L82 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



GARGANEY. 



QUERQUEDULA CIRCIA (Lill.). 



A male Garganey was shot by the gamekeeper at Kirkmichael, 

 in Dumfriesshire, on the 1st of December. 



SHOVELLER. 



Spatula clypeata (Lin.). 



On the 16th August, 1879, I shot a Shoveller near Keith, in 

 Banffshire; and six <or seven other Duck, which got up at the same 

 time out of the marsh, were also of this species, and probably a 

 brood. This is a species which we may expect will breed more freely 

 in this country than it has done hitherto. What effect the late 

 spring may have had in bringing this about is as yet hard to say. 

 The keeper at Keith had never seen the species before. Quite 

 probably we may have to thank the severe winter and late spring 

 for this instance of the Shoveller having bred and reared its young 

 in Scotland. Others have been recorded as occurring at Jedburgh, 

 — in May, 1878. A female shot there had an egg almost ready for 

 extrusion. It was shot by Mr. Adam Elliot, Screamerston. We 

 cannot urge too earnestly that birds which are likely to stay and 

 breed with us should not be destroved. The Wild Bird Act 

 appears to be a dead letter. 



Another Shoveller was shot at Kirkmahoe, in August, which 

 .Mr. R. Service thinks must have been bred in this country. 



POCHARD. 



FULIGULA FERINA (Lill.). 



Amongst many Widgeon, Mallard, and Teal, upon Loch Mohaik, 

 near Doune, I saw a pair of Pochards on the 22nd April, and 

 pointed them out to Mr. J. H. Buchanan, who was with me. On 

 a second visit to the same locality on the 25th May, Mr. Hamilton 

 Buchanan and Mr. John Gibson, of Edinburgh, discovered the nest 

 and eggs, which fact will be found duly recorded by Mr. Buchanan 

 in the Proc. Royal Phys. Soc, 1878-79, p. 105. 



I am favoured with the following abstract of his remarks upon 

 the nest and eggs by Mr. Hamilton Buchanan : — 



"The nest was placed among very tall reeds, and was similar to 

 a Coot's in structure. It was lined with a small quantity of down, 

 and contained six eggs, all with one exception being deeply incu- 



