NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 105 



being birch-wood, with the exception of a small fir plantation 

 near Loch Inver. They have been known to do well, however, 

 in similar situations. 



Order v. , GA LLINA E. Fam. Hi., TETRA ONI DA E, 



COMMON PAETEIDGE. 



PERDIX CINEREA, Latham. 



Common about Rosehall and Lairg. Seen at Tongue by Sir 

 W. Milner, and common also in the west at Loch Inver, and 

 along the cultivated districts of the west of Stoir. One pair was 

 seen at Inchnadamph, in 1834, by Mr Selby's party. Since then 

 they do not seem to have much increased in numbers there, as in 

 1869 there were only two pairs to be found. Of one of these pairs 

 I knew the nest, which contained fifteen eggs, an unusual number 

 so far north. The severe weather at Inchnadamph, as well as the 

 almost total absence of any kind of cover or shelter, is doubtless 

 much against their increase. 



COMMON QUAIL. 



CO TURN IX VULGARIS, Fleming. 



Mr A. G. More includes the Quail as breeding in sub-province 

 35, and says " it is thinly scattered to the very north of Scotland." 

 Amongst other records of its nesting in Caithness and Sutherland 

 I may instance the following. In the former county, Mr R I. 

 Shearer records that the Quail bred in 1860 near Ulbster, and that 

 " twelve eggs were laid and hatched : I shot two of the young, and 

 the old cock, in autumn." In Sutherland the Quail has nested in 

 the east of the county several times, and Mr T. Mackenzie of 

 Dornoch Castle writes to me, that he himself "found the nest, but 

 unfortunately after the young had been hatched. The fragments 

 of egg-shells enabled me to identify them as Quail's eggs, and the 

 young birds were seen in September following."* There are 

 specimens also in the Dunrobin Museum. 



* He -writes to me also under date of 21st July, 1874 : — " I was fortunate 

 last September in securing a deserted nest of the Quail with ten eggs, and a 

 notice of the fact in the ' Field ' elicited a statement that young Quails had 

 been shot at Brora, some dozen of miles north of this, the same season." 



