ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 123 



Badgers in Lanarkshire. Referring to the Badger (Meles taxus) 

 recorded from Lanarkshire in the " Annals " for October 1896, I have 

 been informed since sending that note that other two, male and female 

 respectively, have been taken in the same locality, Jock's Gill, a 

 deep ravine on the right bank of the Clyde, separating Milton- 

 Lockhart from Mauldslie Castle. The history of the female, taken 

 in the autumn in poachers' nets, is somewhat obscure, which is not 

 surprising in view of the circumstances of its capture ; but the male 

 was trapped towards the end of January by the keeper at Milton- 

 Lockhart, and was preserved by my friend Mr. Drummond Pringle, 

 Chapel, Braidwood. I am again indebted to Mr. Robert M. Morton for 

 communicating the information regarding these Lanarkshire Badgers, 

 and from the inquiries which that gentleman has made it appears 

 that those in the neighbourhood referred to who are most likely to 

 know of any introduction cannot speak to such, and are unable to 

 account for their appearance. It will be remembered that three 

 were got on the Dolphinton estate, Lanarkshire, in the two or three 

 years preceding 1891 ("Scot. Nat," vol. v. N. S. p. 36). JOHN 

 PATERSON, Glasgow. 



Great Tit in Sutherland. This is at all times an uncommon 

 species anywhere north of the Kyle of Sutherland. In December 



1895 a Tit was seen at Kintradwell by Mr. Houstoun, which, from his 

 description, was evidently a Great Tit (Parus major). It appeared 

 along with other species of Tits and Creepers. On igth December 



1896 I saw a single Great Tit on the road between Spinningdale 

 and Bonar Bridge, and this is the first actual specimen I have ever 

 seen in the county of Sutherland. T. E. BUCKLEY, Inverness. 



The Scaup Duck on Fresh Waters. This bird is stated by 

 all authorities to be almost exclusively marine in habit. I am 

 inclined to think it is often overlooked among Tufted Ducks, with 

 which it usually consorts, and which it closely resembles on the water 

 at a distance. The male bird of each shows black and white, and it 

 is only through the glass that one is able to identify the Scaup drake 

 by his silvery gray back, and white instead of yellow irides. The 

 ducks of both species are very similar in general appearance, until 

 with age the female Scaup acquires the characteristic ring of white 

 feathers on the face round the bill. Scaup (Faligula marila) 

 regularly frequent the lake sanctuary at Monreith, which is rarely 

 without one or more pairs in winter. HERBERT MAXWELL. 



Baillon's Crake in West Renfrewshire. In the middle of 

 May 1893 an example of this Crake (Porzana bailloni), which had 

 met its death through coming in contact with telegraph wires, was 

 picked up in Lochwinnoch parish, Renfrewshire, by a Mr. YVhitelaw. 

 Not knowing what the bird was, its possessor submitted it to 

 Messrs. Matthew Barr and John Craig, joint authors of a list of the 

 birds of the Ayrshire parish of Beith, adjoining Lochwinnoch, and 



