8 Transactions. 
and is very irregular in making its appearance in this country, 
many years passing without one being seen or heard of here. 
Some years ago I had one sent me which had been shot in the 
neighbourhood of Sanquhar. In the month of June I had a male 
puffin or coulterneb (/ratercula arctica) sent me from the neigh- 
bourhood of Kirkcudbright. It breeds in great numbers upon 
Ailsa Craig. In the same month I received a fine specimen of 
the golden eagle (Aquila chrysetus), trapped in Glencoe. It 
measured about three feet in length, and seven feet in the stretch 
of the wings. These birds are scarce now, even in their native 
Highlands. In September I received two oyster catchers 
(Hematopus ostralegus), which had been knocked down and 
killed, among a great many others, by a tremendous whirlwind 
that occurred upon the 5th of that month in the neighbourhood 
of the Brow Well. Many of the birds were dashed against a 
wire fence, and had their heads cut off almost as clean as if it 
had been done with a knife. Some of our small birds had their 
numbers sadly reduced by a severe winter we had some years ago; 
but they now seem as plentiful as ever. I may also add that in 
the month of August a curious specimen of the bat, taken in 
Troqueer parish, was sent tome. It resembles the common bat 
in its form and colour, but is a full third larger. I am not quite 
sure of its specific name. 
II. Notes on Local Botany for 1886. By Dr A. Davinson. 
Last year when I had the honour of addressing you I hazarded 
the opinion that it was probably the last time I would be able to 
record anything new for this district, but I am happy to say I 
have again been so fortunate as to make a few new, and I 
trust, not unimportant additions to the Flora of Dumfriesshire. 
T almost require to apologise for making so small a record the 
basis of a paper, but your energetic secretary, rightly desiring 
all papers to be of local interest, would take no denial. So far as 
the theory of this principle was concerned, I entirely concurred 
with him, but I cannot say I quite agreed with the demand for a 
practical proof of my adherence. 
The season has altogether been unfavourable for field botanists. 
The most severe of winters was followed by a cold spring and a 
tardy and inclement summer. The coltsfoot flowers opened their 
petals for a few days in the last week of March, only to close 
them beneath a fresh snowfall, and not till near the middle of 
