182 • PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



migratory fishes, on which these birds feed, had tliis year l^een 

 unprecedentedly great. 



Mr Gray read a communication from Mr John Bateson of 

 Shieldag, Gairloch, containing some ornithological notes from 

 Eoss-shire. These embraced various facts of interest, such as the 

 breeding of the Dotterel (Charadrius morinellus) on two separate 

 hills in the west, and also on Ben Wyvis, in the east of the county; 

 the nesting of the Snow Bunting on a range of precipitous hills 

 near Shieldag; the breeding haunts of two or three pairs of Golden 

 Eagles (which are strictly preserved); the permanent residence of 

 such birds as the Greenshank and Black-throated Diver; the 

 former eyries of the Osprey; and a description of the full breed- 

 ing plumage of the Ptarmigan. Mr Bateson also mentioned the 

 occurrence of the Spotted Woodpecker, Gojlden Oriole, Eedstart^ 

 Rose-coloured Pastor, Spotted Crake, Nightjar (very common), 

 Turnstone (shot in the breeding season), Pintail Duck, Smew, and 

 Pomarine Skua. The Widgeon and Pochard have both been found 

 nesting in Ross-shire, and the eggs obtained. Among birds lately 

 introduced there, the Red-legged Partridge had become established, 

 and was likely to thrive. During the reading of the communica- 

 tion Mr Gray illustrated some of the more interesting facts from 

 his own notes, and exhibited a series of Ptarmigan in various 

 stages of plumage, from the Kelvingrove Museum, which had been 

 obtained by Mr James Thomson, the curator, from Inverness-shire 

 and the Outer Hebrides. 



March 26th, 1872. 



Donald Dewar, M.D., in the chair. 



Mr Alfred Blackie was elected a resident member, and the Rev. 

 Alexander Stewart, Ballachulish, a corresponding member. 



Y 



SPECIMENS EXHIBITED. 



Mr John Young, F.G.S., exhibited a series of graptolites from 

 the Silurian strata of the Girvan valley, the specimens having been 

 collected by Mrs Robert Gray, from whose cabinet several groups 

 of fossils have already been brought before the Society. Mr Young 

 pointed out some of the principal characters of the extinct family 

 of graptolites, and the position they were supposed to hold in the 



