68 BlKI» NuTKS FHOM EsKDALK. 



similar eggs before, and never saw tlie bird who laid them, he 

 took them to Edinburgh and showed them to Mr Small, bird- 

 stuffer, George Street, who, without hesitation, pronounced them 

 to be those of a dunlin, at the same time producing one from his 

 own collection exactly similar to Mr Beattie's specimens. A 

 short time after finding the nest the same shepherd saw a pair of 

 these birds on another part of the ground, but could not find any 

 nest. The bird who laid the eggs must either have arrived on 

 the ground, unaccompanied by a mate, or had lost him some time 

 before nesting. 



SKUAS. 



I had presented to me a very fine stuffed specimen of a very 

 rare bird in Britain, namely, a parasitic skua. It was shot at the 

 head of the river Kirtle in the autumn of 1867. A pair were 

 seen together, but only one was secured. This bird is a native 

 of the Arctic regions, and is a very rare, occasional, visitant to 

 our shores. I sent it on loan to the late Dr John Alexander 

 Smith, Edinburgh, for exhibition at a meeting of the Royal 

 Physical Society, held on 22nd January, 1868. Up till then very 

 few instances of its occurrence in Scotland had been recorded. 

 In acknowledging receipt Dr Smith wrote me as follows : — " It is 

 a fine specimen of a rare bird, although several young birds have 

 been got in England. It is the Lestris parasitica of Temminck, 

 the Lestris Buffonii, Buffons Skua, of Yarrells British birds." A 

 bird in a very weak state was seen in the parish on the river Esk 

 a few years ago which, from the description given to me, was no 

 doubt a skua, but as it was not secured the species was not 

 determined. 



CE0SSBILL8. 



Three or four years ago a small flock of these birds 

 fre<]uented the avenue for some time. My attention was drawn 

 to them when passing under a spruce fir — first, by hearing a 

 grating sound overhead, and then seeing many fir cones falling 

 to the gTOund one after another. On looking up I saw that there 

 was a fiock of these birds, and that the same thing was going on 

 on several trees. The grating sound was produced by the birds 

 extracting the seeds from the cones. They remained for several 

 days, and were so little shy that they allowed me to get quite 

 close to them and examine them with a field-glass. When the 



