192 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



Osprey (Pandion halicetus) near Peterhead. I have just been 

 to see what was reported to me as a Golden Eagle captured in a 

 pole trap at Ludquharn near Peterhead on the i yth May. It 

 proved to be a healthy Osprey in fine plumage, seemingly a male of 

 a year or two old : it measures 2 feet in length ; expanse of wing 5 

 feet 2 inches. The bill is black, with the base horn-blue ; the head 

 has not much of a crest ; forehead white, chin white, and the crown 

 of the head brown brown continuing over the nape. Upper 

 plumage dark, but the tail is a shade lighter and banded : across :he 

 breast there is a very distinct broad band of brown, pretty like the 

 plate in Morris's "British Birds," 1895 edition. All the rest of :he 

 under surface white, except that the long white feathers of the flank, 

 under the wings, have six or seven large brown spots in them near 

 the ends, and there are also six or seven smaller brown spots on :he 

 shorter flank feathers just under the shoulder. The bird is being 

 looked after by the gamekeeper, who fed it on rabbits after it had 

 shown no inclination to take fish. WILLIAM SERLE, Peterhead. 



Bittern at Invergarry. A Bittern (Botaitrns stellaris) was sent 

 to Messrs. Macleay, Inverness, on 2nd February 1897, which was 

 procured at Invergarry. They are very rare visitors so far north. 

 T. E. BUCKLEY, Inverness. 



The White-fronted Goose in the Solway. For the last few 

 winters there has been a noticeable tendency amongst the wild 

 Geese frequenting the Solway to increase in variety that is to say, 

 such species as the Brent (Bernicla brent (i), Pink-footed (Ans<.r 

 brachyrhynchus], and Gray Lag (Anser cinereus) have put in an 

 appearance in greater numbers than the odd birds of quite casual 

 occurrence that have hitherto been seen. Some fairly large 

 flocks of Pink-footed Geese have been observed, while on another 

 occasion a string of about a score of Brents was noted. On the 

 other hand, the Barnacles (Brenta leucopsis], which are the character- 

 istic geese of the Solway, have hardly come up to their average 

 numbers. On 23rd January I received a fine female specimen 

 of the White-fronted Goose from Carsethorn. Of course the species 

 is not rare in Britain, but has hitherto been of very considerable 

 scarcity locally ; by far the least frequent, I think, of the four species 

 of "Gray" Geese in the Solway waters and merses. It was one of 

 a party of four, all of whom would have been got, but the tide 

 turned at the moment and prevented farther approach. R. SERVICE, 

 Maxwelltown. 



Goosander and Scaup in Sutherlandshire. I took a Goosander's 

 nest this season from an island in a loch farther to the east than 

 any other recorded locality in this country. The nest was in a hole 

 in a peat bank, and contained eight eggs. The same day on which I 



