The Annals of Scottish Natural History Yearly Since 1904, up to About Nine Hundred and Twenty
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The Annals OF Scottish Natural History A QUARTERLY MAGAZINE WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED Cfje EDITED BY J. A. HARVIE-BROWN, F.R.S.E., F.Z.S. MEMBER OF THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION JAMES W. H. TRAIL, M.A., M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S. PROFESSOR OF BOTANY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN AND WILLIAM EAGLE CLARKE, F.L.S., F.R.S.E. KEEPER OF THE NATURAL HISTORY DEPARTMENT, THE ROYAL SCOTTISH MUSEUM, EDINBURGH IQIO EDINBURGH DAVID DOUGLAS, CASTLE STREET LONDON: R. H. PORTER, 7 PRINCES ST., CAVENDISH SQUARE The Annals of Scottish Natural History NO. 73] 1910 [JANUARY WHALING IN SCOTLAND FOR 1909. By R. C. HALDANE, F.S.A. (Scot.). THE only return I have got this year is from Herr Carl Herlofsen of the Bunaveneader station, Harris. I am sorry to say that he writes that the Sperm cow-whale reported in was a mistake it should have to have been caught 1905 ; been marked as a bull instead of a cow. This, to me, is that cow disappointing, as it just leaves us where we were, Sperms do not come to northern latitudes. Where do they bulls driven some stay, and why are the young by impulse to see the world ? The bulls got off the Scottish coast are invariably small, seldom exceeding 58 feet in length, the of feet in and largest being the Norrona bull 68 got 1903, the Bunaveneader bull of the same size in 1906. Judging from what Beale says, I fancy the big bulls keep with the cows, and the young bulls travel for some reason of their own, and get into colder and more invigorating latitudes. The results of the whaling from Bunaveneader station are, as usual, very interesting from the variety of whales got there : feet. B. sibbaldii . 17 bulls, averaging 72.9 Do. 13 cows, ,, 68.2 B. musculus . 54 bulls, ,, 58.7 ,, Do. 59 cows, 57.8 73 B o o /i (\ 2 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY B. borealis . 44 bulls, averaging 43.25 feet. Do. 12 cows, 43 Megaptera . 4 bulls, ,, 42 ,, Do. i cow, 41 B. biscayensis . 9 bulls, ,, 44 ,, Do. 13 cows, 45.8 ,, P. macrocephalus . 7 bulls, ,, 47-2 ,, The B. sibbaldii included some enormous ones bulls of 85, 85, and 82 feet long, and a cow of 81 feet. The largest Sperm Whale was 49 feet. The B. musculus had bulls 76, 74, 74, 72 feet, and cows 71, 70, 70, 70 feet. The two largest biscayensis were of 5 i feet each. In one of the Sperm Whales there was a small quantity of ambergris, which sold for over ^200. The Shetland stations are unwilling to give information, partly on account of the trouble it causes, and partly on account of the annoyance they have had from those who have tried to get up agitation against them on behalf of the herring fishers by distorting facts or inventing libels. I did not hear of anything of great interest being brought ashore in Shetland except three Megaptera at Olna station. The other three stations only got B. mnsculus and B. borealis. Whales do not seem to be decreasing in numbers, but are said to be shyer and not so easily approached. The cold and stormy season was against whaling and all other fishing. ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE EASTERN PIED CHAT (SAXICOLA PLESCHANKA) IN SCOTLAND A NEW BRITISH BIRD. By EVELYN V. BAXTER and LEONORA JEFFREY RINTOUL. PLATE I. ON October I9th, 1909, we were engaged in migration work on the Isle of May, and on that particular day we were rather inclined to be in a desponding frame of mind, as the wind which had been light off the East for one day before, ANN. SCOT. NAT. HIST., 1910. PLATE I. w o CO X OCCURRENCE OF THE EASTERN PIED CHAT IN SCOTLAND 3 into the and we had had gone back West again ; always found that the West wind brought us few treasures. How- ever we did our usual rounds without seeing anything unusual till noon, when, among the rocks on the East side, we put up a Chat, which we at once decided was not a Common Wheatear. It was considerably darker than S. cenantke, looked smaller, and seemed to show less white on the when it flew it was restless and rather patch rump ; wild, flitting from one rock to another in a hurried manner. Then began a most exciting chase, up and down the steep de- clivities and among broken jagged rocks until, at last, a lucky shot laid the quarry low. On picking it up, we found that had a bird unknown to us nor did Saunders's we got quite ; " " Manual and various other books help us, for we could find no description which corresponded with it. Full of high hopes we consigned it to Mr. Eagle Clarke at the Royal Scottish Museum, to whom it also presented difficulties (added to by the fact that the bird was a female in autumn plumage), and being uncertain of its identity owing to want of adequate material with which to compare it, he sent the bird to Dr. Hartert at Tring, and to our great satisfaction our capture was pronounced by him to be a bird new to the British List, being the Eastern Pied Chat, Saxicola plescJianka (the .$. uwrio of some authors), but of the white-throated form usually considered a distinct species, the 5. vittata of Hemprich and Ehrenberg, now considered by Dr. Hartert to be merely a variety of vS. plescJianka, The usual habitat of this species, according to Dresser, is Eastern Europe (Cyprus, Crimea, Lower Volga), east to Kashmir, S.E. Siberia, and N. China in Tibet, Mongolia, ; wintering India, Abyssinia, and Arabia. It has also occurred in Italy and Heligoland. Our to be a female it is inches in specimen proved ; 5.7 length, wing 3.6 inches. Head dull greyish-brown with faint indications of streaks bufifish-white darker ; eye-streak ; ear-coverts brownish-black, much streaked with greyish- brown mantle feather with ; black, each broadly margined at the and tail greyish-brown, lighter tips ; rump upper coverts white central of tail feathers black with basal ; pair third white, remaining tail feathers white broadly tipped with the so than the inner black, outer ones more ; primaries, 4 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY secondaries, and wing-coverts blackish-brown with narrow brown sides of the neck pale margins ; white tinged with buff ; throat and centre of abdomen white chest warm ; buff; flanks and under tail-coverts pale buff; axillaries black under with ; wing-coverts black, paler edges ; eyes, bill, feet, and toes black. BIRD NOTES FROM THE ISLE OF MAY -AUTUMN 1909. By LEONORA JEFFREY RINTOUL AND EVELYN V. BAXTER. THIS autumn (1909) we again returned to the Isle of May, spending six weeks there from I3th September to 28th October. During our stay on the island we saw 91 species of birds, in spite of the fact that for a large part of the time the weather conditions were very unfavourable for migration observations. The first fortnight was characterised by the prevalence of light easterly winds, and many interesting birds put in an appearance, though there were no great numbers of any one kind. We landed on the island about 2 p.m. on I 3th September and at once set out to see what birds were present. We found few kinds, but among them was a Barred Warbler a and a Scarlet (S. nisoria) , Blackcap (S. atricapilla} $ , Grosbeak (C. erythinus] ?. This was an encouraging beginning, and by next day a Whinchat (P. rubetra], a Bluethroat (C. sueciai] a bird of the year, a Pied Flycatcher (M. atricapilla}, and a White Wagtail (M. alba}, had arrived. We also saw a Whimbrel (N. pluzopus], which species we saw every day till 25th September, one to three birds at a time. The i 5th was a very poor day, but on the i6th we saw several Lesser Whitethroats (S. curruca) and a Yellow- browed W^arbler (P. superciliosus), the latter in the lighthouse garden. It was an extremely restless little bird, flitting here and there and uttering its curious note, a loud ringing "pee," audible a long way off; it was an extraordinarily strong note for so small a bird. In the afternoon a Great BIRD NOTES FROM THE ISLE OF MAY AUTUMN 1909 5 it and Spotted Woodpecker (D. major} appeared ; hopped flapped clumsily from one grassy mound to another, feeding on the red ants which abound there. Next morning we put up a very wild Bluethroat in one of the gardens, saw several Redstarts (R. phcenicurus}, a female Blackcap, several Garden Warblers (S. salicaria), and a Lesser White- throat. The first Brambling (F. montifringilla) of the season was observed and several Pied Flycatchers had come in. On the 1 8th September there were more Blackcaps, all with the chestnut head, a Chiff-chaff (P. collybita), a Spotted Flycatcher (M. grisola], and a Pied flycatcher. Quantities of Swallows (//. rustica) and House-martins (C. urbicd) were circling round above the island, or sitting in rows on the wires this is the time long telephone ; only we have seen any great numbers of these birds on the island. By next morning almost all the Hirundina; had left, and the only new species that had come in was a Stonechat (P. rubicola). The 2Oth brought nothing of special interest, except that we procured a specimen of the Greater Wheatear (S. cenanthe leucorrhod] with a wing measurement of 105 millimetres. On the 2ist a Missel- thrush (T.