46 The Scottish Naturalist. 



both your oune paines and the travelles of your friendis, for 

 provision of each kind of the saidis foules, to be now and then 

 sent to Us be way of present, be means of our deputy thesaurer, 

 and so as the first sent thereof, may meet us on the 19th of 

 April at Durham, and the rest as we shall happen to meet and 

 rancounter them in other places on our way from thence to 

 Berwick. The raritie of these foules will both make their 

 estimation the more pretious and confirm the good opinion con- 

 ceaved of the good cheare to be had there. For which respectis, 

 not doubting but that yee will so much the more earnestlie en- 

 deavour yourself to give us good satisfaction anent the premises, 

 as yee will do Us acceptable service, we bid you farewell. At 

 Whitehall, the 14th Marche, 161 7." 



From this letter it would appear that the capercaillie had been 

 one of the delicacies of the royal table during the reign of James 

 in Scotland; and it is amusing to observe the somewhat im- 

 patient directions given to have birds forwarded to Durham to 

 meet him there on a certain day, and others as he should 

 "happen to rancounter them" in his route northwards. Modern 

 taste would hardly seem to confirm the good opinion "con- 

 ceaved" by his Majesty of these birds, but their " raritie" was 

 perhaps more esteemed than the flavour of their flesh. The 

 species, as we have seen, probably continued scarce for another 

 century, and finally disappeared about the year 1758. 



It is not quite so certain that " termigantis " have ever been 

 in danger of extinction. 



The Nidification of the Tree-Sparrow.— In connection with the breeding 

 habits of this bird as- observed in Scotland, I cannot speak from personal ex- 

 perience, but in one of the eastern counties of England— Cambridgeshire — I 

 have taken a considerable number of their eggs. In that country the favoured 

 site for their nests is in the holes of pollard willows, and other trees by the 

 banks of rivers, ditches, &c. On both sides of the River Cam above Cambridge- 

 town, long rows of pollard willows extend, and nearly every one of these trees 

 contains— or at the time I was in the county, five years ago, contained — one, 

 two, or more nests of the Tree Sparrow [Passer montan us.) Mr J. Allen Barker's 

 note, therefore, on the nidification of this species in Scotland is all the more in- 

 teresting, as showing how these birds, like many other species, are influenced 

 in their choice of a nesting site by the opportunities afforded to them in different 



