52 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



accounts for the presence of odd pairs of both species throughout the 

 summer in our sanctuary, which has often puzzled me. I have very 

 little doubt that the Scaup also bred in these lakes, which abound in 

 islets. HERBERT MAXWELL. 



Long -tailed Duck in Kirkcudbrightshire. On the 5th of 



November I had the pleasure of handling a fine old drake of the 

 Long-tailed Duck (Harelda glacialis] in the finest feather. It had 

 been shot the same morning near Kingholm on the Nith. Of late 

 years this duck has shown a tendency to put in a more frequent 

 appearance on the Solway Firth. But here, as elsewhere, it is 

 extremely unusual to find one on inland waters. This specimen was 

 found some four or five miles from the sea. Its abundance off the 

 rest of the West Coast contrasts very strongly with its rarity here. 

 ROBERT SERVICE, Maxwelltown. 



Long-tailed Duck in Dumfriesshire. A small but adult female 

 of Harelda glacialis was sent to me as an unknown bird from Priest- 

 side, near Annan, on i4th December 1897. The specimen in 

 question is chiefly remarkable for having a pure white neck, more 

 resembling that of a male Harelda than the neck of an average 

 female. H. A. MACPHERSON, Allonby Vicarage, Cumberland. 



Hybrid Capereaillie and Black Cock near Inverness. I was 



shown to-day, i4th November 1897, a fine specimen of a hybrid 

 between a Capereaillie and a Blackcock. The bird was a male in 

 beautiful plumage, which partook more of the Blackcock than the 

 Capereaillie, having the blue gloss of the neck of the former species. 

 The tail, which was expanded, was only in the very least degree 

 rounded. The bird was killed last month, not far from Inverness, 

 but the exact locality was not forthcoming, though -probably it was in 

 the wooded range that runs parallel with, but at some distance from, the 

 coast, and nearer Forres than Inverness. T. E. BUCKLEY, Inverness. 



Water Rail breeding near Glasgow. On 26th June last Mr. 

 M'Lachlan of Glasgow found a nest of the Water Rail (Rallus 

 aquaticus) containing ten eggs, flushing the bird off the nest. A pair 

 of adults were shot there in August, and were probably the birds 

 resident there. CHARLES KIRK, Glasgow. 



Sabine's Gull in Arran. On the 24th of September 1897 I 

 received in the flesh an immature Sabine's Gull (Xema sabinii, 

 J. Sabine) which had been sent to me by my obliging correspondent 

 Dr. Niel Fullarton, Lamlash. According to information sub- 

 sequently communicated to me by the gentleman named, the bird 

 must have been in an exhausted state, as it allowed itself to be 

 captured by a little boy, the son of Mr. Peter Henderson, Sliddery, 

 Arran. It was got on the shore at Sliddery, and died in Mr. 

 Henderson's house on the day following its capture. Dr. Fullarton, 

 referring to the Note in the "Annals" for January 1897 on Sabine's 



