8 TRANSACTIONS. 
that shire and 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 are 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 Paehills and seen them in Closeburn 
the whole season through. Their native home is in the pine 
forests 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 Cornix) 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 the 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. Ihave 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 large 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 Southerness. 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. Inthe 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 
