SB Transactions. 



had the skins of some shot in Egypt. It is a small-bodied bird, 

 not much larger than a common snipe, but it has very long slender 

 legs, adapting it for wading in little pools that abound in the 

 marshy districts which it usually frequents. It is the only bird 

 that has come my way which I consider worthy of special notice 

 on account of rarity. I have a bird here, however, that has 

 puzzled me a good deal to ascertain what it really is. I have all 

 along called it the Manx Puffin. There is a bird known by that 

 name, but it belongs to a different class. It is also called the 

 Manx Shearwater, and it is a true petrel. The bird before us is 

 described by different authors as the young of the Razorbill, Alca 

 Forda, but I cannot agree with that opinion, as I have had speci- 

 mens of it in the spring, in the most beautiful adult plumage, and 

 not a trace of the Razorbill could be seen more than is to be seen 

 in the bird before us. Sometime about the beginning of August 

 last I received from Stranraer a young Razorbill, the skin of 

 which I have here, and it shows at a glance what it is. Some 

 weeks later I received from Dalbeattie a young bird of the one 

 under consideration; and the difference betwixt it and the one 

 from Stranraer is very marked. The latter is the true RazorbUl 

 in spring plumage. Montaigne considered the other to be a dis- 

 tinct species, and gave it the name of the Black-billed Auk ; 

 Bewick also mentions the Black-billed Auk as distinct, but seems 

 to have agreed with Latham that it was the young Razorbill. 

 Before we can arrive at that conclusion we must admit that 

 the bill of the bird is further removed from the noi-mal type 

 the second or third year than it is the first year, a conclusion 

 contrary to all analogy. I shoidd like if the Society could be 

 the means of throwing some fresh light on the subject. 



1st December, 1882. 

 Mr M'Andrew, Vice-President, in the Chair. Forty-two present. 



I^ew Members. — Messrs Calderhead, burgh surveyor ; Johnston, 

 draper ; Armistead, The Fishery, Kinharvie ; W. Dunbar, High 

 Street; Dr J. Connal Wilson, Thornhill; Miss Laing, 9 Catherine 

 Street ; Miss Johnston, Catherine Street ; Miss M'Naughton ; 

 Mr Tait, tweed merchant ; Miss Gillies, Maxwelltown ; and Mr 

 W. Anderson, Netherwood. 



