204 T/ie Scottish Naturalist. 



ncmorum, L. ; and E. porticola, Dg., not so common; E. rupium, F., 

 Strathdon ; Helophilus pendulus, L., common; H. ti neat us, F. , Scotston 

 Moor ; Xylota lenta, Mg. , Ballater ; Syritta pipiens, L. , common ; Ortho- 

 neura Jegans, Mg., Muchalls ; O. nobilis, Fin., Aberdeen; Chrysogaster 

 splendida, Mg., frequent; C. metallina, Fin. ; and C. viduata, L., common; 

 Pipiza bimaculata, Mg., Rubislaw; Chrysotoxum sylvanuii, Mg. , Scotston 

 Moor. I may also mention, though not among the Syrphidcc, Conops quad- 

 rifasciata Dg., one from Scotston. In this list I have mentioned the place 

 of capture when I have not taken the species in any other locality ; and 

 those which I have given as common, I have noticed to be so ; others may 

 be quite as common, as I believe many are, but either I have not come 

 across them, or their numbers may have been small during these seasons, 

 for, as with Lepidoptera, I think the numbers of many species vary much in 

 different years, for in several cases, as Ascia podagrica, A. Jioralis, Rhingia 

 campestris, and Chrysomia metallina, I have taken great numbers this year, 

 on the same ground that I searched last season without seeing more than 

 one or two specimens, or perhaps not one. — W. A. Vice, Aberdeen. 



Coleoptera in Orkney.— During a visit to Orkney in the autumn of 

 1873 I observed the following beetles : — Nebria borealis, near Orphir, in 

 the same locality where I found it, for the first time in Scotland, in 1849. 

 Chrysomela fastuosa in profusion on Galeopsis tetrahit var. bifida (a plant 

 which I have not seen mentioned as the food plant ; in the south it feeds 

 on Lamium album). Chrysomela sanguinolenta was scarcely out ; a few 

 specimens got by searching its food plant, Plantago maritima. — J. Bos well 

 Sy.me, Balmuto, Kirkcaldy. 



Melolontha vulgaris.— A specimen of this, taken at Kinghorn, was 

 brought to me in May last. All the other Scottish cockchafers I have seen 

 were ill. hippocastani, so I imagine M. vulgaris is rare in Scotland. — Id. 

 [M. vulgaris occurs in Perthshire, but much less commonly than M. Iiippo- 

 castani, which abounds in some places, as at Dunkeld. I have seen Jll. vul- 

 garis commonly in Kirkcudbrightshire. — Editor.] 



Occurrence of the Little Bustard (Otis tetrax. Lin.) in Aberdeen- 

 shire.— On the 13th November a female of the above species was shot by 

 J. B. Munson, Esq., on the estate of Fingask, Old Meldrum. This is the 

 fourth on record for Scotland, one having been killed at Montrose in De- 

 cember 1833, one at St. Andrews 6th March, 1840, and one at Elgin 8th 

 February, 1861. Owing to the rarity of the bird, I thought it well to take- 

 drawings of the internal structure in situ, and also measurements internal 

 and external, the results of which, with the Editor's permission, I may lay 

 before the readers of the Naturalist at another time. — George Sim, Aber- 

 deen. 



Variety of Rook (Corvus frugileg-us).— I have had recently sent me from 

 a friend in Perthshire a curious variety of the Common Rook (Corvus 

 frugiltgus). It is of a light brown colour, the bill and feet being of exactly 

 the same shade as the feathers. It was shot near Alyth on the 7th July, 

 and is evidently a bird of this year. White and pied varieties are compara- 

 tively common, but we have never observed any record of the brown shade 

 having been obtained in Scotland or elsewhere.— J AMES LUMSDEN, jun., 

 Arden House, Alexandria, 3rd November, 1873. 



