NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 211 



have been devoured by its cannibal kin. The remaining pair of 

 young birds, however, seemed hale and hearty, and were so well 

 cared for by the widower, that they left the nest in full plumage 

 and perfect condition about the end of June." 



Tufted Duck. — Fuligula cristata (Leach). — In the Proceedings 

 of the Royal Physical Society, vol. iv., p. 73, Mr. A. B. Herbert 

 reports having found a nest of the Tufted Duck "on a rocky island 

 in an inland lake in Fifeshire." At the February meeting of this 

 Society in 1879, Mr. R. J. Long reported a nest having been got 

 in Perthshire, and exhibited the birds and eggs. Those two 

 instances, are, so far as I know, the only recorded cases of the breed- 

 ing of this species in Scotland. I am now able to record that at least 

 two pairs of Tufted Ducks bred last spring on a small loch not far from 

 Loch Lomond. Three pairs of birds were identified by me on the 

 loch on the 29th of April, and in June I saw at least two broods of 

 young birds. I have neither eggs nor birds to shew as proof, 

 and perhaps on that account some sanguinary naturalists may doubt 

 my word. I did not see the nests, as they must have been on one 

 of the small islands of the loch, and then inaccessible, but I can 

 answer for the birds, which I saw and identified beyond doubt. I 

 trust therefore this case will be admitted as an authentic record, 

 although I produce no tangible proof. 



Sheldrake. — Tadorna cornuta (S. G. Gmel.). — In some notes on 

 the Birds of Loch Lomond, which I read to the Society in December, 

 1879, I stated that a young Sheldrake had been shot on the Loch 

 in 1877. Since then I have never heard of or seen the species 

 wild in the district; but on the 14th of June last, a dead bird of 

 this kind w r as picked up by a man on the shore, near Arden. The 

 man who found it said he had seen it alive on the loch some days 

 before. It had no shot marks, and was in very poor condition. 

 It is quite possible it might have been an escaped tame bird, 

 but it had not the appearance of one that had been in confine- 

 ment. 



Corn Crake. — Or ex pratensis, Bechst. ; and Water Rail. — 

 Rallus aquaticus, Lin. — More than usually abundant this season; 

 the latter, which is rather rare in the district, having been shot on 

 several occasions. 



Spotted Crake. — Porzana parva (Scop.). — Two Spotted Crakes 

 were shot by Sir George H. Leith Buchanan on the 10th of 

 October. This species is seldom met with in any part of Scotland, 



