ON SOME SCOTTISH ALPINE FORMS OF CAREX 181 



Glen Lochay, and Beinn Heasgarnich ; and Mr. Young of 

 Kirkcaldy has got the same form on Beinn Laoigh, where I 

 must have overlooked it myself. 



ZOOLOGICAL NOTES. 



The Common Dolphin in Moray Firth. About the first week 

 of May a female Dolphin (Delphinus delphis) was stranded on the 

 coast three miles east of Nairn Harbour. It lay on the shore for 

 more than two weeks before I heard of the occurrence, and was 

 somewhat damaged when I went to see it. I took the following 

 measurements: Total length (in straight line), 5! feet; snout to 

 blow-hole, 12 inches; snout to dorsal fin, 28 J inches; height of 

 dorsal fin, 6 inches ; length of flippers (anterior border), 9 inches ; 

 breadth of tail flukes, 10 inches. It was black above, and whitish 

 grey along sides and belly. The line of demarcation was quite 

 distinct. There were no separate stripes or lines through the light 

 coloured parts. I secured the damaged skull. It measured i6| 

 inches in total length, and the upper and lower jaws were of equal 

 length. Teeth only about 45 or 46 on each side of each jaw, which 

 is fewer than usual, but I think it only shows that the example was 

 not full-grown. I am not sure if the number of teeth differs in the 

 two sexes. The skull of this species is easily distinguished from that 

 of every other British Dolphin by the deep groove on each side of the 

 bony palate. This species has rarely occurred in the Moray Firth ; 

 and the late Mr. Sim never found it on the Aberdeenshire coast, the 

 example, 8 feet long, which he recorded was really a White-beaked 

 Dolphin, as he afterwards told me. WM. TAYLOR, Lhanbryde. 



Crossbills in Perthshire. Though I believe there are always 

 Crossbills in the neighbourhood of Meikleour in the winter, and 

 possibly a few breeding there, it is of interest to note, in view of the 

 recent invasion of Great Britain by Crossbills, that there was a very 

 marked increase in the number of them when I visited Meikleour 

 in March and April. Small flocks were frequently seen, and their 

 work amongst the fir cones was very much in evidence. Bramblings, 

 Redpolls, and Goldfinches were also feeding on the seeds of the 

 larch and Scotch fir, and threw down the cones in the same way as 

 the Crossbills. M. BEDFORD, Woburn Abbey, Woburn. 



A Peeblesshire specimen of the Chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus]. 

 I ought, perhaps, to put on record a specimen of the Chough from 

 Peeblesshire which has been in my possession for the past twenty 

 years. Mr. R. S. Anderson, Peebles, on seeing the specimen in a 

 house in West Linton in 1889, and being assured that it had been 



