196 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



wards shot, and proved to be an adult bird, very white, with a few 

 small dark markings on the wings and head. The date we believe 

 to be late for a visit of this fine bird. R. and T. HENDERSON, 

 Dunrossness. [A Snowy Owl visited the island of Rousay, Orkney, 

 on the loth of April last. EDS.] 



The Bean and Pink -footed Geese as Scottish Birds. We 

 observe with surprise and regret that in the new fourth edition of 

 Morris' " British Game Birds and Wild Fowl," which has been 

 " entirely revised and brought up to date " by Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier, 

 F.Z.S., the old statements are reproduced regarding the breeding 

 of both the Bean and Pink-Footed Geese (Anser segetum and 

 brachyrhynchus) in Scotland. In the present advanced state of our 

 knowledge of the British avifauna, the repetition of such entirely 

 erroneous and misleading statements is greatly to be deplored. It 

 is quite needless to state that neither species has ever been detected 

 breeding within the British area. 



The Stock Dove nesting- in Peeblesshire. The fact may be 

 worth recording that we have now the Stock Dove (Columba cenas) as a 

 breeding species in the north-west of this county. On the 6th of 

 May last I had the pleasure of examining two nests in the policies of 

 Lamancha House. The first nest seen was in a spruce about eight 

 feet from the ground, and contained two eggs much incubated. It 

 was close to the trunk of the tree, but was otherwise quite open, and 

 seemed to be merely an old flattened nest of the blackbird, which did 

 not appear to have been added to in any way by the new occupant. 

 The other nest was a normal one in the hollow of an old stump, 

 and in it were two half-grown young birds. The gamekeeper and 

 gardener at Lamancha state that the birds were first heard at that 

 place about two years ago. T. G. LAIDLAW, Edinburgh. 



Remains of the Great Auk in the Edinburgh Museum. The 

 recent acquisition of a stuffed specimen of the Great Auk by the 

 Natural History Department of the Edinburgh Museum of Science 

 and Art seems to afford a fitting opportunity for laying an enumera- 

 tion of the series of relics of this extinct bird now in the Museum 

 before the readers of the " Annals of Scottish Natural History." 



EGGS. Two exceedingly fine examples noticed by Feilden in the 

 "Ibis" for 1869, p. 358, and figured by Symington Grieve in his 

 work "The Great Auk " (London, 1885). These eggs 'were contained 

 in the " Dufresne " collection of natural history specimens purchased 

 by the University in 1819. When the University Natural History 

 Museum was transferred to the Government in 1855, the Great Auk 

 eggs became national property along with the rest of the collections. 



DETACHED BONES. A cranium, a sternum, several vertebras and 

 ribs, also several limb bones. These bones are from the collection 

 made by Professor Milne in 1874 at Funk Island, and were pur- 

 chased in 1876 from Mr. Edward Gerrard for i : 55. 



