The Scottish Naturalist. 299 



and other fish. It breeds in Strathearn, Rannoch, and Athole. 

 In the latter place, the trees they used to occupy — a line of 

 old beeches on the Hill of Tulloch, opposite Blair — were a few 

 years ago cut down : they then took possession of some old 

 Scots firs within the castle grounds, which they still occupy, 

 but not in such numbers as formerly. In the autumn months 

 they congregate a good deal on the lower parts of the Tay ; and 

 when the tide is out, twenty or thirty at a time may be counted 

 (chiefly birds of the season), scattered over the mud-banks, 

 intent on their fishing. As the tide rises they betake themselves 

 to the old dykes which jut out into the river, where, if not dis- 

 turbed, they patiently wait till it is time to resume operations. 



BoTAURUS STELLARis, Stcph. (Bittern.) 



I think there can be no doubt but that the Carse of Gowrie, 

 no further back than the middle or the latter part of the last 

 century, — when for the greater part covered with reeds, swamps, 

 and marshes, " the land of fever and ague " (as it is known to 

 have been), — was the home of the Bittern ; but, as has been the 

 case in many parts of England and elsewhere, the Bittern, where 

 once common, has now, with the exception of an occasional 

 straggler from the Continent, nearly disappeared : these, however, 

 if left unmolested in some of the very few spots congenial to 

 their habits still existing in the district, would doubtless remain 

 and breed. A very fine and well-preserved specimen now at 

 Carpow, Mr Cuthbert, the present tenant, kindly informs me, in 

 a letter, dated ]\Iarch 1879, was shot in the neighbourhood, 

 on the Gutter-hole fishing on the banks of the Tay, immediately 

 below old Mugdrum House, in the spring, fifteen years before. 

 This would give the date of the spring of 1864, it being prob- 

 ably one of a large flight mentioned by Mr Gould as reach- 

 ing our shores in the winter of 1863-64, when, as he states, 

 " examples were killed in every part of the country, from the 

 extreme west of Cornwall to the northernmost part of Scotland, 

 and adds that years may elapse before such numbers may 

 appear again, for the slaughter of so many individuals must 

 tend to diminish the race." Another fine example, killed in 

 the neighbourhood of Blairgowrie, is now in the collection of 

 the Perthshire Society of Natural Science. I have not the date 

 or particulars of its capture, but as it was presented some few 

 years ago, it may very possibly have also been one out of the 

 same flight. 



