340 Woodcocks and Fieldfares breeding in Scotland. 



build, in the same situations, a grassy nest; and it is only on 

 the wing, or in the hand, that the female can be readily dis- 

 tinguished. The plumage of the male birds, as well as their 

 mode of flight and note, is sufficiently distinct. 



In concluding these cursory remarks, which, probably, 

 present nothing new to you, or worthy of insertion in your 

 excellent periodical, I must correct one mistake into which 

 your correspondent W. L. has fallen, in the beginning of his 

 paper. He says, without any reservation : — " There are no 

 perch north of Perth, and no minnows, but plenty of stickle- 

 backs. No pike are to be found in the streams that fall into 

 the west sea, nor in the lochs from which they flow." (p. 118.) 

 This appears rather a startling and sweeping assertion, and 

 would require more conclusive evidence than 1 have heard of 

 to support it. With respect to the perch, the sticklebacks, 

 and pike, I am not, at this moment, prepared to advance any- 

 thing in opposition to the assertion : but, as to minnows, I can 

 assure him that the fishers on the Don, in Aberdeenshire, 

 would be very sorry to be so summarily deprived of them, as 

 they abound in that river, and, as elsewhere, form the best 

 source of successful fishing for both young and old ; for he 

 that is at first ambitious of no higher game, will find it the 

 best bait for both trout and salmon ; and though frequently 

 despised as too insignificant for the table, yet they might com- 

 pete with white bait if procured in sufficient numbers. 



As pike abound in Ireland, in lochs and rivers which 

 empty themselves on all handsinto the sea, it would be a very 

 singular and remarkable circumstance, if their existence in 

 Scotland depended on the flow of the waters being to the 

 eastward. 



May 23. 1837. 



[In a postscript to the above communication, Mr. Fairholme 

 alludes to the initials only of correspondents being often at- 

 tached to articles, and remarks : — * " In the statements affects* 

 it would be well if names were always given. In theoretical 

 discussions the contrary may not be without its use, as a change 

 of opinion may be more easily adopted.'* We entirely coin- 

 cide with the justness of this observation ; and though it rarely 

 happens that statements appear in this Magazine, authenticated 

 by the initials only of parties unknown to us, yet we most 

 sincerely wish that correspondents would always allow their 

 names to appear, unless there be some ostensible reason for 

 concealment. — Ed.] 



