Ii6 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



Waxwing in the Lothians. Mr. Hope, taxidermist, Edinburgh, 

 informs me that a bird-catcher caught a Waxwing with bird-lime near 

 Levenhall, Musselburgh, in November last. It lived only a few 

 days. WILLIAM EVANS, Edinburgh. 



Waxwings at Loch Lomond. In January last a flock of seven 

 Waxwings (Ampelis garrulus] were seen on one of the small islands 

 near the mouth of the Endrick, and one of them was shot. I have 

 not seen the bird, but Mr. Lees, Alexandria, tells me it is an immature 

 specimen. JAMES LUMSDEN, Arden, Loch Lomond. 



A Cuckoo in Captivity. There are so few instances, I believe, 

 on record of a Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) surviving two winters in 

 this country that the following case may be of interest. In the 

 summer of 1896 Mr. Cochrane, a well-known bird-dealer in Market 

 Street, Edinburgh, had a Cuckoo brought to him which had been 

 taken from a Meadow Pipit's (Anthus pratensis) nest in Wigtown- 

 shire. He was successful in rearing it, the principal food given 

 being meal worms, of which it soon grew very fond. Towards the 

 end of February 1897 the Cuckoo began to moult, and in a week 

 or two was in perfect plumage. It then commenced its well-known 

 call, and continued crying till near the end of July. At that time 

 it began to be restless, and evidently felt the migratory instinct very 

 strongly. It quietened down again after a time, and then began to 

 moult for the second time that year, but did not regain the same 

 brilliancy of plumage. This spring the Cuckoo is again in the 

 moult, and when I saw it at the beginning of March it was near the 

 fireside pruning its feathers. The bird is allowed full liberty inside 

 Mr. Cochrane's house, and it appears to be not at all timid. 

 CHARLES CAMPBELL, Dalmeny Park. 



Red-footed Faleon (Falco vespertinus, Linn.) in Scotland. As 

 Mr. Sim's reference, at page 251, in the "Annals" for October last 

 is apt to mislead those unacquainted with the district, may I be 

 permitted to point out that Hauxley (the locality for his second 

 Scottish example of this rare bird) is really in Northumberland, and 

 quite 30 miles south of the Border. GEORGE BOLAM, Berwick-on- 

 Tweed. 



Wild Geese migrating- at a great height. About the beginning 

 of last October I saw a lot of Geese coming in from the north-west 

 at a great height over two miles, I should think. I put up my 

 telescope to look at them, and there, right away more than two miles 

 above them, were another lot of seventeen Geese, between me and 

 the blue sky. These last were quite invisible to the naked eye. 

 They were in a straight line, one after the other ; while the lower 

 party were flying in the shape of the letter <. As I can see Geese 

 at three miles on the horizontal with my unaided eye, I calculated 

 that these Geese must have been from four to five miles high. If it 



