278 The Birds of Ballinluig, &c. [Sess. 
much to be observed until we cross the river Almond, where 
we generally catch a glimpse of a moor-hen disporting itself 
in the slimy-like fluid of that river. MacGillivray, in his 
classic work, gives an account of a journey from Edinburgh 
to Cromarty during the month of March, and it may not be 
out of place to give an extract from it here :— 
At Queensferry, where we crossed the Forth, over whose placid waters 
gleamed from afar the white ridge of the Southern Grampians, were seen 
flocks of common and black-headed gulls, with a few individuals of the 
great black-backed species, and some ducks too distant to be distinguished. 
Between this place and Kinross were observed numbers of the more 
common small birds, partridges, and two pheasants feeding in a ploughed 
field, and a male hen-harrier, the flight of which afforded a most interest- 
ing sight. First it came skimming over a field almost close to the ground, 
then gliding along a hawthorn-hedge, now on one side then on the other, 
turned abruptly to follow another hedge, never flying higher than three 
or four yards, and lastly passed over a large ploughed field and disappeared. 
It was eight when we entered Perth, and the journey by Dunkeld and 
Blair into the Central Grampians having been performed under night, 
little could be seen, although it was clear moonlight, excepting woods and 
plantations in the lower tracks, and in the higher, hills covered with heath, 
of which the dark colour contrasted with the patches of snow that re- 
mained unmelted, with bare valleys in which not a hut was to be seen for 
several miles. 
The gulls, ducks, &c., may still be seen, but it would be a 
treat nowadays to see a hen-harrier. 
There is not much of interest to be noted until Loch Leven 
is reached. It was during one of our week-end excursions 
that Mr Laidlaw and I saw the pintail ducks there. These 
birds had not been recorded as breeding in Scotland previously, — 
and we thought it would be interesting to follow the subject 
up. Not having time at our disposal, we placed the matter 
in the hands of Mr Wm. Evans, who gives a full account of 
the nesting of the pintail on Loch Leven in the ‘Annals of 
Scottish Natural History’ for July 1898. 
We have reason to believe that these birds were somewhat 
harassed during the nesting-time for the next year or two, 
but last year they were strictly protected, with the result 
that as many as sixteen were seen at one time by a friend 
of mine last summer. 
After passing Perth, the valley of the Tay becomes inter- 
esting. We generally see common terns, swallows, house 
Boh « 
