158 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



Tweed. 



Breeds regularly and in increasing numbers, chiefly a summer 

 visitor but also occurs in winter. What may be the first record of 

 the species nesting in Scotland is that of Selby, who in 1833 (///. 

 Brit. Orn., vol. ii., p. 297) says: "It has . . . been known to 

 breed in the neighbourhood of the Tweed." Mr Bolam {Birds 

 of North, and the E. Borders, p. 376) says: "The Shoveler was 

 known to breed on Tweedside in Selby's day, though probably 

 only rarely, and I fancy must have ceased to do so altogether 

 not long afterwards ; its resuscitation is worth tracing." While 

 Mr A. H. Evans in A Fauna of the Tweed Area, p. 157, writes: 

 "The instances here cited clearly show that the Shoveler has 

 occurred and has bred in the Tweed area since the early part of 

 last century, and in all probability from time immemorial, while 

 examples are obtained at all times of the year, though more 

 rarely in close proximity to the coast. The bird is no new-comer 

 to the district, though the evidence above given makes it plain 

 that the numbers are increasing, and that many additional localities 

 are being utilised for breeding sites." Referring to the above, 

 Mr Abel Chapman {British Birds (mag.), vol. vi., p. 114) says: 

 "All the same from thirty to forty years ago they were so 

 extremely rare that one might spend a decade without seeing more 

 than an odd pair, or possibly two. Nowadays they are fairly 

 distributed on most suitable mosses or loughs." 



Berwickshire, \la.s bred of late years at Hule Moss, near 

 Greenlaw {A Fauna of the Tweed Area, p. 156). 



Roxburgh.- In A Fauna of the Tweed Area, p. 156, Mr A. H. 

 Evans states that the Shoveler was known to breed at Hoselaw Loch 

 by 1876, while Mr Bolam in his Birds of Northumberhind and the 

 Eastern Borders, p. 376, writes: "On 8th April 1876, when there 

 were several others on the loch, Brotherston of Kelso received one 

 to stuff from Hoselaw, the first he had seen in that neighbourhood ; 

 but two years later it had become well established there, where it 

 has since continued to breed in greater or less numbers according 

 to the protection received. About ten years later there were quite 

 half a dozen pairs breeding on that loch (a number which has not 

 often been exceeded since, sometimes only a pair or two resorting 

 thither), and they had spread to Yetholm Loch, and several 

 neighbouring places. In 1S93 there were at least five or six 

 breeding pairs at Hoselaw, and several at Yetholm." Thereafter 

 the species spread to other localities in the neighbourhood. In 

 May 1878 a pair were shot at Samieston, near Jedburgh; the female 



