PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATURAL HISTOEY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW VOL. 11. 1869-1875. GLASGOW: PUBLLSHED BY THE SOCIETY AT THEIR ROOMS IN ANDERSON'S UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS 18 7 6. CONTENTS. Vol. II.— Sept. 1869, to May 1875. Pagk Acanthocinus aeclilis, Mr John Young on, ------ 1 Address, Annual, Oct. 1871, by Professor John Young, M.D,, T.G S., 167 Adelanthus carringtoni, a Jungermannia new to Science, Dr Stirton on, 18 Agelena hriuinea, Egg-bag of, from Eannoch, Mr P. Cameron, jun., on, 183 Alcyonella, On a Fresh -water Polyzoon belonging to the genus, by Mr John Young, F.G.S., --------- 2 Amphipoda and Isopoda from Gourock, Dr John Grieve, M.A., on, - 23 Anaphe reticulata, Compound Cocoon of, Mr Thomas Chapman on, - 295 Ancient River Course at Auchinlea, Parish of Shotts, On an, by Mr James S. Dixon, ---------- 151 A ncylus lacustris, Mr John Young on, - - - - - -165 Aphis radicis, Mr P. Cameron, jun., on, ._--_- 246 Archaeocidaris, a Carboniferous Echinoderm, with overlapping Plates, Notes on, by Mr John Young, - - - - - - -225 Auk, Little {Mergulus melanoleucos) , Mr Robert Gray, F.R.S.E.. on the, 179 Auk, Little, Mr James Lumsden on the, - - - - - -246 Bat, Barbastelle {Barhastellus communis), Mr E. R. Alston, F.Z.S., and Mr Robert Gray on the, - - 63 Bellerophon and Porcellia, Notes on the Genera of the Extinct Fossil Shells, by Mr John Young, --------16 Birds and Eggs from Shetland, Mr George E. Paterson on, - - - 258 Birds' Eggs and Skins, On a Collection of North American, formed principally by Rev. C. M. Jones, by Mr J. A. Harvie-Brown, M.B.O.U., cor. mem., - - - - 264 Birds' Eggs from Iceland, Mr Robert Gray on, - - - - -184 Birds found Breeding in Sutherlandshire, On the, by Mr J. A, Harvie-Brown, -------__. 69 Birds frequenting Possil Marsh, The, by Mr James S. Dixon, - - 160 Birds from Australia and New Zealand, Mr Robert Gray on, - -. 244 Birds from Normandy, Mr George E. Paterson on, - - - - 195 Birds, On the Anatomical Structure of the Wings of, by Dr David N. Knox, .--.-----.- 324 Bittern, Little (Botaurus minutus), Mr James Thomson on the, - - 166 a 2 39TS4 VI CONTENTS. Page Brachibpoda from Silurian Strata, Girvan, Mr John Young on, - - 21 Bustard, Little {Otis Utrax), Mr J. A. Harvie-Brown on the, - - 241 Calamites, Mr John Young on, - - -154 Canoe, Notes on the Discovery of an Ancient, near Kirkintilloch, by Mr James S. Dixon, ------.--65 Capelin, Little {Mallotus villosus [?]), Mr John Young on the, - - 159 Capercaillie in Scotland, On the present Distribution of the, by Mr Robert Gray, ----------10 Carboniferous Fossils from Brankumhall, East Kilbride, Mr James Coutts on, ----------- 294 Carboniferous Limestone Fossils from Trearne, Mr John Young on, - 197 Carboniferous Limestone Strata, On a Section of Lower, at Campsie, by Mr John Young, - - - - - - - - - 219 Carboniferous MoUusca from Hairmyres, Mr John Young on, - - 254 Carboniferous Polyzoons, Glaiiconome, and other Genera of, Mr John Young on, - - - - - - - - - -.- 257 Carboniferous Polyzoa from Dykehead Pit, High Blantyre, Mr John Young on, -.-.-..-... 344 Carboniferous Strata, Kemarks on the Parallelism of the Scottish and North Irish, by Mr John Young, -135 Cats, Professor John Young on, - - - - - - - - 67 Chough [Fregilus graculus) Mr James Lumsden on the, - - - 224 Cladodus mirabilis from Beith, Professor John Young on, - - 214 Clay-beds at Houston, On the Post-tertiary, by Mr James Coutts, - 336 Clay-beds at Kilchattan, Bute, On the Post-tertiary, by Mr Jas. Coutts, 33 Coal-fields in the Neighbourhood of Irvine, Sketch of the, by Mr Adam Sutherland, cor. mem., - - - -- - - - -154 Coleojitera, Mr James J. King on, ---___- 254 Coleoptera of Eannoch, On the, by Mr P. Cameron, jun., - - - 183 Coleoptera from Clyde District, Mr James J. King on, - - - 217 Colorado Beetle {Doryphora decemlineata), Mr Thomas Chapman on the, 344 Colorado Beetle, Mr D. C. Glen, F.G.S., on the, .... 344 Constitution llevised. May 27th, 1873, - - - - - 220, 347 Crane, Balearic {Grus pavonina), Mr Robert Gray on the, - - - 178 Crinoid Remains from Silurian Strata, Girvan, Mr John Young on, - 216 Craesus, On the British Species of the Genus, by Mr Peter Cameron, jun., 300 Crossbill, Common (Xoxia c«mrosfra), Dr Dewar on the, - - - 253 Crow, Hooded (Corrus corn?'aj), Mr John Gilmour on the, - - - 18 Crow, Hooded, Rev. James E. Somerville, B,D., on the, - - - 33 Cuttle-fish (Elcdone octopodia], Rev. James E. Somerville on the, - 4 Cynipidae and Tenthredinidae, Mr P. Cameron, jun., on, _ . . 244 Cypris laevis and its habit of perforating the Loaves of Victoria rcjin, Notes on, by Mr D. Robertson, F.L.S., F.G.S., . . - - 7 Danais ckrysippus and its Food Plant Asclcpias yijantea, On, by Rev. James E. Somerville, - - - - _ ... 18 CONTENTS. Vll Pagk Darkness in the Daytime, Professor John Young on, - - - - 224 Diduncidus strigirostris, Dr Allen Thomson on, ----- 68 Diver, Eed-throated {Colynibus septentrionalis), Nest of the, Mr James Lumsden on the, --._.-.-- 224 Dotterell {Charadrius morincllus), On the Nesting of the, in Scotland, by Mr J. A. Harvie-Brown, - - - - - - -237 Dredging Notes from the Bay of Rothesay, by Dr John Grieve, - - 45 Eagle, Golden {Aquila chrysdetos), Eggs of the, Dr Dewar on, - - 185 Eagle, Sea {Hcdiaetus alhicilla), Dr Dewar on the, _ - - - 253 Echinus sphaera, On the Eeproduction of the Spines of, by Mr D. Robertson, - - - - - - - - - - -217 Elephant's Tooth from Glenmoidart, Dr William Macewan on an, - 263 Elk (Alces malchis), On the Existence of the, in Scotland, by Professor John Young, -_-----__- 176 Ermine in Bute, Mr John Kirsop on the, - - - - - -186 Estheria punctatella, Mr John Young on, ------ 159 Feilden, Captain H. W., appointed one of the NaturaHsts of the New Arctic Expedition, Dr Yoimg on, ------- 302 Fieldfare [Tardus pilaris), On the Nesting of the, in Great Britain, by Mr W. C. Angus, cor. mem., ------- 177 Flycatcher, Pied {Muscicapa atricapilla), Mr James Lumsden on the, - 192 Formica nigra, Mr P. Cameron, jun., on, - -- _ _ -246 Francolin, Common {Francolinus vulgaris), Mr Robert Gray on the, - 184 Galls from Quercus infectoria, Mr James Ramsay on, ----- 288 Gaur or Indian Bison {Gavoeus gaurus), On the, by Capt. H. "W. Feilden, cor. mem., ----_.---__ 19 GelecMa cerealella, Mr P. Cameron, jun,, on, ----- 343 Glacial Clays at Cartsdyke, Mr John Young on the, - - - - 67 Glauconome and other Genera of Carboniferous Polyzoons, Mr John Young on, - - - - - - - - - - -257 Glauconome, Notes on New Species of, from Carboniferous Limestone Strata of the West of Scotland, by Professor John Young and Mr John Young, ---------- 325 Goose, Egyptian {Anser egyptiacus), Mr Robert Gray on the, - - 242 Goose, Pink-footed [Anser brachyrhynckus), Mr G. E. Paterson on the, 2 zi5 Goshawk {A shir atricapillus), Mr Robert Gray on the, - - - 6 Graham, Henry D., the Death of, Mr Robert Gray on, - - - 245 Graptohtes from the Silurian Strata of the Girvan Valley, Mr John Young on, -----_----. 182 Grouse, Black, and Capercaillie, Hybrid between the, Mr J. Lumsden on a, 195 Grouse, Common [Lagopas scoticus), and Black Grouse {Tetrao tetrix). Hybrid between the, Mr James Lumsden on a, - - - - 263 Gull, Glaucous {Larus glaucus), Mr Robert Gray on the, - - 188, 213 Gull, Glaucous, Dr Dewar on the, - 289 Vlll ' CONTENTS. Page Gull, Iceland (Larus leucopterus) , On the occurrence of the, in the Estuary of the Forth, during the Winter of 1872-73, by Mr J. A. Harvie-Brown, - - - - - - - - - -210 Gull, Ivor}^ Larus ebtirneus, Mr Eobert Gray on the, - - - 209 Gull, Little [Larus minutus), Mr Robert Gray on the, . _ _ 7 Gulls in the Forth, Abundance of, in the Winter of 1871-72, - - 180 Gulls at present frequenting the Estuary of the Forth, On the, by Mr Robert Gray, - - - - - - - - - - 198 Harrier, Hen {Circus cyaneus), Mr James Lumsden on the, - - 289 Hawk, Sparrow {Accipiter nisus), Mr George E. Paterson on the, - 251 Hebrides, Outer, Journal of a Tour through the, in 1870, by Captain H. W. Feilden, - - - - - 58 Human Foetus, Abnormal Specimen of a, Dr Knox on an, - - - 335 Hymenoptera observed in Inverness-shire, Notes on, by Mr P. Cameron, jun., ___ 290 Hymenoptera, On some new or little known British, by Mr P. Cameron, jun., ----__---_ 304 Insects, Development of. On the, by Professor John Young, - - 260 Insects from Batavia, Mr T. Chapman on, - - - - - -181 Insects from Port Natal, Mr T. Chapman on, - - - - - 154 Insects from the Neighbourhood of Glasgow, Mr P. Cameron, jun., on, 209 King Crab (Limulus polyphemus), Mr John Gilmour oil the, - - - 6 King Crab, Mr John Young on the, - - - - - - -243 King Crab, Professor John Young on the, - - - - - -244 Lark, Shore (^ ^aitc^a a?j9cs^m), Mr Robert Gray on the, - - - 10 Lepidoptera from Manilla, Mr T. Chapman on, ----- 289 Lepidoptera from North-East Australia, Mr T. Chapman on, - - 303 Lepidoptera from Rannoch, Mr James J. King on, . - - . 225 Leptacanthus jenklnsoni, ^Ir John Young on, - _ - - - 159 Lichens collected by Mr George Thomson at Fernando Po, and by Mr Grant at Bonny River, Dr James Stirton on, - - - - - 343 Limnaea stagnalis from Possil Marsh, Mr John Young on, - - 165 Magnetic Iron Sand from Bute, Mr John Young on, - - - - 216 Mammals and Reptiles of Sutherlandshire, On the, by Messrs Edward R. Alston and J. A. Harvie-Brown, - - - - - -138 Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, U.S., On the Blind Fauna inhabiting the, by Mr Archibald Robertson, 264 Manx Shearwater [Puffinus avylorum), Mr Robert Gray on the, - - 60 Marine B'ish-pond at Port Logan, Wigtownshire, On a Visit to, by Mr E. A. Wunsch, F.G.S., - - . - 247 Marten, Pine (il/a?*^es a6«e< Mm), Mr James Lumsden on the, - - 213 Mdanippe hastata, Mr T. Chapman on, - - - - -157 CONTENTS. IX Page Melobesia agarisiformis, Mr U. Eobertson on, - - - - - 289 Minerals, the Lanfine Collection of, presented to the Hunterian Museum, Mr John Young on, - - - 244 Mole {Ta^pa europoea), Mr Edward R. Alston on the, - . - - 68 Mosses from New Zealand, collected by Mr John Buchanan, Dr Stirton on, ----------- 187 Mull, Fossils from the Leaf-beds of, Dr John Grieve and Mr J. A. Mahony on a series of, --------- 22 Museums, Local, Dr Grierson of Thornhill on, - - - - -197 NapoJeona, a Genus of Exogenous Shrubs, Mr Coutts on, - - - 256 Natural History as a Branch of Education, On the Claims of, by Mr J. W. Allan, ----------- 11 Nematus consohrinus, Mr P. Cameron, jun., on, ----- 336 Nematus, Description of a New Species of, from Scotland, by Mr P. Cameron, jun , ---------- 260 Nematus femoralis, On the Habits of, by Mr P. Cameron, jun., - - 295 New Zealand Birds, Remarks on the Eggs of some, collected by Mr J. R. Cook in 1872, by Mr J. A. Harvie-Brown, - - - - 232 Niptus hololcucus, On, by Mr P. Cameron, jun., 302 North American Birds' Eggs and Skins, On a Collection of, formed principally by Rev. C. M. Jones, Conn., U.S., by Mr J. A. Harvie- Brown, ----- 264 Nuthatch {Sitta caesia), Mr Robert Gray on the, ----- 221 Ornithological Notes from Ross-shire, by Mr John Bateson, Gairloch, - 182 Orj!onm ca?'6o?earia, Mr John Young on, - - - - - - 223 Owl, Eagle {Bubo maximus), in Perthshire, Note on the occurrence of the, by Mr M'Lay, Inverness, communicated by Mr Robert Gray, - 214 Owl, Snowy {Surnia nyctea), Live Specimens of the, shown by Dr Dewar, 176 Owl, Snowy, Mr James Thomson on the, ------ 242 Oyster-catcher {Hoematopus ostraleyus), Mr George E. Paterson on the, 254 Pagurus prideauxii, Mr D, Robertson on, ------ 33 Palaeoniscus wardi, Professor John Young on, . . . - . QQ Parks, Vegetation in the Public, during Jan. 1875, as compared with Jan. 1874, Notes on, by Mr D. M'Lellan, ----- 324 Pecten maximus from Clay-beds at Fairlie, Mr E. A. Wiinsch on, - 247 Phalarope, Grey (Pkalaropus lohatus), Mr John Bell on the, - - 135 Phalarope, Red-necked (Pkalaropus hypcrloreus), Mr Robert Gray on the, 63 Pheasant, Common {Pkasianus colchicics), Note on the Velocity of the Flight of the, by Mr James Lumsden, - - - - - - 213 Pheasant, Diard's (Pkasianus versicolor) Mr John Gilmour on, _ - 6 Pheasant, Diard's, Mr Robert Gray on, - - - - - - 166 Pkyllotoma, A Monographic Revision of the British Species of, by Mr P. Cameron, jun., - - - - - - - - -315 Plantago lanceolata, an Abnormal Specimen of, Mr Robert Mason on, 260 X CONTENTS. Page Plants in Flower on 1st Feb. 1874, Mr D. M'Lellan on, - - - 246 Plants in Flower in Jan. 1874, Mr J. B. Murdoch on, - - - - 251 Plant Remains, Fossil, from the Kilpatrick Hills, Mr John Young on, 196 Plant Eemaius, Fossil, from the Kilpatrick Hills, Mr Coutts on, - 29 Plants, Rare British, from the vicinity of Glasgow, Mr James Ramsay on, 3 Plearobranchus plumula, Notes on, by Mr D. Robertson, _ _ . 32 Phyllodoqe lamelli7igera, Mr D. Robertson on, ----- 342 Polyzoa from the Arctic Shell-bed at Cartsdyke, Greenock, Mr John Young on, - - - - - - - - - - - 61, 67 Polyzoa from the Carboniferous Limestone Shales, Mr John Young on, 244 Polyzoa Carboniferous, Professor John Young on, - - - - 252 Possil Marsh, Protection of, - - - - - - - -253 Post-pliocene Clay from Norway, Mr D. Robertson on, - - - 176 Post-tertiary Fossils, Observations on a mode of identifying certain, by Mr D. Robertson, -.-__•---- 3 Powan, The {Petromyzon fluviatilis), and its mode of Preying on Coregonus clupeoides, by Mr D. Robertson, - - - - - 61 Productus longispinus, Mr John Young on, - - - - - - 4 Ptarmigan {Tetrao lagopus), Mr A. H. Dennistoun, jun., on the, - - 68 Rail, AYater {Rallus aquaticus), Eggs of the, Mr Robert Gray on the, - 186 Rail, Water, Eggs of the, Dr Dewar on the, ------ 253 Razor-bill (Alca torda), Mortality amongst the, in the Winter of 1871-72, Mr James Lumsden on the, - - - - -- - -181 Reindeer {Cervus tarandus), now extinct in the British Isles, On a Specimen of the lower portion of the Horn of the, by Mr John Young, -.------•--- 5 Rook, Malformation of the Bill of a, Mr Robert Gray on, - - - 17 Sandpiper, Purple, {Tringa maritima), Mr J. A. Harvie-Erown on the, - 64 Sandpipers from Lake Ontario, Mr T. M'llwraith of Hamilton, Ont., on, 196 Science -teaching, On the Improvement and Extension of, by Professor John Young, - - - - - - - -167 Scouler, Dr, Professor John Young on the Death of, - - - - 175 Sea Anemones of the Shores of the Cumbraes, On the, by Mr D. Robertson, -----------24 Secretaryship of the Society, Resignation of the, by Mr Robert Gray, - 156 Sheep, Four-horned, of St Kilda, Mr William Johnston on the, - - 194 Shell-mounds at the Machar Grogary, in South Uist, On, by Mr James A. Mahony, ----- 24 Shell-mounds of the Outer Hebrides, Notes on the, by Mr Robert Gray, 64 Shells and Corals from the Indian Ocean, Mr John Kirsop on, - - 259 Shells, Small, Recent Land and Fresh-water, from Hairmyres, East Kilbride, Mr D. Robertson and Mr John Y^'oung on, - - - 252 Shells, Parallel Forms found in Genera of, of various Degrees of Attinity, Professor John Young on,- - - - - - - -158 CONTENTS. XI Page Shrike, Great Grey {Lanius excuhitor), and Northern Shrike {L. horealis). Remarks on the, by Mr Robert Gray, - 157 Silurian Fossils from the Girvan Valley, collected by Mrs Robert Gray, Mr John Young on, --__-___- 166 Snipe, Brown {MacrorJiamphus griseus), Mr Robert Gray on the, - - 7 Societies with which Exchanges are made, List of, - - - . - 355 Sparrow, Tree [Passer montanus), Mr John Jameson on the, - - 57 Spirals found in Fir Cones, Professor Dickson on, - - - - 155 Spirals in the Phyllotaxy of Vegetables, Remarks on the Simpler, by Mr James Ramsay, - - - - - - - - -158 Star Fishes from Girvan, Mr Robert Gray on, - - - - - 17 Stenotheca from Silurian Rocks, Girvan, Professor John Young on, - 223 Stint, Temminck's (Tringa temminclcii), Mr Robert Gray on, - - 164 Sutherlandshire, On the Birds found Breeding in, by Mr J. A. Harvie- Brown, _---_-_---_ 69 Sutherlandshire, On the Mammals and Reptiles of, by Messrs Edward R. Alston and J. A. Harvie-Brown, 138 Swan, Bewick's {Cygnus heioichii), Mr Robert Gray on, - - - 150 Tattler, Green-rumped [Totanus cMoropygius), Mr Robert Gray on the, 7 Tench {Cyprinus tinea), Professor John Young on the, - - - 67 Tenthredinidae hitherto unrecorded in Britain, Mr P. Cameron, jun., on, 261 Tern, Black {Sterna fissipes), Mr Edward R. Alston on the, - - - 63 Tertiary Shells from New Zealand, Mr John Young on, - - - 194 Tit, Marsh {Parus palustris), Mr James Lumsden on the, - - - 181 Tit Marsh, Mr Robert Gray on the, ------- 216 Trearne Quarry, Beith, Crinoids from, Mr John Young on, . - - 262 TricMosoma sorhi and other Species, Mr Peter Cameron on, - - - 303 Trilobites from Silurian Strata of Girvan Valley, Mr John Young on, - 179 Trout, Tailless, from Islay, Mr G. Martin, jun., on the, - - - 179 Turkey, Brush {Talegalla lathami), Dr Dewar on the, - - - - 150 Turkey, Wild {Meleagris gallipavo), On the Introduction of the, into Argyllshire, by Mr John Gilmour, - - - - - 11,189 Urania ripheus and other Species of the Genus, Mr T. Chapman on, - 222 Vegetation in the Public Parks during Jan. 1875, as compared with Jan. 1874, Notes on, by Mr D. M'Lellan, ----- 324 Vegetation, Notes on the Injury done to, by the severe Frost of the 17th May 1871, by Mr James Ramsay, -.--.- 169 Venilia macularia, Mr T. Chapman on, - - - - - - 17 Vole, Water {Arvicola amphihius], Albino varieties of the, Mr James Lumsden on, ---_---.-_ 251 Warbler, Blue-throated (Cyanecula suecica), Mr Robert Gray on the, - 192 Wasps, Social, found near Glasgow, Mr P. Cameron, jun., on the, - 259 XU CONTENTS. Pagb Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola), Nesting in Scotland, On the, by Mr James Lumsden, ---------- 188 Woodcock Nesting at Ardlamont, Mr John Gihnour on the, - - 189 Woodpecker, Great Spotted [Pic us major), Mr James Lumsden on the, 176 Wood Pigeon (Columba palumbus), On the Natural History of the, with Remarks on its Extraordinary Increase of late years throughout the Agricultural Districts of Scotland, by Mr Robert Gray, - - 39 Wood Pigeon, Notes on the Food of the, by Lord Binning (Earl of Haddington), - - _ - - 39 Wryneck (Yunx torquilla), Mr Robert Gray on the, - - - - 179 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATURAL HISTOEY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. siESsroisr 1S69-70. THE EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, ANDERSON'S UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS, SEPTEMBER 28th, 1869. Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S., Vice-President, in the chair. The Treasurer and Librarian submitted their Annual Reports, the accounts of the former shewing a balance in favour of the Society of £104 Os. 9-|-d. The following gentlemen were elected office- bearers for the session: — Professor John Young, M.D., F,G.S., Pre- sident; Professor Alexander Dickson, M.D., and David Robertson, F.G.S., Vice-Presidents; Robert Gray, Secretary; Thomas S. Hutcheson, Treasurer; James A. Mahony, Librarian; Hugh Colquhoun, M.D., Rev. James E. Somerville, B.D., Robert Mason, Thomas Chapman, James Stirton, M.D., John Alexander, Edward R. Alston, F.Z.S., and George Thomson, Members of Council. Mr R. J. Bennett was elected a resident member. SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. Mr John Young, F.G.S., exhibited two specimens of a longicorn beetle, Acanthocimis cedilis, captured under somewhat singular circumstances. One was found last m^onth in Rosebank pit, near Coatbridge, at a depth of 147 fathoms from the surface; the other was taken in one of the railway carriages on the Greenock line about a fortnight later. Both specimens have been presented to the Hunterian Museum, — the first, by Dr George Buchanan, Glasgow ; the second, by Mr Martin, Inspector of Poor, Kirkintilloch. This beetle possesses the longest antennae of any known British species, VOL. II. A 2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE these organs being upwards of four times the length of the body. It burrows under the bark of certain kinds of fir trees, and as far as yet ascertained, Perthshire seems to be the district where the greatest number of specimens has hitherto been obtained. Mr Young suggested that the specimen found in the pit may have been carried down with Avood in the egg or Larval state, and there hatched. The other specimen may also have been brought into the district amongst wood. Mr Thomas Chapman exhibited the living larvse with cocoons of Platysamia cecropia, a Xorth American silk moth, and gave some interesting observations on the habits of the species. Mr Eobert Gray exhibited a second specimen of the Spotted Sandpiper, (Totanus macularius), killed in Aberdeenshire in August 1867, and stated that this specimen is perhaps the third or fourth British example. PAPERS READ. I. — On a fresh water Polyzoon belonging to the genus Alcyonella^ discovered in St. Germain's Loch, near Maryhill, in August, 1869. By Mr John Young, F.G.S. Professor Allman of Edinburgh, who has described all the known British species of fresh-water Polyzoa, mentions but three species of Alcyonella as having been found in Britain, only one of which has hitherto been met with in Scotland, viz., A. fungosa. Examples of the species found by Mr Young in St. Germain's Loch having been forwarded to Professor Allman by Prof. Alexander Dickson, an opinion has been expressed that they belong to a new and undescribed species. Mr Young gave a description of the mode of occurrence and the habits of this beautiful organism, stating that he had found it growing in patches upon the bark, and clustered round the twigs of dead trees thrown into the water of the loch. Several specimens, which he had kept alive for three weeks, had afforded him an opportunity of watching their move- ments. The organisms when fully expanded gave the twigs on which they were clustered an appearance as if covered with tlie finest down of a pale yellowish- white colour. Their tentacles, which are numerous, are arranged somewhat in the form of a crescent- shaped fan -when seen in the expanded state through a glass. They seem to be sensitive to strong sun-liglit, and they flourish best when placed in a window with a northern exposure. On the NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 3 slightest motion of the twigs to which they are attached they suddenly withdraw themselves into -their tubes, but begin to creep out again after a few moments rest. $ II. — Observations on a mode of identifyinrj certain Post-tertiary fossils. By Mr David Robertson, F.G.S. The subject was fully illustrated by a carefully-prepared series of mounted specimens of the various parts of Echinoderms, and also of bones of fish, chiefly otolites. Professor Young then delivered a brief opening address, in the course of which he drew a comparison between geology at the beginning of the century, and biology at the present day. October 26th, 1869. Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S., President, in the chair. specimens exhibited. Mr James Ramsay exhibited a number of rare British plants, gathered by himself in the month of August last, at Muirhouses and Kelvinside, both localities in the immediate vicinity of Glasgow. The collection included specimens of the following : — FROM MUIRHOUSES. Centaurea CakitrajM, . . . Star Thistle, Cichorium Intyhus, Hordeum murinum, Sisymhrium Irio, . . Malva rotundifolia, Erysimum cheirantJioides Senehiera Coroncpus, . Melilotus parviflora, Trifolium resupin atum, Trifolium ochroleucum, Anthemis Cotula, . . Chicory. Wall Barley. London Rocket. Round-leaved Mallow. Treacle Mustard. Swine's Cress. Small-flowered Melilot. Reversed Trefoil. Suljjhur Trefoil. . Stinking Chamomile. FROM KELVINSIDE. Melilotus parviflora, . . . Small-flowered Melilot. Medicago falcoM, .... Sickle Medick. Anthemis arvensis, .... Corn Chamomile. Beta maritima, Sea Beet. 4 PROCEEDINGS OF THE Mr Thomas Chapman exhibited a book of original drawings of plants and insects inhabiting the island of Taboga in the Bay of Panama, and read descriptive notices of them by Dr Macdowall, corresponding member. Professor Young exliibited a series of fishes, including 19 species from Indian seas, being a portion of a valuable donation recently presented to the Hunterian Museum by Dr Allen Thomson. In this collection, Dr Young had found specimens varying in many of their characters from species already described. Mr Eobert Gray exhibited a specimen of the Little Stint (Tringa rainuta), sent by Mr W. C. Angus of Aberdeen, corresponding- member, who had observed flocks of this species annually near that city. Mr Gray also called attention to the following birds from the cabinet of Mr John A. Harvie Brown, corresponding member — Starling (albino), Yellow Hammer (melanoid variety), and Book (jjied 'variety). He also submitted to the inspection of the meeting a photograph of urns and bones, lately taken from several graves of ancient Britons discovered in Cumbrae, and read a short notice of them, sent by Mr John Levack, corresponding member. Mr John Young, F.G.S., exhibited an interesting example of Produdus longispinus (Sowerby), which he had discovered in a cavity of weathered Carboniferous limestone at Cunningham, Bedland, on the Bye water. Dairy. This specimen was so beautifully preserved that it showed in their natural position the long spines projecting in relief from the ventral valve as if it was a recent shell. Mr Younsr called attention to the fine state in which the Producti are found weathered out from the limestone in the above locality, and remarked upon the very gentle way in which the limestone strata must have accumulated and consolidated around the organisms, so as to preserve the spines in their natural position without break or fracture. The Kev. James Somerville exhibited a specimen of a species of Cuttle-fish, Elcdone octopodia, which had 'been captured a few weeks ago in Brodick Bay, and made some remarks on its structure and habits, at the close of which he handed the specimen to Dr Young as a donation to the Hunterian Museum. Mr Somerville also mentioned that, in the month of June last, he had found a rare plant, TrientaUs europcca, growing in Brodick Castle woods, near the side of the road leading to Goatfell. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 5 PAPER READ. On a specimen of the lower portion of the horn of the Reindeer (Cervus tarandus), now extinct in the British Islands. By Mr John Young, F.G.S. This interesting relic of an animal, which seems to have existed in Scotland from pre-glacial times down to a period as recent as the twelfth century, was found embedded in boulder-clay at Rae^s- gill, near Carluke, Lanarkshire, about the year 1849, during the open cast working of the clayband ironstone at that place. Since that time it has been in the possession of Mr William Grossart, Surgeon, Salsburgh, in the parish of Shotts, and it was by him recently presented to the Hunterian Museum. This is only the fourth recorded occurrence of the remains of Reindeer in the West of Scotland, and it appears to be equally rare in other parts of the country. The other three localities in which it has been found are — 1st, Kilmaurs, near Kilmarnock, where its remains were dis- covered in beds under the boulder-clay, and associated with those of the Mammoth. The stratum in which it occurred at this place was overlaid by another bed containing marine shells of Arctic species. 2nd, The valley of the Endrick, near Kilmaronock, where it was found with Arctic shells underlying the till; and 3d, in the silt of the river Clyde, nearly opposite Jordanhill. The Rae's-gill horn bears evident marks of transportation, and was probably derived from the denudation of strata more ancient than the boulder clay. Its whole surface is smooth, and its extremities are rounded. The striations on its surface also bear out the evidence of its having been obtained out of the till. These are generally in the direction of the longest axis of the horn, and in appearance they exactly correspond with the scratched and ice-worn stones of the till. The Librarian announced as a donation to the library. The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine, 3 Vols., from Dr Hugh Colquhoun. November 30th, 1869. Mr David Robertson, F.G.S., Vice-President, in the chair. Messrs John Young, jun., William MacEwan, CM., and James Lothian, were elected resident members. 6 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. Mr John Gilmour exhibited a remarkably fine specimen of the King Crab [Limulus polyphemus), whicli had been captured by him- self in Horn Island, Mississi^^pi Sound, Gulf of Mexico. The unusual size and formidable aspect of this specimen attracted considerable attention. Mr Gilmour also exhibited a beautiful specimen of Diard's Pheasant (Phasianus versicolor), which was shot in September last, near Kames, in the Kyles of Bute. Eeferring to this bird, Mr Gray stated, that it had now become established to some extent in various localities in the West of Scotland, and that there was a prospect of seeing other breeds of equal value and beauty intro- duced ere long into Ayrshire. Mr William Haddin exhibited a collection of ferns from Dunedin, New Zealand, including a number of interesting forms. Mr Eobert Gray exhibited a very fine Goshawk, which was shot on the flanks of Schiehallion, Perthshire, in 1868, corresponding in every particular with the species found in North America, which, since the time of Audubon, has been re-named Astur atricapillus, by the late Prince C. L. Bonaparte. As the American bird is larger than the European, and has been catalogued under a separate name by all recent writers on ornithology, with apparently good reason, the occurrence of this Perthshire specimen is a some- what important circumstance, being, in fact, an addition to the fauna of Europe. Mr Gray also exhibited a specimen of the Black-throated Diver (Colymbus arcticus), in the brilliant plumage of the breeding season, which had been captured in a salmon net at Girvan; and an unusually fine specimen of the Bird's-foot Sea-star (Palmipes mernhranaceus), which had been forwarded from Girvan by Mr Thomas Anderson, corresponding member. Mr James Coutts exhibited a live specimen of a Scorpion which had been captured in a timber yard in East Campbell Street,Glasgow. Tlie Librarian announced the following donations to the Library: Bell's British Quadrupeds, Travels on the' Amazon and Eio Negro, and Eecords of a Naturalist on the river Amazon, from Mr Gavin Miller. Bell's British Keptiles, from a member of Council. Proceedings of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, Vols. iii. and iv., and Part L of Vol. vii., from the Society. Hooker's Travels in Lapland, from Mr J. A. Mahony. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. December 28th, 1869. Mr David Robertson, F.G-.S., Vice-President, in the chair. The followins: 2;entlemen were elected members : — Messrs John Cook and Thomas Charles Young, M.A., as resident members, and Mr George S. Brady, C.M.Z.S., Sunderland, as a corresx^onding member. SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. Mr Robert Gray exhibited a specimen of the Brown Snipe (Macrorhamphus griseus, Gmelin),and a specimen of the Green-rumped Tatler {Totaniis c]iloTopygius,\\Q^Wot),MidL read a communication from Mr Francis jVI'Culloch, Taxidermist, Sauchiehall Street, giving satisfactory evidence of the birds having been shot in Lanarkshire. The Brown Snipe had occurred in Scotland before,but the Sandpiper had not previously been found in Europe. Mr Gray also exhibited a specimen of the Shoveler {Anas dypeata), a beautiful male, which was shot a few months ago, and forwarded by Mr William Lorrain; also an immature specimen of the Little Gull, which was shot in March last near Aberdeen, where a number of specimens of this rare bird have been obtained at various intervals. It would appear, indeed, that in its movements southwards this species passes along the coasts of Aberdeenshire almost every winter. Mr James Coutts exhibited a very pure albino of the Sky-lark, from Ballantrae, in Ayrshire. The specimen was quite spotless, and without the faintest trace of any tint on its plumage. The Rev. James Somerville, B.D., exhibited a skull of the Hog Deer (Bahjrussa alfurus), and made some remarks on the geographical distribution of this curious animal. PAPERS READ. I. — Notes on Cypris Icevis and its habit of perforating the leaves of Victoria regia. By Mr David Robertson, F.G.S. About the latter end of June last, Dr Colquhoun drew my attention to some small insects that were infesting the water in the tank containing the Lily, Victoria regia, in the Botanic Gardens, and which were thought might be connected with the destruction of some parts of the leaves of that plant. On looking into the tank great numbers of small animals were 8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE seen actively swimming in the water, but a few draws of a small net amongst the leaves revealed their enormous numbers, and proved them to be a little Ostracod, Cypris kevis, (Miiller). After a careful examination of the surface of one of the mutilated leaves, along with the contents of the net, no other animal was seen, with the exception of two minute insects, which left little doubt that if the plant was suffering from the attacks of animals in the water, they must be these Ostracoda that swarmed around it in such multitudes. On holding the leaf up between me and the light, I perceived that it was pierced like a sieve with very small holes, not all straight through, but obliquely. This will be seen in the specimen I now hand round, by holding it against the light, and slightly turning it from one angle to another, when at each change of position an additional batch of perforations comes into view, and when held at arm's length a still greater increase of punctures is seen. On a closer examination of these holes they were found to consist of different sizes, but the great majority were of the smallest size, and these appeared to be the most smooth, without any apparent change in the surrounding structure of the plant. The larger holes, on the other hand, had the tissues of the margins less or more altered, and, as they became larger, this change of texture became more visible. That the innumerable holes in the leaves are first made by Cypris Icevis, that swarms so abundantly in the water of the tank, is greatly strengthened by the fact that the newly made perforations correspond in size to the adult of that animal. On further examination I found three or four egg-like bodies agglutinated in the top of the holes, and these were in every case in the small smooth holes that had the appearance of having been lately perforated. By freeing a few of tliese egg-like bodies from their glutinous nidus, and subjecting them to the microscope, they were seen to be young Ostracoda, and so far as likeness to parent could be trusted at that age, there could be little doubt they were that of Cypris Icevis. Another conclusive fact given by ]\Ir Bullen, curator of the gardens, further confirms the statement that tlie plant suffia-cd greatly from these insects. He says that shortly after I had been with him in the month of June, these animals increased NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 9 excessively, and at the same time the Lily appeared to suffer more and more. Seeing that the plant was perishing, and that whatever ex- periments he might make to remove these pests in hope to give the plant a chance of life, he could not be chargeable with its destruction even should it die, he applied a little lime to the water in the tank, and in a very short time the insects had almost entirely disappeared. The plant, thus freed of its enemies, began at once to improve and regain its usual health. It may be asked upon what do these animals live ? According to Midler and Straus, the greater number of Entomostraca, if not parasitical, live on vegetable matter. Dr Baird calls this in question, and asserts from observation that the Cyprididse in particular seem to be most voraciously carnivorous, but this in no way affects the question, as these holes or burrows are obviously not made for food, but as a shelter and nidus to their young. If the increasing size of the holes were made by being nibbled away mechanically, we might expect to find some part at least of the abrasion raw, which close inspection failed to detect, but, on the contrary, the enlarging holes were surrounded by gangrenous- looking edges, which appeared to go on spreading from the first injured point. This little Crustacean, Cypris Icevis, is not uncommon in ditches and small patches of water, but I never saw them in such abundance in exposed situations as in the warm tank, which no doubt tends greatly to increase their numbers. In a hot-house at Millport, in a barrel kept with water for the plants, I found another Ostracod of the same genus in abundance, Cypris incongruens (Ramdohr). In another barrel outside the same building the same species was found, but not one for twenty that were in the barrel within the house, which was much warmer. Both these vessels were supplied with water from the same source, and that there were more Ostracoda of the same species in the one vessel than the other, I can only ascribe to the additional heat. There can be little doubt, if any, that in this case and most others these animals get in with the supply of water through the pipes. This suggests a remedy to prevent their entrance, which is, to let the water pass into the tanks through a sieve sufficiently 10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE fine to arrest the smallest of these animals; and as they do not leave the nidus till they are a considerable size, a wire sieve of from 80 to 100 wires to the inch would, I think, make sure work with the smallest of them, while open enough to allow a consider- able run of water to pass through with ease; and in this way it might be better to go in with the old proverb, "prevention is better than cure." The reading of this paper was followed by an interesting dis- cussion, in which Mr John Young, Mr James Eamsay, and several other members took part ; and at its close a cordial vote of thanks was tendered to Mr Robertson, for the care and painstaking with which he had conducted his researches. II. — 0}i the present distribution of the CapercaiUie in Scotland. By Mr Egbert Gray. Various localities were enumerated in which this " chieftain of the grouse tribe " had of late years become established in Scottish woods and forests, Perthshire and Forfarshire being looked upon as its principal strongholds. Stragglers, however, had been recently met with as far south as Galloway and Dumfriesshire, and it had occurred also at Auchengray moor, near Airdrie. These birds were probably wanderers from the woods of Sanquhar, where this species is known to have been introduced from the island of Arran a few years ago. The Librarian announced, as a donation to the Library, Dr T. Spencer Cobbold's work on Entozoa — An Introduction to the study of Helminthology, in two volumes, 18G4, and Supplement, 18G9, from Mr James Stewart. January 25th, 1870. Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S., President, in the chair. Mr James Beaumont was elected a resident member. SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. Mr Eobert Gray exhibited a specimen of the Shore Lark (Alaiida alpestris), which was shot near St. Andrews, on the first of the present month, and forwarded by E. J. AYardlaw Eamsay, Jun.,Esq., Lasswade. This species has liitheito been regarded as a very rare 'NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 11 Britisli bird, and in all the published works on the ornithology of this country, not more than perhaps a dozen British specimens have been enumerated. Within the last six or eight years, how- ever, Mr Gray had seen at least nine specimens that had been captured north of the Tweed, and he thought the Shore Lark would yet be found to be a tolerably regidar winter visitant to the eastern shores of Scotland. Although the head quarters of this species might be said to be North America, where it is widely distributed, from the table land of Mexico to the Fur Countries, extending its range as far as tlie shores of the Arctic Sea, it was doubtful if the small flocks which reached Scotland came from that part of the world. It had not indeed been satisfactorily settled whether the Shore Lark of North America and that of European countries are really identical. Mr Thomas Chapman exhibited two cases containing a number of specimens of Ceratommpa regalis and eight other species of interest, which had been brought alive to this country from North America in February last. PAPERS READ. I. — 0)1 the claims of Nahiral History as a hranch of Education. By Mr Jajies W. Allan. Li this paper the author advocated the teaching of Zoology and other branches of Natural History in schools, and also that they should occupy a more important place in the curriculum of all universities. At its close Professor Young made some lengthened remarks bearing on the different aspects of the question. IL — On the introduction of the Wild Tiirhey {Meleagris gallipavo) into Argyllshire. By Mr John Gilimour. The subject of acclimatization is one which interests nearly every one, but more especially the members of a Society such as this, and all the more when the object of that acclimatizing is one likely to prove useful as well as ornamental. I shall therefore take the liberty of reading a few remarks concerning " The Wild Turkey of North America," as seen nearer home, namely, in Argyllshire. In the summer of 18GG, a friend sent us three Wild Turkeys, one 12 PROCEEDINGS OF THE male and two females, caught in the woods near Sarnia, at the most southerly extremity of Lake Huron in Canada. They had been captured when quite young, and would be a little over two years old when they arrived in this country. They came home in one of our own ships and arrived in splendid order, having apparently thriven well on the sea- voyage. The different characters of the sexes were very marked, for while the cock tried all in his power to get a dab at you with his beak, or a dig at you with his long spur, the hens were of the most timid, shy, and retiring disposition; and while the cock strutted up and down behind the wooden bars of their house with feathers all set up and evidently in very irascible mood, the hens kept in the back ground, and by low chucks seemed to try to quiet their lord's excitement. Finding the cock too dangerous to trust with his liberty, we enclosed a run for them with wire, with a house for shelter at one end supplied with a roosting pole. That season the hens laid well, but being late in the year we did not set any eggs. The eggs are a shade smaller than the Common Turkey's eggs, and generally more distinctly marked, although the colouring varies greatly. We then, after the fall of the leaves, when we thought we could better keep our eye on them, let the birds out of confinement; the cock behaved very well for a short time, but fell into bad ways, and after he had decapitated several fowls of one kind and another, we were compelled to put him once more under lock and key. Next summer the hens laid splendidly, and we had a fine flock of about twenty young birds, brought out under common hens, of which seventeen reached maturity. These young birds, though thus domesticated, showed their wild nature thoroughly, and never would go under a roof, always roosting on the trees. A pair of these young birds was given to a gentleman in Argyllshire, with whom they have done very well, as he had seventeen young Wild Turkeys the first year. Another pair was given to a friend in Mid-Lothian, with whom they were not quite so successful, the situation not being so suitable and the birds more disturbed, but still I am glad to say they have done well enough to allow of the hope of some of their progeny being turned out next season in suitable coverts in Kinross-shire. A young cock of this flock (that of 1867), which we still have, and which has never been in NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 13 confinement, rivals liis j^arent in plumage, size, and almost in wildness; having a free run on the open, his magnificent bronzed feathers show in the sun to greater advantage even than those of the old bird. With these exceptions the rest of these birds were used for table, for which purpose they had to be shot, that being the only way to get hold of them. On the table some hold them to be more delicate than the Common Turkey, though they do not differ much from it; this may be owing to some extent to their being fed on Indian corn and Indian meal, the same as the rest of the poultry, and not depending altogether on wild food as they do in their native woods, where their flesh naturally has a slightly gamey flavour. A high precipitous rock, standing peculiarly on the level grounds beside the house, crowned on the summit with a dense growth of ivy and overshadowed by a tree, attracted the attention of one of the hens; and in the summer of 1868, the hens having been let out of confinement for a change, one of them nested in the very centre of this bunch of ivy. Her mode of getting upstairs was original, and displayed her wild cunning, for she first of all got into the tree, arid going along a branch that overhung the rock, let herself drop on to her nest; when on her nest not a vestige of her could be seen, and it was some time before her hiding-place was discovered. When the young birds came out the difficulty was to get them on to " terra firma," so the keeper climbed up and brought the little things safely down, but the old hen would not then look near them, and took off to the thicket like a wild thing; fearing the young birds would perish, the keeper managed to capture the hen and put the young birds in beside her, but she was so violent that she trampled several to death, and the covey was becoming beautifully less before she condescended to care for her reduced family. Our experience has been that during hatching time, since these birds are very wild, their nests should not be approached or dis- turbed in any way, otherwise the chances are they will forsake them. Besides the casualty above mentioned, the young birds seemed more difficult to rear, and our flock in 1868 was consequently a small one. This last season (1869), the hens were also allowed to be at large, but their first eggs were taken from them and set under common 14 PROCEEDINGS OF THE hens, and the result of these settings is about eight young birds reached maturity; but the Wild Turkey hens, their feelings evidently outraged, disappeared for a long time, when one was discovered on her nest, but nothing was seen of the other till both hens apj^eared with about a dozen chickens each. Though late birds, luckily our fine summer favoured them, and with only two or three deaths in each brood these careful mothers have brought O them all up safely, proving how much better nature manages these things than man even with all his appliances. These broods have been objects of great interest to us all the season, for though coming daily near the house to get their accustomed pick, the hens have kept them almost exclusively in the woods, bringing them on to the small grass paddocks at the edges of the coverts to enjoy the sunshine and feed on the insects, etc. While the young birds were thus busily engaged, the old hen would stand like a sentinel in the midst, her neck stretched to its full extent and her head turned sharply from side to side, while with her quick keen eye she watched, not only her brood, but also for any approaching danger. If you approached near, and there was not sufficient cover for her to hide in, she crouched almost level with the ground with her head and neck stretched out straight in front of her, and, at a warning chuck from her, the young ones disappeared as if by magic, and were by no means easy to discover in the tufts of grass, etc., in which they had taken refuge. We have, in shooting, several times come across these birds on the heather hill above the coverts, and several times beat them out of the woods; and though the joke is becoming a little old, it is no unusual thing for the beaters, after their usual cautionary cry of " mark," on any game rising, instead of the expected "woodcock," "hare," or "rabbit," to call out "wild turkey!" and it was only the other day that, in firing at a rabbit in the covert, it was found that I had shot a young Wild Turkey, so that if this goes on it will be necessary to get a new column added to the game-book. Our coverts being chiefly natural wood, such as birch and hazel, and for the most part unenclosed, are not so well adapted for these birds ; but in extensive enclosed woods I have no doubt they would do well, and I am happy to say that there is every chance of their being introduced into the fine old woods of Inveraray, where, if anywhere, they ought to succeed. I sliould consider that NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 15 with very mucli the same feeding as given to Pheasants they should thrive well, though I have been informed that Lord Ducie intro- duced them into his coverts in Gloucestershire, but found they drove off his Pheasants. If this be the case (and there is no doubt the cocks are very i^ugnacious) it will go greatly against their extensive introduction, more especially as, except as a mark for the pea-rifle, there can be but little sport got out of the Wild Turkey in our comparatively small woods. In comparing this bird with our own breeds of Norfolk and Cambridgeshire Turkeys, we find it to be of much the same size as the average of these birds; it stands higher on its legs than the domesticated bird, and is of far finer, or, as we might call it, more "gamey" shape; especially is this noticeable in the head, which is most symmetrical and very small, with a wonderful, bright, sharp eye. The legs are a dull red, and those of the males are furnished with most formidable spurs. The plumage of the cock is of the most perfect bronze colour, and when the sun shines on the bird his feathers fairly gleam again like a splendid coat of mail. From his breast hangs a handsome tassel of "hair," or hair-like feathers. The only feathers in the bird approaching dulness are those of the wing and tail, which are of a mottled brown and white. The plumage of the female is duller than that of the male, but differs in no other respect. These birds lay sixteen to twenty eggs before sitting, and take thirty-one days to hatch their eggs. Formerly they were very plentiful in Canada, west of Toronto, but now are becoming extremely rare, and are met with in the greatest numbers in some of the least settled of the Western and Southern States. Mr Gray mentioned, in reference to the Wild Turkey as catalogued by scientific ornithologists, that there are now supposed to be three different species of Meleagris, besides the M. ocellata of Honduras and other parts of Central America; namely, M. americana, which is probably peculiar to the eastern half of North America; M. mexicana of Gould, a species belonging to Mexico and extending along the table lands to the Eocky Mountains; and a third, the M. (jallii)avo of Linnaeus, our domesticated bird. This last species was perhaps originally indigenous to one or more of the West India islands, whence it was taken in a tamed state to various parts of North America, and thence to Europe about the year 1520. The domesticated 16 PROCEEDINGS OF THE bird differs from the nearly allied wild species in having a largely developed dewlap extending from the base of the under mandible down the fore part of the neck to its base. It cannot yet be said to be a settled question as to the precise original stock from which the valuable barndoor breeds have descended. III. — Notes on the genera of extiiict fossil shells, Bellerophon and Porcellia; their classification amongst the Molluscay and their distribution in the Silurian and Carhoniferous strata of the West of Scotland. By Mr John Young, RG.S. Mr Young stated that at one time this interesting group of shells had been placed by palaeontologists among the Cephalopoda, the highest division of the Mollusca, and regarded as fossil repre- sentatives of the recent Argonautidce, which possess a symmetrically coiled shell as in Bellerophon and Porcellia, but like them not chambered, as in the genus Nautilus. In the more recent classifi- cation of the Mollusca, Bellerophon and Porcellia are now placed among the Gasteropoda in that division termed the Nucleohranchiatcc, which consists of entirely pelagic animals, some having shells, others none, and, according to Woodward, swimming at the surface instead of creeping on the bed of the sea. Prof. Owen believes, however, that from the thickness of the shells in many of the species of Bellerophon, they may have been adapted to protect their owner while crawling over the sea bottom ; for it can scarcely be insisted, he says, that all were necessarily floaters on account of their organisation. In recent seas the extinct genera are represented by the genus Atlanta and the sub-genus Oxy gyrus. In palaeozoic times, the genus Bellerophon commenced its existence, so far as is known, in the lower Silurian period, and became extinct in the Carboniferous ; it is represented over the world by about seventy species, fourteen of which are found in Western Scotland, viz., four in the Silurian rocks of the Girvan valley, and ten in the Carbon- iferous limestone strata of the district around Glasgow : the most abundant and characteristic Carboniferous species being, B. Urii and B. decussatus, and their varieties. The rarer genus Porcellia ranges from the Devonian to the Triassic period ; ten species have been found, but only one of these, P. armata, has yet been discovered in the Glasgow district. natural history society of glasgow. 17 February 22d, 1870. Mr David Eobertson, F.G.S., Vice-President, in the chair. Mr Henry E. Clark was elected a resident member. SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. Mr Thomas Chapman exhibited specimens of Venilia macularia, which lie had captured in June last in the Pass of Leny, Perth- shire; and the Rev. James E. Somerville stated that he had taken the species in some numbers in Argyllshire, both at Loch Awe and Oban. Mr Robert Gray exhibited a small collection of Star-fishes which had been forwarded from Girvan by Mr Thomas Anderson, corresponding member. In this series, which showed the relative numbers found in deep water off that part of Ayrshire, there were specimens of Goniaster Templetoni and Asterias aurantiaca in equal numbers; Solaster endeca, which is a common species in some parts of the east coast, but is rather scarce in the west ; and Palmi])cs memhranaceiis, three specimens of which had previously been forwarded for exhibition by Mr Anderson, being probably the rarest of the Girvan Star-fishes. Mr Duncan M'Lellan exhibited monstrosities of the common Ash and Hawthorn, from the Queen's Park, the former shewing the twigs flattened like the horns of a reindeer; the latter having its branches tortuous like a cork-screw. Both specimens presented a very abnormal appearance. Mr Alexander Donaldson exhibited an example of malformation in the bill of a Rook, regarding which Mr Gray observed that the specimen possessed additional interest from the fact that it showed only a partial abrasion at the base of the bill, and that its growth had been arrested probably in consequence of the malformation. Drawings of others were exhibited by Mr Gray, from which it was seen that, when the mandibles were crossed to any extent, the deformity effectually prevented the bird from digging into the ground, as it is habitually known to do, and that, as a result, the nostrils, forehead, and chin were fully clothed with feathers like those of a Carrion Crow. In examples, however, where the upper mandible projected over the lower, even twice its length, the abrasion was found to be perfect like that seen in an ordinary specimen. This he explained on the ground that the prolonga- VOL. II. B 18 PROCEEDINGS OF THE tion of the mandible had taken place after the feathers had been denuded, and that this bareness became permanent on account of the bulbs, from which the feathers arise, having been destroyed and thus rendered unproductive. Mr John Gilmour exhibited an unusually dark specimen of the Hooded Crow (Corvus comix), which had the light space on the breast and shoulders very much clouded, giving the bird the appearance of a variety of the Carrion Crow (Corvus corone). Mr Gray was of opinion that these two birds are identical; no real difference existed except in the markings, and as these were known to vary, they could hardly be entitled to specific value. The two birds were also known to breed freely together, so that in the middle districts of Scotland, at least where this habit was the rule, it was impossible, on examining specimens, to say from what parentage they had sprung. Dr Stirton exhibited specimens of AdelantJms Carringtoni, a Jungermannia new to science, which he had found on Ben Lawers and in other places ; this moss had formerly been confounded with AUcularia compressa, from which, however, it differs not only in the colour and aerolation of the leaves, but also in their mode of attachment to the stem. It approaches much more closely AUcularia occlusa from Campbell's Island in the South Pacific; and as this last has been proved by Dr Carpenter to be an Adelanthus, it has been thought proper to refer this moss also to the same sub-genus. PAPER READ. On Danais chrijsijypus and its food plant Asclepias gigantea, with illustrative specimens from Upper Egypt. By the Rev. James E. SOMERVILLE, B.D. The author of this paper gave a very interesting account of this butterfly, from personal observations made during a three months' residence in Egypt, and also of the plants on which it is known to feed. He likewise described the peculiar properties of the Calotropis procera, or Asclepias gigantea of Linnaeus, a plant better known as the apple of Sodom, a beautiful series of which, in its various stages of growth, was exhibited by Mr Somerville in illustration of his remarks. natural history society of glasgow. 19 March 29th, 1870. Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S., President, in the chair. Mr James Lumsden and Mr David M. Lyle were elected resident members. Mr James A. Mahony, Librarian, who was leaving Glasgow to settle in Ireland, was elected a corresponding member. SPECIMENS exhibited. Mr Eobert Gray exhibited skulls of the male and female Gaur or Indian Bison {Gavceus gaurus, Jerd.), which had been forwarded by Capt. H. W. Feilden, 4th King's Own Royal Regiment, corresponding member, Mr Edward R. Alston, F.Z.S., read the subjoined remarks, j)repared by Capt. Feilden. In the introduction to Dr Jerdon's " Mammals of India," occurs the following : — " The magnificent Gaur, the Bison of sportsmen, abounds in the forests of Southern India, and extends more sparingly into Central India, as well as to Burmah and the Malay peninsula." This describes its habitat correctly and concisely. Sportsmen from the Bengal Presidency do not talk much of the Gaur; being a wood- land species, it is not found on the great plains of Bengal, Oude, Rohilcund, and the Punjaub, though it is said by Hodgeson to occur in the Terai, the jungle-belt that skirts the base of the Himmalayas. It must be rare there, however, for I have hunted in the Terai, and have never come across it. In the Bombay and Madras Presidencies, sportsmen are well acquainted with the Gaur, and from its exceeding shyness, esteem it highly as an object of chase. When wounded it is sometimes exceedingly fierce and dangerous, and requires all the skill and courage of the hunter to destroy it. The great Wynaad forest — the favourite elephant hunting-ground in the Madras Presidency — abounds with this species, and Col. W. Campbell's interesting book of sporting adventures in India contains most accurate descriptions of the appearance, habits, and chase of the Gaur. I will quote Jerdon's description: — "The skull is massive, the frontal large, deeply concave, surmounted by a large semi-cylindric crest rising above the base of the horns. There are thirteen pairs of ribs. The head is square, proportionally shorter than in the Ox; the bony frontal ridge is five inches above the frontal plane. The muzzle is large and full; the eyes small, with a full pupil of a pale blue colour. The whole of the head in front of the eyes is covered with a coat of close short hair of a light greyish-brown 20 PROCEEDINGS OF THE colour, which below the eye is darker, approaching almost to black. The muzzle is greyish, and the hair thick and short. The ears are broad and fan-shaped. The neck is sunk between the head and the back, and is short, thick, and heavy. Behind the neck, and immediately above the shoulder, rises a fleshy gibbosity or hump of the same height as the dorsal ridge. This ridge rises gradually as it goes backwards, and terminates suddenly about the middle of the back. The chest is broad, the shoulder deep and muscular, the fore-legs short, with the joints very short and strong, and the arm exceedingly large and muscular. The hair on the neck and breast and beneath, is longer than on the body, and the skin of the neck is somewhat loose, giving the appearance of a slight dewlap. The fore-legs have ■ a rufous tint behind and laterally, above the white. Horns pale greenish, mth black tips, curving outwards, uj^wards, and slightly backwards, and finally inwards. General colour, dark chesnut-brown or coffee-brown; legs from the knee downwards, wdiite." I will now briefly refer to the specimens exhibited this evening. They are the skulls of adult male and female, and were procured for me by a European employ^ in the depai'tment of woods and forests. The animals were shot by liim near the Godavery Eiver, in the territory of the Nizam, in May, 1868, and the following is the account he gave me : — " I was camped at a village, some hundred miles from Secunclerabad, on the banks of the Godavery, felling and collecting rosewood. The inhabitants of a neighbouring village told me that a herd of Bison came nightly from the jungle and destroyed the young rice, and begged me to drive them off. I had a hole dug on the border of this rice-field and took up my position there the next night, my only weapon being an old Enfield carbine. Towards morning a herd of ten or fifteen Bison issued from the jungle and began grazing on the rice. I selected what I thought to be the finest, an old bull, and when he came within thirty paces I fired at him behind the shoulder, — he rushed off to the jungle snorting. The herd gave me time to load again before going off, and I shot at a cow that had a calf beside her. She fell dead in her tracks, and the wounded bull was followed up by the natives the next day, and found lying dead in the forest.'^ These two heads were given me about a month after they had been killed, and though they were partially skinned, yet enough flesh remained on them to make them most offensive. The bull's Bull. Cow. 21-75 18-25 11-50 9-00 10-00 8-25 22-25 13-25 14-25 9-50 22-50 9-00 32-00 19-00 NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 21 head with the skin on was a load for two coolies. I tried to preserve the skins, but the hair came off, so I was obliged to content myself with the skulls and horns. The hair along the frontal bone, between the bases of the horns of the bull, was about two inches long, greyish-brown, and in heavy curls. Elliot gives the following measurements of a fine old bull's horns: circumference at base, 19 J inches; distance between the points, 25 inches. The following are the dimensions of the present specimens, as taken by Mr Alston : — Skull, length from frontal-ridge, " breadth between bases of horns, - " breadth between orbits, Horns,length along outside curve, - " circumference at base, - " breadth between tips, - " breadth at widest curve. The wearing off of the bull's horns at the tips is a sign of old age and of many combats, and I fancy that this is the skull of a very ancient individual. So many sportsmen have given descriptions of the hunting of these animals, as CoL Campbell, "The Old Shekarry," and others, that it is not necessary to enlarge on the subject here. I do not think that complete skulls of Gavceiis gaurus are often to be met with in collections, the size of the horns being so little in pro- portion to that of the skull, that the latter is generally left behind on account of the weight. Mr Gray also drew the attention of the meeting to a fine head of the Cape Buffalo {Bubalus caffer), which had been lent for the occasion by the Messrs Yuile, taxidermists, 94 Sauchiehall Street. Mr John Young, F.G.S., exhibited a small collection of fossil Brachiopoda, which had been collected last summer, in the neigh- bourhood of Girvan, by Mrs Eobert Gray. The series contained examples of AtrijjM incerta ; Rhjnchonella aimla ; R. Thomsonl ; B. JFeaveri, the first Scottish example ; Orihis Bouchardii, or perhaps a new species, 0. vespertilio; 0. calligramma, var. Scotica; 0. elegan- tula, and another species of Orthis, not yet named; also specimens of Trii)lesia Grayi; Strophomena imbrex ; Leptcena transversaUs, var. Young iana ; L. sericea; L. tenuicinda and Strophomena Grayi, a new and unpublished species. Mr Young stated that the 22 PROCEEDINGS OF THE collection made by Mrs Gray was equally important as regarded other fossils, the Trilobites, Corals, Graptolites, etc., the whole consisting of several hundred well selected specimens, which would probably yield a number of new species when they came to be thoroughly examined. Mr Eobert Gray exhibited a specimen of the Crested Spizaetus, (Spiza'etus cristatellus, Jardine and Selby), from Demerara, a rare bird in collections, which had been lent by Mr J. Whiteford, Wilson Street. Dr John Grieve and Mr J. A. Mahony exhibited a series of fossils from the leaf beds of Mull, regarding which Dr Grieve made some interesting remarks. After referring to the Duke of Argyll's paper in the Quarterly Journal, Geological Society, vol. vii., and describing the position of these beds in the headland of Ardtun, on the south-west side of the Island of Mull, as resting upon the amorphous and columnar basalt below, and separated from each other by beds of volcanic ashes or tuff, and finally covered by a layer of rudely columnar basalt, Dr Grieve went on to say that they had both carefully examined the layer of baked clay or fine mud, in which these leaves have been imbedded, and which now forms the matrix of the fossils, after being pounded and suspended in water, and also after boiling with acid, but had failed to find any trace either of Entomostraca or of Diatomacese, both of which might have been expected in such a situation as these leaves were probably deposited in. A few spicula of some sort were the only approach to any organic structure. A drawing of these was exhibited. The matrix had also been analysed by Mr Mahony, with the following results : — ANALYSIS OF LEAF-BED MATRIX. Sand, .-.--. GG-10 p. cent. Peroxide of iron and aluminum, - 14 "35 Protoxide of iron, - - - - -19 Carbonate of lime, - - - - IG'06 Sulphate of lime, - - - - 1-10 Matter burnt off at 500", - - - 1 -GO Water, - -60 10000 NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 23 This composition is very similar to that of many shales and beds of consolidated mud. The matter burnt off at 500° seems to be the organic particles of the leaves still remaining in the matrix. After referring to the reasons for assigning these leaf beds to the Miocene period, the writer concluded with some remarks on the recent researches into the Miocene flora of the Polar regions, and their connection, in point of time, with the Mull flora. A Plane tree, Platanus aceroides, probably identical with the P. hebridicus of Mull, appears to have spread over North Canada and Greenland, and extended to Iceland, and even to the ice-fiords of Spitzbergen, while Hazel and Alder seem to have been common trees all over the north, along with other species which have been found in these leaf beds. Sequoia would a|)pear to have been the predominant genus, not less than seven species having been recognised; while only two have come down to the present day, both of which are living in California. Sequoia Langsdorfii was the chief tree in North Greenland, but grew also in Canada, Vancouver's Island, Switzerland, and Italy. It can only be distinguished from the existing S. sempervirens by the larger size of its cones. Sequoia Sternbergii again prevailed in Iceland, and approached very close to the existing S. gigantea, the Wellingtonia or mammoth tree of California. Such a flora as existed in this Miocene period, in regions now covered with snow and ice, clearly shows that a considerable diminution of tempera- ture must have taken place, though it may not have been so much as has been imagined. Dr Grieve also exhibited, with remarks, a specimen of a sponge, Halycliondria suherea, completely investing a Fusus shell in which a Pagurus Icevis had taken up its abode, also a specimen of an Entomostracan, Nehalia bijjes, both from Rothesay, and a series of Amphipoda and Isopoda from Gourock, of which the following is a list : — AMPHIPODA. Anonyx ampulla. denticulatus. Dexamine spinosa. Microdeutopus vetsiculatus. Protomedeia Whitei. Erystheus erythroptlialmus. Gammarus marinus. 24 PROCEEDINGS OF THE Gammarus locusta. Calliope loeviuscula. Podocerus pelagicus. No&nia excavata. ISOPODA. 1. Ancev,s maxlllaris, - - male. 2. - - female. 3. - - young. 4. Anceus (or Praniza), Edwardsii, female. PAPERS READ. I. — On Shell-mounds at the Macluir Grogary, in the Island of South Uist. By Mr Jaimes A. Mahony. This paper was illustrated by a large collection of objects taken from these mounds, consisting of bones of various animals, some split, others drilled with holes, shells, pieces of rude pottery, stone knives or scrapers, and other articles, showing the remains to be of considerable antiquity. Professor Young spoke at some length in comparing the Hebridean mounds with those of Caithness and other parts of the Scottish mainland. II. — On the Sea Anemones of the shores of the Cumlraes. By Mr David Eobertson, F.G.S. The importance of local lists, whether of plants or animals, is daily becoming more widely recognised ; but the difficulty, in many cases, of making these in some degree complete, can only be appreciated by those who are engaged in such inquiries. We cannot expect to find in every district, for example, an observer specially devoted to each of the many obscure groups of marine invertebrate fauna. And yet the time and labour required to make a tolerably complete list of these, for any portion of our sea-coast, would be very great. It may not be thought out of place, or without interest at present, to offer a beginning of a list of the Sea Anemones incident- ally picked up on my occasional explorations around the shores of the Cumbraes. Large numbers of these animals are met with between high and NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 25 low water mark. The tide pools are the haunts of many of the species, and in these, they have to be looked for with considerable care, as they often so much assimilate the tints of the pebbles at the bottom, and the sea-weeds and sponges with which these are clothed, that they are difficult of discovery. By clearing away the floating tangle off some of the smaller holes and fissures, the most charming little grottoes are frequently revealed, crowded with species of different hues; and where the ground-work is studded with the tiny Conjnadis viridis, nothing can be more lovely. In such cases, our greatest difficulty is to get them dislodged without injury, as they mostly have their bases insinuated into holes and crevices of the rock, and the least I violence causes them to contract and retreat deep into their strongholds; in which case, the best means is to be provided with a hammer and chisel, and carefully chip off the piece of rock to which they adhere. Specimens procured in this way are more likely to do well in the aquarium than those torn off by the base; but when they are attached to the plane surface of the rock or stone, they may be in most cases removed without much injury, by gently inserting the nail of the finger under the adhering base. When a little bit has been disengaged, the whole comes away without much difficulty. The greatest danger is in using too much violence. Those among gravelly shingle and on stones may be secured in' the same way. Others are met with in soft muddy sand, and frequently at low water; some of these sit loosely in the sand, and are easily removed with the fingers. There is another, however, not so easily captured, Cerianthus LloycUi, which exists not free in the sand but in a long leathery tube, running down to the depth of 18 or 20 inches or more. The animal itself, when contracted, may not exceed 2 or 3 inches, and when elongated, may reach from 5 to 7 inches. Those I have met with at Cumbrae were all at a little beyond low water to a depth of from 4 to 10 inches at spring tide. The summit of their tubes barely reaches the surface of the sand, and their long maroon tapering tentacles lie spread star-like over it; but upon the least concussion of the ground, they are down out of sight in a moment. Gosse quotes the method taken by Mr Edwards of Menai Bridge to capture this interesting species. He says, "The operation of taking it is difficult, as on the least disturj»«3*p'"'^5wv^^ X ^y- — ^ ^'^ 1^1^ ^^•"^ w 26 PROCEEDINGS OF THE of the ground it slips through the sac and is lost. The plan that I ado]3t is to surround it with two or three spades, and each to act at the same moment so as to undermine it in an instant, and pressing the ground causes its escape to be more difficult." I have not found the use of more than one spade necessary; I think more would only increase the chance of giving the alarm, as all that is required to make sure of the animal is to cut off its means of retreat. To do this, it must be approached with the greatest caution, and a spade or other such implement placed in the gentlest manner 4 or 5 inches from the spot where it is, and when all is ready, drive the spade suddenly in beneath it, cutting off its escape by passing through the tube. If the animal takes the alarm before the thrust is made, I should say, speaking from my own experience, that it is almost hopeless to follow up the pursuit. Whether this arises from the creature retreating to a portion of the tube that had not been reached, or escaping through it, as Mr Edwards thinks, I have been unable to determine. The fine muddy sand closes in so quickly when dug under water, that I have never satisfactorily ascertained whether the termination of the tube (which is liable to sever at its lower end), had been reached or not. Where they can be met with between tide marks, as at Menai Strait, the question might be easily solved. I am inclined to think, in the meantime, that the animal never voluntarily leaves its own tube, as I doubt whether it could make progress so as to escape pursuit, beyond the limits of its own smooth cylinder. Little more need be said of the means of capture or their haunts; the greater portion of our Anemones being met with within the tidal belt, and few belonging exclusively to deep water. To reach the latter, the use of the dredge is of course required. Many valuable specimens are obtained from trawl refuse, and others are brought up on the fisherman's long lines. A little beyond low water, good captures are made over the side of the row-boat from the fronds and stems of tangle, and under the ledges of deep overhanging rocks. Mr Gosse in his "British Sea Anemones " gives a table of their geographical distribution, and divides them into ten jjrovinces, which, as he says, are somewhat arbitrarily defined, and "The product of the divisions rather represent the state of our know- NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 27 ledge than the fact." Tliey show what has been done, but faintly shadow what remains to do. As the following table gives some idea of the character of the ground on which these animals are found in the greatest numbers, and the extent searched, I give it in full, but in making any comparison it must be borne in mind that all the long tracts of shore given, have not been searched, but only in parts here and there, more or less fully. 1st. The Shetland, including the Orkneys, and Scotland as far as Kinnaird's Head, from which thirty species are recorded. 2d. The North Sea, including the coast from Kinnaird's Head to Spurn Head; fourteen s^Decies. 3d. The Eastern, from the Humber to the Thames, a flat low shore ; seven species. 4th. The South-east, from the Foreland to St. Alban's Head, chiefly chalk cliff's; nine species. 5th. The Devonian, from St. Alban's to St. David's Head, a' rugged rocky coast; fifty-one species. 6th. The Irish Sea to the Mull of Cantyre, including Man and the Irish shore; twenty species. 7th. The Hebridean, from Cantyre to the Orkneys; six species. 8th. The South Irish, from Carnsore point to Mizen Head; seven species. , 9th. The Atlantic, from Mizen Head to Rathlin Island; twenty-one species. 10th. The Channel Islands; twenty-two species. In all, seventy-five species; but as five of these are in some degree doubtful, there remain seventy good species. It can easily be shown that some of these provinces or divisions have only yielded fragments of what they contain. The Clyde division, if included at all, comes under that of the Hebridean, which only represents six species. If we thus make the Frith of Clyde a sub-province of the Hebridean and give the Cumbraes as a small point of it, the subjoined list shows for that portion alone twenty-four species, and of these eight are new or not previously recorded from Scotland, viz.: — Sagartia venusta; Sagartia nivea; Sagartia imrasitica; Bunodes thallia; Peachia hastata; Peachia triijhjlla; Edivardsia callimorpha; and Edwardsia carnea. 28 PROCEEDINGS OF THE TRIBE ASTR^ACEA. FAMILY SAGARTIAD^. Adinoloha dianthiis (Ellis). This species is common round the shores of both Cumbraes, most frequently at very low water on the under sides of shelving rocks. For the aquarium, it is the Queen of our British Anemones, both in size and beauty, and thrives well in confinement. One, long in my possession, measured fully 6 inches high, and the fully expanded lobes were nearly as broad. Sagartia hellis (Ellis and Solander). Found in tide pools and generally in the crevices of the rock.. According to Gosse, it is abundant on the south and west coast of England, and Man, and Ireland, but almost unknown in Scotland. It is by no means common in Cumbrae ; but in the pools where it is found, there are generally a few together. Sagartia miniata, Gosse. Common in rock-pools and under stones near low water; very finely coloured Sagartia venusta, Gosse. In holes and crevices in rock pools near low water; rather rare. Sagartia nivea, Gosse. In holes and crevices in rock pools near low water; rather rare. Sagartia troglodytes (Johnston). Moderately common in holes and crevices in rock-pools between tide mark. Sagartia troglodytes var. Prasinojncta ; one only met with. Sagartia vldiiata (Miiller). Eare, on stones between tide mark. Sagartia ])arasitica (Couch). Only one specimen of this was obtained; it was taken in deep water on a fisherman's line, off the south-west point of Cumbrae. Adamsia pallio.ta (Bohadsch). Moderately common in deep water, on a muddy gravelly bottom, and on scallop banks. This Anemone is mostly found on a univalve shell inhabited by a Hermit Crab, and the species, in all my experience, with few exceptions, has been Pagurus Prideauxii. Phellia yida, Gosse. Rare, dredged on the valve of an old shell in 20 fatliom water. The only other locality hitherto recorded is Banff. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 29 FAJMILY ANTHEAD^. Antliea cereus (Ellis and Solander). I find this species most frequently at Cumbrae, attached near the tips of tall Zostera. They are all same coloured, a light greyish-brown. FAMILY ACTINIAD^.. Actinia mesemhrycmthemwn (Ellis and Solander). Common, all round the shores from low to near high water mark. FAMILY BUNODID^. BoJoccra Tuedice (Johnston). Brought up on the fisherman's long line, off the west-end of Cumbrae. Eare; this species was also obtained by the Eev. D. Landsborough, ofi" Cumbrae. Bolocera eques, Gosse. Eare; the only one I have seen was floated in-shore among sea-weed. It was in good condition, and survived a journey to Torquay to visit its admirer, Mr Gosse. Bunodes thallia, Gosse. Eare, in a tide-pool in a hole of the rock after the manner of the Troglodytes; but the well marked vertical rows of warts, and the close agreement of column, disc, and tentacles, left no doubt of its identity. Tealia crassicornis (Miiller). Common, in tide-pools, in the crevices of rocks, and in the gravelly shingle, near and beyond low water. StomjjJiia Churchice, Gosse. Moderately common off" the south- west point of Cumbrae, in from 12 to 25 fathoms; brought up in the dredge adhering to stones. FAJIILY ILYANTHID^. Peachia hastafa, Gosse. Eare, dredged in about two fathom water on a gravelly muddy bottom between "the Alands," and in 8 and 10 fathoms amongst mud and Melohesia near the " Tan Buoy." Peachia triphjlla, Gosse. Eare, in muddy sand at extreme low water. Gosse records it only from Guernsey. Bdivardsia callimoiyha (Gosse). Moderately common; taken in the dredge in from 6 to 25 fathoms, in sandy and muddy gravel. At the first look, when the animal is contracted, it may be readily mistaken for one of the smaller Holothuriidce. Edwardsia carnea (Gosse). Locally common, on the under sides 30 PROCEEDINGS OF THE of stones propped up between others, so that the water can pass freely between them, none of the specimens were in holes in the stones, but all projecting from the surface. I have only met with this beautiful little Anemone in one creek on the east side of Kames Bay, and then it appears only to be present periodically. Some seasons none could be found with the most diligent search. CeriantJms LloycUi (Gosse). Rather rare. In muddy sand at and beyond extreme low water. Where one is met with, a few more may be expected close by. TRIBE CARYOPHYLLIACEA. FAMILY CAPNEAb^. Corynadis viridis, Allman. Locally common in small rock-pools shaded from the sun. All those I have seen at Cumibrae closely approach the white variety, Coina. FAMILY TURBINOLIAD^. Caryajjhyllia Smithii (Stokes). Rare, at low water, attached to the under sides of stones that are so lying as leave open spaces between. The Librarian announced the following donations to the Library : — Notice of the remains of the Reindeer found in Scotland. By John Alexander Smith, M.D. Edinburgh, 1869. From the Author. The Geographical Distribution of Mammals. By Andrew Murray, 1866. From David Mackinlay, M.D. The Natural History of the Tineina. Vol. xi. By H. T. Stainton, 1870. From Hugh Colquhoun, M.D. Hortus Cliffortianus. Cum Tabulis -^neis. Auctore Crolo Linnaeao. Amsterdam, 1737. From Mr Thomas Chapman. April 26th, 1870. Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S., President, in the chair. Messrs James Hardy, Old Cambus, Berwickshire, and James Thomson, Kelvingrove Museum, were elected corresponding members. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 31 SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. Dr Young exhibited a model illustrating the anatomy of the Polyzoa, recently prepared for the Hunterian Museum by IVIr Fenwick, and made some remarks on the value of such models for teaching purposes. Mr John Young, F.G.S., exhibited a series of specimens of a rare bivalve shell, first discovered by Mr James Thomson, F.G.S., a member of this Society, in Carboniferous limestone strata, in a locality near Dairy, Ayrshire, and which has since been named Posidonomya corrugata, sp.n., by Mr Etheridge of the Jermyn Street Museum, London ; Mr Young stated that he had recently obtained specimens of this interesting shell, in a second and new locality, at a quarry near Boghead, south-west of Hamilton, and made some remarks on Mr Thomson's discovery, as the earliest recorded example of the genus Posidonomya found in this district. PAPERS READ. I. — Note on the recent occurrence of the Crane (Grus cinerea), in Boss-shire. By Mr Egbert Gray. Mr Gray stated that he had examined a young male bird of this species in Dingwall ten days ago, which had been shot on the Dundonald estate, near the head of Loch Broom, on the West Coast, and that a second specimen had been seen by a keeper at Loch Torridon, in the last week of March. He also read a com- munication from Mr Wilson of Kirkaldy, on the occurrence of a male Golden Oriole (Oriolus galhula), which was shot on the estate of Raith, on the 23d of the present month. II. — Notes on recently discovered Foraminifera from the Lanarkshire Coal-field. By Mr John Young, F.G.S. The author of this paper stated that he had submitted the specimens with which his remarks were illustrated, to Mr Henry B. Brady, F.L.S., Newcastle-on-Tyne, and that they had been found to belong to species which he had named as follows: — Climacammina antiqua, (Brady, M.S.) ; Endothyra Bowmanni, (Phillips); Valvulina palceotrochiis, (Ehrenberg); Endothyra radiata, (Brady, M.S.) ; several forms being left undetermined until further sections were made to enable him to make out their exact rela- tionship to some of the other fossil genera. Mr Young stated 32 PROCEEDINGS OF THE that previous to the recent researches made by himself and other members of the Natural History and Geological Societies of Glasgow, no Foraminifera had ever been recorded from the Carboniferous rocks of the West of Scotland, but in the washing of certain of the weathered limestones and shales, the above mentioned species along with others had been found. Mr Young next pointed out the vertical range and distribution of the species, the various localities, and nature of the strata in which he had found these minute organisms, and recommended a more careful search for other forms. Note. — Since the above specimens were brought before the Society, Mr Brady has identified the following species from our limestone strata : — Endothyra radiata, Bowmanni, - lioherfsoni, - ornata, ammonoides, glohuhis, plicata C?) - Trochammina centrifuga, ■ gordialis, incerta, - ValvuUna palxotroclms, var. comiwessa, Yoiingi^ var. contraria, deciirrens, Archcediscus Karreri, - Climacaiti mina antiq ua, Textularia gihhosa, Webhina acervalis, Saccammina CarterL Brady, M.S. Phillips. Brady, M.S. Brady, M.S. Brady, M.S. Eichwald. Brady, M.S. Brady, M.S. Parker I. Jones. D'Orbigny. Ehrenberg. Brady, M.S. Brady, M.S. Brady, M.S. Brady, M.S. Brady. Brady, IMS. D'Orbigny. Brady, M.S. Brady. III. — Notes on Pleurohranchus ijlumula (Montagu), with illustrative sjJecimens. By Mr David Eobert^on, F.G.S., Vice-President. Mr Eobertson remarked tliat during the present month he had procured three or four specimens of this animal from the fishermen of Cumbrae, who had found them adhering to their lines brought NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 33 up from deep water. Previously he had looked upon the species as rare in that locality, having obtained only two specimens in all his experience there. The Librarian announced the following donations to the Library : — Transactions and Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, Vol. x,. Part i., from the Society. Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow, Vol. iii.. Part ii., from the Society. Transactions of the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh, Vols, vi., vii., and Vol. viii., Part i., from the Koyal Physical Society of Edinburgh. May 3Lst, 1870. Mr David Robertson, F.G.S., in the chair. SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. Dr James Stirton exhibited specimens of Sphmromphah (Verrucaria) Henscheliana, a lichen new to Britain, gathered by himself on Ben Voirlich. The Chairman exhibited specimens, male and female, of Pagurus Frideauxii, remarking that he had found the species in pairs for some years past, first in the nets of the fishermen lifted from deep water, and subsequently in the dredge, and along the shores of Cumbrae at low spring tides. From these instances of apparent attachment, he was inclined to think that this Hermit Crab pairs for the season, and that the female, which is but half the size of the male, may by this arrangement share the protection of the powerful pincers of the stronger sex. The Rev. James E. Somerville, B.D., exhibited a specimen of the Hooded Crow (Corvus comix) and its eggs, from Egypt, regarding which Mr Gray observed that, when contrasted with Scottish specimens, both the bird and its eggs appeared to be much lighter in colour, a difference which might be owing to the nature of its food, or the result of climatic influences. PAPERS READ. I. — On the Post-tertiary Clmj-heds at Kilchattan Pay, Island of Pute. By Mr Ja3IES Coutts. The late Mr Smith of Jordanhill was the first to call attention to the boreal shells contained in the Clyde beds, and to every VOL. IL c 34 PROCEEDINGS OF THE scientific enquirer they have ever since been objects of much interest. They carry the mind back to a time when the whole of Northern Europe, and Asia, as well as the northern part of America, was under ice action, as is amply indicated by the groovings, striae, and polished rock surfaces found throughout these countries. Nowhere are these evidences of ice action better marked than in the Island of Bute. Lying on the hill-side at Glen Galium, near Kilchattan, are transported boulders of such gigantic size, that one is inclined to look under them to make sure that they are not an outcrop of the rock. Often have I stood on the hill side above St. Blane's Ghapel, admiring the romantic landscape, the rounded outlines of the hillocks, the numerous boulders wide-spread on every side, the deep glens and lakes, all emphatically indicating severe and long-continued ice action. Near St. Blane's Chapel tliere is a massive circular building called the "Devil's cauldron." The guide-book to Bute says "it is a wall nearly 30 feet in diameter, and about 4J feet in height, with a gateway 9 feet wide, externally narrowing to 3 feet inside. It is of great strength, many of the stones of which it is composed being of immense size. There is growing in the centre of this building a very lofty pine, called the dreaming tree." The tree and walls are now in ruins, and scattered all around are stones of such huge dimensions that one would imagine that only Fingal and his giant sons, with super- human strength, could have riven them from the neighbouring rocks, but it is evident at a glance that a greater power than theirs was at work, rending the rocks into fragments, and scattering them as boulders over hill and glen. That power seems to have been land-ice, or ice carried forward by water; it may, however, have been both combined. The ice appears to have moved from the south-west, directly over Kilcliattan clay-field, which is evident from the immense number of large boulders laid down in Kil- chattan Bay, exactly in the line of the clay-field. In Scotland there are very few traces of the Tertiary period. What have been preserved to us are merely sufficient to prove that it was of a comparatively warm character, but the evidence is decisive that it was succeeded by anotlier period of which the climate was so severely Arctic, that it is doubtful whetlier vegetable or animal life could exist, at least on land. This was NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 35 the time to which our oldest boulder clays are referred, and the utter want of fossils in them is therefore not to be marvelled at. How long this Arctic condition lasted we cannot even guess, but we know that at length its rigour was slackened, and over land and sea the frosty grip of a Polar winter loosened, and life began to multiply in, and enliven, both. This was the time to which the fine laminated clays of tlie Clyde valley are generally referred. During this probably lengthened period numerous colonies of Arctic shells migrated southwards, and filled our bays and firths with all the various genera and species whose remains we now find so plentifully in these clays. Kilchattan Bay was one of these localities, and in its clay-fields we have evidence that its waters teemed with life of every grade and character, proper to the conditions of the place and time. That these conditions were exceedingly tranquil is evident to any one minutely examining its deposits. In Kilchattan the shells are found lying where the animals lived and died, and, if lifted carefully, the shells of each bivalve will be found united; none of them exhibiting signs of travel or wear, showing that the deposit in which they are now entombed was quietly laid down around them. The next great geological epoch, that of the Raised Beaches, is well represented in the neighbourhood of Kilchattan. I have closely examined the beach from Kerrylamont on the south-east, to Scalpsie Bay on the south-west, and have observed numerous high cut terraces, along with wide and deep old sea caves. Many of these are so large that cattle find shelter in them from the heat and storms, and people who gather cockles at Kilchattan Bay for the market, often make these caves their dwellings, living in gipsy fashion. The section at Kilchattan clay-field is as follows : First — The oldest till, or boulder clay, resting on the sandstone rock. Second — The finely laminated clay, from 10 to 12 feet in thickness. Third — Resting on this clay is a deposit of obscurely stratified clay, about 2 feet in thickness. In this deposit lies the shell-bedj which appears to be only a few inches in thickness. Fourth — Above the shell bed is a layer of sandy clay, with neither shells nor stones, 12 to 22 inches in thickness. Fifth — Resting on this clay is a mass of stratified gravel and shingle, forming a bank from 5 to 9 feet in depth. 36 PROCEEDINGS OF THE Sixth — The vegetable, or surface soil. In the second bed above referred to, there appear to be two kinds of laminated clay. The lower is of a reddish brown colour, and is a good workable clay with stones in it, some of them being from 7 to 10 pounds in weight, but the greater number are only from 1 to 2 pounds. Resting on this is a fine laminated blueish- grey clay, difficult to work, with fewer stones in it, these being also considerably smaller in size. I have been particular in describing this clay, in consequence of a reference to it in a passage in the "Glacial Drift of Scotland,"* by Professor Geikie, which reads thus : — '^'It retains throughout the same colour, the same impalpable unctuous texture, and fine lamination. Its freedom from stones is remarkable. Nowhere have I seen a single pebble in it. Mr Macbride, who has been looking at it for years, has been equally unsuccessful, and the workmen at the Kilchattan tile-works assured me they had never seen a single stone in this lower or brick clay." During repeated visits to Kilchattan, and close examination of this particular bed, I am satisfied that what I have above stated describes its true composition, and that stones are to be found in it by all who diligently search for them. List of Fossils found in Kilchattan Clay-beds. PISCES. Small vertehrce and scales, - Not determined. CONCHIFERA. Anomia ephippium, Linn., - - Two good specimens. Peden Islandicus, Miill., - - Fragments. . Cyprina Islandica, Linn,, - - Common and large. My a truncata, Linn., - - - Common. Cardium edule, Linn., - - - One large valve. echinatum, Linn., - - Two valves fry. Pkolas crispata, Linn., - - - Fragment. Tellina calcarea, Cliemn., - - Very Common. Madra subtruncata, Da Costa, Seven valves. Axinus flexuosus, ----- Common. * Transactions of the Geol, Soc. of Glasgow. Vol. I., Part II., page 133. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 37 Mytilus modiolus, Linn., - - One valve 6 J by 3|-, fry com. edulis ? Linn., - - - One young specimen. Nucula tenuis, Mont., - - - Five valves. Leda ])ernula, var., - - - - Common. pijgnicea, var., - - - - Common. Scrohicularia prismatica, ]\Iont. , C ommon. Astarte comjjressa, Mont., - - Common, all fry. Solen siliqua, ------ Fragments. GASTEROPODA. Bucdnum undahim, Linn., - - One full grown, fry com. Fiisus antiquus, Linn., - - - One full grown, fry com. Lacuna divaricata, Fabr., - - Common. Littorina liUorea, Linn., - - Common and full grown. ohfusata, Linn., - - Common. Pleurotoma violacea, Migh. and Ad., ------- Three specimens. hivricuh, Mont,, - Common. Trevelyana, Turt., - One specimen. 2)yramidaUs,Str6m., Seven specimens. Tedura virginea, MUll., - - - One specimen. Trochus cinerarius, Linn., - - Moderately common. Trophon clathratus, F. and H., Three specimens. — - truncatus, Strom., - - Two specimens. Skenea planorhis, Fabr., - - - Moderately common. Romalogijra atomus, Phil., - - Common. Natica Grcenlandica, Beck, - - Common. affiyiis, Gmel., - - - Common. Ajyorrhais jjes-pelicani, Linn., - One specimen. Velutina Icevigata, - - - - One fry. Purpura lapillus, Linn., - - One specimen. Eissoa striata, Adams, - - - Common. var. interrupta, - - - Common. Utriculus ohtusus, Mont., - - Common. POLYZOA. Cellularia, Rare. Membranipoi'a Flemingii, Busk, Rare. 38 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CRUSTACEA. Plates and Claws, Undetermined. OSTRACODA. Cytheridea imnctillata, Brady, - Common. Cythere concinna, Jones, - - Common. dunelmensis, Norman, Rare. CIRRIPEDIA. Balanus 2)(y>'catus, Da Costa, - Common. crenatus, Brug., - - Moderately common. Verruca Stromia, MiilL, - - Rare. ANNELIDA. Serjmla vermicidaris, Ellis, - - Common. ECHINODERMATA. EcJdmis Drohachiensis, MiilL, plates and spines, - - - Common. Spatangidce, - - - Common. FORAMINIFERA. Biloculina dejjressa, D'Orb., - Rare. Quinqueloculina seminulum, Linn., Common. Eotalia Beccarii, Linn., - - - Rare. Polystomella striato-pundata, F. and M., Common. — : crispa, Linn., - - One specimen. Nonionina turgida. Will., - - Common. SPONGE. Cliona celata, Grant, - - - Moderately common. Note. — In the preparation of the foregoing list of fossils, I have been kindly assisted in the determination of species by Mr David Robertson, F.G.S., who has given several excellent lists of Post-tertiary fossils from the Clyde beds, in the Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 39 11. — On the natural history of the JVood Pigeon (Cohimha jjcdumhus), with remarks on its extraordinary increase of late years throughout the Agricultural districts of Scotland. By Mr Egbert Gray. The author of this paper in the course of his remarks showed that about eighty years ago the Wood Pigeon was almost un- known in East Lothian, a county which may now be said to be the head quarters of the bird in Britain. Within the Hmits of that district alone, upwards of 50,000 Wood Pigeons had been destroyed in the course of three years, a fact which almost proves that Haddingtonshire is yearly invaded by large migratory flocks from other countries. Mr Gray had himself seen prodigious flights of these birds arriving about daybreak on the coast near Dunbar ; and other observers, favourably situated in coast localities south of the Tweed, had of late years published similar records. The Wood Pigeon is known to migrate southwards from the pine forests of Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and some parts of Russia, and, on settling in a purely agricultural district like East Lothian, these flocks would not return to their native forests like Fieldfares, Redwings, and other strictly migratory birds, but remain satisfied with their new quarters, and thus fill the place of home-bred birds which had been destroyed. Mr Gray also read the following communication from Lord Binning, one of the Society's corresponding members : — III. — Notes on the food of the Wood Pigeon. By Lord Binning.* When I originally began to make observations on the habits and food of the Wood Pigeon, my intention was to note during each month of the year its prevailing food, but, having spent nearly the whole of the last three summers in Cheshire, where the Wood Pigeon is a comparatively rare bird, I have had no opportunity of making my observations during the summer months, and the notes that I now offer are therefore most in- complete, and hardly worthy of your acceptance. My object in making these notes was to ascertain the correctness of the opinion expressed by the Rev. F. 0. Morris, that "It may safely be said * Now Earl of Haddington. 40 PROCEEDINGS OF THE that any damage it (the "Wood Pigeon) does, is abundantly com- pensated by the good that it efifects in the destruction of the seeds of injurious plants." I am sorry to say that I cannot indorse this opinion, and my verdict must be against the bird. There can be no doubt, — as I will 2^rove, — that the Wood Pigeon feeds on the leaves, seeds, and roots of various weeds : but, as I have examined the contents of the crops of some thousand or two of Pigeons, I am in a position to state positively that the amount of good done in this way by no means counterbalances the injury done by them to the farmer — especially in the newly-sown corn-fields, and on the young grass fields, where they devour bushels of the leaf of the white clover. Their voracity is most remarkable, and unfortunately their powers of digestion are also almost incredible. Meyer remarks that this bird is very regular in its habits, and my observations exactly coincide with his statements in regard to their hours of feeding. We had this winter, 18G9-70, the most abundant crop of Beech-nuts (or Beech-mast) that I ever saw. The Cushats seemed to come from all parts to feed on this their favourite food, and there were sometimes thousands to be seen feeding under the Beech-trees. At 7-30 or 8 A.M. the ground was blue with them, but by about the time when I had breakfasted, 9-15 to 9-45, hardly a bird was to be seen on the ground, — all having breakfasted also, — and being now perched on the tops of the trees in an adjoining wood. About an hour afterwards they were all again feeding. At 12-30 or 1 p.m. I have seen them in a continuous stream going to the large fir-woods in the neighbour- hood, where they have another siesta ; and I have remarked that at this time they fly straight into the woods and alight at once, without tlie preliminary wheeling and circling over the wood in which they always indulge before finally settling down to roost. After another rest they again go out to feed, returning to roost in winter at 3 P.M., and in March and April at 5 to 6 or 7 P.M. When food is scarce, or when there is snow on the ground, I tliink they dispense with the mid-day rest,' but in summer or autumn, or whenever food is abundant, you will find that what I have stated is the daily life of the Wood Pigeon. Now, there is one point which I have not been able yet to determine, which is, — Does the Pigeon during its morning and mid-day intervals of feeding digest all or the greater part of the contents of its crop ? NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 41 I am inclined to think that it does ; but, though I cannot positively prove this, I may mention the grounds on which I base my opinion, namely, that I have several times shot Wood Pigeons in the afternoon with nothing in their crops, (and this not in the breeding season, when the birds might have just come off their nests,) and that my brother, W. Baillie Hamilton, R.N., shot twelve AVood Pigeons in one afternoon last month, February, as they came to feed on a newly-sown field, in the crops of which twelve birds not one particle of food was to be found. As examples of the voracity of the Wood Pigeon, I may state the result of four postmortem examinations at different times : — In the crop of one Wood Pigeon, 144 field peas and 7 large beans. In another, 231 beech-nuts. In another, 813 grains of barley. In another, 874 grains of oats, and 55 of barley. Now, presuming that I am right in my supposition that they have three meals yer diem — under favourable circumstances, abund- ance of food, or long days — the amount consumed by one pigeon in a single day is almost incredible. The Earl of Home informs me that he has seen great damage done to a field of Swede turnips by Wood Pigeons, and also states that a bird or birds (I forget which, not having a copy of his letter) were killed with turnip in the crop. Of course I do not for a moment dispute the fact stated by his lordship, but I do say that as a rule the Wood Pigeon feeds, not on the bulb, but on the leaf of the turnip. In the winter of 1860, which was one of great severity, the crops of nearly 700 Wood Pigeons were examined by Lord Haddington's keeper and myself, and I never found a single instance of the food consisting of the turnip bulb ; true, I have found small pieces of turnip amongst the mass of leaf, and even larger pieces than one would imagine a pigeon could swallow ; but these latter had all the appearance of having been cut with a knife, and had probably been picked uj) in the neighbourhood of a sheep-feeding trough. During the last four winters, 3526 Wood Pigeons have been killed at Tyninghame. and Mr Ingiis, the head gamekeeper, assures me that he has never known an instance of the crop being filled with the bulb of turnip. Even a casual observer can hardly fail to notice in winter that whenever a 42 PROCEEDINGS OF THE Swede turnip has been well broken into by Rooks or Partridges, it is surrounded by pieces broken out in the process : these frag- ments the Pigeon will readily pick] up from the ground, but I have difficulty in believing that he can break into the turnip himself, — especially in frost, when the bulb becomes as hard as a stone. Examine the bill ; does it look as if it were adapted for breaking into a hard bulb? Examine the lower mandible especially; it is almost as pliable as that of a singing bird. But there is an exception to every rule, and if a Wood Pigeon comes across a partially-decayed bulb, I believe that he would feed on it ; as I watched one this winter, within twenty yards of me, vainly endeavouring to drive his bill into a turnip, which I after- wards examined, and found that he had not left his mark, though he would evidently have fed on it had it been in his power to do so. Whilst speaking of exceptions to rules, I may here mention that in March I found, amongst a lot of white clover leaf in a Pigeon's crop, four large and perfect earth-worms, with part of a fifth. In the crop of another, in April, I found one small and two large caterpillars. These are the only instances of the kind that have come under my notice. I will now endeavour to give a list of the prevailing articles of a Wood Pigeon's food during the months in which I have made observations, but having lost the notes that I made in 1861, and the two following years, it will not be so complete as I could have wished. AUGUST. Grain of various sorts, barley and unripe oats prevailing in the beginning, barley and wheat in the end, of the month. SErTEMBER. Wheat, oats, and barley. OCTOBER. Wheat, oats, and barley; with peas, beans, and tares. NOVEMBER. Grain of various sorts; beech-nuts; leaf of Swedish turnip; oak spangle ; seeds of the elm ; acorns occasionally. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 43 DECEMBER. Beech-nuts; leaves of turnip, white ck)ver, and cranes-bill; grain, wheat, oats, barley, and tares ; decayed potatoes ; seeds of wild mustard. JANUARY. Beech-nuts ; leaves of turnip, white clover, common cabbage, and cranes-bill ; decayed potatoes ; seeds of wild oats, wild mustard, and Venus' comb ; tubers of the lesser celandine ; berries of the ivy, hawthorn, and holly, — the latter I only found during the snowstorm of 1860. FEBRUARY. Beech-nuts; leaves of Swedish turnip, white clover, cranes-bill, and cabbage; seeds of wild oats, Venus' comb, common knot-grass, spotted persicaria, broad-leaved dock, and wild mustard ; tubers of the lesser celandine ; grain of various sorts, especially towards the end of the month. IklARCH. During this month, and to nearly the end of April, the food consists almost entirely of grain, wheat, oats, and barley, together with beans, peas, and tares. I have, however, found occasionally seeds of common knot grass, common dock, and wild mustard ; leaves of white clover, cranes-bill, and ribwort plantain; tubers of lesser celandine. APRIL. Grain, oats, barley, and wheat, — barley being the favourite, — tares; occasional leaves of white clover, and cranes-bill; leaf and flower of ivy-leaved speedwell ; and in the end of the month the leaf-bud of the beech-tree, of which they are very fond. MAY. I have had little opportunity of making observations in this month, but may mention the flower-bud and leaf of common chickweed, and the leaf-bud of the beech-tree, as two of their principal articles of diet. 44 PROCEEDINGS OF THE Now, dividing under three heads the various seeds, etc., that I have found in the crops of Wood Pigeons, we have the following : — GRAIN AND FARM PRODUCE. Wheat, oats, barley, beans, peas, tares ; leaf, and occasionally bulb of Swedish turnip ; leaf of white clover ; decayed potatoes. SEEDS, ETC., OF TREES AND SHRUBS. Beech-nuts ; leaf-bud of beech ; acorns (rarely) ; oak spangle, or galls from the leaf of oak ; seed of elm ; ivy and holly berries ; fruit of hawthorn. SEEDS, ETC., OF WILD PLANTS AND NOXIOUS WEEDS. Seeds of wild mustard (Sinapis arvensis), wild oats (Avena fcUua), broad-leaved dock (Rumex obtusifolms), common knot-grass {Poly- gonum avkulare), spotted persicaria (Polygonum Persicaria), Venus' comb {Scandix Pecten) ; leaves of round-leaved cranes-bill {Geranium rotundifolmm), ribwort plantain {Plantago lanceolata), ivy-leaved speedwell {Veronica hederifolia), common chickweed {Stellaria media) ; tubers of the lesser celandine {Ranunmlus Ficaria). The seeds of Polygonum were sandy, and had evidently been picked up on ploughed land ; the same applies to Avena fatua, Sinajns arvensis, and Scandix Pecten, whereas the seeds of Rurnex, which were found during snow, were bright and clear from sand, and had apparently been taken from the plant. In addition to this list, I have found two or three seeds which I have not been able to determine, but I have no doubt that Professor Balfour, who is always kind and ready to assist me, will be able to name them for me. The list of seeds, leaves, and roots appears a long one, but these things are, after all, but few and far between as compared with the quantities of grain consumed by the Wood Pigeon, especially during seed-time. I examined thirty- six Pigeons last Saturday, and their crops contained nothing but grain, principally barley. To-day I opened twelve with the same result, finding only two small seeds of an umbelliferous j^lant ; as Prince Hal would say, but "One halfpenny worth of bread to this intolerable deal of sack." I must therefore conclude my remarks as I commenced them, having come to the conclusion, from what I have seen, that the NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 45 damage done by the Wood Pigeon is not compensated by the good that it does in the destruction of noxious weeds. My verdict is against the bird, but let it be distinctly understood that I find that verdict on such evidence as is before me. And let it also be remembered that my observations have been made principally during the times of the year — harvest and seed-time — when grain was most easily procurable, whereas I know next to nothing of the food of the Wood Pigeon during the months of May, June, and July, when grain would be almost impossible to obtain, and when the birds must feed on the leaves, buds, roots, and seeds of many wild plants. To prevent any doubt as to the seeds, etc., which I have named with the kind assistance of Professor Balfour, I enclose in separate boxes specimens of many of them as taken from the Pigeon's crop. Together with the boxes of seeds of wild plants (eleven in number), I have forwarded three boxes illustrative of the extraordinary quantity eaten by a Wood Pigeon. They are marked Nos. 1, 2, and 3, and each is as taken from the bird's crop. I also send a box containing small fresh-water shells, and portions of shells, and a small bone, taken from two Wood Pigeons this month. I often find pieces of lime-stone, lime, and old mortar in their crops, and these shells have evidently not been picked up for the nutriment they contained, as they were all dead, colourless, and empty. I shall hope to supplement these remarks, if you consider them worthy of acceptance, by others at a future time, shewing the principal diet of the Wood Pigeon in the summer months. At the close of the paper. Professor Alexander Dickson spoke of the importance of such contributions, both from a scientific and an economic point of view, as they enabled Naturalists to judge of the propriety of encouraging or destroying certain animals, just as they were found to be beneficial or the reverse. He then proposed that the thanks of the Society be transmitted to Lord Binning for his very interesting communication, which was cordially agreed to. lY. — Dredging Notes from the Bay of Rothesay. By John Grieve, M.A., M.D. During the months of August and September, in 1868 and 1869, I dredged a little in the Bay of Eothesay, and ofi* its 46" PROCEEDINGS OF THE adjacent shores ; and, in now exhibiting some of the species of animals obtained, I propose to offer a few observations, ilkis- trative of the fauna of this portion of our Firth. A few years ago, I gave the Society some idea of what was generally to be found on the different sides of the Bay, so as to point out to some extent its leading and characteristic features. At present I lay before you some of the Hydroid Zoophytes, Sessile-eyed Crustaceans and Echinoderms, a few of which have not been previously met with in the locality. I. — Hydroid Zoophytes. Clytia Johnstoni (Alder). The long frond of Chorda filum, as it floats in the sea, is frequently covered with this beautiful little Zoophyte, which twines round it, and forms a thick mossy patch when the frond is lifted up; but when a piece is put into a glass of water, the long stems supporting the calycles stand out more or less at right angles, and the animals speedily unfold their tentacles, and project beyond the castellated rim of the crystalline calycle, which protects them. Some of the stalks are much longer than others, and all are more or less ringed at either extremity, with occasionally an odd ring or two in the middle. Now and then one may be met with ringed throughout. These all spring from a stouter creeping stem, which extends over the sea -weed, and forms a thick matted covering to it, being intertwined with other portions of what is probably the same stem, though it is hardly possible to prove the continuity with sufficient accuracy in so minute a Zoophyte. From this creeping stem the reproductive capsules spring, being attached by a short pedicle ; usually the capsule is deeply ringed, but occasionally they are short and broad, with two flat shallow rings, so that the capsule appears to be only waved. Sometimes the long straight stalk gives off one or two branches similar to itself, each terminating in a calycle, while from the side of the stalk a reproductive capsule, on a short-ringed pedicle, also projects. These capsules appear to differ from those on the creeping stem, in so far that they are narrower and more parallel- sided, and do not present the ringed appearance, but are straight, and the waved outline is hardly discernible, being limited at most to one faint wave near the mouth of the capsule. They have somewhat the appearance of the capsule of Gonothyrcea gracilis (Sars), but the calycles are not so large, nor margined witli pointed NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 47 denticles, as occurs in that species ; the margin, so far as visible in most, being castellated. Their connection with, and occurrence along with, the ringed capsules, make it evident that it is the same Zoophyte. There may be a sexual difference between the two capsules, but this has not been determined. From the ringed capsules, at all events, numbers of little medusa3 are given off, and were seen swimming up and down the glass of water. They are furnished with four tentacles, eight ly- thocists, and the umbrella is bell-shaped, and appears to be rough over the surface, the little papulae being thread cells. Not a few were swimming everted like little hand-bells, the manubrium of the medusa forming the handle. The power of swimming did not seem to be diminished by their being turned outside in, though the movements might not be so graceful as in the usual form. Camjmmdaria flexuosa (Hincks) is extremely common on all parts of the shore, and is also met with growing on Chorda jiliim. The medusae of this Zoophyte are often everted, but none of this species appeared to be mixed with the Clytia on the piece of Chorda filum examined. Among other Zoophytes brought up by the dredge were Serhdaria poli/zo7iias (Linn.) and S. argentea (Ellis and Solander), usually growing on old shells, stones, and cinders. Antennularia Antennina (Linn.), Phnmdaria Catharina (Johnston), and P. pinnata (Linn.) The latter appears to be a favourite resort with the Caprellas, numbers of these curious creatures being constantly found crawling from branch to branch, or standing on their hind legs waving their long antennae, and bending backwards and forwards in their usual comical manner. Campanularia veriicUlata (Linn.) was frequently covered with a curious Polyzoon, Pedicellina echinata (Sars), rising from a stem which creeps along one side for a short distance, and then t\\anes round the stem or branches of the Zoophyte. From this stem a short stalk arises, with little spines projecting at right angles from its side, and terminates in a rounded head, which forms the Polypide. What strikes one at first sight on watching these minute animals is the power of bending this stem, and so curving it as to bring the head down to touch the Zoophyte to which it is attached, and then it is curved back to touch it again on the other side, and so for a few times this irregular action is maintained till 48 • PROCEEDINGS OF THE it recovers its equanimity, settles quiet, and projects erect. In bending from side to side, not unfrequently one comes against its neighbour, setting it in motion, and this striking a third, several may be observed at one time curving their heads about, and giving each other an occasional buffet. This stem is never twisted spirally, nor is its motion spasmodic, like a Vorticella, the longi- tudinal and transverse fibres of which it is composed being only able to bring the head to the same plane as the base of the stem, leaving an arch between the two. The tentacles were usually seen curved and rolled up, but not retracted. The passage of food revolving in the stomach to the intestine was also visible. Sometimes the entire Polypide, drops off the stem, which remains as a stump, and still preserves its capability of motion; after a time a new one is said to bud forth from this extremity. Four of the Zoophytes most frequently found, and occurring in considerable profusion and good condition, are Tuhidaria indmsa (Linn.), in the mud, and Ohelia lonyissima (Pallas), Halecium halecimtm (Linn.), and Euclendrium rameum (Pallas), attached to stones in the mud as w^ell as on the hard ground ; upon a small branch of Obelia I detected a single CamjMnularia, which appears to agree with the description and plate of C. raridentata (Alder). Two or three branches of these Zoophytes, and chiefly of Eudendrium rameum, are frequently matted together by the silken sheaths of Nereis Dumerilii (And. and M. Edw.) AVhen one of these annelids is placed in a saucer of sea water, it speedily protects itself at the margin of the water with a transparent sheath, which it evacuates upon pressure, and soon forms another. When they attach themselves to the Eudendrium, the tube or sheath is strengthened by two or three stems being brought to- gether, and made fast to it ; the transparency is soon lost from mud and dirt. In these long black nests or tubes the Nereis dwells. From an empty one a Phyllodoce Ulineata (Johnston) crawled out; it had probably taken up a temporary abode, as I am not aware that this genus ever formi a tube. II. — Sessile-eyed Crustaceans. In the branches of these Zoophytes we also find numbers of tube-like nests, inhabited by the domicolous Amphipods. In these the occupants may be observed on the look-out, leaning half over the side, and waving their antennae to and fro, as they watch for Natural history society of Glasgow. 49 some passing pilgrim. Among these, Cerapus abditus* is con- spicuous from his powerful claws. Dercothoe (Cerajms) pundatus, now supposed to be the female of the preceding, will be seen in another such nest; a small one, from its spotted appearance and the form of the gnathopod, aj)pears to agree with C. difformis, if it is not the young of the preceding. In similar situations Fodocerus pulchellus and P. pelagicus also occur ; sometimes the nest is formed on the old shell tenanted by a hermit-crab. There we find also his companions, Nmiia rimcvpcdmata and N. excavafa. From the shore T add also AmphitJioe Uttorina, as another example of a nest-builder. In the muddy refuse at the bottom of a bucket, into which some Ascidians, muddy shells, and other animals had been thrown in the course of dredging, there occurred a beautiful Amphipod, distinguished by " a blush of rose colour," with crimson spots on some of the limbs, particularly on the anterior portion of the body, Ampelisca Gaimardii. One striking peculiarity in this genus consists in the eyes being formed of only two simple lenses on each side of the head, with a small mass of pigment behind them. I am not certain whether they were brought up in some of the mud hauls, as they were not observed at the time, and only three specimens were got. [In the mud off Ashton I have taken Anomjx ampidla in considerable numbers, and a few of A. denticulatus along with them.] In the Bay I have also obtained Gossea microdeutopa, Aora gracilis, Gammarus marinus, UrotJioe elegans, Calliope IcBviuscula, Montagua monocidoides. The three last were also obtained in 1859, and most probably with the towing net. They have been preserved in glycerine, and still retain their colouring — Montagua its red eye, and Urotho'e its pink markings. At that time I also obtained another curious species, the pleon of which has a deep notch, and terminates abruptly with a straight outline, so that the telson seems as it were to be stuck on to the truncated pleon. The last pereiopod has also a large coxa beautifully cancellated in honey-comb pattern, and the propoda are hairy on both sides. This species does not seem to have been known till after the publication of Spence Bate and Westwood's work, when it was * The specific names of this and the following species are given from Spence Bate and Westwood's " Sessile-eyed Crustacea." Lon., 1863. VOL. II. D 50 PROCEEDINGS OF THE described and figured in the Annals and Mag. of Natural History for Dec, 1868, by Eev. A. M. Norman, as Helleria coalita, from specimens recently obtained by himself in Shetland, and by Mr Robertson in Cumbrae — in both cases with the towing net, as I believe mine to have been taken. Passing on to the aberrant group, Proto pedata and Frotella phasma are those most usually occurring on the Zoophytes, also Capo'ella linearis, while C. acantliifera is very abundant on sea- weeds at low water as well as on the Pluimdaria. The females, both of this and P. Phasma, are frequently seen with the young- clustered on the antennae, to which they cling by their hind legs, and wave about their antennae just as their parents do on the Zoophyte. In such a case the antennas look like brushes. In pools near high water mark I may add that Tanais vittaius is frequentl}^ found in the tufts of Cladophm^a rupestrls. In the same situation the little nests of a minute annelid Otiionia Fahricii (Johnston) is found. It is distinguished by what appear to be two eyes on its tail — a very useful arrangement in a house open at both ends, where there is hardly room for turning, but a gift not conceded to most annelids which occupy a similar position. Idotea tricuspidata occurs both on shore and in deep water. A still more curious Isopod, A7xturus longicornis, was brought up from the hard ground off Huntly Place. Placed in a glass of sea water, it swims with a series of dancing movements. Standing on what are its hind legs, it springs up and rises swimming with the fore legs; the latter are fringed, and used also to clean and brush the long inferior antennae, which are strong and stiff, mth a sharp point at the extremity. Sometimes the creature threw itself on its back, and lay stretched out stiff and rigid, supj^orted on the tip of its tail and the j^oints of the long antennae in a sort of tetanic spasm, or rather in a cataleptic state. Whether this is done to feign death on a surprise, or is a part of its gymnastic performances, it does not seem to have any injurious effects, as the animal speedily resumes its more lively movements. III. — Echinoderms. We pass now to the Echinodermata. In a former communication I stated that I had not then obtained Comatula rosacea (Link) in this Bay, and referred to what may be termed its erratic habits, its numbers varying much in different localities in our Frith, sometimes occurring almost like a shoal, and then disappearing, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 51 not one being found for a long time. Though they have not occurred in any number in the Bay, yet on ahnost every excursion at this time one or two came up in the dredge, usually from the hard bottom off Craigmore and Huntly Place, and the nullipore bed at Ardbeg, but sometimes even from the mud their feathery rays would be seen trying to get free from such an uncongenial position, in which Ophiocoma jiliformis (Miiller) is so much more at home, always appearing clean even in such a dirty habitat, while the Comatidas seem to have been overtaken when creeping over the surface, and rolled into the netting over and over, till completely enveloped. Like other Star-fishes in the Bay, the Comatulas appear to attain to a good size, the length of a single ray, in a fine specimen, being 7J to 8 inches. This species is now named Anted on Milleri, and has been separated from A. rosaceus. In the former the centrodorsal plate is entirely covered with dorsal cirrhi, while in the latter only the sides are so covered and the central portion is naked. It is a smaller species, Norman stating the size to be 4 J inches from tip to tip of the arms or rays, while A. Milleri is 11 inches from tip to tip — our largest, however, will be 16 inches. Solaster papposa (Linn.) is not unfrequently met with also of large size, while S. endeca (Linn.) is more rare. Goniaster Templetoni (Thompson) was obtained at this time. Amphidotus roseus (Forbes) is not uncommon; and Echinocyamus pusillus (Miiller) is occasionally detected. Of the Holothuriadse Cucumaria pentactes (Miiller) may be con- sidered as occurring everywhere. C. fusiformis (Forbes and Goodsir) was added to the list in 1869 ; and C. Hijndmanni (Thompson), in 1868. When first obtained the latter was covered with small stones, from which its head projected at an angle, and continued in this stiff position till night, when it became more lively, and, throwing off the stones, proceeded on a survey of its new quarters. At the same dredging Thy one jmpillosa (Miiller) was found. Most of these Holothuriae seem to be nocturnal animals, and to get lively after dark, displaying their tentacles in all their beauty; on the second night, however, poor Thyone put an end to itself, somewhat after the Japanese fashion of the happy despatch, evacuating its interior, the whole of the dental apparatus and intestine. The long narrow form of this dental apparatus shows 52 PROCEEDINGS OF THE the adaptation of what is so powerful an organ in the Echinus to a soft-skinned urchin like Thyone. Syrinx nudus (Linnaeus) is not uncommon. Syrinx Harveii (Forbes) was obtained this last autumn. Both extremities have minute suckers, and that part of the body appears to be reticu- lated, while the central portion is quite smooth, and the line of separation between these two portions is most distinctly defined. There is a small proboscis partly protruded in the specimen. Synnpta tenera (Norman). In 1868 several soft, white, trans- parent worms came up in one of the dredgings through the mud of the Bay. They were somewhat gelatinous in appearance, and were rather difficult to pick up, but were soon found to possess a remarkable power of adhesion to the finger, and did not readily drop off into the glass. The length was from one. to one and a half inches. They were very transparent, the interior being visible through the integument. A whitish ring surrounds one end (the head), from which about a dozen (eleven) tentacles arise. These are rather stout and dumpy in form, thick below, and taper rapidly to a point, giving off two smaller ones at right angles, at about one-third of the length from the extremity, and all three from that point are about the same length. At the extremity they are usually curved up or down, bending towards the bottom like a finger. Small irregular calcareous spicula, something like a femur in shape, may be observed in them. At the base of each, in the angle from which they arise from the ring margin, is a patch of yellowish pigment, which may possibly represent an eye. In the centre of this ring is the mouth. In the anterior third of the animal is the stomach and the intestine, which winds down the middle third, while the posterior third, and sometimes tlie middle also, are quite transparent and banded with longitudinal muscles. The whole surface of the integument is dotted with minute anchor-shaped spicula, which give it a rough appearance, and their probably projecting from the surface may possibly account for the adhesive powers displayed. When the integument is longitudinally corrugated, the rounded end of the anchor shaft with its flukes is that which projects. These flukes are sharp pointed, but it docs not appear that eitlier of them projects much more than tlie othor, though it must be with one or other that adhesion takes place; it is ratlier the end of the shaft to which NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 53 they are united, and with which they form one sohd piece, which is most prominent. The other end of the shaft is not terminated by a ring, as one might expect, but by a small handle or cross-piece, which is not exactly in the same ]3lane as the fluke end of the shaft, and yet not exactly at right angles, but apparently somewhat diagonal to that plane. By this little cross-piece it is attached to the anchor-j^latc which lies below it. Indeed, at first sight it is rather difficult to make out whether the anchor lies above or below the anchor-plate, or whether even the shaft does not pass through one of the holes in the anchor-plate; but on careful examination with the microscope it will be observed that the anchor comes first into the field of view, and that when the anchor-plate is most distinctly visible the anchor has sensibly faded. This plate then lies beneath the anchor, and is rather less in length, the fluke end of the anchor sometimes projecting clear of it. It is a somewhat hexagonal plate, characterised by seven holes, and by a small sort of handle or process, so to speak, pro- jecting from one end of it. This process is about one-half of the diameter of the plate in length, and has two little holes in it; one at the end, an eyelet hole, into which one end of the little hammer-head-looking cross-piece of the shaft seems to fit and to be attached, though perhaps not very firmly, as the anchor is not unfrequently seen by itself on the integument, as is also the anchor-plate. The two holes are somewhat pyriform in shape, and a sort of streak may be observed between them, as if they had at one time been continuous, and, indeed, one long hole may sometimes be observed. The one at the extremity, so far as I can make out with a high power, seems also to be minutely toothed. The plate is rather larger in diameter than the length from point to point of the anchor flukes, and is not exactly circular, for the outline of the circle is waved, where each of the holes within it causes a bulging in the external ring or circum- ference. The form of the plate is rather hexagonal; four of the sides may be considered about equal, and the other two next the process are not so long, but the angles are all rounded ofl". There is one hole in the centre and six around it, seven in all ; they are somewhat roundish rather than oval in form, with the exception of the one oj)posite to the process, and it is usually semilunar. 54 " PROCEEDINGS OF THE Minute teeth project from the margin of each of these holes, and appear to rise above the plane of the plate. Four teeth may be observed on one side of a hole and three on the other ; at other times, and perhaps as often, there are five on one side and four on the other, nine in all; and, on some of the smaller ones, there are only five altogether. Occasionally, but rarely, two or three of these minute teeth or processes may be seen on the external margin of one of the sides of the plate, and similarly one of these may be incomplete, leaving a little opening into one of the holes, the calcareous matter terminating in two points, as if its develop- ment had been arrested before these points coalesced to complete the circle around the hole. Other malformations occasionally occur in the forms of the plate. Upon this anchor-plate the anchor lies, folded down, as it were, at an acute angle, and projecting at the fluke end. The flukes are sharp-pointed, and are frequently serrated on the outer margin. In one example there was an open foramen at the fluke end of the shaft, so that the anchor had somewhat the appearance of a double- edged battle-axe. Near the other extremity the shaft bulges a little, and again contracts next the cross-piece. The breadth of the shaft is about the same as that of the process of the anchor- plate. According to Mr Herapath (On the Pedicellarise of the Echino- dermata. Quart. Jour. Microscop. Soc, Vol. v.), "These perforated plates are the analogues of the pentagonal plates of an Echinus shell, while the anchors are merely modifications of the spines, and are used as organs for prehension and locomotion, and assist the animal in raising its vermiform body to the mouth of its tube, the anchors being withdrawn during the period of contraction of the Syncqjta, and contribute little or nothing to the powers of defending the animal from the attacks of its predatory enemies." I cannot say whether such is the case or not; it appeared to me that the anchor-flukes were sometimes covered by a thin membrane. There is a very regular row of these anchors down each side of the longitudinal muscles, and they are placed at right angles to the muscle, the hinge-joint of attachment being nearest it, and the round end of the plate, with the fluke end of the anchor, pointing towards the space between the muscles. It is also that part which projects when the muscle is contracted. The animal NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 55 crawls along by the tentacles, and the posterior half of the body is often held upright, or nearly so. Like other species of this genns, it is very j^rone to break into pieces. Mr Eobertson informs me that this species is Synapta tenera, one of his numerous additions to the marine fauna, and was named by the Eev. A. M. Norman in a paper read before the British Association in 1863, although no description is given in the notice in the Eeport of that meeting.* An examination of the anchor plates in the drawing sent round, as compared with Mr Herapath's plate of the known British species, will show how distinctly the anchor process of this species and the form of plate differ from those represented. Messrs Woodward and Barrett, in their paper on S. digitata and S. inhcBvens, (reported in the Annals and Mag. of Natural History, Vol. iii., 1859,) consider these plates as fully reliable for specific characters, and that opinion is borne out by the plates of this species. I have not yet met with S. digitata in Rothesay Bay, but Messrs W. and B. state it was obtained there by the late Mr Alder in 1844. IV. — In conclusion, two Serpulse are exhibited. Serpida Berkeleii (Johnston) usually occurs singly by itself on a stone, and does not form a cluster like many of the other species. It forms a hard, semi-transparent, j^orcellaneous looking tube, very different in apparent consistency from the others. It rises up and projects freely from the attached portion, and is terminated by three well-defined sharp mucros; one or other of the points, however, is often broken, probably the result of capture. The operculum is of a fine orange colour; the stem is corrugated and banded with orange red; the margin as well as the upper surface is smooth. There is a narrow black ring inside, which perhaps is caused by dirt. The branchial plumes are of a pale greenish yellow, Avith an orange band across the middle. This species is comparatively rare. S. reversa (Montagu), on the other hand, aj^pears to be very common. It has a double operculum; the upper one rises out of the centre of the lower, and has the margin armed with thorny spines; sometimes they are single, but usually have one or two * It has since been described, with a plate, by Messrs Brady and Robertson, in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of Loudon, Nov. 21, 1871. 56 PROCEEDINGS OF THE rarauli. The lower operculum has the margin serrated and the stalk grooved in continuation therewith. V. — Contributions towards a Moss and Lichen Flora of Cumhrae. By Mr Walter Galt. VI. — Notes of a Botanical Trip to Ben Lccwers with Dr Stirton. By the same Author. In this paper several rare plants were enumerated, including a number of interesting lichens. The Librarian announced the following donation to the Library : — Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumberland and Durham, Vols, i., ii., and Vol. iii., Part i., from the Society. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 57 SIESSIOZsT 187 0-7 X. THE NINETEENTH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, ANDERSON'S UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS, SEPTEMBER 27th, 1870. Professor John Young, M.D., F.G-.S., Presiclent, in the chair. The Treasurer and Librarian submitted their Annual Reports, the statement of the former shewing a balance in favour of the Society of <£77 10s. The follo^ying gentlemen were elected office- bearers for the session: — Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S., President; Mr David Robertson, F.G.S., and Professor Alexander Dickson, M.D., Vice-Presidents; Robert Gray, Secretary; Thomas S. Hutcheson, Treasurer; Thomas Chapman, Librarian; Hugh Colquhoun, M.D., James Stirton, M.D., Donald Dewar, M.D., Edward R. Alston, F.Z.S., John Alexander, Robert Mason, James Coutts, and William Sinclair, Members of Council. SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. Mr Gray exhibited a specimen of the Green Sandpiper (Totamis ochropiis), from the banks of the Carron, in Stirlingshire, and a specimen of the Little Stint {Tringa minuta), from Grangemouth, both got recently and forwarded by Mr John A. Harvie Brown, corresponding member. Mr Gray also exhibited a specimen of the Tree Sparrow {Passer montanus), from Ardrossan, and read the following extracts from a letter written by Mr John Jameson, of 87 Princes Street, Ardrossan:- — "The nest from which this specimen was obtained was under the cope-stone of a high wall, and contained four birds. It was found in the evening by a lad, who brought three birds to the writer, the fourth having flown away. The young birds were all marked with black on the cheek exactly alike, and were much less in size than the House Sparrow. It would seem that the Tree Sparrow does not always build in trees, but sometimes nests along with the Common Sparrow in houses." Mr Jameson also noticed a Blue Tit (Pariis cceruleus), which he had observed during the summer. In 1864 a specimen of this bird was exhibited to the 58 PROCEEDINGS OF THE Society, captured near Dunbar, where, it was stated at the time, it seemed to have established itself, though not previously recog- nised as a Scottish species. Mr Chapman stated that he had in his possession at Buchanan Street a full-gro^vn living larva of the Emperor Moth (Ceratocampa imperialis, Fab.), a native of the Middle and Southern States of North America. PAPER READ. Journal of a Tour through the Outer Hebrides in 1870, By Captain H. W. Feilden, Corresponding Member. This tour was made in company with Mr Harvie Brown, and the present communication takes up the narrative when the latter gentleman left for the South. Captain Feilden obtained in the Long Island the eggs of the Red-necked Phalarope, Dunlin, Black-throated Diver, Ring Plover, etc. He mentions that there is a belief throughout the Long Island, and in parts of Suther- landshire, that if the eggs of the Hooded Crow are boiled and returned to the nest, the hen will sit on them till she dies of exhaustion. Visiting the island on which the Black-throated Diver nests, "we were surprised to find the nest composed of grass, and raised considerably, not unlike that of the Common Gull. We particularly asked our guide if he was sure about this being the nest, as we always supposed the Diver made no nest ; but he corroborated his statement by pointing to the otter-like tracks from the nest to the water." On the " Machirs," near Drumore, Captain Feilden saw shell mounds from which the winds had removed the lighter sand, leaving great masses of periwinkles, cockle-shells, and fragments of teeth and bones. From a large mound near Grogary a quantity of bones was obtained. "Among the remains we found many fragments of bone pins, one very perfect one made of deer's horn. We packed a considerable number of these bones for the examina- tion of Professor Newton, being in hopes that some relic of the Great Auk [Alca impennis), however minute, might turn up among the remains of deer, swine, and seal, which form the largest part of the remains. In pre-historic times, when this mound was the home of man, it had evidently been surrounded with water, which the rise of the coast line has since drained off. This very interesting mound will in a few years blow away entirely, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 59 and nothing will be left but a heap of bones and large quantities of shells to mark the spot. " We were taken to a green hillock situated a little to the N.W. of Grogary, and between the " Machirs" and Drumore Loch. It has evidently at one time been surrounded by a shallow lake, now drained off by the elevation of the land. Our guide told us this was another shell mound, and if dug into would prove quite as rich in bones as the other." Other shell mounds were visited, situated three miles from Nunton, Benbecula, and not far from the sea. The portions of these mounds exposed by the winds are rich in remains. " ^Ye picked up a considerable number of bone needles and pieces of animals' bones. A large portion of a human skeleton was also exposed. It appeared to be the remains of a very tall man. The most interesting results were a well-carved bone spoon and half of an elegantly-made bronze brooch. " Finding these vestiges of civilization in situ, side by side with the cleaver and hatchet, the splintered bones and horn needles of the pre-historic man, for a moment shook our faith in the antiquity of the kitchen-middens, as on reflection it occurred to the author, first, that the brooch and spoon might have been dropped in comparatively recent times, (a supposition negatived by the position in which they were found) ; second, that these articles, manufac- tured by a more highlj^-civilized people in Britain or the Continent, might have reached Long Island by accident or barter, just as centuries hence an Esquimaux heap might contain relics of Kane's or other expeditions." Captain Feilden, adverting to the friable nature of the remains, recommended that visits should be paid after storms, when the winds expose the interior of the mounds, and diminish the risk of breakinsf the bones in disfoino;. It was ascertained that Eagles had not been at Wiay for many years, the last female having been killed twenty years ago. Two large flocks of Whimbrel were noted, this being an unusually late date for them to linger on the coast of Britain. A visit to the old castle of the Clanranalds, now a quarter of a mile from the shore, but once so near the water that seals were shot from the windows, suggested to the author the probability of a slow elevation being in progress over these islands. In the discussion which followed the readins; of this interesting paper, Dr Dewar, Mr Gray, Dr Young and others took part. The importance of the ornithological notes, and of the facts 60 PROCEEDINGS OF THE regarding the shell mounds, was pointed out, but exception was taken to Captain Feilden's views regarding the elevation of the land. The Librarian announced the following donations to the Library: — Transactions of the Glasgow Archaeological Society, Vol. ii.. Part i., from the Society. TJngedruckte, unbeachtete und wenig beachtete Quellen zur Geschichte des Taufsymbols und der Glaubensregel, Dr C. P. Caspari, Professor der Theo- logie an der Norwegischen Universitat, Christiania, 1869. Mserker Efter en listid I Omegnen af Hardangerfjorden, af S. A. Sexe, Christiania, 1866. Om Siphonodentalium Yitreum, en ny Slsegt og Art af Dentalidernes Familie, af Dr Michael Sars, Professor ved Christianias Universitet, Christiania, 1861. Etudes sur Les Affinites Chimiques, par C. M. Guldberg et P. Waage, Christiania, 1867. Le Glacier De Boium, en Juillet, 1868, par S. A. Sexe, Christiania, 1869. Ten Maps of North Norway, — from the University of Christiania. Natural History Trans- actions of Northumberland and Durham, Vol. iii., Part ii., 1870, from the Society. October 25th, 1870. Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S., President, in the chair. Messrs John M. Campbell, James Peebles, and David C. Glen, were elected resident members. SPECIMENS exhibited. . The Secretary exhibited a specimen of the Manx Shearwater (Puffinus anglorum) which had been taken alive last month at the railway station, Larbert, Stirlingshire, and was forwarded by Mr John A. Harvie Brown, corresponding member. Mr Gray made some remarks on the distribution of the species in Western Scotland. Mr John Bell exhibited specimens of the Iqeland Falcon (Falco islandicus), Greenland Falcon {F. candlcans)j and Norwegian Gyrfalcon {F. gyr-falco norvegicus), on which the Secretary and Dr Dewar offered some observations, showing the difficulty of dis- tinguishing between the three species, especially in the case of immature specimens. Mr Bell also exliibited a specimen of the Swallow-tailed Kite (N'anderus foircahis). NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 61 Mr John Young exhibited specimens of several species of Polyzoa recently obtained from an exceedingly interesting Arctic shell-bed at present exposed in the cutting of a new dock at Cartsdyke, near Greenock. One Polyzoon he referred to the genus Idmonea, which, he said, had not been recorded from any of the other Arctic shell-beds in the West of Scotland. Mr Young stated, that from the disturbed condition of the larger shells observed in the deposit, and from other circumstances, considerable diversity of opinion existed as to whether the bed lay in its natural position, or had at some former period been dug out of some Arctic shell bed cropping out on the Greenock coast, and had been brought to the spot where it is now found to fill up a hollow in the boulder-clay. The shell-bed, as seen in the cutting, appears to be of a very limited extent ; but Mr Young would not express any decided opinion as to how the disturbed condition of the shells had been produced (while there was the probability of their having been placed in their present position by man's agency) further than by stating that it could not be by water or ice, as the beautiful manner in which the Polyzoa, Serpulce, Sjnrohis, etc., are preserved upon the larger shells and on the stones and boulders in the deposit, precludes the idea of their having drifted from other tracks into the hollow at Cartsdyke since the time these delicate organisms became attached. PAPER READ. On Petromyzon fluviatiUs, and its mode of 'preying on Coregonus clupeoides. By Mr David Eobertson, F.G.S. About a month ago I found on Loch Lomond a full-sized dead Powan {Coregonus chqjeoides, Lacep.), having two abraded holes about the size of the point of the fore-hnger, one on each side of the shoulder. My boatman said that these holes, or bites as he called them, were made by an eel, which he assured me he often found hanging to a Powan. Shortly afterwards we came upon another Powan of smaller size, floating on the water, belly up, with an eel hanging to it. I managed by means of a hand-net to get them both into the boat, where the eel at once let go its hold. The Powan was dead, but had all the appearance of being only newly so. This so-called eel was the Lampern {Petromyzon fluviatiUs, Linn.) In looking over what books were accessible to Q2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE me, 1 find no mention made of this species hanging to its prey in the manner to which I have referred. If this habit is as common as it seems to me to be, both from my own observation and from the boatman's report, it is remarkable that no notice has been taken of it, particularly as this fish is as well known, and has had a great commercial interest in some places. It is said the Thames alone supplied from one million to twelve hundred thousand Lamperns annually. The only passage I find bearing directly on the point at issue is by Yarrell, when speaking of the food of the Sea Lamprey {Petronryzon marinus); he says, "it consists generally of soft animal matter, and in the sea it is known to attack other fishes of large size by fastening upon them, and by its numerous small rasp-like teeth, eating away the soft parts down to the bone." This suggests the inquiry whether the Lamprey occupies itself with the prey that it has taken till it entirely consumes it, or whether, like the Otter, it only takes the choice part, and again renews the hunt for another fresh and savoury repast. That they do betake themselves to dead fish is favoured by a statement of Bloch's, where he says, " The food of the fresh water Lampern is insects, worms, small fish, and the. flesh of dead fish." It is not improbable, the assertion that its food is occasionally dead fish, may have arisen from the occurrence having been noticed of its holding on to the newly-killed prey. The facts that came under my own observation, so far as they go, appear to show that the Lampern does not feed on the dead bodies of fish till they are all consumed. The abrasions on both the Powans I found on the loch were only about the size of the sucking mouth of the Lampern, and to a small depth, with no visible deviation of encroachments of the holes either to one side or another. Even the statement that was made of the Sea-Lamprey, with "its small rasp-like teeth, eating away the soft parts down to the bone," gives no indication of the consumption of the whole fish, but rather that of tapping an opening from which the juices of the animal might be withdrawn. The whole mechanism of the mouth, with the rasp-like tubercules or teeth and suctorial lips, point in that direction. I give these facts and suggestions in the meantime, in the hope that they will elicit something more bearing on the subject from some of our members. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 63 Professor Young tlien delivered an opening address, after which the Librarian announced the following donations to the Library : Vargasia. Boletin de la Sociedad de Ciencias Fisicas y Naturales de Caracas, numero 7, 1870, from -the Society. Proceedings of the Perthshire Society of Natural Science for 1869-70, Perth, 1870, from the Society. Seventh Annual Report of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, 1869-70. Opening Address of Professor Wyville Thomson, M.D., Nov., 1869, Belfast, 1870, from the Club. NovejNIBER 29th, 1870. Mr Edward R Alston, F.Z.S., in the chair. The following gentlemen were elected members : — Messrs John Barr, David More, C.E., James Allen Harker, and John Hopkins, as resident members. Rev. H. Williamson, Mantchouria, and Mr W. A. Dixon, Newcastle, New South Wales, as corresponding members. SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. The Chairman exhibited a specimen of the Barbastelle Bat (Barhastellus communis) from Norfolk, and made some remarks on the distribution of this species in Britain and on the Continent; also a specimen of the Black Tern (Sterna fissipes), which had been shot near Grangemouth, on the Firth of Forth, on 8th September last, by Mr John A. Harvie Brown, corresponding member. This bird was alone when seen, and is in the plumage of the first autumn. Regarding its occurrence in Scotland, Mr Alston stated that he had been informed by Mr Gray that specimens had been obtained in the counties of Dumfries, Haddington, Berwick, Fife, and Aberdeen. In the last-named shire one was shot in the autumii of 1866, and another on the 30th April, 1867. Mr Gray said that he had seen it on Loch Lomond in full breeding plumage in May, 1867, and again at Girvan in August, 1870. Five specimens were seen some years ago on Loch Fyne by the late Mr James Hamilton of Minard. Upon the whole, he was disposed to think that the species is a regular spring and autumn visitant to our shores. The Secretary exhibited a specimen of the Red-necked Phalarope (Phalarojms hyperboreus), a young bird in the plumage of the first 64 PROCEEDINGS OF THE year, which was shot on the 15th September last, near Aberdeen, by Mr Alexander Mitchell, and referred to that state of plumage as one which had been but imperfectly described by Yarrell and other writers. Another specimen was obtained by Mr Mitchell three days afterwards at the same place; and these two birds had probably belonged to a migratory flock from more northern latitudes. Mr John A. Harvie Brown exhibited two specimens (females in breeding plumage) of the Purple Sandpiper (Tringa maritima), which were shot on 27th May last on the island of Mingulay, Outer Hebrides, by Captain H. W. Feilden. These birds had apparently been nesting in the district, as both showed abrasion of the under parts of the plumage, indicating that they had been sitting on eggs. Captain Feilden saw other specimens of tliis Sandpiper at the same place, and in Barra, and was inclined to think that small numbers bred in that part of the Long Island. PAPERS READ. • I. — Notes on the Shell Mounds of the Outer Hebrides. By Mr Egbert Gray. The writer, who had visited these mounds in August, 1870, drew the attention of the meeting to several passages in a curious work published about 200 years ago, entitled " A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland," by M. Martin, which appeared to throw some light on the history of many of the objects that have been discovered in these mounds. At a previous meeting of the Society a paper on the subject had been read by Captain Feilden, who stated that he had found in one of the heaps a bone spoon, ornamented with carved work, and also bone needles and other objects, such as have hitherto had a considerable antiquity, if not pre-historic age, assigned to them. It was, however, a curious circumstance, to say the least of it, that Martin mentions in his account of the inhabitants of the Outer Hebrides in his day, that " some of the natives are very dexterous 'in engraving trees, birds, deer, dogs, etc., upon bone and horn, or wood, without any other tool than a sharp-pointed knife." Again, in speaking of their dress, he says, — " When they [the men] travel on foot, the i:)lad is tied on the breast with a bodkin of bone," etc. ; and, in alluding to the dress of the women, he states that " the ^;/ac? NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 65 being pleated all round was tied with a belt below the breast ; the belt was of leather, and several pieces of silver intermixed with the leather like a chain. The lower end of the belt has a piece of plate about eight inches long, and three in breadth, curiously engraven, the end of which was adorned with fine stones or pieces of red coral." Mr Gray exhibited a small piece of pink coral perforated, which he had found while digging into one of the mounds in the island of South Uist, and mentioned that this article of ornament, taken in connection with the bronze brooch found in one of the Benbecula heaps by Captain Feilden, or even with bone bodkins, or other articles of bone ornamented with carving, excited at least a suspicion that these Hebridean mounds might not be of a greater age than two or three hundred years. II. — Notes on the discovery of an Ancient Canoe on the farm of Littlehill, C adder Moor, near Kirkintilloch, the 'property of Sir William Stirling Maxwell, Bart. Illustrated by drawings. By Mr James S. Dixon. The position in which this curious relic of antiquity was lying, indicated that it had been stranded or hauled up on the beach, the stern being uppjermost, and slightly protruding above the surface. The workpeople about the farm imagined it was the stump of a tree, and so it was rather damaged in the process of removal, until its real nature was discovered. The dimensions are — length, thirteen feet ; breadth, from one foot nine inches near the taper at the bow, to two feet five inches at the stern. There are .two detached pieces of wood or ribs, formed of the bent branch of an oak ; these have circular holes drilled or burned through them, which appear to correspond with similar holes in the bottom of the canoe. At the stern there is a slight groove, into which a board or piece of wood had probably been inserted, and held in its place by similar grooves in the sides. The canoe has been hewn or burned from the trunk of an oak tree, with the bark adhering to the outside. Cadder Moor, where this canoe was found, is of considerable extent, and is a nearly level peat moss. Some time ago an attempt was made to bore there for minerals, which resulted in failure, as, after cutting through the peat to a depth of twenty feet, the workmen found it to be floating on the top of fluid mud vol. II. E 66 PROCEEDINGS OF THE and water, reaching to a considerable depth. This, corroborated by the finding of the canoe, shows that the present situation of the Moor was formerly a loch, which has been silted up by vegetation, the uppermost stratum being now perfectly firm, and a portion of it drained and under cultivation. The Librarian announced the following donations to the Libraiy : — Notes of a Week's Dredging on the West of Ireland, and The Ostracoda and Foraminifera of Tidal Eivers, by G. S. Brady, C.M.Z.S., and David Robertson, F.G.S., from the authors. A List of Fresh Water Algee, collected in Northumberland and Durham, and Notes on Entomostraca, taken chiefly in the North- umberland and Durham District, by G. S. Brady, from the author. SPECIAL MEETING. NATURAL HISTORY CLASS ROOM, GLASGOW UNIVERSITY. December 19th, 1870. Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S., President, in the chair. There was a good attendance of members, and Professors Allen Thomson, Blackburn, and Veitch, were also present. The more interesting among recent additions to the Hunterian Museum were exhibited, including a part of the collection of birds from Central India, given by Mr W. Ramsay, Bombay Civil Service ; a part of the Mexican series collected by Dr Duge^s, and presented by Mr Lachlan M'Gown, Consul at Guanajuato; and a group of sea birds shot by a student of medicine on a voyage to Greenland. These specimens, together with an Emu purchased from a menagerie, had just come from the stuffer, M'CuUoch, on whose dexterity they reflected credit. Mr R. Gray, the Secretary of the Society, commented on several of the birds, especially those rarely found in Scotland, and concluded his remarks by presenting to Dr Young, for the Hunterian Museum, specimens of the Agldia striata, and other birds. specbiens exhibited. Dr Young described a new species of Carboniferous fish {Palaeoniscus JFardi), which he had found in the cabinet of Mr Ward of Lougton ; a new species of crustacean, belonging to the NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 67 genus Solenocaris, which had been collected by Mrs Robert Gray, from the Silurian strata near Girvan; a remarkable series of fragments, found in the same locality by Mrs Gray, and wliich the speaker was inclined to consider as appendages of a Trilobite or Limulid crustacean; and lastly, a specimen of the Tench {Cyprinus tinea), from Lochlomond. This specimen gave rise to some conversation, but no one could give information as to the introduction of Tench into the loch. Mr Hadaway some time ago informed Dr Young that one had been caught by two members of the Angling Club near Balmaha, and that an individual captured in the spring had been kept alive in the neighbourhood ; the latter, forwarded by the Rev. W. Macintosh of Buchanan, being that shown to the Society. It was stated that the recently caught fish had been taken by the net, but that one had been taken with bait some years ago. Mr John Young, F.G.S., said that in a cut, near the Kelvin, in Gadder Park, Tench had been found living some years ago, having been introduced by a former Mr Stirling of Gadder. Yarrell does not mention its occurrence in the West of Scotland. Mr John Young exhibited a further series of specimens of polyzoa, shells, etc., which he had collected from the glacial clays at Gartsdyke, a deposit in wliich he, Mr D. Robertson, F.G.S., and others, had found over eighty species, some of them identical with those from the English Grag. The carefully-selected series he showed was presented to the Hunterian Museum. An animated conversation ensued, in which Mr J. Thomson, F.G.S., Mr Goutts, and others took part, the natural or artificial disturbance of the beds being the chief points at issue. Dr Young, in exhibiting the specimens purchased from menageries, stated the ca.use of death in each case, insufficient food and imperfect protection from cold being the chief causes ; while in the case of the monkeys, neglect of the most obvious sanitary precautions had also to be considered. In connection with this subject he referred to the mortality of cats in autumn, and denounced the brutality too common of turning them adrift when families leave town for the holidays. He suggested the imposition of a tax on cats, if that would be found practicable, not for fiscal purposes, but to diminish the cruelty practised on these animals, and because vagrant cats were, he believed, agents in the spread of infectious diseases. 68 PROCEEDINGS OF THE Dr Allen Thomson, the Chairman of the Museum Committee, expressed his gratification at being present at this, the first meeting of the Society within the University walls, where he hoped that many such meetings would be held ; and concluded by presenting to the Museum a specimen of the Didunculus strigirostris, which had been given to him by the Rev. Dr Turner. This very rare bird, a native of Samoa, is the nearest living species to the extinct Dodo, and the value and importance of the gift may be guessed from the fact that there is only one other specimen in Britain, in the possession of Dr Rolleston, at Oxford. On the motion of Mr Gray, the Society returned thanks to the Senate for their permission to meet in the University. ANDERSON'S UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS. January 3d, 1871. Mr Edward R. Alston, F.Z.S., in tlie chair. Mr William Macgregor was elected a resident member. SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. The Chairman exhibited, with remarks, several curious varieties of the common Mole (Talpa eitrojMect) from different parts of Britain. The most interesting of these was a specimen of a rich golden hue ; and another of the specimens, which was killed at Dunipace, was of a uniform clear greyish white. Mr A. H. Dennistoun, Jun., exhibited a specimen of the Ptarmigan from Dumbartonshire, the locality being perhaps the furthest south of any known haunt of the species in Great Britain. This bird, which was in full summer plumage, had been shot by Mr Crum Ewing on the hills between Glen Fruin and Luss Glen, a haunt invested with additional interest from the circumstance of its being at a much lower elevation than the mountain tracts usually frequented by Ptarmigan. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 69 PAPER READ. On the Birds found breeding in Sutherlandshire* By Mr John A. Harvie Brown, Corresponding Member. Before entering upon my more immediate subject it may be well to lay before you a list of the various works by previous authors, as well as separate papers, treating more or less of the natural history of the County of Sutherland. Of these the first that recommends itself to your notice is — 1. '' A History of the Earldom of Sutherland," to the year 1630, by Sir Robert Gordon, Bart., first published in - 1813 As a certain passage in it serves ir some measure to describe the general aspect of the then existing ferae naturae, I ofi'er no apology for transcribing it, the more particularly as the work in question is not easy of access. After speaking of certain forked- tailed deer, said to inhabit the mountain ' called Arkill,' he goes on to say — " All these forrests and schases are verie profitable for feiding of bestiall, and delectable for hunting. They are full of reid deir and roes, woulffs, foxes, wyld catts, brocks, skuyrrells, whit- trets, weasels, otters, martrixes, hares, and fumarts. In these forrests and in all this province, ther is great store of partriges, pluivers, capercalegs, blackwaks, murefowls, heth-hens, swanes, bewters, turtle-doves, herons, dowes, steares or stirlings, lair- igigh or knag, (which is a fouU lyk vnto a paroket, or parret, which maks place for her nest with her beck, in the oak trie), duke, draig, widgeon, teale, wildgouse, ringouse, routs, whaips, shot-whaips, woodcok, larkes, sparrowes, snyps, blakburds or osills, meweis, thrushes, and all other kinds of wildfoule and birds, which ar to be had in any pairt of this kingdome." *When the greater part of this paper was written and read, some years ago, at a meeting of the Society, several of the rarer species were, if anything, not qiiite so rare as they are at the present time. On the other hand, many of our woodland species have increased in the county, and one or two have been added to the number found during the nesting season. That the latter are likely still further to increase, is extremely probable, owing to the exten- sive improvements being now carried on by the proprietor, who is annually bringing large areas of ground under wood and cultivation, and is reclaiming a considerable acreage from the barren moors, by converting them into flourishing turnip fields. Those who are specially interested in the subject of agricultural improvements would do well to read the account given in the Inverness Courier for August 6, 1874. 70 PROCEEDINGS OF THE I am bound to confess my inability to identify some of the above- mentioned species, though most of them are easily recognisable. *' Turtle-doves" are probably Wood Pigeons, as distinguished from " dowes," which are doubtless Rock Pigeons. " Shot-whaips" are Whimbrels, and " bewters " Bitterns; but what " routs '' may be, or have been, I am at a loss to conjecture. As to the " lair-igigh or knag," I may not be far wrong in supposing it to be the Common Crossbill, some idea of its making " place for her nest in the oak trie " having been simply suggested to the author's mind by the curious formation of the bill. 2. " A Tour in Scotland," by T. Pennant, contains notes on the birds and animals of Sutherland and Caithness, - 1769 3. " Tour in Scotland and Voyage to. the Hebrides," also by Pennant, 1774 4. " The Statistical Account of Scotland " — Sutherland- shire, . - 1793 5. " On the Quadrupeds and Birds inhabiting the County of Sutherland, etc.," by P. L. Selby, Esq., and Sir W. Jardine, Bart, (contained in the Edinr. New Phil. Journal, Jan., April), 1836 6. " The New Statistical Account of Scotland " — Suther- landshire, - - - 1841 7. " A Voyage round the Coasts of Scotland and the Isles," by James Wilson, 1842 8. "Wild Sports of the Highlands," by Charles St. John, 1846 9. " The Birds of Sutherland and Ross-shire," by Milner, (contained in the Zoologist), ------ 1848 10. " Tour in Sutherland," by Charles St. John, in which a list of the Birds of Sutherland is given, - - - - 1849 11. "Notes on the Ornithology of Caithness," by Messrs Shearer and Osl^orne (contained in Proc. Roy. Physical Soc. of Edinburgh, Vol. ii.), 1861 A full list of all the species obtained in that county up to date is given; but it is founded principally on a collection formed by Dr Sinclair, of Wick, previous to 1840, which, as we are informed, contained 191 species. In Vol. iii. of the Proceedings also, mention is made of various rare species recorded as obtained in Sutherland and Caithness. 12. "On the Distribution of Birds in Great Britain dur- ing th6 nesting season," by A. G. More (contained in the Ibis), 1865 NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 71 A most valuable paper. Messrs Shearer and Osborne are quoted as authorities for Caithness, and Mr W, Dunbar for Sutherland. 13. "Sporting Days," by John Colquhoun, - - -1866 Contains a chapter on the wilds of Sutherland, and a list of the Birds of the district. Pp. 235-55. 14, 15. Two Papers in Zoologist, on "Nesting Tours in Sutherland," by J. A. Harvie Brown, - - 1867 and 1868 Having thus, as I believe, given a somewhat full list of previous writings on the subject, my next duty, and a most pleasant one, is to express thanks to all those who have assisted directly or indirectly in the preparation of my paper. To Mr John Crawford of Tongue, the Duke of Sutherland's factor for the northern districts, and to Mr Thomas Mackenzie of Dornoch, I have all along been greatly indebted, for the kind way in which they have ever rendered me ready assistance, not to speak of the pleasure I have derived from our correspondence. Special thanks are also due to Mr E. Maclver, the Duke of Suther- land's factor for the districts of Assynt and Edderachyllis. I shall never cease gratefully to remember his unvarying kindness, shown in many ways, and the trouble he so often took in all matters bearing upon the objects of my excursions. To Mr John Sutherland, whose comfortable inn was my chief head-quarters, I am much indebted. His thorough know- ledge of the haunts and habits of all the wild creatures, amongst which he passed so many years of his life, as the Duke of Suther- land's head gamekeeper, was of infinite service to me. To many others, too numerous to name — but whom, though not now naming, I well remember — I desire to express sincere thanks, not only for help given in my pursuits, but also for their light-hearted, cheerful companionship in many a long ramble by the lochs and streams, and wild hills and valleys of their glorious county. Professor Newton, Sir William Jardine,* Mr Eobert Gray, and others with whom I have corresponded, I would thank for their * Since the above was "written, Sir William Jardine died at his residence, Jardine Hall, Dumfriesshire, at the age of 74, regretted by a wide circle of scientific and personal friends, on the 21st November, 1874. 72 PROCEEDINGS OF THE assistance, and also my friend, Mr E. E. Alston, for his friendly and valuable criticism during almost the whole time I have been engaged in collecting and arranging my materials.* A CCIPITRES (DiurniJ . Fam. il, FALCON IDA E. THE GOLDEN EAGLE.- AQUILA CERYSAETOS [Linnaeus). This fine species is still common, although not so abundant in the county as at the time of Sir William Jardine's and Mr Selby's expedition, in 1834. Mr Selby informs us that about that time no less than 171 full-grown eagles, besides 53 young birds and eggs, were destroyed in the course of three years ; and that the proprietor paid to gamekeepers, shepherds, and others, the total sum of £205, as rewards for their destruction. Of late years Eagles have been protected \ and, although the directions issued for their preservation have not, I fear, been carried out to the letter, nevertheless I am able to state with some degree of certainty, that both they and the Peregrine Falcon have in- creased in numbers considerably since such orders were given. It was, a few years ago, and indeed still is, a comparatively rare circumstance to obtain a glimpse of the Royal birds, unless their peculiar haunts are known beforehand, and the birds positively sought for. In May, 1869, however, I had a near view of a grand old Eagle. I was sitting in company witlv the gamekeeper of the district and some shepherds, under a rock, on the side of a deep narrow glen, when our conversation was interrupted by a rushing sound overhead ; and, as we all looked up, the men said in sup- pressed voices, and it seemed with respect in the presence — " The Eagle." Down the narrow glen he rushed in the full impetus of his flight, his wings half-folded to his sides ; a rich golden hue, proclaiming the adult bird, plainly discernible, as the sun shone * It is only at somewhat short notice, owing partly to my absence from home, that I have been made aware of the intention of the Society to print this paper in the present Part of the Proceedings ; and, not having paid so much attention to the birds of the county of late years, I am necessarily not so well prepared to bring it fully up to date as otherwise would have been the case. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 73 full on his back and neck. He passed us within forty yards, and almost ere we had time to turn our heads he was at the foot of the glen, nearly half a mile distant. Then a pair of Peregrine Falcons, which had their eyrie on the cliff above our heads, swept after in pursuit, and were seen swooping and dashing at the Eagle, the one relieving the other, until they almost drove him to the ground. On seeing this I thought, " Can he be the king'?" '* Fain would T know (if beasts have any reason), If Falcons killing Eagles do commit a treason?" — ClelancVs " Hallo my fancy.'" As if struggling with his degradation, the Eagle again rose upwards in gradually widening circles, avoiding the oft-recurring swoops of his tormentors, much- in the same undignified way that the Hooded Crow avoids those of the Kestrel — viz., by half- turning on his side in the air. At last, after reaching a considerable elevation, he disappeared round a shoulder of the hill, no doubt to retrace his flight to his eyrie, amid the crags of the cold grey stony mountain, which rises at the head of the glen. Though all this took place in an infinitely less space of time than the description of it has occupied, it was a sight never to be forgotten, and even now I seem to hear the great rush of his wings in that' lonely Highland glen. Several times I had seen Eagles at toler- ably close quarters, but never before had I witnessed the immense power, the irresistible rush, of an Eagle's flight when cleaving the air at full speed. WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. HALIAETUS A LB WILL A {Linnaeus). This species, which was equally persecuted at one time with the last, is now likewise protected, but its numbers are not equal to those of the "Mountain Eagle." The north coast of the county is perhaps most frequented by them, though on certain cliffs on the west coast, as well as on inland lochs, they are also found breed- ing. The fact that they are a scarcer species in this part of Scotland may perhaps in part be accounted for by their disposi- tion to wander, during the winter, far southward from their, breeding haunts, and their consequent liability to be shot, trapped, poisoned, or otherwise destroyed. Doubtless this wandering habit, ^ 74 PROCEEDINGS OF THE which is in a great measure contrary to that of the Golden Eagle, is occasioned by the scarcity of their favourite food. Probably their journeyings southward are much influenced by the migra- tions of the fish along our coasts, as well as the fact that rabbits, of which they are specially fond, and which inhabit the islands on the north and west coasts, keep more to their burrows during the winter. OSPEEY. PAN DION HALIAETUS {Unnaeus), Such a sight as that witnessed by Sir W. Jardine's party, in 1834, at the mouth of the river Laxford — viz., four Ospreys on the wing and in sight at the same time, hovering over the shoals of salmon as they ascended the stream, is seldom or never witnessed in the county now, though, when Ospreys are seen, I believe this locality is still a favourite haunt. The pair of birds so often alluded to in works on British Ornithology,* and which had their nest on the summit of the ruins of Aardvraak Castle, on Loch Assynt, used regularly, as I am informed by one who had often seen them, to frequent a shallow sandy bay at the south-east end of the loch, and might be seen on such occasions plunging after their finny prey, and bearing it off to their then undisturbed nesting place. I am not an antiquarian, nor given at all to archaeological pursuits, so may be pardoned for saying that, with the disappearance of the Osprey, the gloiy has departed from the ruins of Aardvraak. f PEEEGPJNE FALCOK FALCO PEREORINUS, Gmclin. This noble bird, the " Game Hawk " of the natives, and which lowers not his proud head beneath the gaze of his so-called king, * Amongst others, vide "A Voyage round the Coasts of Scotland and the Isles," by James Wilson, Vol. i., p. 334. He mentions that the Ospreys, in 1834, bred on a chimney of Calda House, another ruin contiguous to Aardvraak Castle. I have been assured, however, that it was always upon Aardvraak Castle that the nest was built, and the place has been pointed out by those who well remember its existence. t The nest described by St. John, in his " Tour in Sutherland," Vol. i., p. 37, as belonging to this species, was really that of a White-tailed Eagle. Vide Ootheca Wolleyana, Part i., p. 45. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 75 I am glad to say, is far from being a scarce species in Sutherland, and seems to be very generally distributed over all the more moun- tainous districts. Some authors assert, without much foundation on fact, that this species breeds by preference, and more frequently, on sea cliffs than on inland ones. When they do breed on the coast it is not generally from choice, but simply because the nature of the inland country does not supply suitable rocks for them to nest upon. I say "generally," because when the Peregrine places his eyrie close to some large colony of Guille- mots and other rock-birds, I believe he has an eye to the stocking of his larder, and is more influenced by the prospects of good living, easily obtained, than hy the extensive sea- view or other amenities of the situation. For one eyrie of the Peregrine found on the coasts of Sutherland, which are admirably adapted for the nesting habits of the species, there are at least three or four on the rocks of the more inland mountains and glens, and this I state, not only from information gleaned from different quarters, but from personal experience of at least one district of consider- able dimensions. In some parts of England, and in other com- paratively level districts, the Peregrine naturally seeks the coast line for suitable cliffs j but that it does so, as a rule, in Scotland, I feel much inclined to doubt. This species varies considerably in size in both sexes. I obtained what I considered an exceedingly large female in 1869; but, on forwarding it to Mr Robert Gray, he assured me that it measured two inches less than another female in his possession. I also saw another female the same season, which was shot off her nest. She was a very small bird indeed, though the four eggs were uncommonly large and handsome. They are now in my cabinet, and measure in diametrical length 2 '16 inches, and in breadth 1 '6 inch. I have also seen an egg of the Peregrine, the length of which could not have exceeded the breadth of one of the above, and so was not above the size of an average Kestrel's egg. Others in my possession hold a medium j)lace as regards size between these two extremes. With regard to the fact repeatedly taken notice of by ornitho- logists, that if one of a pair of Peregrines or other birds of prey be shot or otherwise destroyed, the remaining bird easily and rapidly obtains another partner, I am inclined to believe that in no case does it do so without first having a severe battle with its 76 PROCEEDINGS OF THE nearest neighbour of the same species. In the spring of 1869 I knew of an authentic instance, in which the tercel procured a second falcon witliin two days and a-half (it may have been a much shorter time) of that on which he was deprived of his first. About the same time the falcon of another pair, from an eyrie about five miles' distant, went amissing ; and there is every reason to believe that it had not been shot or otherwise destroyed, but had supplied the place of the slain falcon in the above tercel's aff'ections. In a country where there are few Peregrines a longer time would probably be taken to secure a second partner ; but where there are, say, from eight to ten eyries not very far removed from one another, there is nothing so very remarkable in the rapid advent of a substitute, though of course, in order to obtain another partner, the Peregrine would have to conquer a rival in battle. MERLIN. HYPOTRIORCHIS AESALON (GmeUn). This is a plentifully-distributed species in the county, especially in the west, though the late Mr John Wolley " was not sure that he ever saw this ,bird whilst he was in Sutherland," and adds, "it certainly was not common there," though he heard of its nesting, and afterwards obtained a laying of the unusual number of six eggs.* This was in the year 1852. I can hardly think that such a compara- tively common bird, as the Merlin now is in Sutherland, could, if equally plentiful at that time, have escaped the notice of such an observer as Mr Wolley. I believe that it was, as he remarks, " certainly not common there " at that time, and that it has within the last twenty years or so spread northwards, as the Sparrow Hawk is now doing in the same county. It must now at least be considered as certainly one of the commonest birds of prey in Sutherland, and is well known to the inhabitants of the west. In the north, however, whence, I believe, Mr Wolley obtained his laying of six eggs, there exists in the minds of the inhabi- tants a certain amount of confusion between the Merlin and the Kestrel, as is proved by a correspondence I had with a person there, regarding six eggs which were sent to me as tliose of a IMerlin, but which, as I had suspected, were a Kestrel's, and were taken from " the face of a green rock," a position never chosen by * Oolhcca Wolhyana, Part i., p. U»5. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 77 the Merliu for nesting purposes. I have obtained or taken many- eggs of this species in Sutherland, and other parts of Scotland, and have never, in the north, got more than four eggs from the same nest, though, curiously enough, the only laying which Mr WoUey obtained consisted of six. Four eggs are the full number assigned to this bird by all the keepers and shepherds I have questioned on the subject ; and I do not remember any one of these worthies ever having asserted that he had known of a single case in which more had been seen or obtained. That this species lays a larger number in some localities is certain, and that five eggs is a common number in the south of Scotland, I am fully aware. In the north I have several times received complete layings of three, which were much incubated. In one nest of four, from Sutherland, one egg contained no yolk, and the colour was most peculiar, being dark sepia, or almost black. Of this variety I have only heard of one or two other specimens. KESTEEL. TINNUNCULUS ALAUDARIUS {Linnaeus). As elsewhere in Great Britain this is an exceedingly abundant species. Almost every little rock contains a breeding place, and in the longer ranges of cliff several pairs may be found nesting.* They are, however, even more abundant in some districts than in others, and are especially partial to the rocky islands off the north shore of Stoir and Aardvaar, and at the entrance of Cairnbawn Loch ; and this, notwithstanding the fact that they are much persecuted and shot down by the keepers, who receive for them, in common with all other species of "hawk," one shilling per head. I believe it only lies with the proprietor to forbid their destruction for the future to ensure peace to the species, as the keepers acknowledge that they do little harm to game. If the reward was transferred, and added, to that already given for the Hooded Crow, much service might be done both to the proprietor and to the lover of ornithology: for there is no species more * An instance has come under the notice of Capt, H. W. Feilden, of the Kestrel breeding on the ground amongst heather, like the MerHn. I have now in my collection a laying of five eggs which he obtained in this situation in North Uist. The position was evidently chosen on account of the scarcity of either trees or rocks, its usual breeding places. 78 PROCEEDINGS OF THE destructive to game than the Hooded Crow, and no bird more ornamental in the eyes of the naturahst than the poor, harmless, and persecuted Kestrel. In answer to inquiries made concerning a supposed migration southward of this species in winter, Mr J. Crawford, the Duke of Sutherland's factor at Tongue, to whom I am greatly indebted for many useful notes on the birds found in his part of the county, writes, " Kestrels and Merlins remain with us all winter ; but it has struck me that they are not so plentiful in winter, especially if the weather is severe, otherwise they are more reserved in their habits." This account agrees with others from many localities, and naturalists may therefore safely conclude that a partial migration does take place, but depends in its extent mainly, if not entirely, upon the food-supply.* Five eggs are often laid by the Kestrel ; indeed, in Sutherland I consider this to be the normal number, and I have several times received six from the same nest. The colouring does not vary so much as in some other localities where, doubtless, their food is more varied and more abundant. Amongst many which I have taken in, or received from tlie county, very few indeed have varied much from the type, though in one or two nests beautiful light- coloured specimens have been procured. Kestrel's eggs, generally, are easily distinguishable from those of Merlins, by their greater comparative thickness, though specimens do frequently occur which it would be almost impossible to identify. SPAREOW HAWK. ACCIPITER NISUS [Linnaeus). This species has not as yet appeared in the west of the county ; but when the fir plantations around Loch Inver and elsewhere attain a greater height, I have no doubt the Sparrow Hawk will advance from the east. At present it is not uncommon at Rose- hall, and in wooded districts in the east. In 18G9, through the kindness of Mr J. Crawford, I obtained two ^ggs of this bird, taken near Tongue. He informed me that the birds had only bred on one previous occasion in the Tongue district — viz., in * In the winter of 1869-70 I was much surprised at the unusual numbers of Kestrels which were present in Stirlingshire. There had been httle or no snow in that county, while further north there had been an unusually heavy fall. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 79 1867; and, so far as I am aware, these are the first recorded specimens of eggs taken so far north. Mr R. I. Shearer says that the bird is " occasional " in Caithness, but " only in autumn."^ The Sparrow Hawk may therefore be considered at present as only a very local species in the north of Scotland, but likely to extend its northward and westward range, and become more generally spread over the county of Sutherland as wood becomes more abundant or attains a greater size. Ohs. Milvus ictlnus, Savigny. — The Common Kite does not now breed in Sutherland ; and it is only upon Mr St. John's authority that I enter it here as once having been a resident. Even at the time of his residence at Rosehall, iu Sutherland, or during his visit there, in 1849, it seems to have been far from common. He says,t " The Kite, being a large, greedy bird, and easily caught in traps, is very rare now, common as it was a few years ago. In the wooded districts it is still, though but seldom, seen soaring with graceful flight, high in air." COMMON BUZZARD. BUTEO VULGARIS {Leach). A common species, though perhaps somewhat locally distributed^ being comparatively scarce in the eastern and more level parts of the county. This much despised bird, called " cowardly," " sneaking," as well as harder epithets relative to the sex, by which it is casually at times named by the natives, is, I think, far from meriting such general abuse. It cannot, it is true, lay claim to the designation " noble," as the Peregrine, or any true Falcon can j but in many points, we contest, it is equally entitled to that adjective, as is the so-called " King of Birds." Thus, the Buzzard's cry is described as " cat- like; " but why not with equal justice describe that of the Eagle as " wild-cat-like 1 " The Buzzard's habits are described as " carrion-feeding ; " but in this he by no means excels his big brother the Eagle. The Buzzard's movements on wing are de- scribed as " clumsy '' or " sluggish;" but why not apply the same terms to at least one phase of the Eagle's flight — not that I con- sider either " clumsy," or " sluggish," but would rather designate * Proc. Eoyal Physical Soc. of Edin, Vol. ii., p. 337. t " Tour in Sutherland," Vol. ii., p. 121. so PROCEEDINGS OF THE them graceful; and, if slow, powerful? "Cowardly," or "sneaking," is applied to his mode of obtaining food, but to place such words before " Eagle " would be to insult majesty (1), though perhaps not always exempt from such failings either. It is true as regards the Buzzard, as with some of the " noble " birds of prey, that, where food is abundant and easily obtained, they will take the lazier, and perhaps surer way of securing it ; but, on the other hand, where food is scarce, the birds are driven by hunger to search more diligently for it. In Sutherland, at all events, the Buzzard does not deserve such contemptuous epithets. Mr Yarrell says : " Mr Macgillivray gives the Buzzard a character for greater acti^dty in Scotland, as observed by himself; but the nature of the country may be the cause of the difference in habits, and much greater exertion may perhaps be necessary to ensure a sufficient supply of food."* There is great irregularity in the time of laying of this species, which is more observable in some seasons than in others. I have taken and obtained during the same season fresh, or nearly fresh eggs, as early as the 23d April, and others fresh, or nearly so, as late as the 17th May; these last being from a part of the country where I was certain no Buzzards' eggs had been taken before in the same season. One nest of three eggs, blown with small holes, was sent to me, which my correspondent took on the 28th May. In the same season I obtained eggs early in May, which were in a far-advanced stage of incubation. A similar irregularity as regards time of laying, independently of second broods, I observed in the Peregrine Falcon, one of the species that is usually most regular in its time for laying. Tlie species I have found most regular in tliis respect are the Merlin and the Hen Harrier, and, with the above exception, the Peregrine Falcon. Mr Hewitson, when speaking of the number of the eggs of the Common Buzzard, says—" Three or four in number." Sufficient stress has not been laid upon the undoubted fact, that in some districts, many species lay fewer eggs than in otliers, owing to the nature, or the scarcity, or abundance of their food. In Suther- land I have never upon any occasion taken, seen, or heard of, more than three eggs in the nest of a Buzzard, and two are nearly as common. On the other hand, four eggs are a common * 4( Britiah Birda, 185G," Vol. i., p. 77. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 81 number on the Continent, where F. von Tschudi tells us it preys largely, in Switzerland, " on lizards, slow-worms, snakes, rats, mice, and moles, and even on large insects," etc. In the south and midland districts of Scotland, also, four eggs are not uncommonly obtained; and in 1869 I knew of two nests having been found, each containing four eggs ; but in one of these instances two of the eggs Avere addled. That the Buzzard is sometimes hard enough pressed for food, the following fact, related to me by an old and experienced gamekeeper, would seem partially to prove. On one occasion he shot a Common Buzzard, which had a newly-killed weasel in one of its feet. One of the Buzzard',3 sharp claws had entered the side of its victim's head, so that death had in all probability been instantaneous ; had it been otherwise, the Buzzard might perhaps have discovered that he had caught a Tartar. Nor can I imagine that a weasel would prove a dainty morsel even to the " degraded " taste of Buteo vulgaris. HEN HAEEIER. . CIRCUS CYANEUS {Linnaeus). Common in some parts of Sutherland, perhaps most so in the north-east. This species, like other raptorial birds, frequently returns to the same hillside, year after year, during the nesting season, generally breeding amongst tall old heather, but occasionally resorting to very bare open spots on the moors. Old white males are not unfrequently seen, though naturally not so common as the younger examples. The female is easily obtained during the breeding season, either as she rises off the nest, or when, having risen, she repeatedly returns and passes overhead, uttering her tremulous kestrel-like cry. The male, however, is a very shy bird, generally keeping at a distance from the nest, perched upon some grey stone or tussock of heather. He is seldom indeed observed near the nest at all, although upon occasions I have witnessed both male and female wheeling about in close proximity to it. The cry of the male upon such occasions seemed more prolonged than that of the female. When the Hen Harrier hunts for prey, it skims over the surface of the moors, backwards and forwards, taking in every square- yard of ground, and when it discovers ^ Grouse on its nest, or a VOL. IL F 82 PROCEEDINGS OF THE mouse in the grass, it pounces suddenly down, without seeming to make any preparatory halt in its flight. It wheels rapidly to the right or left, and with the same beat of the wings dashes down upon the victim. It seldom ascends the hillsides above the line of heather, nevertheless I have found amongst the remains of a Hen Harrier's repast, on the top of a mound of stones and moss on the moor, the feathered legs and feet of a newly killed Ptarmigan. Occasionally the nest of a Hen Harrier is placed on a very bare hillside, almost destitute of heather. When so placed, as in the case of one I found in 1869, there is scarcely any foundation laid at all, and it merely consists of a few loosely- arranged heather stems, with a shallow depression in the centre, lined with wiry, dry grass, cut into small pieces about an inch or less in length. When placed in deep heather, however, it presents a totally different appearance. It is sometimes more than a foot in outside depth, and is composed of stout rank stems and roots of heather. Its height is generally such as to bring the bird's head, when sitting, slightly above the level of the surrounding heather. Five eggs seems to be the number generally laid, but six is not an unusual number; and Mr Eobert Gray records, in his "Birds of Loch Lomond,"* an instance in which no less than nine eggs were obtained in a " clutch." It is generally supposed that spotted specimens of the Hen Harrier's eggs are comparatively rare, and form an exception to the rule. Such has certainly not been my experience in Suther- land, nor in Scotland generally, as out of numerous layings I have received, taken, or seen, only one laying of five — now in ourt cabinet — can be said to be perfectly free from markings, and these eggs are so decidedly undersized as to present a most suspicious resemblance to those of the JMontagu's Harrier; while their shape is more elliptical than any other Harrier's eggs in our collection. That the Hen Harrier occasionally pursues its prey on the wing is proved by the following anecdote related to me by a shepherd, with whom I had just been visiting a nest of the species. As we * Maclure & Macdonalcl's Illustrated Guide to the Western Highlands, sec. vii., 1864. f Where the plural pronoun is used in the possessive sense, it refers to Capt, Feilden's and my own collections, which are united. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 83 were returning with the eggs, he told me that about a fortnight previously, he was standing just inside the open door of his house, when a Grouse dashed in, and flew under his left arm. The next instant a large bird, evidently in close pursuit, swept past, and on going out, my informant recognised it to be a Hen Harrier, most likely one of the very birds from whose nest we had just taken the eggs. Mr Sterland, the author of a delightful little book, " The Birds of Sherwood Forest," writes concerning this species (p. 17): " If practicable, they pounce upon it (their prey) at once; or if it take the alarm, they chase it until it is seized." A belief is prevalent in Sutherland that when the female Harrier is disturbed when sitting, she will afterwards remove her eggs to another place, and that in the same way she will remove the young birds. I tried to collect some authentic information on this point, but, though the statement was often repeated, no one seemed to be able to verify it from personal observation. Ohs. Montagu's Harrier, C. cineraceus (Mont.). — The occurrence of this as a breeding species in the county rests on very meagre and insufficient data. Sir William Milner relates that he ''met with Montagu's Harrier and its nest ; " and further, that " not a season passes but one nest at least is found near Bonar Bridge." I have utterly failed in obtaining any corroborative evidence, or in procuring either birds or eggs, so am unwillingly obliged to give the species a place only under " Observations." It seems so unlikely also that even one pair of these birds should breed so far north. Obs. Scops-eared Owl, Scops-giu Scopoli. — It is of course almost unnecessary to point out that St. John was in error when he included this bird as a breeding species, but the persistence with which he has been quoted, and the mistake perpetuated, scarcely allows me to i)ass it over without remark.'^ THE TAWNY OWL. STJilX ALU CO, Linnaeus. The only authority for this species breeding in the county is that of Mr A. G. More ("Ibis," 1865, p. 15). He says, "Scarce * Since the above was written, Mr J. E. Hartiug has taken notice of the error, in his " Hand-Book of British Birds," page 94. 84 PROCEEDINGS OF THE in the north of Scotland according to Macgillivray, but is reported by various correspondents as nesting regularly in the counties of Aberdeen, Sutherland, and even in Caithness." Since the above was first penned, I find that Mr J. Crawford also includes it as "breeding occasionally at Tongue," (in ejnst.) This is doubtless a species which -will increase its northward range of distribution, as land becomes better wooded and more cultivated. LONG-EARED OWL. ASrO ACCIPITRINUS (Pall.). Though Mr Selby met with no owls (Hewitson) in 1834 in the county, this species is known to breed now in the eastern districts, at Rosehall, and also in a large pine wood fringing the shores of Loch Migdale, near Bonar. I have never received the eggs nor seen the birds, but the fact of their breeding regularly, if not commonly, is well known to the inhabitants. In the north Mr J. Crawford reports it as "breeding in the woods at Tongue." In the west it is quite unknown at present. SHORT-EARED OWL. AS 10 OTUS (Linnaeus). Few nests, that I can hear of, have actually been obtained in the county. That recorded in " Ootheca Wolleyana " may have been taken either on the Ross-shire or Sutherlandshire side of the river Oykel, as Loubcroy stands within a stonecast of the river on the Ross-shire side, although "Ross-shire" being printed with a (1) shows that there is some doubt as to the precise locality, Mr A. G. More includes it as breeding " regularly " in a number of counties, including Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness. I myself obtained one egg not far from the march of the county. Specimens are frequently shot in autumn on the hillsides, and those, I have little doubt, would prove on examination for the most part to be birds of the year, bred probably on or near the ground where they were killed, and not migratory birds from more northern localities. Though breeding in Orkney, that county could scarcely be considered to supply the whole of thosci which arc shot in the autumn in Sutherland. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 85 BARN OWL. ALUCO FLAM ME US (Linnaeus). Mr A. G. More says, "nests only occasionally in Eoss and Caithness/' and the same remark perhaps may apply to Suther- land also. In the breeding season I have never observed this species in the birch woods of the west, but we know from reliable sources that it has occasionally bred on the south shore of Loch Assynt. In August I have seen the species in the birch woods near Loch Inver, and around the shores of Loch Letteressee, — a continuation or branch of Loch Assynt. That it breeds about Eosehall and in the east seems certain, but so rarely, or in such small numbers, that it would be ditticult to say whether or not it does so regularly. It is known only to some of the natives, not to all. Mr J. Crawford marks it as breeding " occasionally " at Tongue. Order ii., PASSE RES. FISSIEOSTEES (Nocturnae). Fam. l, CAPRIMULQIDAE. EUEOPEAN GOATSUCKEE. CAPRIMULGUS EUROPAEUS, Linnaeus. I have been informed by a gamekeeper, who knows this bird well under the name of " Night-Hawk," that twenty years ago thej'- were not uncommon at Dunrobin. Since that time they have increased in numbers, and have spread westward of late years, as far as the thickly-wooded slopes of Eosehall. Here, however, they seem to meet an effectual check to their further progress in the bleak, bare, undulating moors, which stretch between Eosehall and the mountainous district of Assynt. Hitherto this species has been totally unknown in the west, as far as I can discover. Northward from Dunrobin it may be found in wooded parts along the east coast, and it has also been observed at Tongue, but only very rarely. FISSIROSTRES {Diurnae). Fam. ii., HIRUNDINIDAE. COMMON SWIFT. CYPSELUS APUS, Linnaeus. I never observed these birds in the west, nor do I believe that 86 PROCEEDINGS OF THE tliey are often found there. Mr Selby says they breed at the great Smoo cave near Durness, and "in other caverns of the limestone rocks " on the north coast. Mr J. Crawford informs me tliat only on two occasions has he seen the Swift at Tongue, and that they did not remain to breed, but only stayed for two or three days. It is not easy to account for their numbers at Durness, which I am informed are considerable, when we ask the questions, " How did they come there ? " and " Why should they not occupy the caves on the west coast, as well as those on the north]" Perhaps the following hypothesis may account for this some- what curious local distribution. First, I would be inclined to suppose that the line of migration lies between Bonar Bridge in the south-east, and Durness in the north-west, and midway between the north and west coasts; or, in other words, the said line of migration, after reaching Bonar, runs in a north-westerly direction; and this would seem to receive probability from the fact that occasional specimens are observed along the shores of Loch Shin, and again about Loch More. That more are not seen at these intermediate stations may possibly be owing to the migration taking place either at a great height, or during the late evening. Second, the reason that Swifts do not visit the west coast may be owing to either of two causes, or partly to both, viz.: — that, as their migration follows the course of the great dividing valley formed by the rising grounds on either side of the chain of lochs — including Loch Shin, Loch Gream, and Loch More — it would lead them out of this course to surmount the h'vAi ranges of mountains which lie between these lochs and the Atlantic; again, another reason may be found in the fact that the caves of the west coast being principally in granite rocks, fewer crevices suitable for nesting purposes are to be found than in the limestone rocks of the north coast. In the range of cliffs above Inchnadamph they might find perfectly suitable nesting places, but this being only an isolated cropping-out of the lime- stone, it may not offer sufficient inducement to them to diverge from their above mentioned north-westerly course. NATUR.VL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 87 CHIMNEY SWALLOW. niRUNDO RUSTIC A, Linnaeus. I have not observed this species to be abundant, except at Bonar, in the east. In the west and north they arrive much later than ahnost anywhere else in Scotland. At Tongue, where they breed almost every year, they arrive, Mr J. Crawford informs me, about 28th April; but, in the west, we would consider this a very early date for their appearance ; indeed, in cold backward springs, few are visible there at all, and half-a-dozen Swallows in that district may almost be considered to constitute a summer. Such at least have been the results of my personal observations during five years. At Scowrie they seem to be more regular in their visits, but scarcely more abundant. Since the above was first written, Mr J. Crawford has informed me that he did not observe the Swallows nesting in their old haunts near Tongue during the years 1867 and 1868, but that they reappeared in 1869. HOUSE MARTIN. HIRUNDO URBICA, Linnaeus. A considerable number breed on the limestone rocks in Assynt, as Mr Selby informs us, and on one part of these rocks I have frequently seen the remains of old nests ; but, during three years, I have not seen above a dozen House Martins altogether, and so late are these birds of appearing, that I have never succeeded in obtaining a single egg, though generally present there between the 1st May and the 10th June. Our landlord at Inchnadamph always said, " They have not come yet," and at the same time assured me that their numbers have of late years much decreased. I have also observed this decrease in several other localities in Scotland. The House Martin is much earlier in its arrival, and much more abundant, at Bonar, and in the east of the county generally. At Tongue, Mr Crawford gives the date of its arrival '' at the end of April ; " and as a rule, I have found that many birds breed at Tongue, though further north, considerably earlier than in the west, this being noticeable amongst both migrants and residents. This species was also found breeding in the caves close to Durness, in some numbers, by Mr St. John (" Tour in Suther- land," Vol. i., p. 85). 88 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SAND MARTIN. HIRUNDO RIP ARIA, Linnaeus. This bird arrives in small numbers at Tongue about the end of Ai^ril. Like the last named species, they are much later of arrival in the west, where I know of no large colonies, but only of a few scattered pairs, breeding up and down the banks of a single burn, in the extreme south-west of the county. TENUIROSTRES. Fam. il, CERTHIADAE. COMMON CEEEPEE. CERTHIA FAMILIARIS, Linnaeus. Plentiful as a species at Rosehall, and in the east, though none are found in the birch-woods of the west. It is found at Tongue. COMMON WREN. TROGLODYTES PARVULUS, Koch. Common, and very generally distributed, even in the wilder portions of the country, but commoner, without doubt, at Dunrobin, Rosehall, and in other wooded or cultivated districts. DENTIROSTRES. Fain, i., LUSCINIIDAE. SEDGE WARBLER. ACROCEPHALUS SCHOENOBAENUS {Linnaeus). This species was traced to the very north of Sutherland by Mr Selby. It is a common species in some suitable localities, but comparatively rare in others. Mr R. I. Shearer includes the Reed Warbler in his " List of Birds of Caithness." evidentl}^ a lapsus jpennae, as the Sedge Warbler is omitted. COMMON WHITETHROAT. SYLVIA RUFA* (Bodd). I have never met with the Whitetliroat, though doubtless present in limited numbers in suitable localities. Mr Selby considered it of rare occurrence in 183Jt, when it was observed * Newton's " Yarrell's British Birds," Vol. i., 1871-4. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 89 only on two occasions, once at Tongue and once at Bonar. " Mr Dunbar describes it as nesting, only occasionally, in Eoss, Suther- land, and Caithness" (A. G. More in "Ibis," I8G0, p. 25). It is one of those species which, however, will probably extend its northern distribution. WILLOW WARBLER PHYLLOSCOPUS TROOITILUS {Linnaeus). Mr J. Crawford, in describing the habits of this species, writes to me as follows : — " We have the Willow Wren here too, for a short time in summer. They utter a few sweet notes during the very early morning by the brooks and mountain streams. One seldom hears their voice during the day, unless in some very solitary glade, or w^here water-falls exist, the murmuring of which seems to excite their muse. Water-rills through meadows are their favourite resort when frincied with scrub." To the above vividly truthful account of this delicate little species, I have nothing to add, save that it is very abundant in every wood : often to be seen too where only a single stunted willow or alder, or birch bush grows on a bare hillside, or by the margin of a mountain torrent. A bit of green, however small, seems necessary to its existence. I once found a nest of this species on an island where there was also a large colony of the Lesser Black-backed Gull {Larus fuscus). This nest was almost entirely composed of the feathers of the latter species. GOLDEN-CRESTED REGULUS. REGULUS CRIST AT US {Koch). This is a well-known species in all parts of the county where fir-wood abounds. An immense flight of these tiny little gold- crowned wanderers was driven on the Caithness coasts by a south-east gale in October, 1868, and one of the number (as Mr Osborne, Jun., informs us in one of his many interesting communications to the "Field") took shelter during the wild weather in a hole in the inside wall of a house near Wick, choosing for itself a warm place near the fire, apparently not being annoyed either by the presence of the inhabitants, or by the "peat-reek." 90 ' PROCEEDINGS OF THE WHEATEAE. SAXICOLA OENANTHE {Linnaeus). Sir AV. Llilner considered this the commonest bird in Suther- land, and though, on the whole, agreeing with the remark, I would more especially agree with Mr Selby when he says, "generally distributed over the county, but, I think, most abundant in the limestone districts." Certainly the numbers to be seen in the immediate vicinity of Inchnadamph, in Assynt, where the rocks are for the most part limestone, are very great indeed; and here it is worthy of remark, that the Wheatear seldom goes higher up the hills than to where the limestone ends, and the granite rocks begin. On one occasion, and on one only, I observed a pair, e%ddently having a nest- on the very summit of Ben Chaorin (spelt in maps, erroneously I believe, Ben Harran), and Mr Eobert Gray informs me that they have occasionally been found before in similar situations. Ben Chaorin (Hill of the Cloudberry) is about 2700 feet in height. Six eggs are usually laid, but often in Sutherland only five ; I have taken their nests also with seven eggs, and I once received a laying of eight. WHmCHAT. SAXICOLA RUBETRA {Linnaeus), So far as my own observation goes, not nearly so plentiful as the next species, though I have seen it in one locality in con- siderable numbers. STONECHAT. SAXICOLA RUB ICO LA {Linnaeus). More abundant than the last, but locally distributed. I observed them in the west, principally on the northern whin- clad slope of the sea-lochs at Kylesku — Lochs Dhu and Coul. EEDSTAET. RUT WILL A PEOENICURA {Linnaeus). Not plentiful. I have observed it on two occasions only, once at Loch Awe in the west, and once at Eosehall. It was twice NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 91 observed also by Mr Selby's party, " first at Oykel Bridge, and again at Ron-Stall."* Mr A. G. More, in his paper on the "Distribution of Birds in Great Britain during the nesting season," says, " the nest has been found as far north as Suther- land and Caithness," ("Ibis," 1865, p. 21). The arrival of this species on more than one occasion on the east coast of Caithness, very late in autumn, is worthy of remark. It is there a rare species, though recorded as breeding. Mr Osborne twice instances the arrival of the Redstart on the Caithness coast, on or about the dates of 8th, 9th, or 10th October {vide "Field," Jan. 9th, 1864). In the last instance, " a good many Redstarts, a rare bird in this district," appeared during a furious south-east gale, which commenced on the 8th or 9th October, 1863, "but after a few days proceeded on their journey southward." In all probability these birds had not come direct from a more northern country, but had been blown out of their course, after attaining a considerable southing during their autumn migration across the German Ocean. Mr Osborne gives instances of other migratory species appearing at the same time. REDBREAST. ERYTHACUS RUBECULA (Linnaeus). Found distributed all over the country, but nowhere plentiful, except at Dunrobin, Rosehall, or in wooded parts of the east. HEDGE ACCENTOR. ACCENTOR MODULARIS [Linnaeus). This species has much the same distribution as the last. I once observed a Hedge Sparrow very high up among the heather, and a similar instance is recorded by Mr Selby. GREAT TIT. PARUS MAJOR, Linnaeus. The family of Titmice is not well represented by number of individuals in the west, though common enough in more wooded districts. I have observed this species in the west at Loch Inver. * (RosehaU ?) 92 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BLUE TIT. PARUS CAERULEUS, Linnaeus. Common but local, as the last. This is another species which will probably increase in numbers. COLE TIT. PARUS ATER, Linnaeus. Commoner than either of the two last named species. "Found at Tongue " (Mr J. Crawford). This sj)ecies would appear to be rare in Caithness, as Mr Osborne records that the first specimen and the second were obtained a mile from Wick, subsequent to 1840. Thus it would seem that there were no specimens in Dr Sinclair's collection. LONG-TAILED TIT. ACREDULA ROSEA {Blyth). Seems to be a known species in the east, as a trustworthy informant, now living in Assynt, assured me he himself remembers seeing them on various occasions round Dunrobin, sometimes in pairs, but more frequently in small flocks, probably family parties. Sir W. Jardine " considers that it does not reach nearlv so far north as the Cole Titmouse," though Mr Dunbar describes it as "nesting regularly in Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness." — (A. G. More, in "Ibis," 1865, p. 121). PIED WAGTAIL. MO TAG ILL A LUGUBRIS, Temm. Abundant. GREY WAGTAIL. MOTACILLA SULPHUREA, Bechstcin. Common. I knew of two pairs breeding close together on the side of a mountain burn. Pennant states that at the time of his visit in 17G0, the Grey Wagtail quitted the east of the county in winter. At the present time, however, it is resident there all the year, and, in proof of this, a correspondent sent me a specimen in the Hesh, shot near Bonar, in December, 1809. Ols. Ray's Wagtail, MotaciUa rayi, Bonaparte. — Mr A. G. More NATURAL HISTOPwY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 93 includes this species in sub-province 35, but with a mark of interrogation. He says " this bird has been seen as far north as Sutherland by Mr St. John and Sir W. Jardine, etc." • MEADOW PIPIT. ANTnUS PBATENSIS (Linnaeus). Exceedingly abundant. Mr Selby says that " it is met with on the summits of the highest hills." Perhaps this remark was meant by Mr Selby only to apply to green-topped mountains, as for instance, Ben Clibrich, the highest mountain in Sutherland. That it is but very rarely, if at all, seen amongst the stony barrens and cairns " confusedly hurled " of the Pen More range or other stony- topped mountains, is nearly certain. I have never observed it, so far as I can recollect, above the heather line, which in West Sutherland and the North West of Scotland generally is a long way below the summits of the mountains. Ohs. I once saw a specimen of Anthus trivialis (Linnaeus), the Tree Pipit, sitting on an ash-tree close to the Inn at Inchna- damph, but, as it was the only specimen seen, I do not include it in this list, though it is probably found breeding at Rosehall and in the east. ROCK PIPIT. ANTHUS OBSCURUS {Lathaiii). Common all along the coast, breeding in numbers on Handa, and even on the furthest-out islands of the Badcall group. The • nest is exceedingly difficult to find, being often far underneath a loose turf or large stone. On one occasion, on Handa, I accidently kicked over a piece of loose turf, and found underneath a nest and young of Anthus ohscurus. Mr E. R. Alston, in 1869, found another nest on the Badcall Islands, containing four eggs. Though present, I did not take note of the site or materials of the nest, but he afterwards informed me, " The nest I found on Mhael Beg was neatly but loosely built of fine dry grass, and was placed in a hole about six inches deep, in the face of a low * hag ' or perpendicular bank of peat." On rockier parts of the coast the nest is frequently placed on the face of a cliff, advantage being taken of the support offered by a tuft of wiry grass or sea-pink. 94 PROCEEDINGS OF THE Orel PASSERES. DENTIROSTRES. Fam. ii., TURDIDAE. DIPPER. CINCL US AQUA TIC US, Bechstehi. This ornithologist's favourite was at one time sadly persecuted in Sutherland, the sum of sixpence having been, until very lately, paid for each head brought in by the keepers ; consequently few were observed in 1834 by Mr Selby, or by members of that expedition. It is now plentiful, having been removed from the list of "vermin;" and on every rocky burn two or three pairs, and sometimes more, may be found breeding. I do not think that the most bigoted of its accusers can affirm that salmon or trout have suffered in consequence of its increase. In this county it is called the " King's Fisher : " the true Alcedo isjiida being unknown. So much has already been written in praise of this really interesting little bird, that I need not say more than to hope that it may still increase and multiply, no less in the wilds of Sutherland, which are essentially its habitat, than in more southerly and better cultivated districts. MISSEL THEUSH. TURDUS VISCIVORUS, Linnaeus. This still remains a comparatively rare species so far north, though spreading steadily through both Sutherland and Caithness, with the advance of wood and cultivation. In 1834 Mr Selby writes that it was observed about the banks of Loch Naver ; but in 1869, a correspondent in that neighbourhood failed to obtain the eggs for me. Mr J. Crawford, however, is confident that the Missel Thrush breeds about Tongue, as the birds are constantly observed in summer. I obtained one egg in 1869 from a much more northern locality — in Caithness. Even in 1865 Mr A. G. More records it as breeding and " increasing " as far north as Caithness. Since the above was first penned, I have seen eggs which were taken close to Cape Wrath. SONa THKUSH. TURDUS MUSIC US, Linnaeus. Common about Scowrie, and especially at Badcall and Loch NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 95 Inver. I have also received its eggs from near Tongue, where, Mr Crawford writes, it is a comnion species. Mr Selby says, that at Tongue he was informed, "they do not migrate, but remain during winter upon the margins of the Firth (Kyle of Tongue?), and other low situations, etc." It is somewhat curious, as I have repeatedly been assured, that this species resorts in winter to the stony tops or high parts of the mountains, where, in company with, or at the same time with flocks of Rooks, they feed upon the numerous berries to be found even in mid-winter. It has, however, been suggested to me as possible that both Mr Selby's and my own informants may have mistaken Redwings for Song Thrushes. BLACKBIRD. TURDUS MERULA, Linnaeus. Like the last, and inhabiting the same localities, but not sufficiently known in the more hilly parts for the natives to distinguish it from the next species, to which they erroneously apply the English name of "Blackbird." RING OUZEL. TURDUS TORQUATUS, Linnaeus. This is an abundant species. The nest is generally considered difficult to find. Coming out one day in 1869, expressly to search the burn-sides and low rocks for their nests, in a short time I was fortunate in discovering no less than three, each containing three eggs. Out of six or seven nests obtained in Sutherland that season, only two contained four eggs. I am inclined, there- fore, to consider three eggs to be the usual number laid, at least in this district, though further south four is quite as common. Ord. PASSE RES. DENTIROSTRES. Fam. Hi., MUSCICAPIDAE. SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. MUSOIOAPA GRISOLA, Linnaeus. The Spotted Flycatcher, like many other insect-feeding species, is confined to the more wooded portions of the county, nor does 96 PROCEEDINGS OF THE it seem to find a home, as far as I have been able to observe, where birch-wood only abounds. Numbers may be seen in the season at Eosehall, and between that place and Bonar. PASSE RES. C0NIR08TRES. Fam i., CORVIDAE. MAGPIE. PICA RUSTIC A, Linnaeus. Common in the east, but utterly unknown, save by name, in the west. When it does mioTate westward, it will doubtless receive a "warm reception," as its name and character have preceded it. THE RAVEN. COR V US CO RAX, Linnaeus. Still common, though killed down at every opportunity. T received several layings of eggs in 1869, both while staying in the county, and, after returning home. Ravens frequently dispute with the Buzzards for the ownership of some favourite nesting place. A " Buzzard-rock " may almost be considered synonymous with a " Raven-rock," as one or other of these species is sure to occupy it. The Raven has the advantage of being a much earlier breeder, and thus is able to verify the truth of the saying, "First come, first served." The Peregrine Falcon, how- ever, often steps in and takes possession of the last year's nest, to the utter disgust, no doubt, of both Ravens and Buzzards. "Might is right." HOODED CROW. CORVUS CORN IX, Linnaeus. Only too plentiful, and really a destructive bird, not only to eggs and young of other birds, but also to the interests of the sheep -farmers. On one occasion I actually shot fi Hooded Crow, as he rose from the body of a half -horn lamb. To give a list of the Grey Crow's misdeeds would only be to occupy space unnecessarily, but I may mention two instances of his oophilous (to coin a word) propensities. Two Hooded Crows once robbed both the parent birds and myself of a fine pair of Black-throated Diver's eggs, and NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 97 another " did rae out " of some Red-breasted Merganser's eggs.* I only saved one of the nest, and it had a perforation in the side, almost as neatly formed as if done with an egg-drill. Such insults offered by the tribe can only be wiped out in blood. Ohs. A gamekeeper told me that he once shot a Carrion Crow {C. corone), in the west of the county, which for some two or three years had frequented a certain rock in that district. It is possible that he may have made some mistake, as, had it remained so long, it would in all probability have paired with the Crey Crow, and reared others of its own colour, f THE ROOK. COR V US FRUGILEGUS, Linnaeus. The only rookery in the west, that I am aware of, is that on an island of Loch Cama, near Knockan and Elphin. This colony has been established very lately, and I can quite well remember when only some eight or ten pairs of Rooks built their nests on the low birch trees which cover the island. In 1869 there were about forty pairs breeding at this place. The nests are in most cases not more than eight or ten feet from the ground, and some are still lower. Not many years ago there was a Heronry here, but it succumbed to the advance of the black invaders. There are, as yet, no Rooks found breeding north of Loch Cama, or in other words, between that and Cape Wrath, but eastwards it is a com- mon species. In winter, large assemblages of Rooks gather on the hills, when clear of snow, to feed on the mountain berries, as also, (Mr Selby informs us) on the larvae of certain insects. The next station on the west coast that the Rooks will advance to, will probably be either in the neighbourhood of Loch Inver, or at Loch Beannoch, Stoir, at which latter place there is a * As will be seen under " E,ed-breasted Merganser," the nests of this species are often quite exposed, and not invariably concealed amongst stones, or under roots of trees, as has been stated. f K we accept Mr Wallace's definition of the term " species," and it certainly seems the most perfect, where can a more complete instance of " dimorphism " be found in ornithology than in the interbreeding of the Black and Grey Crows, which, as now well known, is of common occurrence in the midland districts of Scotland, the progeny being, half of the young like one parent, and half like the other? " Intercrossing," says Mr Wallace, " without producing an intermediate race is a test of dimorphism." VOL. IL G 98 PROCEEDINGS OF THE Heronry at present. They may settle also on the south shore of Loch Assynt, which is well- wooded ; but, as the Rook seems to prefer the proximity of houses, or to find ready-made nests, it is on the whole more likely that they will choose either one or the other of the two first-mentioned localities. JACKDAW. CORVUS MONEDULA, Linnaeus. The " pert Jackdaw " has not yet found suitable breeding places in the west, and is for the most part only known to the natives by name. It is, however, common in the east, and, from what I can gather, is an " old resid enter " in the parishes of Bonar and Golspie. It is also present iii the north, at Tongue. Ohs. Chough, Pyrrhocorax graculus (Linnaeus).— Mr Dunbar says that " The Chough inhabits only a few localities in Suther- land " (A. G. More in "Ibis," 1865, p. 132). Mr St. John, in his "Tour in Sutherland" (Vol. i, p. 86), writes as follows of one locality: "Whilst looking for Rock Pigeons, I saw a few of the Red-legged Crow or Cornish Chough, passing from rock to rock, and busily employed about the broken stones, searching for food." Mr Dunbar probably refers to the same occasion, as he accom- panied Mr St. John during that excursion. As I have utterly failed in obtaining any further evidence of the presence of the species, even in this very locality, I am at present inclined to think that the specimens seen by Mr St. John were accidental visitors, and not birds breeding in the neighbourhood, and so I meanwhile exclude it from this list.* Order il, PASSERES, CONIROSTRES. Fam. ii., S TURN IDA E. COMMON STARLING. STURNUS VULGARIS (Linnaeus). This is a very abundant species at Scowrip, Handa, and on the Badcall islands, as elsewhere in the county. On the islands they * But as the Chough is a species which has decreased in numbers throughout Scotland, it is quite possible that it did breed at the locality named by Mr St. John, at that time. Mr Gray ("Birds of Scotland," p. 162) seems to consider that Skye is now its northern limit. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 99 build in holes in the turf,* and also in niches of the rocks. A colony of Starlings, and another of Black Guillemots, in one locality live in perfect harmony, the former feeding their young, whilst the latter are sitting on their eggs. On the Badcall islands, on one occasion, Mr W. Jesse and myself started an immense number of these birds from under a projecting rock. On examining the spot, we found the loose stones sprinkled with blood, but to this day I have been quite at a loss to understand what could be the meaning of these fresh blood stains upon the stones. Doubtless we would have concluded that the large assemblage of Starlings had simply sought shelter there from the scorching sun, but finding the blood scattered about, we were led to believe that these birds were in some way or other connected with it. Order il, PASSERES. CONIROSTRES. Fam, Hi., FRINGILLIDAE. CHAFFINCH. FRINGILLA COELEBS, Linnaeus. The Chaffinch is abundant in wooded districts, and not rare in suitable localities in the west. A pair of Chaffinches bred two years consecutively in a stunted elder-tree, growing at the door of the byre at Inchnadamph Inn. The nest was composed of the usual materials, though not so neatly arranged as those which may be seen in orchards further south. GOLDFINCH. FRINGILLA CARDUELIS, Linnaeus. The Goldfinch is rare. " A pair were seen in a birch-wood on the banks of Loch Laoghal by Mr James Wilson " — one of Mr Selby's party — in 1834, and Mr St. John likewise observed it in the county. Mr J. Crawford has not seen it near Tongue. * I am under the impression that these nesting holes, occupied by the Starlings in spring, are in July tenanted by Petrels ( Thalassidroma ). In one of the islands, at least, where these holes in the turf are quite abundant, there are certainly no rats. 100 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SISKIN. FRINGILLA SPIN US, Linnaeus. This interesting bird breeds in the east of the county, where, though not plentiful, it is not an uncommon species. GEEENFINCH. COCCOTHRA USTES CHLORIS {Linnaeus). The Greenfinch is common in the east of the county, and in wooded districts, but is absent or rare in the west. COMMON LINNET. LINOTA CANNABINA {Linnaeus). Mr Selby says, " Seemingly a rare species in Sutherland : a single pair was seen at Keoldale." I have met with them on several occasions in the west, and have shot about half-a-dozen speci- mens. It is not by any means a common species. TWITE. LINOTA FLA VIROSTRIS {Linnaeus). This is a common species in many parts of the county. It avoids, as a rule, the wooded or cultivated parts, though exceptions may be found. For instance, it breeds in small numbers close to Inchnadamph Inn, on Loch Assynt, within a stone-cast of the house. Nor is it partial to the level inland moors, but prefers the neighbourhood of the sea-shore, or sheltered localities near the long arms of the sea so numerous on the west coast. This species is said by the natives to remove its eggs if the nest be disturbed. One nest containing eggs, which I examined, was certainly empty the following morning, but I cannot feel positive that the eggs were removed by the parent birds. In the Long Island, Capt. Feilden and myself examined several nests of this bird, but in no case did removal of the eggs by the birds take place.* * These nests were placed in red-ciirrant tushes, three or four feet from the ground, a somewhat unusual position (see " Gray's Birds of the West of Scotland," p. 151). NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 101 LESSER REDPOLE. LINOTA RUFESCENS {Vieillot). I can find no record of this species occurring in the breeding season, except in Mr More's paper, where it is included in sub- province 35. I have not myself met with it. HOUSE SPARROW. PASSER DOMESTICUS ( Linnaeus). Common in cultivated districts, though absent at Inchnadamph. TREE SPARROW. PASSER MONT ANUS {Linnaeus). This is an interesting addition to the list of birds found breeding in the county, since the first draft of this paper was written. It is first recorded by Mr Thomas Mackenzie of Dornoch Castle, near which place he himself observed the birds in 1872, and took the eggs in some numbers, though he had not previously seen the species in the county. I add the principal part of the observations made by him, and which he kindly communicated to me : — March 28th, 1872. — " A flock of a dozen observed in the neigh- bourhood of Dornoch." May nth, 1872.—" Six eggs just at hatching." May 24th, 1872. — " Two young birds in nest, also one egg just at hatching and two addled eggs. Captured bird on nest — a male." June 8th, 1872. — " Cot two nests with five and six eggs, fresh." June 27th, 1872.—" From the two nests referred to on the 8th, other ten eggs were obtained to-day." July 25th, 1872. — " Obtained four fresh eggs from the same nesting place." August 9th, 1872. — "Another nest with four fresh eggs.'' I have to thank Mr Mackenzie further for kindly forwarding for our collection one of the layings taken on the 27th June, and the skin of the male bird, captured on the nest of the 24th May. COMMON BUNTING. EMBERIZA MILIARIA, Linnaeus. In the west I observed this species at Knockan, and at Elphin; also at Scowrie, but never at Inchnadamph. It is abundant about 102 PROCEEDINGS OF THE Eosehall, and the level lands bordering the Oykel river. It is not uncommon in cultivated districts generally, and was traced to the northern coast by Mr Selby in 1834. BLACK HEADED BUNTING. EMBERIZA SCHOENICLUS, Linnaeus. Common on the banks of lochs and streams. YELLOW BUNTING. EMBERIZA CITRINELLA, Linnaeus. Common in suitable localities. SKY LAEK. A LAUD A ARVENSIS, Linnaeus. Found plentifully in cultivated districts, but not frequenting the wilder moors, as is its habit in the Outer Hebrides. It is specially abundant around Scowrie. Mr Selby heard of its occurrence " within a few hundred yards of Cape Wrath." BULLFINCH. P7RRHULA VULGARIS, Temminck. Not seen in the west : plentiful in the east. " Observed at Tongue " (Mr J. Crawford). Mr Dunbar says it breeds regularly in Sutherland and Caithness ("Ibis," 1865, p. 130). COMMON CROSSBILL. LOXIA CURV I ROSTRA {Linnaeus). Mr St. John, in 1849, says: "The Crossbill has of late years become numerous in the fir-woods, and will probably become more so when the magnificent plantations of the Duke of Suther- land grow to a height suited to these amusing birds" ("Tour in Sutherland," Vol. i., 128). Whether they have increased since St. John's time or not I cannot positively afiirm, but they are certainly abundant at Dunrobin, and they breed sparingly in another locality. Mr A. G. More inchides them in sub-province 35, and says, "it breeds probably in Sutherland." I have not NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 103 met with its eggs taken in the county, but my information scarcely leaves a doubt of the fact.* Order in., SCANSORES. Fam. ii., CUCULIDAE. CUCKOO. CUCULUS CANORUS, Linnaeus. This is a very abundant species. Its eggs, however, do not seem to be recognised by the natives, though they are aware of the fact that it lays in the nest of the Titlark (Anthus pratensis). Often several Cuckoos may be seen chasing one another along the burn- sides, or crossing the open, and coming quite close to the houses. A Titlark used regularly to feed a young full-fledged Cuckoo on a wall close to Inchnadamph Inn in 1869, whilst I was there. Eegularly as June came in, I have noticed the treble-syllabled note of the Cuckoo, hearing it as early as two o'clock in the morning, and once at night, when it was quite dark — a cloudy, windy night. Order iv., COLVMBAE. Fam. l, COLUMBIDAE. WOOD PIGEON. COLUMBA PALUMBUS, Unnaeus. The Wood Pigeon is plentiful, like other sylvan species, at Rosehall, between that and Bonar Bridge, and in the east generally. In 1834, Mr Selby observed it as far north as Tongue, where it breeds in the " plantations and birch-woods about the base of Ben Laoghal," but he adds, that " a few pairs only were seen during our excursion." Now, it is more plentiful at Tongue, but in the west only occasional pairs are seen at rare intervals, spying out, no doubt, the nakedness of the land. In the spring of 1869 one pair frequented a small patch of birch-wood close to Loch Assynt, and I observed them feeding in the fields around for a few days, but they soon took their departure, probably to return to the better wooded slopes of the Kyle at Rosehall. * Since the above was written, I have been informed by Mr T. Mackenzie of a nest taken near Dornoch, which came into his possession in the spring of 1874. 104 PROCEEDINGS OF THE EOCK DOVE. COLUMBA LI VI A, Temminck. Abundant all round the north coast, and in certain localities in the west. As far as my own experience goes, the Rock Dove prefers the caves of the mainland for breeding purposes, to those of the small islands lying off the coast. In 1869 I saw two pairs on one of the Badcall islands, which probably were breeding, but I never observed any there before. Mr St. John considered this bird to be very generally distributed along the north coast; but it is more local on the west coast. * It is abundant at Stoir Head. Mr St. John speaks of having met with " sandy-coloured Rock Doves in the sea caves of Ross-shire and Cromarty (east), but no other varieties," but does not state wliether he considered these as partial albinos, or as varieties caused by interbreeding with Dovecot Pigeons. This last, however, appears unlikely, as only the sandy-coloured varieties were seen. I have searched in other localities, where there could be no intermixing with Dovecot Pigeons, for these sandy-coloured birds, but have never succeeded in observing them. I may here remark that in Orkney, where Rock Pigeons have abundant opportunity of mixing with Dovecot Pigeons, they seem to keep very much apart from them, though feeding in the same fields. Amongst the many met with along the rocky shores of these islands, I do not remember observing a single departure from the Wild Blue-rock. Order v., GALLINAE. Fam. ii, PHASIANIDAE. COMMON PHEASANT. PU AS I AN US COLCHICUS, Unnaeus. In 1841 the minister of Dornoch wrote: "As a proof of the mildness of our climate. Pheasants have been recently introduced at Skibo. They are doing well, and are likely to increase." ("Old Statistical Account of Scotland," parish of Dornoch). Skibo, as Mr Mackenzie informs me, is the only pldce where Pheasants are numerous at the present day. In the west the lessee of the Loch Inver shootings introduced them in 1869, by hatching the eggs under hens, and I heard lately that they were promising very well. It remains to be seen how they will breed in future years, the only cover NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 105 being birch-wood, with the exception of a small fir plantation near Loch Inver. They have been known to do well, however, in similar situations. Order v. , GA LLINA E. Fam. Hi., TETRA ONI DA E, COMMON PAETEIDGE. PERDIX CINEREA, Latham. Common about Rosehall and Lairg. Seen at Tongue by Sir W. Milner, and common also in the west at Loch Inver, and along the cultivated districts of the west of Stoir. One pair was seen at Inchnadamph, in 1834, by Mr Selby's party. Since then they do not seem to have much increased in numbers there, as in 1869 there were only two pairs to be found. Of one of these pairs I knew the nest, which contained fifteen eggs, an unusual number so far north. The severe weather at Inchnadamph, as well as the almost total absence of any kind of cover or shelter, is doubtless much against their increase. COMMON QUAIL. CO TURN IX VULGARIS, Fleming. Mr A. G. More includes the Quail as breeding in sub-province 35, and says " it is thinly scattered to the very north of Scotland." Amongst other records of its nesting in Caithness and Sutherland I may instance the following. In the former county, Mr R I. Shearer records that the Quail bred in 1860 near Ulbster, and that " twelve eggs were laid and hatched : I shot two of the young, and the old cock, in autumn." In Sutherland the Quail has nested in the east of the county several times, and Mr T. Mackenzie of Dornoch Castle writes to me, that he himself "found the nest, but unfortunately after the young had been hatched. The fragments of egg-shells enabled me to identify them as Quail's eggs, and the young birds were seen in September following."* There are specimens also in the Dunrobin Museum. * He -writes to me also under date of 21st July, 1874 : — " I was fortunate last September in securing a deserted nest of the Quail with ten eggs, and a notice of the fact in the ' Field ' elicited a statement that young Quails had been shot at Brora, some dozen of miles north of this, the same season." 106 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BLACK GROUSE. TETRAO TETRIX, Linnaeus. Common about the birch-woods of Loch Inver, and abundant in the interior of the county, in suitable localities. Ohs. The Capercaillie, {Tetrao urogallus, Linnaeus) is extinct in the county, though at one time abundant, as may be seen in Sir Robert Gordon's " Earldom of Sutherland " and in later records. RED GROUSE. TETRAO SCOTICUS, Linnaeus. Very scarce in many localities, and tolerably abundant in others. Very few birds are to be seen in the county lying near the west coast, and I have walked, for the greater part of two days, con- secutively, over that portion lying to the west of the mountain called Quinaig, and between it and Stoir point, without seeing more than one or two pairs of old birds in the breeding season. They are scarce also in the parish of Durness, as mentioned in the old "Statistical Account," 1793. Further inland they become more numerous; but in Assynt generally, from eight or ten, up to twenty brace, are considered a good bag for one or two guns. This comparative scarcity of the Red Grouse, is, however, amply atoned for, in my opinion, by the great numbers of the next species, though many sportsmen who take shootings in the west of Sutherland scarcely ever go in pursuit of the Ptarmigan. In these wild parts Grouse do not " pack " as they do in Perthshire, or where there is a heavy stock of birds ; and in September, and even on certain days in October, almost as good shooting may be had, as earlier in the season. PTARMIGAN. TETRAO LAGOP US, Linnaeus. Perhaps nowhere in Scotland are Ptarmigan more abundant than on the mountains of Assynt. The ridge of Ben Chaorin, with the heights and corries of Glashven, Ben More, and Braebag, are especially famous for the numbers there found. Other hills again are not so well stocked ; for instance, isolated mountains such as Quinaig, Canispe, Soulbhein, Coul More, and Coul Beg, which lie nearer to the sea. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 107 The nest of the Ptarmigan is extremely difficult to find. Many a day I have spent " in the region of stones/' searching diligently, and during the years I visited Assynt in the breeding season I, unaided, found only one nest -with eggs. In 1869, at the end of a long day, during most of which there was a close, " driving " mist, I at last found one containing nine eggs, putting the female off. These eggs were lighter-colom^ed than those of Grouse, and considerably smaller. On the day tliis nest was found I had two men assisting. "We flushed at least a dozen old cocks, and heard many more cro"sving in the mist, and must have passed as many hens at no great distance. I know of no nest more difficult to find without a dog. There is a ventriloquistic sound in the crow of the Ptarmigan, especially when heard on a misty day, which, with the difficulty of observing the bird at rest, or sitting on the nest, adds greatly to its safety. To ensure success in shooting these birds in the season, a certain knowledge of the ground is required, and note should be taken of the direction of the wind, as they are almost as much influenced, in the choice of their ground for the day, by the currents of air, as deer are; and where on one day a good bag of Ptarmigan may be obtained, scarcely a bird can be found on another. Ptarmigans are scarcer on the extreme tops, as far as my experience goes, than at a lower elevation, and those which are shot on the " barrens," or level deserts of stones in the higher situations, are found to be considerably smaller-sized birds. I know this to be the case, not only from information obtained from gamekeepers, shepherds, and others who are continually amid their haunts, but likewise from personal observation, and from specimens which I possess. So remarkable sometimes is this difference in size, that, when on wing, the smaller birds appear as pigmies beside the lower-ranging ones. Moreover, these higher- ranging and smaller birds assume the full-winter dress sooner than do those which are found lower down, and in less bleak and exposed situations. During a short correspondence I had with Professor Newton of Cambridge on the subject of our Scotch Ptarmigan, he informed me that the above facts fully bear out similar observations made by him on the Ptarmigan in Norway. Obs. In 1834, Mr Selby was under the impression that Lagopus nqyestris, the North American species, had been obtained on the "Ben More ridge above Inchnadamph; " and Dr Richardson, when a 108 PROCEEDINGS OF THE specimen was shown to him, obtained there by Sir W. Jardine, *' thought it to be the Lagopus rupestris of the Faun. Bor. Am." Mr Selby states that the specimen was " smaller than the usual average size of the common Ptarmigan." Upon tliis subject I consulted Professor Newton, and he considers there can be no doubt that the mistake arose from the fact, that the orange-yellow summer dress of the female L. mutus was not then generally known to naturalists, but was supposed by them to be peculiar to the North American species, L. rupestris. Therefore, when this specimen was obtained, and the orange-yellow plumage detected, being doubtless one of the higher-ranging and smaller birds, it was erroneously referred to the latter species. Order vii., GRALLAE. ' Fam. l, CHARADRIADAE. GOLDEN PLOVER CHARADRIUS PLUVIALIS, Linnaeus. Sutherland has been named by Mr Selby " the great breeding station of this species." He also says of it: "Plentiful through- out the county, but particularly abundant in the district between Lairg and Tongue, the parish of Durness, Scowrie, etc." To this there is nothing to add, save that I have received eggs from all parts of the county. Whilst the females are sitting on their nests, the males go together in small flocks, and in autumn these flocks increase in size, when the young join them, but break up again into smaller flocks as they take their departure for the coast. Perhaps no bird's eggs vary so much in ground colour as do those of the Golden Plover, and yet they can seldom be mistaken for those of any other species. Ohs. Mr St. John mentions the Dotterell, (C. morinelhis), as breeding on Ben Clibrich, "but by no means numerously." There are specimens in the Dunrobin museum. Mr Crawford, landlord of Lairg Lm, and once a gamekeeper in that district (Ben Clibrich and eastward), writes to me that '" they are seen on Ben Clibrich," but his informant could never find the nests. The shepherd used to tell him of getting the nests frec^uently twenty years ago, but he never preserved the eggs. Now, though the above may be held as pretty good evi- dence of the Dotterell nesting in Sutherland, and though Ben NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 109 Clibrich is assuredly the most likely looking hill in the county for its nesting habits, I would Avish to see more conclusive evidence before admitting it permanently to a place in this list. THE EINGED PLOVER AEGIALITIS HIATICULA {Linnaeus). Abundant on the east and north coasts, but almost absent in Assynt, where I only knew of one place at which two pairs, at most, breed every year. It is there found in company with the Dunlins, which are also only found in Assynt in this single locahty. Mr Selby remarks that tliis species is found "very numerously on the margins of all the lochs and larger streams," but this must only be held as applicable to those lochs in the north and east of the county. I have never obtained the eggs from any part of Sutherland, and I doubt if they are so abun- dant now. Is it not possible that Mr Selby only saw them on migration 1 THE LAPWING. VANELLUS CRI STATUS, Meyer. Very abundant in the east and central districts, and this is perhaps specially observable about Lairg and Bonar. In the west it is also abundant in one locality, but elsewhere is comparatively scarce, there being few moors and mosses sufficiently level for its habits. OYSTER CATCHER. HAEMATOPUS OSTRALEGUS (Linnaeus). Very numerous. On the west coast it never comes inland to breed, but frequents all the sea-lochs, and especially the Badcall islands. On Loch Shin it breeds, and also in the north. I have observed an occasional pair upon Loch Assynt, but the men who were with me on such occasions seemed invariably surprised at their presence, and all agreed that they were only rarely seen there, and I never heard of their nest having been found. In other counties, as is well known, they breed numerously on the larger rivers, for instance, the Tay, Tummel, Spey, Dee, and Don. 110 PROCEEDINGS OF THE It is somewhat curious to find that the closely-allied American species (Haematopus iKdliatus), according to Audubon, never comes up the St. La-vvrence, nor leaves the salt water, for breeding purposes. In Sutherland they seldom place their nests in such places as Mr Hewitson describes, viz. : — on " a piece of gravel or stony ground," but generally, and by preference, on the grassy tops of the islands, often amongst patches of sea pink. The nests often contain numerous pieces of crab's shells. Order vii., GRALLAE. Fam. it., ARDEIDAE. COMMON HERON. ARDEA CI N ERE A, Linnaeus. There are various Heronries in the county. Those two with which I am best acquainted are both in the west, and occupy the low birch-trees on the islands of two different lochs. At Balblair, another locality, they breed on high fir-trees, but I cannot learn that they were ever known at any locality to breed on the ground, as stated by Mr St. John. In the localities which I have visited, the nests are often not more than six feet from the ground, and are generally formed by heather stalks, twigs of alder-tree or willow, lined with heather tops and dry grass; and, where it grows, a few blades of wild garlic {Allium ursinum), are often introduced, by no means detracting from the already offensive odour which arises from their filthy nests. I have frequently taken their eggs in May, and even as late as June; in the latter case from a locality where the nests could scarcely have been robbed without the aid of a boat, except by Hooded Crows. Herons used to breed at Loch Cama, but, as already noticed, have of late years been driven away by the Eooks. I have often been struck by observing the small size of eggs of certain species of birds obtained in the north and west, as compared with those of the same species from localities further south and east, and I am inclined to consider the difference con- stant, at least in eggs of the Common Heron. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 1 1 1 Order vii., GRALLAE. Fara. Hi., SCOLOPACIDAE. CURLEW. NUMENIUS ARQUATUS (Unnaeus). Abundant, but very much restricted in its distribution in the west. In 1868 I received five Curlew's eggs from a shepherd boy, who assured me that he found them in one nest. I have since heard of another nest of five eggs, obtained near Langwell, and now in the Messrs Paterson's collection, in Glasgow. Four is the usual number in Sutherland. WHIMBEEL. NUMENIUS PHAEOPUS {Linnaeus). This is a species whose numbers in Scotland in the breeding season have been very often over-estimated. I have tried hard, and repeatedly, to obtain the eggs taken in Sutherland, but have never received them. Nevertheless, we are informed that the Whimbrel " is plentiful during the nesting season all along the coast of Sutherland and Caithness, and breeds on open moors near the sea " (Mr Dunbar—" Ibis," 1865, p. 435). Mr Crawford writes to me that it " breeds along the north coast in much less numbers than the Curlew;" and again, under date of 2ist March, 1870, "Whimbrels were common on the shore last month, but all the tribe are now leaving, or have left, for the interior." The great numbers of the Whimbrel seen in the Long Island in the month of May (and known there as "May-fowl") do not breed in the islands, but depart towards the end of the month. They arrive in Iceland for breeding purposes "at the end of April" (see Appendix A. to Mr Baring-Gould's "Iceland," by Profes- sor Newton). I am inclined to believe, therefore, that the birds seen by Mr Crawford are the earlier migrants en route for Iceland, or still further north, whilst those seen in the Long Island are probably on their way to Faroe, and that very few indeed remain to rear their young in the north of Scotland. The island of Handa is another locality described as the breeding place of the Whimbrel (Rev. F. 0. Morris' " British Birds "), but I am con- fident the statement has arisen and has been perpetuated in error. I have always failed to see any of the species at any season I have visited the place, and I invariably kept a sharp look out for them. 112 PROCEEDINGS OF THE That it may breed in limited numbers along the north coast I do not deny, but the matter requires more careful attention before anything positive can be affirmed. Personally I would not be surprised if the AVhimbrel were proved to be entirely absent during the nesting season. THE EEDSHANK. TOTANUS CALIDRIS {Unnaeus). This is another species which is confined to a single locality in the west, so far as I have found : there it breeds in considerable numbers. It is common in tht3 east of the county, about Lairg and elsewhere. I have also obtained eggs from the extreme north- east. Mr Crawford describes it as less plentiful around Tongue than the Greenshank. The same remark is applicable to the district of Assynt ; because, though the Eedshank is plentiful in one locality there, it is absent from almost all others, whereas the Greenshank is much more generally distributed, though rarely more than two pairs breed in the same locality. COMMON SANDPIPER. TRINGOIDES HYPOLEUCUS {Unnaeus). This chaste-looking little bird is exceedingly abundant; generally found on the lochs which lie at no great altitude, or on the banks of small burns. It arrives in Sutherland, as nearly as I can ascertain, in the last week of April, which is a little later than in more southern counties. Upon the summit of Ben Chaorin, wliich is about 2,700 feet above the sea, in two successive seasons I have met with one pair of these birds, evidently breeding. This, how- ever, is the only instance I know of its being found at such an altitude in this county, though I understand it is occasionally met with, at an even higher elevation, in one or two other localities in Scotland. I have found the nest of this species sometimes pro- tected above by a projecting rock or boulder, but it is generally placed on the open ground amongst grass.' It breeds on the islands and shores of both inland and sea lochs. Ohs. The Purple Sandpiper, Tringa maritima, Brunnich, has frequently been observed on our coasts in summer. On the Badcall islands, on May 26th, 18G8, 1 distinctly saw one specimen. It rose from the rocks on the shore of the outermost island, Mhael NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 113 More, and flew out to sea against a gale of wind, but sliortly turned, and alighted on the grassy top of the island. On landing and going up to search for it, I failed in seeing it again. It appeared to be in very fine summer plumage. On the 2Gth and 27th May, 1870, Captain H. W. Feilden and I saw Purple Sandpipers on the shores of Barra Head and Mingalay, in the Hebrides; and on the 27th, Capt. Feilden shot two specimens in beautiful summer plumage. These specimens, both females on dissection, were exhibited by Mr Robert Oray, at a meeting of this Society in November following. In Faroe, Mr John Wolley informs us, this species breeds " on the summits of the mountains in small numbers: young just fledged in the end of June " {vide Sir W. Jardine's " Contributions to Ornithology " for 1850). Now, if young Purple Sandpipers are just fledged in the end of June, the question naturally arises, as Captain Feilden pointed out : What were those, that we saw in the Hebrides, doing there at so late a date 1 We feel inclined to answer the question, either by the supposition that, as many male birds of difl'erent species, especially among the Waders, are known to sit upon the eggs, and assist in the labours of incubation, it is possible that, whilst these females were feeding on the shore or resting there, the males may have been engaged in incubation on the top of the hill of Mingalay. Or, again, we might answer it with another supposition, viz., that these late migrants were barren birds, and therefore had no call in particular to hurry northward to Faroe or elsewhere, with the body of the migrating flocks. GREENSHANK. TOT ANUS GLOTTIS {Pallas). This species is very generally distributed over the whole of Sutherland, extending into Caithness, and southward into west Ross-shire, west Cromarty, west of Inverness-shire, Argyleshire, and Perthshire, and is present in the Hebrides. I consider it far from an uncommon species in Sutherland. They are wild and wary, much more so than the Redshank, in the breeding season, and the male is wilder and shyer than the female. The cry of the Greenshank, from which it gets its local Gaelic name in West Sutherland — Teochvingh (the accent on the last syllable) — is somewhat like that of the Redshank, but slower, VOL. IL H 114 PROCEEDINGS OF THE louder, and differently modulated. Those who have heard both species should easily recognise either bird by the note alone. When flying overhead, or at some distance from the ground, the note is slow and clear ; but when in the act of alisfhtine, with the wings raised over its head, it repeats the note with great rapidity, the syllables running into one another. This is accompanied by a tremulous motion of the wings, very similar to what may be observed in the Common Sandpipers, or in the Curlews soon after their arrival in spring. The flight is rapid, though the strokes of the pinions are in slow, strong, regular beats, which appear to keep time with each syllable of the note. The mark by which a Greenshank is most easily recognisable, inde- pendent of its note, and mode of flight, and size, when rising from a loch-side or marsh, is the conspicuous white patch of feathers on the rump. It has, moreover, some resemblance, on the wing, to the Bar -tailed Godwit, though smaller, and is midway in size be- tween that species and the Redshank. The eggs are difficult to find, and often the bird has to be watched to the nest. I have obtained a good many of their eggs from different localities, and am inclined to think that those having a pale-green ground, with small distinct blotches, represent the type; though others, some of which I possess, have a darker ground- colour, with bold rich-brown and purplish blotches, confluent at the larger end. The Greenshank begins to lay about the 10th May in Sutherland, though in other counties some observers consider it amongst the earliest breeders of the Grallae. I have one laying taken on the 10th May, but of many others received, very few complete sets have been taken so early in the season. THE DUNLIN. TRINGA A LP IN A, Linnaeus. As already mentioned under the Ringed Plover, the Dunlin is found breeding only in one locality in Assynt. Mr Selby con- sidered it a common species, but I thihk it is local in its distribution. It breeds near Tongue, Mr Crawford informs me, but I have failed hitherto in receiving the eggs from any of my correspondents. Sir W. Milner does not mention it in his " List of Birds observed in Sutherland in 1847" ("Zoologist," 1848, p. 216). NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 115 Any specimens of the Dunlin which I have obtained in the west have, I think without exception, proved to be of the short- billed northern race. Out of the immense flocks which frequent the muddy estuaries of the east coast, and those of other parts of Scotland, very few indeed have the longer and more slender bill. The medium-sized bill or the short bill is predominant.* THE COMMON SNIPE. SCO LOP AX GALLINAGO, Linnaeus. Very abundant and generally distributed. Obs. Jack Snipe, S. gallinula. — Mr Selby writes : " The game- keeper of the Tongue district assured us that the Jack Snipe breeds in Sutherland almost every year, and that he had obtained the eggs, as well as young, in some boggy ground, about two miles from Tongue. He shewed such an intimate knowledge of the bird, as to do away with any impression upon our minds of a mistake as to the species " (Edin. New Phil. Journal, Vol. xx., 1836, p. 292). Mr St. John, evidently referring to the same locality, says that he " was never satisfied with the authenticity of these accounts .... for the very man whom I was referred to t as having seen this bird breeding, distinctly assured me that it never had been seen in that county during the breeding season." (" Tour in Sutherland," Vol. i.) To the above I may add that on different occasions I have been assured that the Jack Snipe has bred or does breed, and that the young have been shot in August; and these accounts were frequently from persons who must have been perfectly well acquainted with the bird. In vain, however, have I attempted to obtain a nest of eggs, along with the old bird, by offering a large reward. The fact still remains, I believe, that there is no collec- tion containing thoroughly well-identified and well -authenticated British specimens. • On the Firth of Forth, one day in autumn, when all the great flocks of Dunlins had taken shelter on the lee shore from a stormy wind, I found and fired into a small flock of some twenty on the windward shore, and killed seven or eight. All these birds proved to be long-billed birds, and seemed to be strangers on the coast. These long-billed birds are always larger and stouter, and stronger-built birds than such as are found in the west in the breeding season. I believe none of these long-biUed birds breed in Scotland, though they may do so in Orkney and Shetland, t The same man whom Mr Selby quoted as his authority. 116 PROCEEDINGS OF THE WOODCOCK. SCOLOPAX RUSTICOLA, Linnaeus. The Woodcock breeds very generally all over the county wherever sufficient cover is to be found, but perhaps is most abundant along the banks of the river Shin, and at Rosehall. I have never had the good fortune to see this bird carrying its young, though I have heard various accounts of its doing so from game- keepers and others. Mr J. Crawford writes that it breeds every year close to his house at Tongue, and that he has found the newly- hatched young " crouching amongst the fallen beech leaves." He further remarks, that the old bird gathers its young together " by flying about and uttering a peculiar ' croak.' " It breeds also now around Loch Inver, and on the wooded banks of Loch Letteressee, in the west. Mr Anthony Hamond is quoted by Mr Stevenson, in his " Birds of Norfolk " (Vol. ii., p. 28G), as having seen Wood- cocks sitting on their eggs, in the end of March, in the north-west of Scotland. I have myself taken the eggs in the midland counties of Scotland, containing fully- developed chicks, on the 25th of April. Ohs. Eed-necked Plialarope, Phalaropus hjperhoraeus (Linnaeus). — As there is only one record of this species having been seen in the breeding season in Sutherland, I prefer entering it under this heading, all endeavours to hear of its actually breeding having failed. The only record with which I am acquainted is given in Mr St. John's "Natural History and Sport in Moray." At page 130, under the date of June 10th, 1848, he says, " But the birds which were most interesting (and to me new) were two Eed-necked Phalaropes, which I watched for half an hour, wliile they fed, sometimes witliin a yard of my feet, where I was sitting, close to a corner of the swamp They were swimming about in the weedy water, and sometimes running on the broader leaves,* feeding on the small insects and shells." Mr A. G. More also cites Mr W. Dunbar as an authority for its breeding in Sutherland, but I believe that" Mr Dunbar, in giving this information, only quoted the above passage on the authority of Mr St. John, who saw the above single pair. They were possibly migrating to Shetland, wliere they breed about that date. * Probably the leaves of the water-lily, which is exceedingly abundant on many of the Sutherland lochs. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 117 Order vii., GRALLAE. • Fam. vl., RALLIDAE. Ohs. Wcater Rail, Rallus aquaticus, Linnaeus. — Mr A. G. More includes it in sub-province 35, but gives no authority. He says : " Throughout the mainland : and Messrs Baikie and Heddle describe it as found in Orkney all the year." There is little doubt that these notes are correct, but as I cannot verify them from my own experience, I prefer to enter this species under this heading. It may be added that all whom I have questioned, or corresponded with, regarding it, say that Water Rails are often shot in autumn and winter; but none have instanced the occurrence of its breeding. LAND RAIL. CREX PRATENSIS, Bechstein. Common in all cultivated parts. Wherever a small patch of corn or hay is growTi a pair at least are sure to be found during the season, arriving generally in the beginning of June. On several occasions I have found the Corncrake far from cultivation, in the middle of a barren moor, but this is of course the exception to the rule. It is amusing to see with what eagerness and rapidity, and wdtli what total want of suspicion, the Corncrake will approach to the notes of a supposed rival. I have called them, both with and without the aid of the usual Corncrake call, and it seemed to me that in Sutherland, where small patches of corn hereditarily belong, say, to one pair of birds, they hurried with even greater rapidity to the call than elsewhere. WATER-HEN. GALLINULA CHLOROPUS {Linnaeus). Common as this species is generally throughout Great Britain, it cannot be called abundant in most parts of Sutherland, and is certainly rare in all the wilder portions. In Assynt, nearly every loch and burn of which district are familiar to me, I only know of one locality where a single pair of birds breed every year. Why it does not increase in numbers, any more than do the Partridges at Inchnadamph, before alluded to, I cannot tell. Perhaps, as in their case, the severe winters destroy the young before they reach maturity. Mr J. Crawford speaks of their being present in one 118 PROCEEDINGS OF THE small pond near Tongue. From one locality in the north-east, a correspondent sent me some of their eggs, telling me he had never seen such before. They are common about Dunrobin, where they are known to the keepers. COMMON COOT. FULICA A TEA, Linnaeus. The distribution of this species is very similar to that of the last named. Mr Crawford has observed them, though not regularly, on the same pond as that on which he found the Water-hens, and remarks : " I have not seen the Bald Coot anywhere else throughout the district." Order viii., AN SERES. Fam. i., ANA TIB A E. GEEY-LAG GOOSE. ANSER FERUS (Gmelin). As is now well known to ornithologists, this is the only species of Wild Goose found breeding in Scotland. " As in Sutherland the Grey -lag Goose has been mistaken for the Bean Goose, and the more recent observations of the late Mr J. WoUey have con- clusively proved that only one species at present breeds in the north of Scotland " (Mr A. G. More, in " Ibis," 1865, p. 441); and the same remarks apply as regards the Hebrides, as ascertained since Macgillivray's time. The Grey-lag Goose is still a plentiful species, but I am sadly afraid it will before very long, unless stringent measures be taken, become extinct as a breeding species in Sutherland, as the nests are constantly pillaged, and the birds shot by keepers and others at every opportunity. I plead guilty, in one instance only, of having shot a female from her nest, in order to obtain a specimen. On one loch, a person told me that he killed no less than ten old Geese, shooting them on the same day, as they rose from their nests — thus destroying altogether about sixty birds, young and old, allowing five eggs to each sitting bird. In this particular locality they seem again to have increased in numbers, whereas, in most places, only an occasionally solitary nest is found. On the islands of this loch I believe more geese breed annually than any- where else in Scotland, at least in proportion to the area. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 119 The average number of eggs is live or less, though I have found six in the same nest. Young birds are easily reared from the eggs, but I believe that these never interbreed with the tame or domestic Geese, along with which they will feed in the same yard, though almost invariably keeping at a little distance from them. If they were more strictly confined along with the domestic birds, possibly they might interbreed ; indeed, an instance did occur in 1849, in the Zoological Gardens in London, as related, if I remember correctly, by Darwin. These semi-domesticated birds occasionally take short flights to the nearest loch, but never go far from the farm-yard ; and, more curious still, do not seem to be influenced by any migratory impulse, except that they answer the calls of wild birds passing high overhead. Their movements on land are dignified, yet graceful, showing a vast contrast to the clumsy waddle of the domestic birds. I have eggs laid by these half-wild geese ; the texture of the shell being finer and thinner, probably owing to the nature of their food. They are also smaller in size, though this may probably be exceptional. COMMON SHIELDEAKE. T ADORN A VULPANSER, Fleming. Common in certain suitable localities in the east and north, but absent, so far as I know, in the west. The sandy shore of Handa next the mainland should afford good breeding ground, riddled as it is with innumerable rabbit-burrows, but I have never observed the species there. COMMON WILD DUCK. ANAS BOSCH AS, Linnaeus. Very abundant, and found breeding both on the shores and on the- islands of nearly all the numerous lochs of Assynt, salt as well as fresh water, but more rarely in the district of Stoir and Aardvaar, west and north of Quinaig. Indeed, that tract of country, though dotted with innumerable lochs, is singularly devoid of bird-life. WIDGEON. ANAS PENELOPE, Linnaeus. This species is distributed over the central and northern portions 120 PROCEEDINGS OF THE of the county, being perhaps more common north and east of Loch Shin than elsewhere. In the west it is extremely rare, if not altogether absent. I have not met with it there, nor are the natives well acquainted with it. Sir W. Milner seems to have observed a considerable number in 1847, and to have considered it quite a common species in both Sutherland and Ross. It was first discovered breeding in Great Britain by Mr Selby and his party, who observed " various pairs " in different parts of the county. An excellent description of the nest of the Widgeon will be found, from the pen of Mr Selby, in Hewitson's "Eggs of British Birds," 1856, Vol. ii., p. 412. Mr J. Crawford writes that they are frequently observed on some marshy ground between Tongue and Loch Eriboll, and these birds doubtless breed in that neiofhbourhood. The eggs of the Widgeon are recognizable from most duck's eggs. They are midway in size between those of the Teal and those of the Wild Duck, and bear a close resemblance, save in size, to the type of the former, being of glossy texture, and of a fine creamy white colour. No tinge of green is discernible, except perhaps in very abnormal layings, as in the case of the Teal's eggs men- tioned below. Peculiar lines are often to be seen in the texture of the shell, like those sometimes observable in polished slabs of white marble, giving to the eggs the appearance of being cracked.* TEAL. QUERQUEDULA CREOCA (Linnaeus). Tolerably abundant, and returning more regularly to the same locality to breed year after year than the W^idgeon does. I could always make sure of a nest of eggs on an island in a certain small tarn about ten yards square. There is one laying in my cabinet taken at this locality, the eggs of which are of a decided, though very delicate green colour, without any trace whatsoever of a creamy tint, as is usual in eggs of this species. Obs. Scaup Duck, Fuligula marila (Linnaeus). — Mr Selby writes as follows : — *' A single female was shot by Sir W. Jardine on a small loch between Lochs Hope and Eriboll ; she was attended by * Since the ahove was first written, Mr Thomas Mackenzie has informed me that Widgeons have become much more mimerous in the breeding season, of late years, and that in 1874 great numbers of nests were found. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 121 a young one, wliicli unfortunately escaped among the reeds." Sir W. Jardine has kindly informed me that " The old bird certainly had a young one with it, but whether a young Scaup or not, it would be difficult to say." Thus, then, the matter still remains uncertain, as no authentic nest or eggs have since been obtained. I have, however, obtained strong presumptive evidence of its having bred. In June, 1868, I shot an adult male Scaup, which had been frequenting the same small loch for some days ; and from its unwiUingness to leave the locaUty, though repeatedl}'' disturbed and fired at, I am fully persuaded that the female was sitting on her eggs at no great distance. With my friend, Mr W. Jesse, I also, in June, 1867, obtained a laying of duck's eggs, and though failing to identify them, they closely resembled eggs of this species from Lapland. I shall not be surprised to hear of the young or eggs of the Scaup being found in either one or other of four different localities. A correspondent from one of these, described a duck very minutely — which could hardly have belonged to any other species — as having bred in the county, to his certain knowledge, in 1865. Ohs. No. 2. Golden Eye, Clangula glaucion (Linnaeus). — Sir W. Milner includes the Golden Eye in his " List " as observed on two occasions. First — " On one of the numerous lochs between Thurso and Tongue, we fell in with a male Golden Eye (May 1 7th), and from what we observed in Sutherland afterwards, we had no doubt that the female was upon her eggs." And again : " Near Loch Maddy (or Maldie), on the 21st May, on another small loch, we flushed a female Golden Eye." Mr St. John also observed this species in summer, on Loch Laoghal. Mr A. G More says (" Ibis," 1865, p. 447) : " Mr W. Dunbar informs me that the Golden Eye has once been known to breed in Sutherland, a] nest with young birds having been found by a shepherd in the hollow of an old larch-tree on Loch Assynt, and he suggests that one of the birds must have been disabled and unable to migrate." At present there are no larch-trees on the banks of Loch Assynt, nor have I been able to ascertain from any of the older inhabitants that the larch ever grew there. But if the nest was found in the trunk of a fir or birch, it may possibly have been that of a Goosander. Ohs. No. 3. Black Scoter, OEdemia nigra (Linnaeus), according to Mr Dunbar, breeds regularly in Caithness ; and Mr J. Watson says (" Zoologist," 2nd series, p. 1867), that it did so in 1868. 122 PROCEEDINGS OF THE Possibly, also, it may yet be found in some part of Sutherland, especially as the locality in Caithness is not far removed from the boundary line between the two counties. Mr Dunbar " has known the eggs taken more than once." • RED-BEEASTED MERGANSER. MERGUS SERRATORy Linnaeus. Common, and found breeding on many of the larger lochs, as well as on the islands of the numberless arms of the sea which indent the western coast. When found inland, seldom more than one or two pairs frequent the same loch, but on one small island of a sea loch, I have found as many as three nests, and I was told by a person in the neighbourhood that there were generally three pairs there every year. Any nests of the Red-breasted Merganser I have examined in Sutherland have not been concealed from view amongst loose stones, or in turf holes, as is the case in the Hebrides and elsewhere, but have invariably been placed amongst long heather on a sloping bank, and not hidden, except from the most inexperienced eye. The Hooded Crows, at all events, soon find them out, and no sooner does the female quit the nest than one or both of the black vermin, probably breeding on some neighbouring rock, repair to the unguarded nest. On the island above mentioned, I have seen a pair of " Hoodies" hunting the ground as systematically as any good pointer or setter dog. Order viii., AN SERES. Fam. il, COLYMBIDAE. BLACK-THROATED DIVER. COLYMBUS ARCTIC US (Lmyiaeus). This handsome species was first discovered as resident and breeding in Great Britain by Mr Selby's party in 1834. It is now well known as far from uncommon on the inland lochs, always choosing a green island for its nest. The Black- throated Diver is perhaps more plentiful in the south-western portion of Sutherland than elsewhere in the county, becoming very scarce northward in Edderachyllis, and north-eastward through the rest of the county. In both these directions it gives place to the Red- throated Diver. I consider that in the west the proportion of NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 123 C. arcticus is about three to one of C. septentrionalis, and in the north-east this is as nearly as possible reversed. Taking the county as a whole, the two species are about equal in number. On each of the smaller lochs frequented by this species, only one pair is to be found breeding, but on some of the larger lochs two pairs are occasionally observed. The nest is simply a hollow in the ground, rarely, if ever, having any lining, and chosen close to the water edge, or at least within a yard of it. On several occasions with a good glass I have watched the female as she sat on her eggs, whilst the male swam up and down at no great distance, and often close beside the island. As he did so, all unsuspicious of my presence, he would gracefully dip his bill in the water, or lie over on his side, stretching back his leg the better to preserve his balance, and then preen the feathers of his breast and side with his long dagger-shaped bill. When alarmed, he would raise his head sharply, and gradually sink his body, till his back became level with the water, or entirely disappeared beneath it, leaving only the long snake-like neck and head ex- posed to view. If the danger then became more imminent, he would dive without leaving a ripple on the surface, and reappear far out upon the loch. The cry of the Black-throated Diver, when alarmed, is a guttural " quack," repeated at intervals, which seems to be a cry of warning to the female. I have never seen the male bird quit the water and rest upon land, though he not uufrequently rises off the surface and flies once or twice round the loch, nor have I seen the female on land save when she has been sitting on her eggs. On leaving the nest, when undisturbed, she floats gently off on the surface, but if alarmed, almost instantaneously dives, or should the water close to shore be too shallow to admit of this, she half flies, half swims, until she finds sufiicient depth, splash- ing up the water, and making sufficient noise to be heard 250 yards off on a calm day. The Black-throated Diver seldom breeds on the shores of a loch, although I have heard of well authenticated instances of its doing so. It usually chooses a green, grass-grown island, and should a loch be found not to possess such an island, it is almost needless to search there for a Diver's nest. On one loch with which I am acquainted, a pair of these birds breed upon a long narrow point of gravel and sand, which runs out from a grassy 124 PROCEEDINGS OF THE island, on which also is a colony of the Common Gull {Lanis canus). This situation, however, is exceptional, as usually they are solitary birds. The males of different pairs, when the females are sitting, often join company, and may be seen fishing together on another loch. This beautiful bird, so graceful in its every action whilst in the water, progresses but clumsily on land. The female, when going to or from her nest, rests her breast upon the ground, and uses her feet behind as propellers, much in the same way as she would do if swimming. Thus a beaten path, and often a deepish groove in the turf or gravel, is always found between the nest and the water. An old gamekeeper informed me that he has in vain attempted to trap an old Diver, invariably finding his trap sprung, with a few of the breast feathers in its grasp. If a pair of Divers be pursued by a boat, comparatively rarely will either bird take wing, but almost always they will endeavour to escape by swimming and diving. I have, however, seen them, when hard pressed, rise and quit the loch, but only to return again in a short time. If danger is at hand when the female is sitting, the male will try to lead her off the nest by uttering his guttural cry. If the danger becomes imminent (as, for instance, if a man enter the water preparatory to swimming out to the island), the male will swim rapidly close up to his mate, and then both will dive and reappear at a distance. The Black-throated Diver is very tenacious of its old breeding haunts, and, unless systematically persecuted from year to year, repeatedly fired at, or otherwise annoyed, will not easily change to a new locality; but, once a loch is deserted by these birds, it may be many years before they will again be seen upon it. EED-THROATED DIVER. COLYMBUS SEPTENTRIONALIS, Linnaeus. Mention is made of this species as inhabiting Sutherland so long ago as 1793, in the "Old Statistical Account" of the parish of Realf, where, under the name of " Eain-Goose," it is included in a somewhat long and tolerably full list of the birds found in that district. The Red-throated Diver is about as abundant as the last- mentioned species, but, as already noticed, its distribution is NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 125 different, being most plentiful where the Black-throated Diver is scarcest, and vice versa. It frequents more retired and out of-the- way spots than the BLack-throated Diver, and often breeds at a much higher elevation. It also differs somewhat in its nesting habits, preferring the shore of a small peaty tarn to the islands of a larger loch. The eggs are considerably smaller ; and on comparing a small series with a larger one of the eggs of the other species, they are found to vary more, both in the ground colour and in the markings. The cry of the Eed-throated Diver is perhaps one of the most extraordinary and startling sounds a person can well listen to, especially when heard for the first time. On one occasion a friend and myself were rowing on Loch Assynt, when the wild, half cat- like, hiilf infant-scream-like cry came loudly and distinctly across the water. We were both startled, not even excepting our steady old highland boatman, who had often heard it before ; whilst my friend, who had never heard it until that occasion, could hardly be convinced that it was not a cry of distress from some drowning person. So human-like was the strange shriek, that even after we had seen the birds we could hardly divest ourselves of a dis- agreeable feeling that it might have been a child drowning after all. Ohs. G-reat Northern Diver, Colymbus glacialis (Linnaeus). — Mr Selby records that "A single pair was seen in the Bay of Balnakill, mouth of the Durness Firth, both adult birds, and in full adult plumage." He suggests that " It is probable that they had their nest upon one of the numerous islets that abound in the bay." Sir William Milner also observed the species; and there are numerous other records of these birds having been seen late in summer on various parts of our coasts. On June 5th, 1868, I identified a pair of these birds upon a wild inland loch in Sutherland, and soon afterwards sent an account of my discovery to a natural history periodical (" Zoologist," 2nd series, p. 1309). I am quite positive as to the correctness of my observation, and, from various scraps of information that have since reached me, I am also decidedly of opinion that the Great Northern Diver has bred in Sutherland. Mr Dunbar reports that he saw Great Northern Divers, with " one young one," on Loch Endorb, where there were also at the same time two or three pairs of the Black-throated Diver ; " so that the two species were easily distinguished by the great disparity 126 PROCEEDINGS OF THE of size " (A. G. More in " The Ibis "). Dr Saxby reports having received eggs " from Yell, in Shetland, which he considers to belong to the Great Northern Diver;" and his belief is strengthened by the fact that the Black-throated Diver does not breed in Shetland (" Ibis," 1865, p. 449).* LITTLE GREBE. PODICEPS MINOR {Gmelin). This is a rather rare species in Sutherland. Mr Selby observes that it was met with " occasionally upon the smaller lochs during the excursion " in 1834. Sir W. Milner also includes it in his "List" in 1847. It breeds regularly in the neighbourhood of Tongue, but is rare in the west, so far as. I know. I have neither taken or received its eggs from there. Order via., AN SERES. Fam. iil, A LCI DAE. COMMON" GUILLEMOT. URIA TROILE {Linnaeus). On Handa there is an immense colony of this species, far surpassing in numbers those on the Bass Rock, on Ailsa Craig, or on the Hoy Head. That portion of Handa which is most crowded with these birds, if any part be more thickly populated than another, is "The Stack." Thousands crowd its ledges, and swarm on the outward-sloping face at the top. The Guillemot is decidedly the most abundant species at Handa. I have been much disappointed in finding the eggs of the Guillemot at this locality not, as a rule, nearly so richly coloured as those from other nurseries of sea-fowl. Out of a lot of about 400, I picked out a dozen or so of the finest, but found even those to be poorly marked as compared with others I have seen, and since possessed, from other places. In the " Old Statistical Account" of the Parish of Edderachyllis mention is made of the fact that the inhabitants, at the time of its publication — 1793 — "set great store by the birds of Handa, both as food, and for sake of the feathers." Now such is not so much the case, though the birds are occasionally made use of for food. Of the race U. ringvia I may state that it is abundant on * Also see Dr Saxby's " Birds of Shetland," 1874. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 127 Handa as compared with some other bird-stations on our coasts. I have on many occasions counted the Guillemots occupying a ledge, and generally found that the average of bridled birds on Handa was one to ten, or twelve, of the common race. The estimate of their numbers on this island, as given by Mr J. Wolley, also agrees with my estimate. He writes (" Zoologist," 1852, p. 3478) that he spent four days there, and went down on a rope " in every part of the rocks," and, after careful examination, sums up by saying, "and in every row of ten or twenty Guillemots, one or two were seen to have the white above the eyes." Mr Wolley did not consider U. troile and U. ringvia as separate species, nor did he recognise any difference in their eggs. Capt. H. J. Elwes procured eggs of U. ringvia in the Hebrides, taken from under the birds in 1868, and says of them, "more were marked with streaks than blotches." My own experience of them, in the same locality in 1870, is that they are quite un- distinguishable from typical eggs of U. troile. In the Hebrides in 1870 Capt. H. W. Feilden and myself saw bridled and common birds in copula, thus putting their identity beyond a doubt. We also very carefully came to the conclusion that the average of the bridled birds there was one to five of the commoner race.* In his "Birds of the West of Scotland" (p. 426), Mr Robert Gray gives the numbers of the bridled birds amongst the Guillemot population of Handa as one in a hundred ; but this is such a very low estimate indeed, that it is probably a printer's error. My estimate of the numbers there has always been as above stated. BLACK GUILLEMOT. URIA GRYLLE {Linnaeus). This bird is now very rare in Handa, though at one time, as we were assured by the cragsmen, it was plentiful. The reason * I am not aware that any Guillemots have ever been found to partake of the characteristics of hoth U. ringvia and U. troile, as would be the case in a true cross formed by the interbreeding of species. All specimens hitherto obtained have been either purely the one or purely the other, thus, as I understand, proving their identity as a species, and giving an instance of Darwin's dimorphism. 128 PROCEEDINGS OF THE assigned for its decrease in numbers there is, that rats have managed to dislodge them. Tiiis can, however, hardly be the case, because the places, in which doubtless. Black Guillemots bred when there, seem to me to be inaccessible even to a rat. On other islands of the west coast, however, it is not so uncom- mon. At one locality where I have taken their eggs, some twenty pairs or more were breeding in a colony. At this place few of the eggs were placed in crevices in the perpendicular face of the cliff, but mostly at the bottom of deep cracks or fissures in the surface of the island, never far removed from the sea. Some of these fissures were from six to ten feet deep, and it was only by using a stick with a ring at the end of it, and a piece of netting attached, that I could get out the eggs. On this occasion I caught three of the birds on the eggs. Two of these birds proved upon dissection to be males, as was noted by Mr MacLeay of Inverness. The bare breast-spots were equally visible in them as in the females, and in one specimen there were two such spots. These facts prove that both sexes share in the duties of incubation, as Thomson has remarked in his " Birds of Ireland." One of these same three birds was curiously mottled with white all over the lower breast and belly, being part of the winter plumage not yet changed into the pure black of summer. Such specimens are not common in summer, but Mr MacLeay informed me that he has on several occasions received them for preservation. The number of eggs laid by this species seems to be almost invariably two, but occasionally only one. I never found more than two. Most of those obtained at the above place were far advanced in incubation. It is somewhat singular, therefore, to find that Mr Anderson states most strongly that in Labrador Uria grylle invariably lays three eggs. No doubt this singular disparity in numbers is caused by a greater or less supply of their favourite food in different localities, and the fact tliat the Black Guillemot is infinitely more abundant in the Arctic regions than with us, goes to prove that food is there most plentiful. The Black Guillemot cannot be considered an abundant species in the west of Sutherland; indeed, I know of only two or three localities where it breeds, though doubtless there are others between Scowrie and Cape Wrath. On the north coast they are more abundant, though a correspondent writes that there are none #> breeding near Armadale. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 129 PUFFIN. FRATERCULA ARCTIC A (Linnaeus). The Puffin is still a very abundant species on Handa, and especially on "■ The Stack," where they lay their eggs on the top, amongst some loose stones and rubble. They also breed numer- ously in the gap in the opposite cliff, and are plentiful on all parts of the rocks where there are green slopes of grass, and cairns of loose stones and other debris; often, as in other localities, dis- puting for possession with the rabbits. The cragsmen assured me that not many years ago the Puffin was almost the most numerous species on Handa, and at that time the eggs could be taken from holes on the flat tops of the rocks, but of late that, as in the case of the Black Guillemot, rats have driven them to search for securer situations. Puffins were then much less abun> dant on the sloping top of " The Stack," their present numbers there being attributed to their desertion of these formerly in- habited places. But I have observed that Puffins are very much more numerous on "The Stack" in some years than in others, and I incline more to the belief that their choice for the season may be considerably influenced by the direction of the prevailing winds, when they " come up " from the sea. Thus, the gap in the cliff opposite "The Stack" is always well populated, as it is sheltered by " The Stack " from the north-west winds and waves. EAZOEBILL. ALCA TORI) A, Linnaeus. The Eazorbill is plentiful. It seldom breeds low down on the clifis. I do not think that the arrangement, so to speak, of the different species on the cliffs of Handa in tiers, one above the other, is so observable for its regularity as in many other nurseries of sea fowl. The Kittiwakes are always low down : the Puffins seem to occupy the whole face of the cliffs, wherever suitable cracks or crevices are to be found, or cairns, or patches of green : the present species seldom descends below half way : the Guille- mots crowd on all the ledges, save those occupied by the Kittiwakes, and on "The Stack" they breed likewise on the sloping summit. In such places, indeed, where the ledges are at regular, or nearly regular, distances from one another, the different species VOL. n. I 130 PROCEEDINGS OF THE keep each their own legitimate level; but where the rocks are rent and cracked, where Landslips have occurred, and there are mounds of earth and stones, such regularity is not so observable. Order viii. , A N SERES. Fam. iv. , P ROC ELLA EIIDA E. Obs. I have not been able to discover any breeding place of either the Manx Shear-water, Puffinus anglorum (Temminck), or the Fulmar Petrel, ProceUaria ])elagica (Linnaeus), but would suggest that, as the former breeds in Orkney, it may be found also on the north coast of Sutherland, and that the latter, if searched for in July, may be found in at least one locality on the west coast. Order viii., AN SERES. Fam. v., LARIDAE. Obs. Eichardson's Skua, Lesfris imrasiticus (Linnaeus). — Mr A. G. More says ("Ibis," 1865, p. 456): "The bird still breeds in Sutherland and Caithness," but he gives no authority. I can hear from no other source of their nesting in the county, nor have I received eggs from any locality there. In June I have received a specimen of the bird, in the flesh, from Handa, where it is considered rare, and is not known to breed. It is seen much more numerously on the east coast of Caithness and Sutherland than elsewhere, these birds being probably those which breed on an inland moor in the former county, and in Hoy, and which follow the flights of other Gulls preying on the passing shoals of fish. GEEAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. LARUS MARIN US, Linnaeus. The only place on the west coast, that I have visited, where this fine bird breeds in any numbers, is at Handa, where a colony of about fifteen pairs have their breeding station, which is perfectly inaccessible to man, on the grassy summit of "The Stack." Apparently knowing the security of their nesting place, they allow a close approach to the opposite edge of the chasm which separates them from the main island, without showing any symptoms of alarm. Scattered pairs breed up and down the coast, generally returning to the same locality year after year. A few pairs breed also in NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 131 company with the Lesser Black-backed Gulls, from which birds they are easily distinguishable, not only by their greater size, but also by their much louder, and, if I may use the expression, much more defiant voice. I received a laying of their eggs on one occasion, which was taken on the shore of an inland loch, a most unusual situation, as they generally choose the very highest part of an island whereon to make their nest.* LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. LARUS FUSCUS, Linnaeus. This is perhaps the most abundant species of Gull in Sutherland, and is found breeding, in large colonies, on the islands of both inland and sea lochs. The largest colony with which I am personally acquainted is on two islands of a loch in West Cromarty, where I have estimated their numbers at about two hundred pairs. Here they breed entirely by themselves ; with no other species of Gull, except one pair of Great Black-backed Gulls. They are more plentiful in the west than in the north or east. Their numbers on the Badcall islands, where they breed along with the Herring Gull, fluctuate considerably in different years, owing, doubtless, to their nests being robbed perpetually by the inhabitants of Stoir and Aardvaar. There are numbers of rats also on the islands, which are not favourable to their increase. Few objects present a more beautiful sight to the eye of the ornithologist, than an island of some inland loch colonized by these handsome birds. Everywhere their pure white breasts and black backs are to be seen, in striking contrast to the deep-green colour of the grass, which is sure to be found on every island which they frequent, or in time past have frequented. The air, too, is full of them, as they sail round and round, uttering their loud, defiant laugh. The calm, unruffled surface of the loch, too, bears its share of them upon its bosom, as parties of from two or three to a dozen float lightly upon it. In one locality I found this * An interesting account is given in Wilson's " Voyage round the Coasts of Scotland and the Isles " (Vol. i., p. 237), of a battle between a flock of Sea- Gulls protecting their young and a troop of goats (in which the former succeeded in beating off the latter, and saving their offspring from their hoofs), on an island of Loch Laxford. They were probably of this or the following species. 132 . PROCEEDINGS OF THE species breeding not only on the open grassy parts of the islands, but also amongst some thick birch-wood, and I have flushed them in this situation direct from their nests. HERRING GULL. LARUS ARGENTATUS, Gmelin. Not nearly so numerous as the last, but tolerably abundant, especially on the Badcall islands. Like the L. fuscus, I have found their numbers at this locality to differ very much in different years. In one season, for instance, I found great difficulty in obtaining properly identified eggs of the Lesser Black-backed Gull, from the much larger numbers of this species breeding with them; whilst another season I found ecjual difficulty in identifying the eggs of the present species, on account of the superabundance of the Lesser Black-backed Gulls. COMMON GULL. LARUS CAN US, Linnaeus. Very abundant; breeding numerously on the inland lochs of the west, as well as on the islands of the various arms of the sea, and on the Badcall islands. A long spell of dry weather in spring and summer seems to retard these and other Gulls from laying. They were unusually late of breeding in 1869. BLACK-HEADED GULL. LARUS RIBIBUNDUS, Linnaeus. Plentiful in the east : entirely absent, as far as my experience goes, in the west. Having been told that they bred on a small loch at the base of Canispe, I visited the locality, but found no other species besides Larus ccmus. KITTIWAKE. LARUS TRIDACTYLUS, Linnaeus. Occupies the lower ranges of ledges on Handa, where I have seen the waves cast their spray over the sitting birds. They are partial to " The Stack," seeking out the landward and more sheltered sides, where they build their large warm nests close to one another. The number of their eggs is three ; never, I believe, more. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OV GLASGOW. 133 AECTIC TEEN. STERNA HI RUN DO, Linnaeus. The Arctic Tern is of more frequent occurrence than the Common Tern. COMMON TERN. STERNA FLUVIATILIS, Naumann. These two species are both abundant in the east, but rare in the west. The Common Tern is found breeding on a small detached island close to Handa, but only in very limited numbers ; and the Arctic Tern is abundant on a loch in the east intermixing with the latter. On Loch Migdale, near Bonar, the latter breed, and, as far as I could observe, are the only species there. Ohs. Mr A. G. More ("Ibis," 1865, p. 453) includes the Lesser Tern {Sterna minuta), in sub-province 35, but gives no authority ; nor can I hear of a breeding place. Obs. No. 2. Mr A. G. More does not include the Sandwich Tern {Sterna cantiaca), but remarks that the birds have been seen in summer on the Firths of Tongue and Eriboll, " but the nest was not discovered," evidently quoting Mr Selby. Mr J. Crawford informs me that the Sandwich Tern is frequently seen on the island of the Kyle of Tongue, and considers that it breeds there, though he has not obtained the eggs. He further states that " both species {i.e., Sandwich and Arctic Terns), arrive at nearly the same time." Order viii., ANSERES. Fam. vi., PELECANIDAE. COEMORANT. PHALACROCORAX CARBO {Linnaeus). Not numerous on Handa ; and such as breed there invariably choose the highest parts of the cliffs for nesting purposes. There are no large settlements, perhaps halfa-dozen pairs breeding together in the same place. On the Badcall islands, however, there is a large colony, and the nests are placed in the simplest places, where even a child might take the eggs. They seldom, however, occupy the same island two years running. Thus one season they crowd the rocks of one island, and the next entirely desert it for the adjacent one. Their numbers are on the decrease; 134 PROCEEDINGS OF THE and the persecution to which they are subjected on these islands, is doubtless the cause, both of their numbers diminishini,' and of their so frequently shifting their place of abode. We have not unfrequently found four eggs in a nest, and on one occasion five were found, though Mr Shearer, with all the long experience he has had in the east of Caithness, nevertheless states that "it never lays more than three" ("Field," 29th Nov., 1862). This only proves, to my mind, how greatly circumstances and locality influence birds in the number of eggs laid. Whether this is owing to comparative plenty or comparative scarcity of food in general, or of their favourite food in particular, or to some other cause not yet accurately determined by naturalists, I cannot take it upon me to say; but the fact stands, I believe, beyond disproof, not only as regards Cormorants, but as regards number- less other species, as, for instance, the Merlin, Buzzard, etc. GREEN CORMORANT. PHALACROCORAX CRIST ATUS (Faber). More plentiful on Handa than the Cormorant, breeding as usual low down on the rocks, and, when possible, choosing such ledges as are found to hang immediately over the water. On the Badcall islands they are comparatively scarce, though the caves there seem to be fully as well adapted to their habits as those of Handa are. The Librarian announced the following donations to the Library : — Transactions and Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, Vol. x.. Part ii., 1870; from the Society. Kennedy's Clydesdale Flora, 1865, and Salisbury's Botanist's Companion, 1816; from Mr Walter Gait. Skandinavisk Herpetologi, af S. Nilsson, Lund., 1842; from Mr Thomas Chapman. Jahresbericht der Gesellschaft fiir Natur und Heilkunde in Dresden, 1870; from the Society. Stainton's Natural History of the Tineina, Vol. xii., London, 1870; from Dr Hugh Colquhoun. January 31st, 1871. Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S., President, in the chair. Messrs George Martin, Jun., and James M'Kerrow, were elected resident members. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 135 The Chairman exhibited the lower jaw-bones and some of the vertebrae of a ruminant — probably a deer — from a moss near Cambusnetlian. These, with a quantity of decayed flesli and coarse black hair, had been found embedded in the peat at a depth of about seven feet, and had first come into the possession of ]\Ir George Thomson, a member of the Society, Mr John Bell exhibited a specimen of the Grey Phalarope (Phalaropus lohatus), which was shot some time ago near Helens- burgh. Mr John Young laid on the table a peculiar monstrosity of the Scotch Fir, which had been cut in a plantation near Mugdock, and on which Mr M'Lellan and Mr Eamsay made some remarks. PAPERS READ. I. — Remarks on the Parallelism of the Scottish and North Irish Carboniferous strata. By Mr John Young^, F.G.S. The author founded his remarks chiefly on the geological age of the Ballycastle coalfield, and its relation to the Carboniferous rocks of the West of Scotland, from a paper read this month by Mr Edward Hull before the Geological Society of Ireland, and after some preliminary observations proceeded as follows: — During the short period Mr Hull was with us in Glasgow, engaged in the survey of the coalfields of the West of Scotland, he became acquainted with the peculiar stratigraphical and lithological characters of the Carboniferous limestone series of the Glasgow district, so difi'erent from the typical strata of the same age observed in most of the coalfields of England and Ireland, and he has since been enabled to trace an approach to the same conditions of deposit in the Ballycastle coalfield as those seen in the West of Scotland. Mr Hull does not found his conclusions solely upon the similarity of lithological character of the strata observed in the two districts, but also upon the palaeontological evidence of the various organisms obtained from the two series of beds. He says that, amongst thirty-three species of shells, corals, and crinoids, from the Ballycastle strata, Mr Baillie, palaeontologist to the Irish Geological Survey, finds fifty per cent, are related to those from the West of Scotland. Mr Hull divides the Carboniferous strata of the Ballycastle or 136 PROCEEDINGS OF THE Antrim coalfield into three groups, which, in a descending series, consist of — 1st, Coalbeds and blackband ironstone alternating with other strata; 2d, Limestone and impure earthy shales, with shells, crinoids, and corals ; 3d, Beds of reddish sandstone, conglomerates, and shales. The first group corresponds closely to the Possil and Govan coal and blackband ironstone series; the second to the lower limestone series of the AVest of Scotland; and the third to the sandstones, conglomerates, and shales that underlie our limestones, some of which are of a reddish colour, as in Arran and in various tracts along the south-western base of the Ayrshire coalfield. Mr Hull states that he is not sure if the millstone grit series is represented in the Ballycastle coalfield, and I think there is also evidence from the three divisions of the strata which he gives us, that the upper limestone series of the West of Scotland is not there found. With us this upper limestone series consists of three or four beds alternating with other strata of sandstone and shale, which lie over the Possil coal and ironstone series — the supposed representatives of the upper strata of the Ballycastle coalfield. But as many tracts of the Irish coalfield have suffered extensive denudation, it may probably be concluded that these upper beds have been all swept away. One other point of similarity which Mr Hull notices in connec- tion with the coalfield of the West of Scotland and that of Bally- castle, is the occurrence of a brachiopod shell — Lingula squa- miformis. In the coalfields of Lanarkshire, Eenfrewshire, and Ayrshire, this shell occurs in such abundance in certain strata on the horizon of the Possil and Govan ironstone series, that it strongly characterises this division of our beds. Years ago Dr Rankin of Carluke, in his section of the strata of that district, named certain beds on this horizon as " Lingula ironstone," " Lingula limestone and shale," from the abundance of this one shell in the beds. This shell, though ranging Trom the lower to the upper limestone series in the West of Scotland, is nowhere else met with in such numbers. It is worthy of being noted that Mr Hull in this paper does not claim to be the first to recognise the difference that exists in the beds of the Ballycastle coalfield from those composing the NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGO^V. 137 typical Carboniferous limestone series of other tracts of Ireland. This feature, he says, was pointed out long ago by Dr Griffith. The late Professor Jukes, in his " Manual of Geology," also says, that in tracins; the Carboniferous series from the central districts of Ireland northwards, the beds become more complicated and sub-divided as we proceed from south to north. The Calp limestone becomes more purely an earthy deposit, and in its middle portion the shales are split up by a considerable group of sandstone beds, sometimes containing traces and thin seams of coal. This sandstone group, I may also point out, is a feature in the Possil coal series in this district, being the repository of the best quarries of this rock in the neighbourhood of Glasgow. What Mr Hull means to indicate, and, indeed, has been the first to point out, is the close relationship of this coalfield in the North of Ireland to that of the West of Scotland ; and I think he has established this clearly, both by lithological and palaeonto- logical evidence. In the West of Scotland the great bed, or series of beds, a thousand feet or more in thickness, forming the typical Carboniferous limestone of many tracts in England and Ireland, no longer prevails. With us the limestone series is split up into a dozen or twenty beds, parted by strata of coal, ironstone, sandstone, and shale, and forming a lower and upper series. Few of the limestone beds, even in the district around Beith, in Ayrsliire, where they attain their greatest development, reach 40 feet in thickness ; while in many parts of our coalfield they do not average more than from one to five or six feet, many of the beds being of an earthy or impure character. Those interested in the physical causes which have brought about this unequal distribution of the limestone strata in the coalfields of Great Britain and Ireland will find an able and interesting paper on the subject by Mr Hull, in the Proceedings of the Geological Society of Glasgow, vol. iii. It is of geological interest also to note that as the Carboniferous strata are traced northwards through the various counties of England, they, like those of Ireland, begin to take on the Scottish types of deposition. Professor Jukes says that the limestone series in the North of England eventually begin to contain beds of sandstone and coal, and that, finally, farther north the whole group becomes a great series of coal measures, containing interstratified limestones in its lower part only. 138 PROCEEDINGS OF THE Professor Young then made some remarks corroborative of Mr Hull's views, and expressed a hope that the subject would be still further investigated, as, judging from what had been already indicated, the results were likely to prove both interesting and instructive to geologists generally. II. — On the Mammals and BejMles of Sutherlandshire. By Messrs Edward R. Alston, F.Z.S., and John A. Harvie Brown, M.B.O.U. The first account of the Mammals of Sutherlandshire with which we are acquainted is to be found in Sir Robert Gordon's "Earldom of Sutherland" (1630), where the following species are enumerated — "Reid-deir and Roes, Woulffs, Foxes, Wyld Catts, Brocks, Skuyrells, Whittrets, Weasels, Otters, Martrixes, Hares, and Foumarts." In 1836 Mr Selby published an ex- cellent paper " On the Quadrupeds and Birds of Sutherland," in vol. V. of the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal; and scattered notices are to be found in the works of the late Mr St. John ; in Scrope's " Days of Deer-Stalking ; " in Wilson's "Voyage Round Scotland;" and in the "Statistical Account of Scotland," by the Parish Ministers. The number of Mammals found in Sutherlandshire is not great, but several of them are interesting as being now rare or extinct in the more cultivated regions of Britain. The noble Stag still wanders over glen and corrie; the fierce Wild Cat and the beautiful Marten lurk in the birch-woods; the Fox and Badger find safe retreats in the cairns and rocks of the bare hill-sides, and the lithsome Otter pursues its prey alike in the sea, lochs, and rivers. But if the existing fauna of the county is of interest to the naturalist, that which has passed away is of still greater importance. From pre-historic times we have traces of the Reindeer {Cervus tarandus)y and the Beaver (Castor fiber), remains of which have been found in various parts of Sutherlandshire and Caithness. Ip Gaelic tradition legends of the Wild Boar {Sus scrofa) still survive and have given name to several localities in the county, as Aultnatore — "the Burn of the Boar" — near Ben Loyal. But the Wolf (Canis lupus), lingered very much longer than any of these others, and it appears to be certain that the species existed in NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 139 Scotland at a much later date than is usually believed.* According to tradition they were once so numerous that the natives of the west coast buried their dead on the island of Handa to avoid the ghoul-like ravages of the Wolves (Voyage Eound Scotl., p. 347), and as we have already mentioned, Sir R Gordon speaks of them as still existing in 1630. Mr Scrope collected traditional accounts of four old Wolves and several whelps, which were all killed about the same time, but at different places, between the year 1G90 and 1700. The localities named are at Achumore, Assynt, Halladale, and Glen-Loth, the last-mentioned individual having been the veritable " last Wolf " of the county. The story goes that a man named Poison and his son discovered the den and were destroying the cubs, when the dam returned and came to the rescue, but after a desperate struggle, in the description of which there appear to be some touches of the mythical, they dispatched her with their dirks. "These," con- cludes Mr Scrope, "were the last Wolves killed in Sutherlandshire, and the den was between Craig -Ehadich and Craig- Voakie, by the narrow Glen of Loth." (Days of Deer-Stalking, pp. 374-7). The Eeptiles of Sutherlandshire are more numerous than might have been expected, almost all the well-ascertained Scotch species having been observed in the county. PAET I.— MAMMALS. COMMON BAT. VESPERUGO PIPISTRELLUS {Geoffroy). Although abundant in many parts of the Highlands, this is far from being a common species in Sutherlandshire. In the west of the county, a careful observer assured us that he had seen only * We may observe that there is little doubt that the story of the " last Wolf in Scotland '' having been killed in 1680 by Locheil is an error which originated in a mistake of Pennant's; Locheil's Wolf was the last in Lochaber, but the brutes lingered much later in other districts. The Brothers Stuart, in their "Lays of the Deer-forest," have collected many GaeKc traditions on the subject, and have shown that probably the real "last Wolf" was one killed so late as about the year 1743, by M'Queen of Pall-a-chrocain, between that place and Fi-Ginthas, in Strathdearn. M'Qaeen lived till 1796, so that the tradition has not passed through many hands. 140 PROCEEDINGS OF THE two Bats within the last twenty years; in the east we have observed one or two at Bonar and Loch Migdale. As far as we are aware, no other species has been recorded from the county. MOLE. TALPA EUROPAEA, Linnaeus. As in other parts of the north of Scotland, the Mole appears to be increasing in Sutherlandshire. In 1843 it was very rare in the parish of Durness, and only to be met with on the western side of Loch Hope (Old Statistical Acct., p. 88). In Assynt it is now quite plentiful in low-lying ground and valleys, where the surface is cultivated; in some of the pastures great numbers of old mole-hills may be seen overgrown with grass, making the whole surface of the fields rough and uneven. In Sutherlandshire this animal is never found at any considerable elevation, a fact which must be attributed to the nature of the soil, or rather to the want of soil on the hill sides, for in other localities the Mole ascends mountains to a great height. Obs. The Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) is certainly unknown in the west, and we liave been unable to procure positive evidence of its occurrence in any part of the county. COMMON SHEEW. SO REX VULGARIS, Linnaeus. Common. It is included in Mr Selby's list under the name of S. araneus. WATER SHREW. CROSSOPUS FODIENS (Pallas). Is not uncommon in Sutherlandshire and Caithness. It ex- tends to Orkney. The dark variety, formerly separated as C. remifer, does not appear to be found within our limits, although common in many parts of Scotland. BADGER. MELES TAXUS (Schreber). Mr Selby says that in 1834 the Badger was "pretty generally dispersed throughout the midland mountainous part of the county." NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 141 Being much persecuted by the gamekeepers, it is now extinct in many districts, but, like other species of so called "vermin," it finds a safe retreat in the deer-forests, in some of which it is still very abundant. OTTER. LUTRA VULGARIS (Erxleben). Found on the inland lochs and rivers, but now much reduced in numbers by the gamekeepers. In the years 1831-4 rewards were paid for no less than 263 head, killed on the Sutherland estates. On streams Otters have favourite stations, where they always halt; these are generally on some little islet or promon- tory, and are easily recognised by the short bright green grass which soon covers them, caused by the dung of the animal. On the sea-coast Otters are still very plentiful, especially on the north side of Stoir, and at Oederney Island. At the latter place no less than twelve were killed by one man in the winter of 1868-9, one of which had a large white mark on its throat. Mr Selby observes that the Otters found on the coast are said to be smaller in size and Hghter in colour than those which frequent fresh water, but this must surely be an error, as the very reverse has been observed both in Shetland and Ireland (Bel], British Quadrupeds, 2d ed., pp. 158-9). POLECAT OR FOUMART. MUSTELLA PUTORIUS, Linnaeus. Mr Selby notices the Polecat as being " common upon the banks of the rivers, margins of lakes, etc.;" it is still not un- frequent throughout the county, in spite of constant persecution, and is especially plentiful on the west coast at Stoir. STOAT OR ERMINE. MU STELA ERMINE A, Linnaeus. Very plentiful, and ascends the hills to a considerable elevation. COMMON WEASEL. MUSTELA VULGARIS, Linnaeus. As is usually the case throughout Scotland, this species is not 142 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SO abundant in Sutherlandshire as the last. It frequents peat- stacks, out-houses, etc., and does not go so far up the hills as the Stoat. YELLOW-BREASTED MARTIN. MARTES ABIETUM, FUminrj. This very beautiful animal is still far from uncommon in the birch woods which adorn the shores of some of the Sutherland- shire lochs, and the late Mr St. John mentions his having frequently shot it with a rifle on tall pine trees — probably at Rosehall. We examined the skins of twelve, all killed by one keeper in the Assynt district in the winter of 1868-9. The keepers receive a reward, of 2s 6d per head, and the skins are worth from seven to ten shillings. Ohs. Mr Selby appears to have been doubtful as to the identity of the Sutherlandshire Marten, entering it in his list as "ilf. fagorum aut aUetum." We have not only never met with the white-breasted species (M. foina) in Sutherlandshire, but have never ourselves seen a single authentic British-killed specimen. WILD CAT. FELIS CATUS, Linnaeus. The formidable-looking Wild Cat is not unfrequent in Suther- landshire in suitable places. In its choice of a home it much resembles the Marten, principally frequenting the birch woods, but sometimes it takes up its abode in cairns of stones, or amongst loose rocks on the open hill side. Now and then it is driven by hunger to approach human dwellings, where it works sad havoc among the poultry, etc.; a few winters ago two were caught in the garden of a farm-house in Assynt, but such occurrences are very uncommon. Usually the Wild Cat will not turn on a man or dog, unless when disturbed with its young, or when hard pressed at a distance from any safe retreat. In such a case, how- ever, it is by no means a contemptible enemy. Mr St. John, in his " Wild Sports," relates that when fishing in Sutherlandshire, accompanied by three terriers, he started a Wild Cat, wliich the dogs brought to bay amongst some rocks; having cut a stout cudgel, he was proceeding to dislodge her, when she sprang full NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 143 at his face over the dogs' heads, and had he not succeeded in striking her down in mid air, she would probably have inflicted severe wounds. FOX. VULPES VULGARIS, Fleming. Very plentiful, and, as in other parts of the Highlands, attains a large size. Mr Selby observes that in Sutherlandshire Foxes, the " tag " or tip of the brush is black, and not white as usual ; this, however, is a very variable character, and a cub from this county in our collection has the " tag " pure white. The Fox frequents the open hills, his " den " (as it is locally called) being often at a great elevation. Many are killed by the gamekeepers, who receive £\ for an old dog, £2 for a vixen, and 10s each for cubs. Between March 1831 and March 1834 rewards were paid for 239 Foxes killed on the Sutherland estates. The keepers usually place their traps in a soft marshy spot ; this is done, they say, to prevent the Fox biting off the imprisoned limb, for in his struggles he at once lairs himself in the marsh and sticks firm and fast. Besides the keepers, there are professional " Fox-hunters," who are joined by the shepherds and ghillies, and conduct the chase in the same manner as Sir Walter Scott has so well de- scribed in "Guy Mannering." More than one Sutherlandshire keeper has assured us that if a " den " be disturbed, the vixen will take away her cubs, carrying them off one by one, and deposit- ing each in a separate place of safety. One very trustworthy observer states that early one morning he observed a Fox coming towards him carrying a young one in her mouth ; when she noticed him she dropt the cub and uttered a most wild and startling cry. He fired, but the distance was too great, and the vixen, picking up her burden and bounding down the hill side, was soon out of sight. COMMON SEAL. PEOCA VITULINA, Linnaeus. Seals are abundant on many parts of the coast, particularly in the great caves of the north, and at Ealan-nan-Koan ("The island of Seals "), near Tongue. Another great resort of the species is Souliskerry, north of Cape Wrath, which is annually visited by 144 PROCEEDINGS OF THE jDarties of fishermen from Durness and the Lews, who kill great numbers ; there is a small pool or loch among the rocks which the Seals frequent, and by cutting off their retreat to the sea the fishermen are able to despatch them with heavy clubs. Obs. A very large Seal, which has been reported to us as sometimes occurring on the west coast of Sutherlandshire, is in all probability the Grey Seal {Halicherus gryplms), which is very abundant in some j^arts of the Hebrides. Other species probably visit the Scotch coasts, but the subject has not hitherto received the attention it deserves. CETACEANS. We regret that we have not materials for a list of this order. The Porpoise (Phocoena communis) and the Pilot Whale (Glohi- cephalus melas) certainly visit the coast, but many other species must have been overlooked. From the adjoining counties of Ross and Caithness several rare Cetaceans have been recorded, as the Sperm Whale {Physeter macrocejyJiahis), the White Whale {Delphinapterus leucas), etc., etc. (Cf., Bell, British Quadrupeds, 2d ed., pp. 381-474). SQUIRREL. SCIURUS VULGARIS, Limmeus. As already noted, " Skuyrells " are included in Sir R. Gordon's list of Sutherlandshire animals in the seventeenth century. Subsequently they appear to have become extinct, owing doubtless to the destruction of the remains of the ancient pine woods. Of late years, however, Squirrels have been spreading fast throughout the North Highlands, and we are informed by Thomas Mackenzie, Esq., Dornoch Castle, that they re-established themselves in the south-east of the country about the year 18G9, and are rapidly becoming numerous. They are still quite unknown in the north and west. WOOD MOUSE. MUS SYLVATICUS, Linnaeus. We have not noticed this species ourselves, but it is mentioned by Mr Selby as being common. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 145 HOUSE MOUSE. MUS MUSCULUS, Linnaeus. " Ye lyttel vulgar Mouse " is of course common about houses and farm-yards. BKOWN RAT. MUS DECUMAN US, Pallas. Rats are rather rare in inland districts, while nearer the coast they are very plentiful. Of late years they have become exceed- ingly abundant on Handa and the Badcall islands, off the west coast, whero they feed much on the eggs of the sea-birds ; at Handa they have almost banished the Puffins from the island. Ohs. V/e have not been able to hear anything of the Black Rat (M. rattus), in Sutherlandshire, nor does Mr Selby mention it. Probably it was formerly found near the coast, but is now either extinct or almost so. WATER-VOLE. ARVICOLA AMPHIBIUS {Linnaeus). Of the " Water Rat " Mr Selby observes that it is " common upon many of the slower-running streams and on the islands of the various lochs. The black variety (at first supposed to be a distinct species), is met with about the head of Loch Naver, and a large colony of the same inhabits a low sandy island on Loch Laighal." This black race is also abundant in Assynt, and, we believe, in various other parts of the county. COMMON FIELD-VOLE. ARVICOLA AGRESTIS {Linnaeus). Common ; we have observed it in the caverns of the limestone rocks of Assynt. Ohs. The Red Field- Vole {A. glareolus), has not hitherto been recorded from Sutherlandshire, but from what we have observed of its distribution in other parts of Scotland, we think that it will probably be found in some districts. It seems to be a ™ spread but rather local species. VOL. II. K Li.j I L I 8 R A R U6 PROCEEDINGS OF THE MOUNTAIN HARE. LEPUS VARIABILIS, Pallas. Both the "Blue Hare" and the next species appear to be decreasing in numbers throughout west Sutherlandshire, a fact wliich we cannot explain in any way. In Assynt the Mountain Hare is now too scarce to be valued or preserved as game, but is often killed by the gamekeepers to bait their traps with. Mr Selby observes that it descends to the low grounds on the borders of Loch Shin, and elsewhere. COMMON HARE. LEPUS EUROPAEUS, Pallas. Mr Selby says that in 1834 this species was "common in the lower lands and the limestone district about Inchnadamph." It is now extremely rare, not only at Inchnadamph, but throughout west Sutherlandshire. We have only seen two examples in Assynt, and these on the same day. It is locally known as the "Red Hare." RABBIT. LEPUS OUNICULUS, Linnaeus. Although very common in the east of the county, Rabbits are scarce in the west and north, except on some of the islands and in other suitable places. On Ealan-nan-Gaeil (" The Island of Strangers,") at the entrance of Tongue Bay, they abound, whence its English name of "Rabbit Island." They have recently been introduced into Handa, and are now very numerous there. RED-DEER. CERVUS ELAPJIUS, Linnaeus. As is well-known, Sutherlandshire is a stronghold of this princely species, for whose special behoof wide tracts of country have been set apart from the earliest times. Of these the principal are the Dirrie-chatt, extending from the centre of the county to the borders of Caithness, and the Dirrie-more or Reay Forest in the west. Of the latter Sir Robert Gordon says " In the Dirimore ther is a hill called Arkill; all the deir that ar bred therein or hant within the NATURAL HISTOKY SOCIETY OF GLASGO\V. 147 bounds of that hill, have forked tails, thrie inches long, whereby they are easailie known and decerned from all other deir." We have never ourselves heard of these forked- tailed Deer, nor are they mentioned in Mr Scrope's work. Before the introduction of fire- arms Deer were killed in various ways; sometimes they were entrapped in enclosures called Garru-na-bhiu or " deer-dykes," at others whole herds were driven over the cliffs into the sea. Thirty or forty years ago the number of Red-deer in the Sutherlandshire forests was estimated at about fifteen hundred head, and they are probably much more numerous now. They seldom, however, carry very fine heads, a fact which is attributed, in some of the forests at least, to over-stocking and to inter-breeding. To remedy this last defect, it has been proposed to introduce fresh blood from a distance, an experiment which has been tried with the best effect in the Long Island. Like the rest of the family, the Stag is a strong swimmer, and often visits the islands on the larger lochs, especially when about to cast its antlers, a season at which instinct prompts it to seek solitude and retirement. ROE-DEER. • CAPREOLUS CAP RE A, Gray. Of late years Roe-deer have been much increased in numbers by preservation and the extension of plantations ; they now abound in suitable localities, as at Dunrobin, Rosehall, Lochinver, Tongue, etc. Sometimes they will cross great tracts of open moorland country on their way from one favoured resort to another. An experienced gamekeeper told us, that once on the bare slopes of Canispe he saw three Roe deer, two Red-deer, and a pair of Golden Eagles all in sight at the same time. PART IL— REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS. COMMON LIZARD. ZOOTACA VIVIPARA (Jacquin). Not uncommon, especially on the moors between Aultnacealgach and Loch Urigil. ^ SLOW-WORM. ANGUIS FRAGILIS, Linnaeus. In the west, the Slow- worm is not uncommon, especially about 148 PROCEEDINGS OF THE Scovvrie, where we have more than once seen it on the public road; we have also observed it near Loch Cairnbawn. This appears to be an extremely local species in Scotland. ADDER OR VIPER. P ELI AS BERUS {Linnaeus). The Adder is abundant in some parts of Sutherlandshire, and very rare in others; in Assynt, for example, it is almost unknown. The natives assert that this species has a particular dislike to limestone districts, but this is certainly not observed in other parts of Scotland. Adders are said to be especially plentiful on Coul-more and Coul-beg, and in west Cromarty generally. FROG. RAN A TEMPORARIA, Linnaeus. Very common ; we have found both this and the next species in clear stony streams at a very considerable elevation. TOAD. BUFO VULGARIS, Laurent. As already observed, the Toad goes far up the clear mountain burns, where it usually appears to be small in size and very brightly coloured. ROUGH NEWT. TRITON CRISTA TUS, Laurent. Not uncommon ; we have noticed it near Loch Assynt, and the late Mr John Wolley says, that a large "Lizard" which was reported to him as inhabiting Mondale, in Sutherlandshire, seemed on further investigation to belong to this species. ("Zoologist," 1850, p. 2709). SMOOTH NEWT. TRITON TAENIA TUS {Schneider). Not uncommon. PALMATED NEWT. TRITON PALMIPES {LatreUle). This species, which occurs in various parts of Scotland, was NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 149 found in this county by the late Mr WoUey, who writes in the ''Zoologist" (1848, p. 2265) : — "I have to report the existence of our recently ascertained Newt in the extreme north of the island. On the 1st of Au2;ust I found several females and one male in a little fresh-water peaty pool, a few hundred yards from the high- water mark, on the side of the hills which rise from Loch Eriboll, and on the west side of the loch. It is an inlet of the sea, about sixteen miles to the east of Cape Wrath, on the north coast of Sutherlandshire." We are not aware of the species having been found in any other part of the North Highlands. The Librarian announced the following donations to the Librarj'^: — The Practical Naturalist's Guide, by James Boyd Davies, 1858; Hand-Book of Field Botany, by William F. Steele, A.B, M.B., 1851; from Mr Walter Gait. SPECIAL MEETING. NATURAL HISTORY CLASS ROOM, GLASGOW UNIVERSITY. February 21st, 1871. Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S., President, in the chair. SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. Dr Young exhibited a number of recent additions to the Hunterian Museum, including I. A collection of shells from Hong Kong; II. Specimens of the Wart Hog, Phacochaerus aethiopicus; III. The Common Wolf, and other skins, recently mounted by Mr Francis M'Culloch, Taxidermist, Sauchiehall Street; and IV. A collection of Kiltorchan fossils. Dr Young remarked that the manipulation of the skins showed more than ordinary skill, as every bone had been extracted from the specimens for the purpose of makinsr skeletons. Mr Edward R. Alston, F.Z.S., exhibited the skull of the Pilot Whale {GIoUcej)hah(s melas), from the Frith of Forth, and made some observations on the occurrence of the species on the coasts of Scotland. Mr Robert Gray exhibited specimens of the common Wild 150 PROCEEDINGS OF THE Swan (Ct/gmis ferus), and Bewick's Swan (C. bewicJcii), got last month, the former in Renfrewshire, and the latter in Argyllshire, and lent by ]\lr Francis M'CuUoch. Mr Gray said that a number of Bewick's Swans had occurred this winter in various parts of Scotland, and that he now inclined to the belief that the species was the commonest of all the wild Swans to be found in this country. Mr John Young, F.G-.S., exhibited photographs of ripple- marked sandstone, and unusually large stems of Lepidodendron and Sigillaria, which had been taken from the adjoining quarries during the progress of the building of the new University. February 28th, 1871. Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S., President, in the chair. Messrs Alexander Watson, C. A., and Archibald Robertson, were elected resident members. SPECIMEN EXHIBITED. Dr Dewar exhibited an egg of the Brush Turkey (Talegalla lathami), which was laid in the Zoological Society's Gardens, Jjondon, and made some remarks on the habits of the bird, and the extraordinary manner in which its eggs are hatched. The Brush Turkey is a large rasorial bird of gregarious habits, and is found in Australia. It does not incubate its eggs, but deposits them in mounds of decaying vegetable matter, the further decomposition of which raises sufficient heat to liatcli the young ones. These mounds, which are formed by the united efforts of two or three pairs of birds, are sometimes of great size, three or four cartloads being heaped up in the form of a pyramid. The eggs are buried to a depth of an arm's lengtli, and are invariably placed with the large end upwards. The young birds are said to be able to use their wings on the day they are hatched. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 151 PAPERS READ. I. — On an Ancient Eiver Course at Auchinlea, Parish of Shotts. With a Plate. By Mr James S. Dixon. My attention was first directed to the ancient river course which forms the subject of these remarks about the end of the year 1865. In the course of working the main coal seam of the Lanark- shire coal series by the Midhill Pit, the workings were interrupted by what the miners thought a nither novel dislocation, as it was composed of water-worn stones and sand, which indicated a slip of an unusual type. As the workings were then within a short distance of the boundary of the property, nothing was done to prove its actual nature or extent for upwards of a year, when a short exploring drift was driven into it at a point eastward of where it was first touched. This clearly showed it to be the bed of an ancient river, which had washed away the coal and adjoining strata, leaving in their place a deposit of sand, gravel, and stones. I exhibit a plan of the district, on which the river course, as far as explored, is laid down. At the time I have spoken of, the coal had not been begun to be worked to the south, between the supposed line of the river course and the two large upthrow slips which bound the field to the south and west. Two pits have since then been sunk, the workings of which have laid bare the south side of the channel, and two drifts have been driven through it at diff'erent points, which throw considerable light on the subject. Fig. 1 is a cross section, shewing the manner in which the channel intersected the strata at point D, where it was cut through by drift No. 1, which was similar to that seen in the short drift first mentioned. In these cases the floor of the drifts were still in the channel, so tliat nothing could be said as to its probable depth. This was clearly defined by drift No. 2, which passes immediately under the bed of the ancient river, as shewn in section by Fig. No. 2, as well as by a bore recently put down, at point A on plan. The depth of the bottom of the bed from the surface, at point B, where drift No. 2 intersects it, is about 130 feet, and at point A 114 feet. This latter depth, I think, cannot be in the centre of the channel. The reason of the different manner in which the channel intersects the coal at 152 PROCEEDINGS OF THE points D and B is that the strata dip from D towards B, and the river course is apparently nearly level; the coal, therefore, gradually dips under it, till, at a short distance below B, the channel will be altogether lost sight of in the main coal seam. This is proved to be the case by the bore at A, where there are 25^ feet of undisturbed strata on the top of the coal ; of course the reverse of this takes place towards the rise, as in that direc- tion the channel cuts deeper and deeper into the strata. That it continues at about the same depth and manner in that direction is shewn by the water-worn pieces of trap which are abundantly distributed, some having been washed from the district to the rise, where the river crossed the position of the splint coal, about 12 fathoms below the main seam, and which is occupied by an intrusive mass of trap. I exhibit sj)ecimens of these, taken from the channel in the drifts, and from the outcrop of the bed of trap referred to, and some of them seem to be identical, others apj)ear to be different, and of an amygdaloidal structure ; I also show other specimens got in the drifts, to indicate the composition of the bed, all water-worn, and consisting of various kinds of rock, such as sandstone, quartz, ironstone, etc. From the worn appearance of the harder stones, some of which are of considerable size, and from the comparative scarcity of large boulders of sandstone, shales, and the softer rocks, and from the great quantities of fine sand which is often deposited in circles, as if by eddies, the conclusion, I think, can be drawn, that the stream at the bottom level of the channel, where cut by the drifts, ran with considerable velocity, and that its existence as a river must have been of long duration, from the depth, about 83 feet, which it had penetrated into the solid rock, which, in a bore, at C on plan, is within 48 feet of the surface, although this bore seems still to be within the confines of the river bed. During the formation of a deep cutting on the Cleland and Midcalder Eailway, and in the adjoining coal workings, a similar channel was met with, which there can be no doubt is a con- tinuation of, or branch from the one described. The direction in which the trap has been carried by the current shows that the river flowed from east to west. This corresponds to the contour of the present surface, which falls rapidly in that direc- tion. At the points where it has been cat and bared on both sides, the channel varies from IGO feet to 300 feet wide, so that NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 153 the volume of the river, if filled from bank to bank, must have been considerable; the average width, about 200 feet, being as wide as the Clyde at Glasgow Green. On the surface there is no appearance whatever to indicate that such a channel exists, as it is all uniformly covered by the boulder clay, which is cut into to the depth of about 20 feet by the railway to Landridge, almost immediately over where the channel is intersected by the drifts alluded to. In the section of the bore at A on plan, this clay occupies the first 60 feet, and in that at C the first 37 feet. From all these circumstances conclusions may be drawn as to the age and history of this river. The composition of the lowest layer as cut through in the drift, and the depth to which the water had worn awaj'' the rocks, point to a long continuation of a rapid current, which ultimately flowed through a gorge with sloping sides, about 80 or 100 feet below the level of the surrounding country. Taking the bore at A for our data, the correctness of which I before explained is fully borne out by what is seen in the coal workings which strip the channel to the rise; this rapid current is indicated by 3 feet of sand and gravel 110 feet from the surface. At this period the land appears to have begun to sink, and a turbid stream with slower current has been the result; from this the finely stratified, somewhat siliceous, mud has been deposited to a thickness of 17 feet, which shows a still gradual sinking. This is succeeded by 33 feet of sand and gravel, during the deposition of which the water has been com- paratively clear, although not necessarily of quicker current, and from its great thickness the subsidence still seems to have continued. When this had been finished, the point at which tlie changes which ushered in the boulder clay had arrived. During its deposition the whole surrounding country assumed a somewhat uniform undulating surface, and the gorge, in which the river had flowed, was filled up, having received 23 feet greater depth of clay at A than at C. The bottom of the channel, where cut through, is about 300 feet above the present bed of the Clyde, at the point where it would intersect it if continued in the same course as it seems to be keeping; and the distance is about 3 J miles. To gain that level it must have flowed at an inclination of about 1 in 50, which would give a current of great rapidity, or it may have gone over one or more falls. A stream of such magnitude flowing so near 154 PROCEEDINGS OF THE the present position of the Clyde, and at such a height above it, shews that the configuration of the valley was then very different from that which it at present assumes. II. — Sketch of the Coalfields in the Neighbourhood of Irvine. By Mr Adam Sutherland, Corresponding Member. Mr Sutherland described the peculiarities of the Bogside parrot coal, presently used for the manufacture of paraffin, its oily character diminishing towards the east. He also dwelt on the burning of the coal seams by floating whin, and applied Tyndall's spectrum experiments to show that the blind coal of Irvine, " which produces an intense white, dissipates in obscure heat-giving rays an energy at least double that of ordinary household coal." The Librarian announced the following donation to the Library : — Proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, 1870; from the Society. March 28th, 1871. Professor Alexander Dickson, M.D., in the chair. SPECIMENS exhibited. Mr Thomas Chapman exhibited a small collection of insects recently brought from Port Natal by Mr William Dale. This collection embraced a few interesting forms, including a male and female of Charaxes ethalion — a somewhat rare species not often met with in even well-furnished cabinets; also the well-known Death's-head Moth {Acherontia atropos) and Painted lady Butterfly {Pyrameis cardni), the latter possessing additional interest from the fact of its having now been detected in almost every quarter of the globe. It has been found throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand; also in America, from Hudson's Bay to Venezuela. Specimens have been lilvcwise brought from the following islands, which are very far apart : — Teneriffe, St Helena, Madagascar, and the Sandwich Islands. Mr John Young, F.G-.S., exhibited a specimen of Carboniferous shale from the roof of one of the upper coal seams in Springliill Pit, near Baillieston, showing a portion of the stem of a Calamite with attached slender branches of a plant with numerous whorled NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 155 leaves, formerly regarded by botanists as belonging to Asterophyl- liies or Annidaria. Mr Young stated that the remains of Calamites were abundant in the roof shales of many localities in the Lanark- shire coalfield, but that it rarely happened that any of the foliage of the plant was found attached to the stems; the specimen exhibited being the only example he had ever met with, although examples had been found elsewhere in British Carboniferous strata. Mr Young next referred to the class of plants to which the extinct family of the Calamites were most nearly related, viz., the recent Eqidsetaceae, or Horse-tails, found in our marshes, of which the fossil Calamites were the gigantic progenitors. Eecent discoveries of the stems of Calamites in the coal measures, with portions of the foliage attached, have proved that the plants with whorled leaves, formerly referred to the genera Asferojyhyllites, Annularia, and SjjJienophyUum, were the foliage of various species of Calamites, and that the genera Volkmn.nnia and Pinmdaria of which he exhibited specimens, were their fruits and roots — these facts being established on the evidence of the more perfect specimens found, and the better knowledge now obtained of the relation and affinities of the plants of our coal measures. Professor Dickson exhibited specimens illustrating some of the principal spirals found in Fir Cones. He stated that in these, as in the higher plants generally, the spiral arrangements fall under one or other of the terms of the series of fractions ^, ^, -|, |-, etc. Exceptional cases, however, are met with not very unfrequently, where, either what are termed conjugate spirals {i.e., two or more parallel spirals resulting from opposite or whorled leaves or scales) occur, or where there is a single spiral not belonging to the normal series. For example, in the common Spruce Fir about 95 per cent, of the cones exhibit an -f-^^- arrangement — a spiral belonging to the ordinary system : the remaining 5 per cent, being exceptional, and consisting sometimes of a bijugate spiral, where the angular divergence in each of the two parallel spirals is oi ^ o , (=ot) of the circumference; sometimes of a ~ spiral, a term of the series ^, -J, |, 3^, -j^, etc; and more rarely of a trijugate spiral, where the divergences of each of the three parallel spirals = T3"V^' - A- The per centage of abnormalities seems to vary to some extent with the individual tree, — and is higher in some species than in others — thus, in Pimis pinaster at any 156 PROCEEDINGS OF THE rate, 8 per cent, are exceptional, while out of 200 cones of Abies Douglasii, Dr Dickson only obtained one abnormality, namely, a cone with a bijugate arrangement, == ^^ = ~. Spirals belonging to other and rarer series occasionally occur in Fir Cones, but those above mentioned are the commonest. The Librarian announced the following donation to the Library : — Transactions and Journal of the Proceedings of the Dumfries- shire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society, 1867-68; from the Society. April 25th, 1871. Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S., President, in the chair. Mr James Graham, Girvan, was elected a resident member, and Mr George Thomson, West Africa, a corresponding member. Before proceeding with the other business of the meeting, the Chairman adverted to the resignation of the secretaryship by Mr Eobert Gray, who had filled that office for a long period of years, and remarked that in electing a successor the Society could not expect to secure the services of a gentleman better qualified to discharge the duties of the office than Mr Gray. He could only hope that the new secretary would maintain the Society's wide- spread connection which had of late years been opened up. After some remarks by Mr Hutcheson, the meeting resolved to appoint Mr Robert Mason as secretary, and, on the motion of Professor Young, it was unanimously agreed to record in the Society's minutes a cordial vote of thanks to Mr Gray, and an expression of general regret that he had found it necessary to discontinue his valuable services. SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. The Chairman then exhibited and made some remarks on the uterus of a species of Ilyrax, which had been presented to the Hunterian Museum by Mr William Dale; also a species of Cuttle- fish, and the lower jaw of a small Sliark — both from South Australia — which had been forwarded for exhibition by Mr John Kirsop, Queen's Crescent. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 157 Mr Chapman exhibited and made some remarks upon a fine specimen of a very rare butterfly, Pajnlio zalmoxis — from Central Africa — a species which was figured for the first time by Mr Hewitson in 1864; also a series of specimens oi Melanip'pe hastata, bred last month from caterpillars found in August near Gareloch- head. Mr Chapman remarked that though entomological authors had recorded that the caterpillar of this moth is gregarious and feeds on the common birch, he had taken it while feeding on Myrica Gale, and always found it singly, not in groups. PAPERS READ. I. — Remarhs on the Great Grey Shrike (Lanius excuhitor), and Northern Shrike {L. borealis), with illustrative specimens. By Mr Eobert Gray. The author of this paper remarked that out of nearly thirty Grey Shrikes killed in Scotland that had come under his observa- tion, only one could be regarded, when subjected to the test of recent descriptions published by Messrs Sharpe and Dresser, in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, as a perfect adult bird. It possessed a double bar on the wing, and was totally free from vermicular markings on the under surface — two of the alleged characteristic distinctions of the true Lanius excuhitor. The others, however, had but one wing spot, and were more or less marked with transverse vermiculations, one in particular, killed in Ayrshire, bearing so strong a general resemblance to the adult female of the true L. borealis of North America, as to be almost identical. Looking, therefore, to the fact that nearly all the Shrikes which visit Scotland are strongly marked on the under surface, it would appear that either the descriptions of Messrs Sharpe and Dresser are defective, or these Scottish migrants must be referred to a race or variety between the two species in question, existing somewhere to the east and north-east of Britain. Mr Gray further remarked that in the distribution of markings of the tail feathers scarcely two of his specimens were alike, and that even in apparently old birds no outward trace of a second bar on the wing could be found, showing that this feature is not the result of age. 158 . PROCEEDINGS OF THE 11. — Remarks on the simpler Sjnrals in the Phyllofaxy of Vegetables. By Mr James Eamsay. This paj)er was illustrated by a highly ingenious though simple model, constructed by Mr Eamsay, and showing the arrangement of the spirals in a manner at once intelligible and interesting. SPECIAL MEETING. NATURAL HISTORY CLASS ROOM, GLASGOW UNIVERSITY. May 15th, 1871. Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S,, President, in the chair. Several recent additions to the Museum were placed in the room, including a suite of North American shells, the gift of the Natural History Society of Portland, U.S. SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. Mr David Robertson, F.G.S., shewed a large series of slides containing Foraminifera and Ostracoda obtained from dredgings in the Chinese Seas, presented by Mr Henry Dunbar. The Chairman exhibited a series of about fifty rock specimens lately presented to the Museum by Mr James Thomson, F.G.S., illustrating the composition of the conglomerate beds which he had found in the schists of Islay. Dr Young also showed and commented on a suite of specimens which had been kindly lent him for the occasion by Mr Thomas Gray. The collection was intended to illustrate the parallel forms which are found in genera of shells of various degrees of affinity, and in particular the very close similarity of form presented by pulmonate and branchiate families of Gasteropods. Thus among the Snails, Trochus, Solarium, etc., are closely simulated ; and it was farther noticed that this simulation was especially observed in species inhabiting the Eastern Archipelago. The genus Mela.nia was also shown to contain forms characteristic of seven distinct genera, chiefly of marine Gasteropods, and this furnished an analogous case to that of the Marsupials of Australia, which embraced representatives in four of the great groups of Mammals found in other parts of the world. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 159 Mr John Young, F.G.S., exliibited some microscopic prepara- tions of the shell of Estheria pimdateUa (Jones), a new species of a large Phyllopod Crustacean, found by him in the upper shales of Arden quarry, Thornliebank, and which has since been discovered by Mr James Thomson, F.G.S., at the Linn Spout, near Dairy, where they crowd the surfaces of certain shell beds on the same geological horizon as those in the Thornliebank district. Prepara- tions of the shell of this Crustacean, as seen under the microscope, show a beautiful punctate or minute honeycomb style of orna- mentation, by which this species is distinguished from other forms of Carboniferous Estheria, as well as from the shells of certain bivalve molluscs which it resembles, and with which it is liable to be confounded. May 30th, 1871. Mr Thomas Chapman in the chair. The following gentlemen were elected members: — Mr John Kirsop and Mr James Park as resident members ; Mr Alexander Gray, Banker, Batavia, as a corresponding member. SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. . Mr James Coutts exhibited, with remarks, two moths, Bunoea alcinoe and Gynanasa isis, both from Natal. Mr Charles Eadie exhibited two fine specimens of a fossil fish, the Little Capelin, Mallotus villosus (I), from Canada. These specimens, which Mr Eadie had presented to the Hunterian Museum, were described by Mr John Young, F.G.S., who stated that the fishes are found enclosed in nodules of clay, and are interesting as belonging to a species that is supposed to be still living in northern seas. They have also been found embedded in clay deposits in Greenland, the nodules in which they are enclosed being formed by the decay of the soft parts of the fish hardening the surrounding clay. Mr Young exhibited, with remarks, a very finely-preserved fin spine of a fossil Carboniferous fish, Leptacanthus Jenkinsoni (M'Coy), which was obtained from the clay band ironstone in the Carbonifer- ous limestone series at High Blantyre. Mr Young stated that, so 160 l^ROCEEDINGS OF THE far as he was aware, this was the first instance in which the genus Leptacanthus had been recorded from Scottish Carboniferous strata, and afterwards pointed out the characters by which it is distin- guished from the nearly allied genera Ctenacanthus and Homocanthus. In this specimen a portion of the base of the spine was wanting, but when perfect it probably measures about eight inches in length. Mr Young expressed himself indebted for the specimen to the Eev. Dr Gloag, one of the Society's corresponding members, who had obtained it from a workman in one of the pits at High Blantyre. PAPERS READ. I. — The Birds Frequenting Fossil Marsh. By Mr James S. Dixon. Fossil marsh, situated about 2J miles north of this city, has always been a favourite resort of many species of birds, but from the encroachments that are yearly made upon its area, and still more from the increasing population in its vicinity, through the establishment of numerous public works, it is being gradually deserted by the more shy species, and I am afraid the more pertinaceous ones will also soon be driven off. In these circum- stances, it is well to put on record the species now frequenting this locality, and also to mention those rarer birds which have within the last few years been known to pay it a passing visit, the attractions of the place proving strong for every wading or marsh-loving bird. I have been in the habit of making oological expeditions to Fossil marsh during each spring and summer for the last seven or eight years, and during the rest of the year I have paid occasional visits, in the hopes of seeing some of the rarer stragglers. Of the birds of prey the Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) may be seen daily hovering over the drier parts of the marsh, and I have occasionally noticed the Merlin {F. aesalon). The Sparrow-hawk (Accipiter nisus) is also a constant visitor. These birds seem to be attracted by the large number of Jack and Common Snipes, and smaller birds, on which they prey. Of the Swallows great numbers of the two common species, Hirundo rustica and //. urbica, roost during the autumn on the branches of the willows and other shrubs which grow in parts of the marsh. They, together with numerous other land birds to NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 161 be hereafter mentioned, probably from a sense of security through being surrounded by water, resort there in flocks of hundreds to pass the night. The Sand Martin {H. riparia) breeds in the banks of the canal, a short distance from the marsh, and hawks for flies over it. The Cuckoo {Cuculus canorus) is a constant summer resident, and, I have no doubt, makes use of the numerous Titlarks, which breed in the drier parts, to rear its young. During the winter of 1864 I several times saw the Kingfisher (Alcedo ispida) fishing for Stickle-backs, and darting along the surface of the ditches which intersect and flow from both Possil marsh and the neighbouring Loch Burnie. The Magpie {Pica caudata) frequents the marsh, and breeds in the immediate vicinity. The Starling [Sturnus vulgaris) is a nightly lodger in the bushes throughout most of the year, but may be seen in hundreds, at dusk, during the autumn, darting from every direction to this common centre of attraction. These birds, having remained quiet for some time, as if by a preconcerted signal, but without apparent cause, will rise in a cloud, and, after a few wheels in the air, will again alight. After spending a short time in a low sort of con- gratulory whistling and chattering, they will then settle for the night. The Blackbird (Tiirdus meruld), the Song Thrush {T. musiciis), and the Missel Thrush {T. viscivorus), breed in the hedges and plantations on the banks of the marsh; the Fieldfare {T. pilaris) and the Redwing (T. iliaciis) are constant winter habitants. The Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) breeds on the margin of the marsh, and the Wheatear (S. oenanthe) is a regular visitor. The Whitethroat (Ciirruca cinerea) breeds plentifully amongst the rank grass and bushes; the Wood Wren {Sylvia sylvicola), the Willow Wren {S. trocliilus), and the Chifl" Chaff {S. hypolais), are all found breeding in the neighbourhood, or on the banks of the marsh. The Sedge Warbler {Salicaria phragmitis) breeds very abun- dantly, and its merry song is constantly to be heard both during the day and after dark. It frequently repeats the cry of the Coot, Water-hen, Lapwing, or that of any other bird with which it is associated. The Pied Wagtail {Motacilla yarrellii), the Grey Wagtail {M. boarida), and the Yellow Wagtail {M. rayi), resort to the bushes for night quarters, and breed in the immediate vicinity. The Meadow Pipit {Anthus ptratensis) hrQQdi^ -^\Qnt\i\x\\j in the drier parts, and the Tree Pipit {A. arhoreus) in the surround- ing fields. The Skylark {Alaud/i arvensis) breeds in the drier VOL. II. L 162 PROCEEDINGS OF THE parts. The Longtailed Tit (Parus caudatus), together with its congeners, the Blue Tit (P. coeruleus), and the Cole Tit (P. ater), are common, especially during winter. The Yellow Hammer (Emberiza citrinella) breeds in the drier parts of the marsh. The Black-headed Bunting [E. schoeniclus) is very abundant, the rank rushes and other vegetation proving particularly attractive to it. The Goldfinch (Carduelis elegans) is occasionally caught on the banks of the marsh during winter. The Partridge (Perdix cinerea) is still to be constantly seen and heard about its margin. Besides the foregoing there are many other land birds which are common in the neighbourhood, but which cannot be said to frequent the marsh, although they may be seen there by accident, and, therefore, I need not more particularly allude to them. Many sea birds also occasionally alight. The Golden Plover (Charadrius pluvialis) is a winter visitor. The Dotterel (C. monnellus) was observed here some few winters since. The Lapwing {Vanellus cristatus) breeds regularly on the drier parts. The Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus melanopterus) was observed here in 1867, and was vainly run after by all the collec- tors in the neighbourhood. Mr Gray informs me that Sir William Jardine, in Dumfriesshire, and Mr Angus, in Aberdeenshire, about the same time saw specimens of this rare bird ; probably they were all members of a flock which had become scattered. The Greenshank (Totanus glottis), in winter plumage, has been shot here within a few years. The Redshank (T. calidris) is a regular summer frequenter; but I have never been so fortunate as to find its nest, although, from the clamour the birds make on any one approaching the drier parts of the marsh, there can be little doubt that they breed. The Common Sandpiper [T. hypoleuciis), although not breeding, is a constant visitor. The Common Snipe (Scolopax gallinago) is a constant resident and breeding species. The Jack Snipe (S. gallinula) is plentiful during autumn and winter. The Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus) bred here to my knowledge in the summer of 1863, and I believe is to be found regularly every season. The Water Hen {Gallinula chloropus) is very abundant. I have seen as many as twenty nests in a day. The Coot (Ftdica atra) is also plentiful. Of the Bittern (Botaurus stellaris), a fine specimen was shot in the marsh five or six years ago; it is now, I believe, in Dr De war's collection. The Heron (Ardea cinerea) is an almost daily visitor during most of the year. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 163 The Wild Duck {Anas hoschas) is plentiful during the autumn and winter months; and, I understand, bred abundantly here thirty years ago. The Teal (A. crecca) is also to be found in small flocks. The Widgeon (A. penelope) is an occasional visitor. A specimen of the Shoveller (A. clypeata) was shot here a few winters since, and was stuff'ed by Mr F. M'Culloch, taxidermist, Glasgow. Mr Gray informs me that a Tufted Duck (FuUgula cristata) was obtained at Possil within a few years. The Little Grebe or Dabchick (Pocliceps minor) is a regular breeding species; its shrill whistle-like cry being quite associated with my visits to the marsh. The nest is composed of the Anacharis canadensis, which, intro- duced about twenty years ago from America, is now a great pest in canals and ponds. The Swan is said to feed freely upon it; so that where these birds are, it may be kept within bounds. A large portion of the bottom of Possil marsh, where solid or firm, is over- grown with this plant. The Little Grebe piles it up among the Equisetae, until a sufficient basis is obtained, on which the four white eggs are laid. Some few years ago I found about a dozen nests in one day. That so many escaped the numerous searchers is probably owing to the fact that the bird, however hurriedly it leaves the nest, covers its eggs with the plant referred to. This covering and the nest being very little above the water, and there- fore always quite wet, account for the stained appearance of the eggs, when the least incubated. The Little Grebe has also a practice of deeply scratching its eggs with its horny feet. These birds on the approach of danger sink themselves into the water, leaving nothing but their bills exposed; and, should the water not be of sufficient depth for diving, they will not rise till actually kicked by the wader. The Red-Throated Diver (Colymbus sejAentrionaUs) has been shot here within a few years. In conclusion, I have to warn any person who is desirous of investigating this interesting locality to be exceedingly cautious, as in many places the surface is very soft and treacherous, being nothing more than a tangled mass of roots, under which there is a stratum of soft mud of considerable depth, so that should the roots give way it would be exceedingly difficult to extricate oneself. 164 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SESSIOInT 1871-72. THE TWENTIETH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, ANDERSON'S UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS, SEPTEMBER 26th, 1871. Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S., President, in the chair. Eeports were received from the Treasurer and Librarian ; the statement of the former showing a balance in favour of the Society of £41 Is. 2d. The following gentlemen were elected office-bearers for the session: — Professor John Young, M.D., President ; Professor Alexander Dickson, M.D,, and James Ramsay, Vice-Presidents ; Robert Mason, Secretary ; Thomas S. Hutcheson, Treasurer; Thomas Chapman, Librarian; Donald Dewar, M.D., James Coutts, William Sinclair, John Alexander, James B. JMurdoch, Gavin Miller, Robert Clray, and James S. Dixon, Members of Council. Mr William Kirkwood was elected a resident member. SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. Mr Robert Gray exhibited a specimen of Temminck's Stint, (Tringa temminckii), which had been shot near Aberdeen on 4tli September, and forwarded by Mr Alexander ]\litchell of that city. Another specimen of this rare bird had been obtained about a week previously by Mr Mitchell at the same place, and it seemed probable it would annually be found recurring in limited numbers in Aberdeenshire, where so many rare species have of late years been obtained during the autumn migrations. Mr Henry A. Rannie exhibited an Albino variety of the Sand Martin, {llirundo riparia), which he had shot at Mill of Bbyndie, Banffshire; and Mr Gray laid on the table a pair of Willow Wrens {Sylvia irochilus), yellow variety, procured in Aberdeenshire, and forwarded by Mr William C. Angus, corresponding member. These were of a pure canary yellow, with the quills and tail feathers pure white. Trccza. 2\f'ciz. .Hist Soc. Glcbsjcw, J8/1 VolJI Pl.L ANCIENT RIVER COURSE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 165 Mr John Young, F.G.S., exhibited several large specimens of Limnaea stagnalis, obtained during the summer of the present year at Possil marsh, and stated that, so far as he was aware, this shell had not hitherto been recorded from any locality in the West of Scotland. He believed it must have been introduced into the marsh from some English or Irish locality since the summer of 1867, in which year a diligent search had been made at Possil for fresh-water shells, without leading to the discovery of this species. In the present year, however, it had been found over a great area of the marsh, and Possil is likely therefore to become a station for this fine shell so long as it remains undrained. The specimens exhibited, which were of a considerable size, had spawned freely in ?n aquarium where they had been placed, and the young shells had attained the length of quarter of an inch. Mr Young also exhibited some white transparent specimens of Ancylus lacustris, which had been bred in the aquarium from the incrusted and dark-coloured specimens found in Possil marsh, and stated his belief that the variety of this shell named alhida, as well as other colourless and transparent varieties, is produced by the condition of the water in which the molluscs are reared; all shells being more or less covered with a black incrustation where decaying vegetable matter is abundant. Professor Young then made some remarks on the structure of the wing-bones of birds in relation to their use in flight. October 31st, 1871. Professor Young, M.D., F.G.S., President, in the chair. Messrs Donald W. Dickson and Arthur Okell were elected resi- dent members. Before proceeding with the business of the meeting, Dr Young adverted to the appearance during the past month of two impor- tant contributions to the scientific literature of the West of Scot- land by members of the Society, viz.: — Messrs Young and Arm- strong's work on Carboniferous fossils, and Mr Eobert Gray's volume on the ''Birds of the West of Scotland, including the Outer Hebrides," both of which reflected much credit upon the authors, and also upon the Society as a body. VOL. II. M 166 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. Mr John Young, F.G.S.jlaid upon the table a series of fossils from the Silurian rocks of the Girvan valley, and remarked that while looking over the large collection of specimens contained in the cabinet of Mrs Eobert Gray, he had observed several interesting fossils which had been collected during tlie past summer, and wliich from their rarity and state of preservation, deserved to be placed on record in the Society's Proceedings. The specimens exhibited consisted, first, of a series of shells belonging to the genus Bellerojihon, of which there were six species, including a large example of B. dilatatus, a rare shell in the Girvan strata ; second, several well-preserved specimens of Murchisonia obscura, IlolojJella olsolcta, and Scalites angulatus, genera of shells of which these several sjDecies are rare in the above mentioned strata ; third, specimens of Lingida quadrata (Eichwald), a large species, which Mr Davidson, in his recent work on the Silurian brachio- poda, has identified with that found in Eussia, and which Mrs Gray was the first to discover in the Girvan beds; also, specimens of three other brachiopods, Orthis biforata, Rhynchonella scdteri, and Orthis girvaniensis; fourth, two species of trilobites, new to her collection, Acidaspis brightii, and another identified as belong- ing to the genus Eccoptochile. Mr Young, in concluding his remarks, stated that the cabinet of Silurian fossils at present being formed by Mrs Gray, and which she was enriching from year to year, testified to her great ability, perseverance, and powers of discrimi- nation, and promised ere long to become the most complete collec- tion with which he was acquainted of the early records of past life entombed in the Silurian strata of Western Scotland. Mr James Thomson, of the Kelvingrove Museum, exhibited two specimens, male and female, of the Hen-Harrier (Circus cijaneits), shot last summer in Sutherlandshire, and showing an immature state of plumage while the birds were breeding ; also a specimen of the Little Bittern {Botanrus mimdus), which had been captured in Aberdeenshire in October, 18GG. Mr Gray remarked, regarding the last mentioned bird, that it was the second specimen exhibited before the Society, the first liaving been forwarded about three years ago by the Earl of Haddington, who procured it in East Lothian. Mr Gray exhibited a specimen of Diard's Pheasant (Phasicmns NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 167 versicolor), which had been shot about a fortnight ago by Mr Gibson, in Dumbartonsliire, and kindly lent by that gentleman. This beautiful pheasant has of late years been introduced into various Scottish counties, — Argyllshire, Ayrshire, Stirlingshire, amongst others — and there is reason to believe that its numbers are increasing. Dr Young made some remarks on a miscellaneous collection of objects from Australia, which had been placed on the table by Mr John Kirsop. It included the jaws of a large shark, in fine condition ; the tail of a species of ray, several spiders, centipedes, etc., that had belonged to the late Mr David Eussell of Sydney. The President, Professor Young, proceeded to give his annual address, in the first part of wliich he drew attention to the geogra- phical distribution of the perennibranchiate amphibians of the present day, of which one genus is European, and five are North American ; while of these five one species is also found in Japan, a distribution which suggested comparison and contrast with that of the ganoid fishes. He enumerated the points of relationship to the palaeozoic labyrinthodonts; and, after stating the order of appearance in the geological series of the amphibian and reptilian orders, pointed out the parallelism of the two series, of perenni- branchs with cylindrical bodies. Siren, Amphiwna, Proteus; and with depressed bodies, Menolranchus, Axolotl, Cryptohranchus, After pointing out a possible explanation of these facts by succes- sive divergence from common ancestral forms, Dr Young proceeded to the second part of his address, which was mainly an urgent appeal to the Society to agitate as a Society for the improvement and extension of science teaching in the country. While it is evident that a large number find scientific pursuits interesting, few of those who are not naturalists by profession can realise the value of these sciences as educational instruments. After repeating what he had stated on previous occasions — namely, that an attempt to establish, two years ago, physiological demonstrations for teachers and their advanced pupils in the Hunterian Museum had failed, because a large number were too much hampered and exhausted by Government restrictions, Dr Young went on to say, that if these restraints were removed to-morrow, a serious diffi- culty would still remain, which would prevent the rapid spread of physiological instruction, namely, the deficiency of capable teachers. It is true that in some schools, as the Normal Institutions, the 168 PROCEEDINGS OF THE High School, and Western Academy, special science teachers- exist ; but the number is small, though the examples are striking, where a teacher has quaUfied himself to give accurate lessons in geology or biology. To remedy this state of things, a splendid scheme had been organised and carried out at South Kensington, with brilliant success: a scheme of teaching teachers, not cramming them, but forcing them to learn "off their own bat." Every lesson by Professor Huxley, in the use of the microscope, or the dissection of some plant or animal, was repeated by each person at a later hour of the day, under the care and with the assistance of gentlemen admirably qualified for the task. Such a scheme would necessarily involve a considerable expenditure from the public purse. But great as might be its success in London, it& benefits would be practically nil to the great body of Scottish teachers. To multiply rapidly the class of qualified science teachers would require the estabhshment of similar schools in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen. How the expense is to be met is another consideration ; but the grand fact is, that till such courses are established, no general cultivation of science in our schools can be looked for. Supposing, however, that the expense difficulty were met, there still remains a serious difficulty, at least in the cases of Glasgow and Aberdeen. In Edinburgh the teach- ing of geology and zoology had been entrusted to separate teachers^ In the other Universities the absurd union of the two subjects persisted, a combination which savoured rather of medieval omniscience, that is, ignorance, than of the notions of the nine- teenth century. The number of those qualified by special knowledge, or the possession of sufficient leisure to undertake the courses spoken of, is necessarily small; but at present the Professors of Natural History in Aberdeen and Glasgow would be justified in refusing to undertake the additional duty, so long as they were compelled to discharge two incongTuous, in some respects incompatible, offices. Dr Young related to the Society the effort he had made to enlist public opinion in favour of the division of the Natural History Chair, after the example set in Edinburgh, and concluded by asking the support of the Natural History Society in the endeavour to bring about this result. The following resolution was proposed by Mr John Alexander, and unanimously adopted: — "The Natural History Society of Glasgow desires to draw the attention of the Senatus and General NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 169 Council of Glasgow University to the anomalous position in which the University stands relatively to the teaching of the sciences of geology and zoology; these two subjects being still taught by one professor, though either is more than sufficient to occupy the whole time of the teacher. The Natural History Society of Glasgow recognises with satisfaction the essential service rendered to science by the separation of the two subjects in the University of Edinburgh, and would urge upon the Senatus and the General Council the necessity of adopting such steps as may be required to procure a similar readjustment of the duties of the Chair of Natural History, so that the University of Glasgow may maintain its place among the schools of the country." PAPER READ. Notes on the Injury done to Vegetation hj the severe Frost of the 17th May, 1871, By Mr James Eai^isay, V.P. Most, if not all of you, will recollect that last winter was both a severe and a protracted one : perhaps more protracted than severe; for, although prolonged far into the spring, yet the thermometer never fell remarkably low. The season was on the whole very backward, ungenial weather prevailing till the year was weU advanced. The cold disagreeable weather was accompanied by certain phe- nomena, difficult to reconcile with the actual meteorological condi- tions existing at the time. There is a proverb that " one swallow does not make a summer;" neither does a dozen it would appear. Saturday, the 22d April, was about as ungenial a day as ever I recoUect, considering the time of year ; cold and blustering, with constantly recurring sleety showers ; yet on that Saturday after- noon I saw as many as a dozen Swallows (Hirundo rustica) skimming over the surface of the Clyde, just above the new Albert Bridge. The following day was no great improvement on its predecessor, as regards the weather; but on that day also, I saw a perfect little flock of Sand Martins [H. riparia^, with two or three Swallows amongst them, sporting over the Langside dam on the Cart. I do not remember having seen swallows much earlier, even in the most favourable seasons ; and their appearance so soon last April is all the more remarkable, from being accompanied, as well as preceded and followed, by very ungenial weather. 170 PROCEEDINGS OF THE \ For several weeks after this there was little or no improve- ment in the weather ; it may even be said to have got worse, considering the advanced time of the year, till it culminated in a severe frost between the night of Tuesday, the 16th, and the morning of Wednesday, the 17th May, when the thermometer in the Queen's Park registered fully 7° of frost. Mr Graham, gardener to Sir George Campbell, informed me that it indicated nearly 8° at Garscube. The effect of so severe a frost at such a season, accompanied as it was by a keen cutting wind, was very disastrous to veo-etation. The following remarks are the result of observations noted at the time, and are confined entirely to the effect the frost had on the various trees and shrubs in the neighbourhood of Glasgow, particularly towards the south, as it is in that direction my steps most frequently turn when I take a walk. I never before gave so much attention to the wonderful power that some trees more than others apparently possess of resisting frost, and those not always the species that one would naturally think the hardiest, and best fitted for enduring the cold ; for native trees in many cases suffered far more than exotics. The scarcity of fruit of all kinds during the past season tells its own tale as to the effect pro- duced on the orchards and gardens around Glasgow. The first thing that attracted my attention was the great amount of injury sustained by some of the commonest, and what I had always looked upon as the hardiest of our wild plants. Common Comfrey {Sym]jhytum officinale), and the Butter-Burr {Petasifes vulgaris), two of the largest and coarsest of our native weeds, were both much hurt. The leaves of the Comfrey, in particular, were rendered so brown that they might have passed for tobacco, to which they bear a considerable resemblance, both in size and shape. I was likewise much astonished at the effect that had been produced on our two commonest species of dock, both of which are abundant by every wayside. The Broad-leaved Dock (Rumex ohkisifolius) was a good deal injured in places where much exposed; while the Curled-leaved Dock (E. crisjms), growing side by side with it, had passed through the ordeal, to all appearance, scatheless. What can be in the nature of these two docks that they should differ thus in their capacity of enduring cold, is more than I can tell, or even imagine. The Common Hawthorn {Crataegus oxijacantha) had its leaves a NATUR^VL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 171 good deal withered where much exposed ; while its near relatives, the Sweet-scented Hawthorn (C. odoratisslma), from the shores of the Euxine; the Cockspur Tliorn (C. cnis-galli), a native of the United States ; and the Evergreen Thorn {C.pyracantlmis), a native, I believe, of southern Europe, were, as far as I could observe, wholly uninjured. The Common Elder (Samhicus nigra), a native of Britain ; the Eed-berried Elder {S. mcemosa), a native of central Europe; and S. canadensis, a native of Canada, as indicated by its specific name, suffered all three about equally in their foliage, and that was not much ; but the *S'. racemosa, being a much earlier fiowerer than either of the other two species, and being in full bloom at the time, had its blossoms all destroyed. In the previous season it had a very fine effect in the Queen's Park, during the months of August and September, mth its clusters of red coral- like berries; but during the past autumn not a berry was to be seen. The Walnut {Jiiglans regia), a native of Persia, was a good deal hurt, and would no doubt have suffered much more had its leaves been farther expanded. The wonder is that it stood the ordeal so well, considering the climate of its native country ; it also recovered wonderfully, and by the month of July one would scarcely have known that it had suffered any disaster in the spring. Our own native Beech (Fagus sylvatica) ^was stripped of almost every leaf; the purple and copper-coloured varieties being, if possible, more unfortunate than those of the normal type. Its near relative, the Chestnut (Castanea vesca), was thoroughly blasted; and, although it does not flower before the month of July, it appeared to have got such a scourging that when the blooming season came round, trees that in ordinary seasons are loaded vnih flowers, did not put forth a single blossom. The Plane {Platanus orientalis), a native of Western Asia, suf- fered only where much exposed ; but, where it had a fair amount of shelter, it stood the ordeal wonderfully well. Our native Sycamore, or Great Maple (Acer pseudo-2)latanus), fared worse than did the Striped-bark Maple (A. striatum), which is a native of North America; while A. camjyestre, a native of Britain, A.plala- noides, the Norway Maple, and A. sacJiarrimim, the Sugar Maple, a native of Canada, Avere not visibly affected. The Common Lime (Tilea eurojxcea) suffered but slightly; the Large-leaved Lime (T. grandlfolia) was affected a good deal more; while the Small-leaved 172 PROCEEDINGS OF THE Lime {T. parvifoUa), as far as I could see, wholly escaped, at least its injuries were so slight as not to obtrude themselves. The Portugal Laurel {Prunus lusitanica), and the Cherry Laurel (P. laura-cerasus), both evergreens, had their young leaves browned in exposed situations. The Gean (P. avium) was in full bloom at the time, and had its blossom much injured, but its foliage did not seem affected. The same may be said of the Bird Cherry (P. padus), and the Scented Cherry (P. mahaleb). The Japan Blotched-leaved Laurel (Aucuba japonica) had its young tender leaves slightly blackened. The two Manna Ashes, from the south of Europe (Ormts eicropaea, and 0. rotundifolia) were rendered quite leafless; but later in the season they recovered astonishingly, as regards their foliage, but showed no flowers all summer, although both are free flowerers in ordinary seasons. . Our own native Ash (Fraxinus excelsior), very nearly allied to the two last-mentioned trees, escaped only on account of its late habit. It is the latest of all British trees in putting forth its leaves; and last season it was exceptionally late. The same remark will apply to the Oak. It was saved, also, in a great measure by its lateness; for both Ash and Oak sufi"ered wherever, owing to their being favourably situated, they had put forth their leaves. The Common Horse-chestnut (AEsculus hi]jpoCastaneum), a native of Western Asia, and the Red-flowered Horse-chestnut {AE. pavia)j a native of the States of America, both stood the ordeal with com- paratively little injury to their foliage; but the earlier infloresence of the Common Horse-chestnut, which was far advanced at the time, was in most cases utterly destroyed ; while the AE. pavia, owing to its later flowering, put forth as fine a display of blossoms as in ordinary seasons, except in a few instances, where much exposed. Perhaps owing to the two or three specimens of the Yellow-flowered Horse-chestnut {AE.flava) being situated in well- sheltered places of the Park, it did not suff"er any apparent injury. It also, I believe, is a native of the United States of North America. All the species and varieties of rhododendron, being evergreens, suff'ered but little in their foliage; but the early-flowering varieties had their bloom destroyed. The reverse was the case with the nearly allied Azalea pontica; its leaves were much blackened, but its flowers, although nearly fully expanded at the time, were little if at all injured. All the poplars, the White, the Black, the Lom- NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 173 bardy, and even the Laurel-leaved Poplar, stood the ordeal well. Only one species of the genus, Pojmlus halsamifera, the Tacamahac ■of the North American Indians, one of the earliest of all trees, had its young delicate leaves thoroughly blackened, but recovered its verdure astonishingly during the season. The three lilacs usually cultivated in shrubberies {Syringa vulgaris, S. ijersica, and S. chin- ■ensis), ordinarily known as the Common, the Persian, and the Chinese Lilacs, natives, as their specific names imply, of much warmer latitudes than ours, passed through the trying ordeal all but scatheless, the flowers of all three being slightly injured when growing in exposed situations. The Scotch Laburnum {Cytisus aljnnus), although a hardier and far more self-reliant looking tree than its English sister (the Cytisus laburnum), suff'ered more in foliage than its more delicate relative, while both had their inflorescence so much injured that the shrubberies of the Queen's Park in June last were almost wholly devoid of the golden tassels that form so conspicuous a feature at that time of year in ordinary seasons. The Siberian Crah (Pyrus primifolius) hadits blossoms so destroyed that there was no need for the Park-keeper to go round and pluck all the crabs to prevent the boys from injuring the trees, but the Rowan (P. aucuparia), and the Beam-tree (P. aria), seemed none the worse, neither in flower nor foliage. The Snow-berry (Symphoricarjios racemosus), a native of Canada, was blasted even where well protected, as if a scathing fire had passed over it, yet it recovered its normal healthy appearance most wonderfully under the influence of more genial weather. The various species and varieties of elms and willows all passed through the chilling process most satisfactorily. I might go on multiplying instances and examples, if not ad infinitum, at least ad nauseam, as I fear I may have done already, but what I have brought forward is, I think, sufficient to show, what perhaps nobody will be prepared to deny, that certain genera and species of trees and shrubs are better adapted than others for resisting the baneful influences of our uncertain climate, the worst feature of which, undoubtedly, is the generally cold backward character of our springs. This is, no doubt, the grand meteoro- logical defect of Scotland. We frequently pass through winter with but little frost or snow, and we as frequently see summer glide away without enjoying any great amount of heat or sunshine, 174 PROCEEDINGS OF THE but I cannot recollect a spring without its cold east winds. In fact, the only weather that can be predicted with any degree of certainty in this country, proverbial for the uncertainty of its climate, is the cold blighting east wind that visits us so regularly in the months of March, April, and May. And although fortunately it is only now and again that it reaches a point so injurious as it did last spring, yet every season its baneful influence on vegetation is felt more or less. The practical deduction, if any, to be derived from this induc- tive rigmarole of facts is that, in such places as the neighbourhood of Glasgow, where trees are planted for ornament and shelter only, their economic value being a quantity so infinitesimally small, as never, I believe, to enter into the calculation of any one, the trees most likely to give some measure of satisfaction, are, in my opinion, the various species and varieties of elms, willows, and poplars. The common-place character of some of those trees may be objected to, but I think it will be pretty generally admitted, from an aesthetic point of view, that the commonest tree or shrub, if growing in a healthy condition, is a more pleasing and attractive object than the rarest exotic struggling for a bare existence in a miserable, shrivelled, half-dead condition. SPECIAL MEETING. NATURAL HISTORY CLASS ROOM, GLASGOW UNIVERSITY. November 14th, 1871. Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S., President, in the chair. SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. The President and Mr John Young, F.G.S., had placed in the room a very large number of specimens of fossil and recent oxen and antelopes; also, of a series of deer, including the Mcgaccros, or Irish Elk. Dr Young gave a brief sketch of the history* of the domestic races of oxen, the specimens in the room illustrating the character from which their relationship had been inferred. He then pointed out the variations presented by the horns of cervine animals, such as Fallow, Red, and Roe-deer. An interesting con- NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 175 versation followed, in which Dr Dewar, Mr Thomson, Mr Gilmour, and Mr Young took part. Professor Young exhibited a fine series of insects and rej^tiles, sent home from Batavia, by Mr William Lorrain, whose father (the late Dr Lorrain) had done so much good work in the natural history of the same area. Mr James Thomson, of the Kelvingrove Museum, exhibited specimens of several rare Scottish birds; these included a pair of Pallas's Sand Grouse (Sijrrhaptes ]jaradoxus), and a Eoller (Corracias garrula), from Aberdeenshire; also a beautiful specimen of a hybrid between the Capercaillie and Black Grouse, from Clackmannanshire. November 25th, 1871. Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S., President, in the chair. Mr Eobert Wylie was elected a resident member. As this was the first meeting of the Society since the death of Dr John Scouler, the President, in moving that the Society should record its regret for the loss it had thereby sustained, said that Dr Scouler's active interest in its proceedings commenced in 1851, when he read a paper on the '' Sjmimetrical Differences of Plants and Animals." He was at that time in office in Dublin, but was unanimously elected Honorary President in 1853, having resigned his Dublin lectureship and settled in Glasgow; he began his regular attendance with a lecture on the " Natural History of the Cephalopods." From that time until May, 1865, he had taken an active part in all the business of the Society, exhibiting specimens, demonstrating structural peculiarities, and discussing the general questions wliich arose from time to time. Many, in fact, acquired their first notions of comparative anatomy from him, and to his influence was largely owing the scientific spirit in all the work done. Dr Young said that though there was no one to whom the formal expression of the Society's feelings would be matter of perfect comfort or consolation, it was still the duty of every earnest student to render acknowledgment to his benefactor. Dr Scouler had survived wife and child, and the solitude of his latter years and sad remembrances were doubtless not without , efi'ect in hastening declining health. 176 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SPECIIVIENS EXHIBITED. Mr James Lumsden exhibited a young male specimen of the Great Spotted Woodpecker (Picus majw)^ shot by himself on the 9th November at Arden House, Loch Lomond. Mr Gray remarked that this bird was of somewhat rare occurrence in the West of Scotland, though it had of late years appeared in considerable migratory flocks in the eastern counties, ranging from Berwick- sliire to the Orkney and Shetland Islands. Dr Dewar exhibited a live specimen of the Snowy Owl (Nydea scandiaca), which had been lent by Mr Martin, Buchanan Street. This beautiful bird, which excited considerable interest by the lively way in which it scanned the audience on being introduced to the meeting, had been captured at sea on board the S.S. " St Andrew." It was in beautiful plumage. Mr David Robertson, F.G.S., exhibited some recent nodules of Post-pliocene Clay, from Norway, enclosing various species of mollusca, the clay having evidently been hardened by the presence of animal matter. These were shown in illustration of a specimen of clay taken out of a skull of the Great Irish Deer in which the clay was found to contain a considerable portion of animal matter, rendering it insoluble in water. PAPERS READ. I. — Abstract of a im])er on the Existence of the Elk {Alces malchis, Gray) in Scotland. By Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S. Dr Young described, and gave the measurements of, the head and antlers of an Elk found in a marl pit in Perthshire, and referred to by Mr Smith of Jordanhill as being deposited in the Hunterian Museum. As Mr J, Young had pointed out, this example had been entirely overlooked by subsequent writers. Dr J. A. Smith of Edinburgh, in his paper " On the Reindeer in Scotland," has doubted the existence of the Elk, and, without seeing the specimens, it is impossible to rely on statements not m^de by naturalists, more especially as there is still some confusion in the use of the word Elk, which is used indiscriminately for the Caribou and the Wapiti. Mr H. AVoodward has spoken of an Elk as having been found at " Chirdon Burn," a locality which he (Dr Young) had failed to identify. In the course of his remarks NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 177 Dr Young had occasion to refer to the fossil oxen of Britain, and mentioned that Dr Scouler had identified his name with the dis- covery of these and of the Irish Elk. He had, moreover, suggested that the Moose was referred to in the old Welsh traditions, an opinion which, if proved to be correct, would approximate the date of its extinction more closely to that of its disappearance from central Europe. II. — On the Nesting of the Fieldfare (Turdus inlaris), in Gh-eai Britain. By Mr W. C. Angus, corresponding member. In this paper the author stated that a pair of Fieldfares had built a nest and successfully reared a brood of young ones within the boundaries of the city of Aberdeen in May of the present year. Some of the members present held that the fact was not sufficiently proved to warrant the addition of the Fieldfare to the list of birds breeding in Scotland. December 26th, 1871. Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S., President, in the chair. The following gentlemen were elected resident members : — Messrs Peter Cameron, jun., Archibald Gilchrist, and John M'Laren, M.D. Mr Edwin Lees, F.L.S., F.G.S., Greenhill Summit, Worcester, was elected a corresponding member. SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. Mr Thomas Chapman exhibited a series of lepidopterous insects, showing sexual dififerences, and remarked on the specific identity of two African butterflies, Fajnlio merope and Fapilio hip^ocoon. PAPER READ. Notes on the Occurrence of the Waxwing (Ampelis garrulus) in Scotland during the present year. By Mr Eobert Gray. 178 proceedings of the January 30th, 1872. Mr James Ramsay, Vice-President, in the chair. The following gentlemen were elected resident members : — Messrs John Fleming, Archibald T. Arrol, William Johnston, Donald T. Martin, and David Aitken. SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. Mr Gray exhibited the following birds, which have occurred in the West of Scotland during the last six months : — I. A specimen of the Balearic Crane (Ghms jMiwwia), shot near Dairy, Ayrshire, on 1 7th September. This large and beautiful bird had made its appearance in the neighbourhood about a week pre- viously, and was repeatedly seen soaring with a strong and vigorous flight at a considerable height in the air. It then became a marked object, and when it alighted it was heard giving utterance to loud and discordant cries, the only effect of which was to draw the closer attention of those who had designs on its life. On being approached it ran with great swiftness before taking wing, and ^after being hunted from one farm to another, it was at last shot wliile perched on a hay-rick towards the close of a quiet Sabbath. The Balearic Crane is found generally in the north-east of Africa. Dr Bree has admitted it with hesitation into his " Birds of Europe." Brisson, however, has mentioned that in 1760 it was a common bird in the Balearic Islands (Majorca and Minorca). Twenty years later Dr Latham, in his ''General History of Birds," denied the accuracy of that statement ; but the late Mr Swainson, in his work on the " Classification of Birds," says that specimens were brought to him in Malta from the little island of Lampidosa, where they are by no means scarce. To these localities Degland iidds Sicily; and the late Prince Bonaparte has recorded that the species "is found in the islands of the Mediterranean." Mr Tristram informed Dr Bree that one had been killed in the island of Pantellaria, between Tunis and Sicily. Mr Gray concluded by saying, that though Keyserling, Blasius, and Schlegel refuse to admit the bird into the European list, and though another well-known ornithologist — M. De Selys Long- champs — has also doubted its claims as a European species, there could be no reason for rejecting it now, as an allied species — the Demoiselle Crane {Anthropoides vircjo) — had been unhesitatingly NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 179 received as British since the occurrence of two specimens in the Shetland Islands some years ago. Mr Gray further stated that the greatest care had been taken to ascertain that the specimen was in reality a wild bird, both by himself and his friend Mr James Stirrat, banker, Dairy, to whom he expressed his obligations for the fullest information regarding its occurrence and capture. II. A specimen of the Wryneck (Yunx torquilla), shot near Garnkirk, in the first week of October. Very few examples of this bird have occurred in the western counties, the only one recorded for many years being that mentioned by the late Mr Yarrell in his " British Birds," as having been shot near Hamilton in 1835. Of late years, however, it has been found breeding in the district of Nether Lochaber, Inverness-shire, by the Rev. Alex. Stewart, Ballachulish. III. A Little Auk {Merguliis alle), shot at Ai-dentinny on the IGth of the present month. Specimens have occurred from time to time, chiefly in inland situations, at some distance from the sea; and the presence of the Little Auk seems more or less associated with heavy gales and tempestuous weather, by which the bird is sometimes blown many miles into the country. For the two last-mentioned birds Mr Gray exjDressed himself indebted to Mr ]\Iartin, taxidermist, Buchanan Street. Mr John Kirsop exhibited a collection of birds from Java, including about forty species, the property of ]\Irs Peter Hall, of Campbelton. Mr George Martin, jun,, exhibited three specimens of the tailless Trout from Islay; also a female Pheasant in the plumage of the male, recently shot in the same island. A conversation ensued among the members regarding the Trout, without, however, eliciting any definite theory to account for the absence of the caudal rays. From what Mr Martin stated, it appears that the particular breed has been known for many years, though confined to a single loch in the island. Mr John Young, F.G.S, exhibited a series of trilobites of Caradoc age from the Silurian strata of the Girvan valley. These were from the collection of ]\Irs Robert Gray, and comprised specimens of Illaenus hoicmanni, I. fhomsoni, I. harriensis, Cyhele verrucosa, Staic- rocephahis unkus, Proteus latifrons, Cheiruriis davifrons, Zethus nigosus, Odontopleura ovata ("?), and specimens of a large Trinucleus, which, so far as yet examined, does not correspond with any of the described species. Mr Young, in pointing out the characters of 180 PROCEEDINGS OF THE these trilobites, referred to the interest attached to many of the species in Mrs Gray's collection, several of these being new to science and others new to the Girvan beds, while the whole group clearly established the age of the deposits and the relation which the strata bore to the Silurian rocks of other parts of the world. The Librarian announced the following donations to the library: — Transactions of the Malvern Naturalists' Field Club, 1870; Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, nos. 6 and 7 ; from the respective Societies. SPECIAL MEETING. NATUKAL HISTORY CLASS EOOM, GLASGOW UNIVERSITY. February 13th, 1872. Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S., President, in the chair. SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. Mr James Thomson exhibited a valuable series of bones of the Moa from New Zealand, and several flint knives and scrapers which had been discovered in the mound from which the bones- had been taken. These excited considerable interest, and the Chairman remarked that the series formed a valuable addition to the Kelvingrove Museum. Mr Gray drew the attention of the meeting to several British birds that had recently been presented to the Hunterian collection by Mr James Lumsden, and afterwards read a communication from Mr John A. Harvie Brown of Dunipace, one of the Society's corresponding members, relating to the extraordinary abundance of gulls and Garvies during the present winter in the estuary of the Forth. A conversation then ensued respecting the results of the Sea- Birds Preservation Act, in the course of which Mr Gray maintained, with some degree of probability, that the present swarms of gulls found in tlie Forth were due, not to the increase of British breed- ing stations, but to migratory flocks from other countries which had followed the shoals of fishes as they travelled southwards. Forty years ago flocks of gulls equally large had been observed in the Forth, and their presence was then attributed to the same cause. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 181 ANDERSON'S UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS. February 27th, 1872. Mr James Ramsay, Vice-President, in the chair. Messrs Henry Young and James J. King were elected resident members. SPECIMENS exhibited. Mr Chapman exhibited a large collection of butterflies, beetles, bats, and reptiles from Batavia. These had been forwarded by Mr William Lorrain, one of the Society's corresponding members, and excited considerable interest. Among the beetles were several specimens of Mormolyce phyllodes — a species remarkable for the peculiar leaf-like expansion of the elytra. Mr James Lumsden exhibited a specimen of the Marsh Tit (Parus palustris), from near Loch Lomond, a species somewhat local in its habits, and probably restricted in its distribution in Scotland to localities south of Perthshire. Mr Lumsden also drew the attention of the meeting to the circumstance of numbers of Eazor- bills (Alca torda) having of late been cast on shore, either dead or in an exhausted condition, both on the English and Scottish coasts. He had even heard of specimens having been driven inland to considerable distances, and he exhibited one which he had found in the River Fruin, about three and a-half miles in a strait line from the sea. This gave rise to a discussion among the members as to the probable cause of the exhaustion and mortality affecting a single species, as in the present case. In 1859 large numbers of sea-fowl of various species had been discovered dead on the water — the mortality, however, having been much greater in the Frith of Clyde than elsewhere. Various theories had been put forward to account for the visitation, such as loss of food and consequent starvation, poisoning from substances floating on the sea, as would happen after the shipwreck of a vessel laden with paraffin oil, etc.; but during the present winter, the disease having been confined exclusively to one species, it was not easy to account for its existence. Several gales had no doubt been experienced on various parts of the coast, but these would naturally have aff*ected Guillemots and other birds as well as Razorbills; and as for the loss of food, it was remarked by Mr Gray that the shoals of VOL. II. N 182 • PROCEEDINGS OF THE migratory fishes, on which these birds feed, had tliis year l^een unprecedentedly great. Mr Gray read a communication from Mr John Bateson of Shieldag, Gairloch, containing some ornithological notes from Eoss-shire. These embraced various facts of interest, such as the breeding of the Dotterel (Charadrius morinellus) on two separate hills in the west, and also on Ben Wyvis, in the east of the county; the nesting of the Snow Bunting on a range of precipitous hills near Shieldag; the breeding haunts of two or three pairs of Golden Eagles (which are strictly preserved); the permanent residence of such birds as the Greenshank and Black-throated Diver; the former eyries of the Osprey; and a description of the full breed- ing plumage of the Ptarmigan. Mr Bateson also mentioned the occurrence of the Spotted Woodpecker, Gojlden Oriole, Eedstart^ Rose-coloured Pastor, Spotted Crake, Nightjar (very common), Turnstone (shot in the breeding season), Pintail Duck, Smew, and Pomarine Skua. The Widgeon and Pochard have both been found nesting in Ross-shire, and the eggs obtained. Among birds lately introduced there, the Red-legged Partridge had become established, and was likely to thrive. During the reading of the communica- tion Mr Gray illustrated some of the more interesting facts from his own notes, and exhibited a series of Ptarmigan in various stages of plumage, from the Kelvingrove Museum, which had been obtained by Mr James Thomson, the curator, from Inverness-shire and the Outer Hebrides. March 26th, 1872. Donald Dewar, M.D., in the chair. Mr Alfred Blackie was elected a resident member, and the Rev. Alexander Stewart, Ballachulish, a corresponding member. Y SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. Mr John Young, F.G.S., exhibited a series of graptolites from the Silurian strata of the Girvan valley, the specimens having been collected by Mrs Robert Gray, from whose cabinet several groups of fossils have already been brought before the Society. Mr Young pointed out some of the principal characters of the extinct family of graptolites, and the position they were supposed to hold in the NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 183 animal kingdom, and stated that their nearest living allies were believed to be the sertularian group of hydrozoons or sea pens. The specimens exhibited were from a bed of Silurian grey sandy shale exposed in the banks of Penwhapple Glen, where these graptolites are not uncommon, and where they exist in a less compressed condition than those found in the Moffat beds. The species obtained by Mrs Gray are Gro.pfolites iwiodon (common); G. sedgivickii (rather rare); G. colonus (rare) ; Cijrtograpsus grayianus (Lap worth, M.S.), a rare and interesting new species first found by ]Mr Lapworth of Galashiels, in the Gala group of that district, and which he proposes to name after Mrs Gray. Dicranograpsus tardiusculus (Lapworth, M.S.), another new and rare species from Balcletchie, this being, according to Mr Lapworth, the first time the genus has been found in Silurian rocks of Caradoc age. No specimens belonging to the group of double graptolites (Diplogmpsus), have yet been discovered by Mrs Gray; but as the beds have not hitherto been thoroughly searched, it is to be hoped that examples in this interesting group will reward her future labours. Mr Peter Cameron, jun., exhibited the egg-bag of a spider, Agelena hrunnea, which had been found in the Black Wood of Eannoch in Perthshire, attached to sprigs of growing heather. It was somewhat well shaped, and was composed of a very beautiful silk, white and glossy, forming a very elegant and interesting object. Mr Cameron had found a few of these egg-purses powdered all over with a fine dust ; but from the positions in which these were placed, it was evidently not blown dust, but had been put on by the spiders themselves. PAPER READ. On the Coleoptera of Rannoch. By Mr Peter Cameron, jun. The author, in his opening remarks, referred to the extreme pro- ductiveness of that district in coleopterous insects, and assigned as a reason that the Black Wood there, which is a remnant of the old Caledonian Forest, was composed almost entirely of the Scotch Fir (Pinus sijlvestris), a tree that had upwards of forty species ex- clusively attached to it, besides many others that are common to it and other trees. The paper was illustrated by a fine collec- tion of specimens, and was accompanied by a full list of the insects found. 184 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SPECIAL MEETING. NATURAL HISTORY CLASS ROOM, GLASGOW UNIVERSITY. February 15th, 1872. Professor John Young, M.D., F.G-.S., President, in the chair. Professor Alexander Dickson, M.D., exhibited a series of pre- parations of monocotyledonous embryos, the subject being further illustrated by numerous beautiful diagrams. Dr Dickson had also on the table a number of specimens illustrating dichogamy. Mr Gray exhibited a collection of birds' eggs from Iceland. This collection, which had been made in the north-eastern portion of that country, and chiefly in the neighbourhood of Seidesfiord, embraced at least half-a-dozen species not included by Professor Newton of Cambridge, in his account of the ornithology of Iceland, published in 1863. Among these may be mentioned the Rock Pipit (AntJms ru])estris), the Rock Dove (Columha livia), the Starling (Sturnus vulgaris), the Herring Gull {Lams argentatus), and the Lesser Black-backed Gull (L. fuscus). Mr Gray likewise exhibited a specimen of the common Francolin (Francolinus vulgaris), and its Qgg, from Tricomo, in the island of Cyprus, and read some remarks on the extinction of that bird as a Euro]3ean species. The Francolin appears to have had at one time a somewhat extensive distribution in the south of Europe, having been commonly met with in Spain, Sicily, Malta, Cyprus, Sardinia, Naples, the islands of the Grecian Archipelago, and Turkey. After giving the authorities for its former existence in these localities, Mr Gray stated that, with the exception of Cyprus, where a few birds might still be lingering, every European haunt had been entirely deserted. He expressed himself indebted to the Rev. John Pagan of Bothwell, for the opportunity of exhibit- ing the specimen, and also for some interesting notes on the habits of the species in connection with the last of its European habitats. Ten years ago, Lord Lilford, in a contribution to the " Ibis," had drawn the attention of ornithologists to the fact of its gradual extinction over a wide area, and maintained that, thougli doubts might exist as to the propriety of including the island of Cyprus within European range, the Francolin had become a thing NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 185 of the past in every other haunt. At that time flocks of this fine game bird were said to be hngering in one part of Cyprus, viz., in the Vale of Maratassa, near Baffa, the ancient Paphos; but from the information communicated by Mr Pagan it was evident that the great scarcity of recent years was but the precursor of extinction there also. Mr Gray concluded his remarks as follows: — From all the published accounts of the bird, it would appear that the scarcity and subsequent disappearance of the Francolin from EurojDe, have wholly resulted from its being a favourite table luxury. Year by year its haunts, which have in every respect remained unaltered, have been gradually deserted, or, rather, the birds themselves have been extirpated through a persistent demand for them and their eggs. In other countries certain birds have yielded to the destructive influences of man's encroachment through inability to protect themselves. The Dodo and Dinornis are familiar ex- amples, and the Great Auk may now be added as a victim to the law which is slowly but surely swelling the list of extinct species. In the case of the Francolin, however, no immediate dread of total extinction need be entertained, as it is still a well-known bird in many parts of India, and is, in fact, a somewhat common Asiatic species. No other reason can be given for its utter extirpation from an area so extensive as the range of its former habitats in Europe than its marketable value ; no alteration of the ground frequented, no inertness on the part of the bird, no introduction of undue protection to other species which might adversely affect its well-being, no appearance of natural decay — nothing, in short, to induce a comparison between its fate and that of the flightless birds I have named. While, therefore, the ornithologist laments the disappearance of species within his own recollection, and is warned to prepare for the exit of others whose powers of self-preservation are but feeble, he has no theory to offer for the extinction of the Francolin as a European bird but the exceedingly unromantic statement that it has literally been eaten up ! Dr Dewar exhibited two unblown eggs of the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysdeios), taken from an eyrie on the confines of Argyllshire and Dumbartonshire on the 1 1th of the present month. The specimens (one darkly spotted, the other very light in colour) were large, heavy, and handsome ; and having been procured in a district which, in 186 PROCEEDINGS OF THE clear weather, is visible from the top of the college tower, the eggs, lying as they were on part of the lining of the nest, excited unusual interest and attention. ANDERSON'S UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS. April 27th, 1872. Professor Alexander Dickson, M.D., Vice-President, in the chair. Mr David Kidston was elected a resident member. SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. Mr Gray exhibited two eggs of the AVater Eail (Ralhts aquaticus), taken from a nest of seven found last month in Possil marsh, and remarked on the singular fact that the principal writers on British birds had been unable to describe either the nest or eggs of that bird from personal observation. This may have arisen from the circumstance that Montagu had mistaken the eggs of the Little Grebe for those of the Water Rail, and that his description had been handed down from one author to another in the belief that it was correct. Sir William Jardine, Mr Selby, Professor Mac- gillivray, and Mr Yarrell had all admitted, in their published writings, that they had never met with the nest. It was, therefore, a fact of more than usual interest that one should have been dis- covered in a situation like Possil marsh, which may now be said to be in the very centre of a large mining and manufacturing population. Mr J. S. Dixon remarked that a few years ago he had found a nest in the same place, but had been unable to identify it. He had no doubt, however, on looking at the eggs exhibited by Mr Gray, that he was right in his recollection of the species. Mr John Kirsop exhibited an Ermine in the pure winter fur, from Loch Ascog, in Bute. It had been sent to him by Mr Henry Stevenson, who informed him that another, of a browner shade, had been seen in its company. As the white and spotless winter fur is supposed to characterise only those Ermines frequenting mountain ranges at a considerable altitude, it was suggested that these examples found in Bute might have crossed at the narrowest part of the Kyles by swimming, these animals being known to travel long distances in quest of prey. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 187 Mr James Lumsden exhibited a monstrosity of the domestic Duck, with three legs. It had lived upwards of a week. A similar specimen of the common Dorking Fowl was exhibited by Mr John Gilmour, the chairman remarking that in both cases the extra limb looked like a union of two of imperfect development. Dr Stirton exhibited a series of mosses from New Zealand, collected by Mr John Buchanan of the Government Geological Survey, Wellington, N.Z., a corresponding member of the Society. Dr Stirton stated that the natural history of New Zealand had been very thoroughly investigated, but although many of the species now exhibited were well known, many of them were rare, and three if not four of them were not included in any Antartic flora, and were still undescribed. The most interesting one of these, which he proposed to name after his correspondent, was thus described: — I. Qrimmia huchanani (Stirton, M.S.). Stems loosely tufted, leaves oblong amplexicaule, plane margined, laxly areolated, ter- minating abruptly in very long green nearly entire subulae, which are composed almost entirely of the prolonged nerves, perichaetial leaves longer and narrower at the sheathing bases, otherwise identical, fruit stalk curved, capsule ovate, regular, furrowed when dry, pale, lid conico-rostrate, oblique, more than half the length "of the capsule, calyptra dimidiate covering half the capsule, teeth deep-red at base, curved, bifid into long pale subulate points, inflorescence in all likelihood dioicous, antheridia not detected. II. Tortula incurvidens (Stirton, M.S.). Stems gregarious, short, leaves lanceolate with plane entire margins, crisped when dry, texture dense, opaque above, pellucid and quadrangular at base, nerve strong, indistinct near apex, which is somewhat cucullate, capsule red, erect on a thick red seta arising from a basilar mem- brane, broad and prominent above the mouth of the capsule, irregular, rough with minute papillae, and crossed by two or three septa, incurved when dry, converging into a cone when moistened, lid obliquely rostrate, subulate, nearly as long as the capsule, calyptra dimidiate, extending more than half way down. Approaches in several of its characters to Tortula ambigiia, but diverges widely in others. III. Bryum contoiium (Stirton, M.S.). Dioicous, densely caes- pitose, stems radiculose, lower leaves small, scattered, upper suddenly enlarged, closely imbricated in a moist state, contorted 188 PROCEEDINGS OF THE "when dry, ovate oblong, terminating in long smooth reflexed points formed by the excurrent nerves, which are red in the substance of the leaves, margin slightly reflexed, not thickened, but composed of two or three rows of narrower cells than those of the rest of the pagina, seta long, stout, red, capsule red, pendulous narrowly obconical, lid sharply conical, apiculate, deep red, shining, allied to Bryum ohconicum. IV. Bryum hulUllosum (Montague). Description of this moss in Miller's Synopsis agrees pretty well with the character of th& New Zealand moss, and in the absence of any more definite indications it has not been thought advisable to separate them. May 28th, 1872. Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S., President, in the chair. SPECBIENS EXHIBITED. Mr James Thomson, of the Kelvingrove Museum, exlnbited an unusually small specimen of the Glaucous Gull (Larus glaucus), which was shot on Gourock Moor on 20th March last, and regarding which Mr Gray stated that it appeared to be a bird of the second year's plumage. The keeper who shot it had seen others in its company, and though the Glaucous Gull had hitherto been regarded as a rare British bird, it would in all probability be found to be a regular winter visitant to the Firth of Clyde. Specimens had already occurred in the island of Arran and on the coast of Ayrshire. The birds were seen to be remarkably tame, but being in the incon- spicuous plumage of the first or second year, they were generally passed over as the young of some other species. They could, however, be easily distinguished at any age by the absence of the black tips to the wings and the bar across the tail. Mr Thomson also exhibited a beautiful specimen of the Sclavonian Grebe (Fodiceps cmiiuhis), from the island of Harris. This bird was in full breeding plumage, and had been shot in the second week in April. Mr Gray also exhibited a specimen of the same Grebe in a similar state of plumage, from the island of North Uist, where it had been shot about the end of April. Mr James Lumsden exhibited two young Woodcocks (Scolopaz NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 18^ 7itsticola) in the down, and communicated the following interesting particulars on the nesting habits of that bird in the neighbourhood of Loch Lomond : — This season I have found two Woodcock's nests. The one I first saw on the 8th of April, but the nest had been known to the gamekeeper for about a week previous. When I saw it the bird was sitting on four eggs. The nest was placed in an open field, about ten or a dozen yards from the edge of a young larch plantation. It was quite bare, but the bird was not easily seen, from its colour resembling so closely the dead leaves and withered grass which were lying about it, and from the manner in which it sits with its long beak thrust down into the fog in front of it. It sat quite still until I went up to it and touched it with the end of my stick. About a fortnight after my first seeing the nest, it was discovered to be "run." Three birds had come out, leaving one rotten egg. The ground all round was carefully searched, but no trace of the chicks could be found. Most likely the old bird had carried them away as soon as hatched. The second nest was hatched on the 9th of May. It also contained four eggs. I had known of it for about a week, when on the 9tli of May the gamekeeper brought me word that the nest was " run J' and that he had seen the old bird sitting witliin a few feet of the nest, and, on putting her up, had seen the four young ones, all the eggs having come out. I went up to the place at once, but only to find the old bird and two of the young ones gone, and the other two lying dead at the place where the keeper had seen them a couple of hours before. Something must have disturbed them, and the old one had carried away the first two, leaving the others, which had perished from the cold and wet in her absence, as the day was very cold, and heavy hail showers falling. This nest was in an oak wood, on a bare spot at the foot of a small tree. Upon the 13th of May some men who were cutting timber came upon an old bird with four young ones, within a few hundred yards of the places where the two nests were, which must have been a third brood hatched in the same neighbourhood, Mr Gray then read some notes from Mr John Gilmour on the nesting of the Woodcock and of the AYild Turkey {Meleagris gallipavo) at Ardlamont. 190 •, PROCEEDINGS OF THE Though we had during the winter fewer Woodcocks on our ground than for several years past, which we consider the mild wet weather fully accounted for, strange to say we have far more birds remaining than we have ever had; in fact, in one <30ver they are quite numerous. Whether these birds are all or most of them breeding, I do not know, but I should expect so. Kobert Patrick, our head keeper, has already seen two young broods of these birds, one on the 25th of April, and the other about five days later, and had a good opportunity on both occasions of watching them. They were about the size of large snipe, and each time the old bird picked up one of the young ones and flew off with it, she seemed to catch it in between her legs and feet, and almost held it under her tail, and flew with a very peculiar sort of side motion of the wings. Following it once, he saw the young one dropped, and as soon as he came near it picked it up and flew away again. There must be a considerable diff'erence in the time of hatching of these birds, for the nest we found a few years ago Avith four eggs was on the 21st of April, and it was not hatched for some time after tliat, while these young birds were well grown on the 25th of same month. I am glad to say that if we have dry weather now for a time there is a prospect of having better luck with our AVild Turkeys than last year. On Sunday, when walking along the road to church, I heard the "chuck, chuck" of a Turkey hen, and just fancying from her call that she had chicks with her, I went quietly through the bush, and, though I saw her quite well, I had to wait quietly for some minutes before seeing any of the little ones; but she began to walk slowly away, giving a call as she went, and then one by one the wee things followed her, till I counted seven, and I think there were more, but they are so cunning in lying hid that they are not easy to see. It was a pretty sight; they were, I should think, four or five days old, and seemed strong and active. Coming home, Eobert Patrick showed us one of the hens on her nest on the top of a dry bank, in among the old dry brackens, and this nest will probably be hatched in a day or two. There are also two other hens that must have nests somewhere in the woods, but he has not been able to find them yet, and, as the woods are now getting thick, until they appear with their famihes, we do not expect to see them. Surely we will manage to bring some of these to maturity, but we are not going to NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 191 interfere with the hens' management at all, and our chief hope is dry and warm weather, with lots of insect food. The Librarian announced the following donations to the Library: — Transactions and Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Edin- burgh, Vol. xi., Part i., 1871; Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophic Society of Manchester, nos. 11, 12, 13, session 1871-72; Proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, Vol. vi.. No. 3; from the respective Societies. 192 PROCEEDINGS OF THE S:ESSI0I