The Scottish Naturalist. 1 8 1 



Cynips lignicola.— This has during the present season advanced five miles 

 farther northward on the Berwickshire coast, and has now reached the confines 

 of East Lothian. The galls are now plentiful on the outskirts of Penmanshiel 

 wood and the Pease dean. A new centre of distribution has been discovered in 

 the west of Scotland, on the oaks at Underwood, near Dunoon, a villa belong- 

 ing to Mr. William Dickson, Alnwick, who has sent me authentic examples. 

 From its smoothness and durability the gall is suitable for ornamental fancy 

 work, and I have already, in the country, seen it employed, along with acorns, 

 to decorate pine-scale picture frames. I am informed that similar advantage has 

 been taken of it in London ; thus furnishing a ready means for a general disper- 

 sion of the gall-fly.- -James Hardy, Oldcambus, March, 1872. 



Corrections to List of Birds found near Rosslyn.— In sending you my 

 few notes anent the birds of Rosslyn, I made a mistake, owing to some people 

 calling when I was at work. I think the Jacksnipe ( ' Scolopax gallinula) 

 may breed on the Pentland Hills, but I have not myself seen eggs. I did so, 

 however, several times at Auchterhouse, Forfarshire, where we used to reside. 

 I never took the eggs, but have shot the young birds. That is now thirty years 

 ago.— J. W. Wedderburn, Liberton House, by Edinburgh, 4th Jan., 1872. 

 — I think Colonel Wedderburn has made two or three mistakes in his list of 

 birds found at or near Rosslyn. You have noticed the statement that the Jack- 

 snipe breeds there. I feel convinced that this assertion is erroneous, and I 

 think the same mistake is made about the Fieldfare and Redwing, the former 

 always builds in society, and I do not think there is a single well-authenticated 

 instance of this bird having bred in this country. The Missel Thrush is 

 constantly mistaken for it, and the Song Thrush for the Redwing. The 

 latter end of last October a large flock of Missel Thrushes appeared here. 

 A service tree stands in the field, about thirty yards from my garden and they 

 soon devoured every berry ; I believe there were frequently thirty or forty in the 

 tree at once. T his species is generally extremely shy and wary, but these birds were 

 quite tame. There is a large yew tree in the garden which was loaded with fruit, 

 and after they had eaten all the fruit of the service, they attacked the yew berries. 

 One day I was standing with a friend within five or six yards of the tree, and 

 in the course of a few minutes more than thirty of these thrushes came into it, 

 and took no notice whatever of us. I have no doubt that they came from the 

 continent.— Henry Doubleday, Epping, Essex, nth Jan., 1872. 

 — In looking over Col. Wedderburn's list of birds occurring at Rosslyn (Sc. Nat, 

 152), I perceive several species given as breeding there which, it strikes me, 

 require verifying. Is there not some error regarding the ioWow'mg—Fringilla 

 spinas, Turdus pilaris, T. illiacus, and Scolopax gallinula ? Touching the 

 first species I know it breeds in the forests here, but is it certain that it does so 

 in the south of Scotland? With regard to the three latter species, I am aware 

 that instances have been given of their nesting in Britain, but these on investi- 

 gation have been, I believe, not verified with certainty. Many birds in the list 

 are not mentioned as breeding, which certainly must do so wherever they occur, 

 — G. Norman, Cluny Hill, Forres, January, 1872. 



"Wild Cats.— Have the specimens of the so-called •' Wild Cats " recorded by 

 Mr. Paton as having been killed at Badenoch been verified by a naturalist ? I 

 ask this because I believe that the true Felts Cat us is now nearly extinct in Bri- 

 tain, and that the animals usually so-called are nothing more than semi-wild in- 



