PROBABLE BREEDING OF HAWFINCH IN MIDLOTHIAN 195 



they did not appear to care for the diet. Flies were not to 

 be obtained in sufficient numbers, but any put into their cage 

 were neglected until night set in, when they were evidently 

 eaten, perhaps by the mother bat only, as they entirely 

 disappeared. 



To give any estimate of the numbers of Daubenton's Bat 

 inhabiting Glen Dochart would be very unsatisfactory, for 

 the greater part of the glen has yet to be examined. I am 

 prepared, however, to say that at Lochs Dochart and Ure I 

 saw some dozens of them, and, judging from the noise they 

 made, they were probably in hundreds. 



Knowing that Mr. Eagle Clarke was wishful to see bats 



O _> 



from various parts of Scotland, I forwarded specimens to him, 

 and he informed me that they were Daubenton's Bats, a 

 water- loving species; and that the locality indicated an 

 extension of the recorded range, carrying its distribution into 

 the heart of the southern Highlands, and being the most 

 northern outpost of this bat for Central Scotland. 



It may be useful to remark that the locality is about 

 512 feet above sea-level. 



ON THE PROBABLE BREEDING OF THE HAW- 

 FINCH (COCCOTHRAUSTES VULGARIS} IN 

 MIDLOTHIAN. 



By WM. EAGLE CLARKE. 



ALTHOUGH the Hawfinch has hitherto been both rare and 

 casual in Scotland, visiting the country most irregularly, 

 never in more than extreme fewness of numbers, and at no 

 particular season of the year ; yet, from a knowledge of the 

 bird's history as an English species, it seemed probable that 

 it would eventually become a colonist in Northern Britain. 



In 1678, when " Willughby's Ornithology " was issued by 

 Ray, the Hawfinch was described as seldom coming over 

 to England, and only in hard winters. The bird has, however, 

 long been resident and pretty generally distributed in the 

 more southern counties, and has for many years been 



