ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 115 



Tufted Duck (Fuligula cristata) and Wigeon (Mareca penelope) 

 in Selkirkshire during the breeding season. — Mr. E. S. Marshall's 

 note in the "Annals" for January last (p. 46) reminds me that on 

 14th June 1889 I observed six Tufted Ducks (two pairs and two 

 fine males swimming singly) on one of the lochs in the upland 

 district of Selkirkshire between Ettrick and Teviot. Though I 

 did not see a nest (I made in fact no search), there can be little 

 doubt some of the birds had nests among the broad beds of rushes 

 which extend all along one side of the loch; indeed the behaviour 

 of the two single drakes seemed clearly to indicate they had mates 

 sitting in the immediate neighbourhood. The Tufted Duck now 

 breeds so freely throughout the east of Scotland that I have for 

 some years ceased to be struck by its presence on any of our lochs 

 during the nesting season. Beginning at the Borders and proceed- 

 ing north to Aberdeenshire, I could name over twenty lochs on 

 which it has already been ascertained to breed. The species, as is 

 well known, is a late breeder. Particulars of over thirty Scotch 

 nests and young broods are now before me, and show that laying 

 seldom begins before the last week of May, and in many cases not 

 till June is well in. 



But of much more interest to me than the Tufted Ducks on the 

 occasion above mentioned was the sight of three Wigeons, a male 

 and two females, resting on the glassy surface of the loch. As 1 

 approached, they soon began to show signs of uneasiness, and in a 

 minute more were winging their way out of sight. From this loch 

 I walked over a bit of rough and rather spongy moor to a smaller 

 sheet of water a mile or so distant, on which a beautiful male 

 Wigeon in adult summer plumage was swimming all alone. As I 

 drew near, he exhibited considerable anxiety, and when put up flew 

 round the moor in a manner which made me feel sure he had a 

 mate sitting on eggs among the heather. I at once began a diligent 

 search for the nest, but all to no purpose. I may add that I have 

 since been assured that Wigeon have been killed on a loch in the 

 same neighbourhood during the month of August. Though actual 

 proof is still wanting, the facts here stated seem to me to render it 

 highly probable that a few pairs of this interesting duck now breed 

 annually in the south of Scotland. — WlLLIAM Evans, Edinburgh. 



Pintail Ducks {Anas acuta) in the Forth District. — Mr. James 

 Robertson, Ticket Office Clerk at Larbert Station, caught a male 

 Pintail upon the railway line, about 150 yards from the station, on 

 Friday, <sth December last. lie still has the bird alive, and it has 

 become very tame. Another, a female, was shot on the estuary of 

 the Eden, in lite, by Mr. J. Lonie. It was amongst w igi on, and the 



(late of its capture was the 6th or ;th December. This species is 

 gradually increasing in numbers — or at all events tin of them 



are — within recent years upon our Scottish COaStS. It certainly 



