io ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



Mr. E. S. Marshall records in the "Annals of Scottish Natural 

 History" for January 1893, p. 46, that he put a duck of this species 

 off her nest near Fauldonside, Selkirkshire, which he considered as 

 the first record of its having actually nested in the district. This dates 

 July 1892, and Mr. Wm. Evans, in the same journal (April 1893, p. 

 115), tells us he saw six Tufted Ducks on one of the upland lochs 

 in the district of Ettrick and Teviot, Selkirkshire, on i4th June 

 1889, and he felt convinced that the birds were breeding there at 

 that time, judging from the actions of two males which were 

 swimming singly on the loch. 



Since these notes (above given) were written, we have received 

 Mr. Wm. Evans's notes, and now include the salient points contained 

 therein. Mr. Evans writes: " In addition to the resident birds, many 

 no doubt still come from Northern Europe and winter with us. 

 During this portion of the year (autumn to spring) there is scarcely 

 a sheet of water of more than a gun-shot across on which at least a 

 few do not make their appearance for a longer or shorter period. 

 On Duddingston Loch and Linlithgow Loch, for instance, half a dozen 

 to as many as a score, or thereby, may be seen almost any day 

 from autumn to spring, some of them lingering even into May, but 

 none ever remaining, so far as I know, to breed. In the "Forth" 

 area the headquarters of the Tufted Duck as a breeding species 

 are in the counties of Fife and Kinross. In the Lothians its breed- 

 ing haunts are as yet few ; and the same has to be said of the upper 

 part of the valley. At no time of the year does it appear to be 

 common on the lochs about Callander. In the end of April and 

 beginning of May I have looked for it in different years (1892 and 

 prior) at Loch Lubnaig, Loch Vennachar, Lake of Menteith, etc., 

 without detecting one. Mr. J. J. Dalgleish informs me it is not 

 known to occur on the lakes at Tulliallan, near Kincardine on 

 Forth." 



At Kingside Loch, Selkirkshire, Mr. Evans saw six birds, as 

 already noted above, which were probably breeding there ("Annals," 

 1893, p. 115). On 2ist February 1895 Mr. D. Bruce, Dunbar, 

 told Mr. Evans "that in June 1893 he saw a Tufted Duck followed 

 by a young brood on the Spott Reservoir on the Lammermoors, 

 East Lothian. This is the first instance of the breeding of the 

 species in East Lothian that has come to my knowledge " (Mr. Evans, 

 /';/ ///.). At Bonaly Pond, Midlothian, the discovery of the nest 

 was first made by Mr. R. Godfrey, Edinburgh, from whom, partly, 

 Mr. Evans obtained the facts as follows : " In 1891 (April and May) 

 I (i.e. Mr. Evans) observed a pair on Bonaly Pond; so, it seems, did 

 Mr. Godfrey. I last saw them on 24th May ; he on 25th May. In 

 1892 Mr. Godfrey saw a pair on Bonaly Pond on 2ist May and 

 4th June ; and on 2nd August he saw ' the female with a brood of 

 eight young only a few days old.' In 1893 he noted two pairs 



