APPENDIX. BIRDS. 413 



ANAS CLYPEATA [Shoveller]. 



This pretty bird is quite a rarity here. In the latter part of 

 the winter of 1837-8, which was of great severity, a mutilated 

 specimen of the shoveller was found dead amongst the rocks at 

 Blackpots. 



ANAS STREPERA [Gadwall], 



Another great rarity, so far as I am aware ; one, a female, procured 

 in the Deveron by Dr. Leslie, about the time the shoveller above 

 alluded to was picked up, is the only one I know of. 



ANAS ACUTA [Pintail Duck}. 



I remember being roused rather early one morning, many years 

 ago, by a loud knocking at the street door, and a person calling 

 at the top of his voice, " Rise, man, Tarn ! I've brought a rare 

 bird t' ye a Duke." Being awake, I immediately jumped up. 

 On seeing the bird, I was delighted to observe a beautiful In ale 

 pintail. It had been shot that night on the Deverou. 



ANAS BOSCH AS [Wild Duck]. 



Plentiful, especially in winter. Among the sandy bents almost 

 close to the ocean's verge, and on the tops of our heath-clad 

 hills and moors, I have found this species breeding ; as well as 

 on a tree about thirteen feet from the ground, and on a rock in 

 the craigs of Alvah. This latter nest was placed on a ledge fully 

 thirty feet above the water, and had eight or nine feet of per- 

 pendicular rock above it. There is a hill near here, which I 

 believe they used frequently to nestle on, but which they have 

 now quite deserted viz. Fern or Whin Hill, better known as 

 Gallow Hill. It was on this hill, or rather piece of ground, for 

 it hardly deserves the name of hill, that the celebrated free- 

 booter M'Pherson finished his earthly career. It is a rough 

 and stony place where he lies, covered with heath and whin. 

 The pheasant and wild duck used not unfrequently to breed on 

 his very grave. On a small island on the Deveron stood a tall 

 old poplar. About live feet from the ground it divided into 

 two arms, one stretching upwards, whilst the other bent over 

 the river, and it is with this one that I am now concerned. In 

 1839 the Deveron, like the other rivers in Scotland, rose far 

 above its usual height, so far indeed that it reached the arm 

 of the tree alluded to, on which it deposited a good deal of 

 rubbish. A female wild duck built her nest, a few years after- 

 wards, amongst the debris thus left, and succeeded in rearing a 

 brood of thirteen young ones. Neither nest nor bird, though 

 known of by some salmon-fishers who had a station close by, 

 was disturbed. One morning the female was observed by 

 these men to leave her nest and fly up and down the water in 

 an unusual manner. Presently she was joined by the male, 

 and both disappeared beneath a bank a little above where the 

 nest was. The fishermen, who had watched them, observed the 

 female reappear alone, and, after flying up and down once or 

 twice, again settled down on the water, just belov the tree 



