OBSERVATIONS AND QUERIES. 143 



Mr. James Murray, Vice-President, in the chair — Mr. George Mitchell 

 showed a collection of birds' eggs made in the Crieff district, chiefly wood- 

 land species, including the Redstart, Garden WarLler, Chiff-chaff, Yellow 

 Wagtail, Bullfinch, Tawny Owl, and Oyster- Catcher, which last-named mari- 

 time species breeds on the Earn, as it does in other inland localities in Scot- 

 land. Mr. H. B. Watt, Vice-President, read a paper, entitled, " Glimpses of 

 the Bird Life of Ailsa Craig, Inch Moan, the Bass, and Isle of May," 

 giving an account of recent visits paid by him to these island breeding- 

 stations, the homes and haunts of large numbers of sea-fowl and other 

 birds. A brief topographical description was given of each island, and 

 observations made on the habits and appearance of the birds. The Razor- 

 bill (Alca tor da), and Guillemot (Uria troils), the familiar Dookers of the 

 Clyde ; Puffin (Fratercula arctica) ; and the different Gulls — Kittiwake (Rissa 

 tridactyla), the most abundant on the rocks ; Herring (Larus argentutus), 

 Greater and Lesser Blackbacks (L. marinus and L. fuscus) ; the last- 

 named being the only bird found common to all of the four islands. The 

 continued absence of the Black-headed Gull (L. ridibundus) from its old 

 quarters on Inch Moan, and the presence still of Terns (Sterna fluviatilis and 

 S. macrura) in some numbers was recorded. On the Isle of May, the Eider 

 Duck (Somateria mollishima) and Oyster-Catcher (Hozmatopus oslralegus) were 

 found breeding, the first-named in considerable numbers. Some remarks 

 were also made on the habits of the Gannet or Solan Goose (Sula bassana), 

 which from old up till now has been the most prominent inhabitant of 

 the Bass, and Ailsa Craig. It is mentioned as frequenting the Bass, by John 

 Major, in his " History of Greater Britain" (1521), and Hector Boece, in 

 his " History of Scotland " (1527), has a well-known passage on this grand and 

 interesting bird. Boece also knew of the colony on Ailsa, information of 

 which Willughby, one of the fathers of British ornithology, writing 150 

 years later (1678), was ignorant. Several land-birds were also noted as 

 having been seen on these islands, and doubtless, a lengthened period of 

 observation would result in a full list of our Scottish birds being obtained on 

 any one of them. Specimens of most of the birds named above, and their 

 eggs, were on exhibition, and also some photographs from nature of the birds 

 and their breeding places. 



The Wall Creeper (Tickodroma muraria) in Sussex. — Mr. William 

 Mitchell, of "The Look-out," Winchelsea, invited me, while on a visit to 

 that town on July 31st, to inspect a bird in his possession, -'the like of 

 which he had never seen before." His description of the bird's appearance 

 as it climbed about a ruin, and of the crimson and white on its wings, 

 rendered identification almost certain even before seeing the specimen, and 

 on reaching the house I at once saw that the "strange bird" was an 



