182 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



a large yellow bird flitting about with a number of Thrushes. This 

 may have been the bird found dead on the following day, or its 

 mate. The bird has been presented to the Museum of the Smith 

 Institute, Stirling. JAMES COWPER, Minister of Menstrie. 



Golden Oriole in the "Solway" Area. The Golden Oriole 

 (Oriolits galbula) is a very rare visitant to Scotland generally, and 

 it is equally rare in our area of " Solway." Leaving one very 

 doubtful record out of account, only one authentic instance of its 

 occurrence here has hitherto been known to me. This was an 

 individual shot in the spring of 1872 betwixt Kirkconnel and 

 Sanquhar. It is now in Dr. Grierson's museum at Thornhill, but 

 the last time I saw it there the specimen was in a very dilapidated 

 condition. A Golden Oriole was shot near to Newton-Stewart at 

 the end of April this year, and is now being preserved. This makes 

 only the second bird of the species procured here, and it is rather 

 singular that this should be so, because farther south the bird is a 

 well-known spring migrant. R. SERVICE, Maxwelltown. 



White-fronted Geese in Fife. During the last fifteen years or 

 so, the only gray geese that I have met with in the north-east of 

 Fife have been Pink-footed Geese and occasionally a few Graylags ; 

 while the sixty or so that I have secured from time to time have 

 been Pinkfoots without exception. In April of this year, however, 

 I secured one of three White-fronted Geese (A. albifrons) which 

 were feeding on new-sown barley in a field within my district. A 

 large number of geese were on the field, all the others apparently of 

 the ordinary species ; but the three White -fronted Geese kept by 

 themselves, some little distance apart from the main body. After a 

 long and tedious stalk, I was able to get to within twenty yards of 

 them, and from that distance observed them closely for a few 

 minutes. The three were identical in appearance and plumage 

 (that of a bird of last year), the white frontal band being narrow, 

 and the black patches on the breast only represented by a few 

 scattered dark feathers ; but the darker colour of the back, and the 

 orange bill and white nail, were very noticeable. The birds were 

 also distinctly less wary than Pink-footed Geese always are. 



I have, on one occasion, killed a Pink-footed Goose ( c?), with a 

 white "nail," and the same bird not infrequently has white round 

 the base of its bill ; and it was only on closer inspection that I could 

 determine this to me new species. The specimen is now in the 

 Edinburgh Museum. WILLIAM BERRY, Tayfield, Newport, Fife. 



[We are informed of the bare fact that two other specimens of 

 this species were obtained in the lower Tay district during the past 

 winter. EDS.] 



Pochard in the "Clyde" Area. A Correction. The small 

 flock of Pochards (Fuligula ferina) were observed near Wishaw Station 



