432 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



eight miles from Stromness, where they frequented some marshy 

 ground there. The man who made the discovery did not think of 

 shooting them at first, and so for three days they remained in peace ; 

 but on the 27th this idea seemed to strike him, and from this date 

 until October 1st he shot two or three each day as they were feeding 

 in a burn, until he had accounted for no fewer than ten. They were 

 very wary, and rose high in the air when disturbed. Most of them 

 were sent, I believe, to Mr. Mallock, of Perth, and it would be inter- 

 esting to know whether they were old or young birds. I do not think 

 there are a dozen records of this bird having visited Scotland, and the 

 occurrence of a flock of them in Orkney is most unusual, as I believe 

 the species has only occurred twice before in these islands — viz. a 

 young bird near Stromness on September 19th, 1903, which I men- 

 tioned in the 'Field,' &c, at the time ; and another near Kirkwall as 

 long ago as September, 1857, exactly half a century ago. It will be 

 noticed that the three occurrences were all in September during the 

 autumn migration. — H. W. Robinson (Lansdowne House, Lancaster). 



Nesting of the Lesser Tern in the Outer Hebrides (ante, p. 386, 

 and ' Field,' September 28th, 1907). — At the time Buckley and I issued 

 the volume of our series of faunas relating to the Outer Hebrides we 

 were not aware of any authentic instances of the nesting of the Lesser 

 Tern anywhere in these islands. (It ought always to be remembered 

 that we have consistently advocated chronological sequence of records.) 

 But later I have recorded the earliest instances known of its nesting, 

 and these will be found noted in my " Avifauna of the Outer Hebrides " 

 (Annals Scottish Nat. Hist., April, July, and October, 1902 ; and 

 January, 1903, p. 15, of the latter Annals and number). May I 

 also refer your correspondents upon this subject to a still later article 

 by Mr. Donald Outhrie, "Notes on Birds of South Uist, Outer Hebrides" 

 (op. cit., April, 1903, p. 78). At those places the correspondents — in 

 ' Zoologist ' and ' Field ' — will learn the true sequence of the dis- 

 persal of this species in the Outer Hebrides. The locality given 

 (Zool. loc. cit.) near North Uist indicates a further dispersal of the 

 species, and certainly, so far as I am aware, it is the most north- 

 westerly recorded. — J. A. Harvie-Brown (Dunipace, Larbert, Stirling- 

 shire, N.B.). 



Is the Black-headed Gull an Egg- thief ? — In the last number of 

 this Journal (p. 387) my friend Mr. E. P. Butterfield relates his expe- 

 rience respecting the behaviour of a number of Black-headed Gulls and 

 Lapwings on the breeding-grounds of the latter, and (presumably) 

 during the nesting season of the Lapwings. Mr. Butterfield did not 



