NATURE NOTES. 101 
follow an upward direction, even along the first phalange, 
until the tip is reached, where the prominence below the 
claw is covered by a pattern resembling a rather irregular 
arch. 
The opposable thumb upon the hind feet being nailless, 
the ridges are carried over the top, and nearly half-way 
down the outside of the phalange until met by the hair. 
Both species are very similar in these respects. 
This direction of the papillary ridges gives the animals a 
grasping power peculiarly suited to their needs. 
The careless manner in which my specimens have been 
dried has, unfortunately, twisted the feet, so that it makes 
it hard to judge very well of the manner in which the palm 
is folded by the grasp. The ridges are strongly developed 
in proportion to the size of the limb, but, of course, to no 
greater an extent than is necessary for the habits of the 
creature. BEATRICE 8S. WILLANS, 
SUPPOSED OCCURRENCE OF THE NUTCRACKER (Nucifraga 
caryocatactes, Linn.) NEAR ABERDEEN. 
I ative the following on the authority of Mr Robert 
Walker, M.A., Secretary of the University Court, Aberdeen, 
with whom I have lately been in correspondence. 
Mr Walker had several times heard a peculiar bird-note 
(which he describes as like “ kir-kir-kir-kir-ik”) which he 
could not identify, coming from some old and lofty trees in 
grounds on the outskirts of Aberdeen. On the afternoon of 
5th November 1898, he heard the ery directly overhead, and 
soon discovered, among the topmost branches of a beech-tree, 
some forty or fifty feet high, the bird from which it  pro- 
ceeded. He watched it carefully through a pair of binocu- 
lars, and, although at the time he had no idea what kind of 
bird it was, he was at once struck by its corvine appearance. 
As it was not particularly timid, and as he was less than 
fifty feet from the bird (directly below it), he was enabled 
by means of his powerful glasses to see its every movement. 
