the estuary of the Forth by my friend Mr. 

 Harvie Brown, who has repeatedly shot it on its first arrival. 

 This usually happens about the middle of September, but 

 specimens are often obtained later in the season. 



Purple SANDPiPERfTrme/a maritima). — Flocks of young 

 birds of the year have been met with during the present 

 winter along the shore near North Berwick : some of the 

 specimens obtained, and which I had an opportunity of 

 seeing, were very small, but in most beautiful plumage, and 

 shewed here and there broad patches of the fine purple hue 

 which characterizes the species. In 1869, as I am informed 

 by Mr. Small, of Edinburgh, this bird was very plentiful on 

 the coast between Leith and Longniddry. 



