The Scottish Naturalist. 
95 
mass of what seemed to be half-digested feathers and a lot of small crusta- 
ceans like small white shi-imps. I have seen these feathers before in the 
gizzard of the Black-throated Diver, and I am told it is usual to find them also 
in Grebes. Where does the bird get them from, and why are they swallowed? 
— To help digestion in some way ? — Cuthbert Christy, Edinburgh. 
[The crustaceans were submitted to Mr. Thomas Scott, F. L. S., for identifica- 
tion, and he kindly informs us that they all belonged to one species, viz.. 
My sis vulgaris, Leach, one of the "opossum shrimps." Mr. Scott counted 
the remains of about fifty specimens. This species of Mysis, Mr. Scott re- 
marks, is common above Queensferry, and in ponds of the brickfield at Sea- 
field, near Dunbar. — Ed.] 
Wildfowl in Scottish Solway Faunal Area.— Wildfowl has 
been plentiful on the shores of the Scottish Solway this winter ; but the only 
uncommon bird (for the locality) that we heard of, on the Scotch side, wa^ a 
Great Crested Grebe ( Podicipes cristata J , shot near Gretna in January. — 
H. A. Macpherson, Carlisle. 
Bird Notes from the Solway District.— During the past winter 
there have been few rarities among the birds. A Buffon's Skua { Stercorarius 
parasiticus ) in October, and the Smew ( Mergus alhellus ) in December are 
the most noteworthy. I hear also of a Common Bittern ( Botaurus stellaris) 
shot in the third week of January on Greenlaw, and sent to Mr. Burnett 
Haugh, Castle-Douglas, for preservation. During the dai k stormy weather in 
November, Mr. James M'Call, Carsethorn, informs me he saw Storm Petrels 
occasionally off Southerness. There has been a most unusual immigration of 
'^x2LmhVmgs ( Fringilla montifringilla) ox "Cocks o' the North," as they are 
more usually termed. I heard of them from many different localities — from 
one place in the Stewartry a flock computed to be over a thousand strong was 
reported. In this immediate neighbourhood they were very abitndant wherever 
there are beech trees, on the seed of which tree they are very fond of feeding. 
I have seen several flocks of probably two hundred biids in each. It is many 
years since these pretty finches appeared in such vast numbers. A flock of 
Whooper Swans ( Cygnus musicus ) was observed at Cally House, on the 14th 
of January. — Robert Service, Maxwelltown. 
Anchovy in the Solway Firth. — Towards the end of November, 
when skinning a Black-throated Diver ( Colymbus arcticus) (which, by the 
way, is not at all a common species in the Solway Firth), I found the remains 
of many small fishes in its stomach. With one exception these had been so 
far digested as to be irrecognisable, but the exception was a little Anchovy 
( Engraulis encrasicholus J about two inches in length. It may be remembered 
that Anchovies were found pretty numerously in the Solway last June, and 
that those captured then were the first that had been known to be taken on 
the west coast of Scotland. Judging from the size of the specimen thus taken 
from the Black-throated Diver's gullet, there is a very reasonable inference 
that the little fish may have been bred in the Solway. If so, it is a matter of 
considerable interest to ichthyologists. Although it is improbable that 
