8 Transactions. 



that shire uiul in Inverness-shire there are still a few pairs scattered 

 throughout the country. I lately received a pair of crossbills shot 

 upon the Shambellie estate. The crossbill is a very uncertain 

 visitant to this country, many years elapsing and not one being 

 seen or heard. However, when they do come, there arc often a 

 few pairs remain with us to breed and rear their young. Their 

 nests with young birds have been taken in Dalswinton Big Wood, 

 and I have had them from Raehills and seen them in Closeburn 

 the whole season through. Their native home is in the pine 

 fore?ts of the Baltic, where they feed upon the seeds of the larch 

 and Scotch fir. Their remarkably formed bill and powerful 

 muscles of the neck are beautifully adapted for wrenching open 

 the imbricated scales of the fir cones, so that they may get at the 

 seeds. The hooded crow (Corvus Comix) seems to be plentiful 

 here this winter, as I have received several specimens from differ- 

 ent parts of the country. They are plentiful upon the Argyleshire 

 coast, feeding upon any garbage that the sea may cast up, upon 

 crabs — in fact, upon anything that offers them a meal. They are 

 very destructive of the eggs and young birds of almost every 

 species that they meet with throughout tlie country. They are 

 ascertained to breed with the common carrion crow, and I have 

 myself seen a decided hybrid betwixt the two. In the month of 

 July I was down on the Colvend coast, and I saw a small flock of 

 birds that I had never seen before in life and could not make out 

 what they were, and regretted that 1 had not a gun with me. 

 A few days after I received one of the same kind of birds, which 

 turned out to be the greenshank, which is rarely met with in this 

 district. Not long after I had another sent me, shot upon the 

 Annan Water, as far up as Dalfibble. I have not had above two 

 or three specimens of the same bird for more than thirty years. 

 This autumn I had a specimen of the solan goose or gannet 

 brought me in a very peculiar dress. The gannet is a lai'ge white 

 bird, with the points of the wings black. This one was dark 

 brown and beautifully marked with round white spots, which gave 

 it a very unusual appearance. About a month ago I received a 

 specimen of the little stint, shot at kSoutherness. The little stint 

 in its general appearance is very like the dunlin or sea mouse, 

 only it is a full third smaller and very seldom met with upon our 

 shores. In the month of April last I received a fine specimen of 

 the female badger, trapped in Dalswinton Big Wood, the only 

 one I have ever had killed in the district. In the month of 



