THE NUTHATCH. 199 



Dr Saxby reports regarding the Hoopoe in Shetland that it 

 occasionally appears there in autumn. 



I am indebted to Mr Angus for the following records and dates 

 of the occurrence of this bird in Aberdeenshire, in which county 

 it has been found perhaps more numerously than in any other 

 district in Scotland: 



" A male was recently shot by the gamekeeper near the 

 mansion house of Tillery. It was very fat and deep in the moult. 

 The stomach contained worms, centipedes, beetles, and mud. It 

 was seen frequenting ditches, and its long, awl-shaped bill was 

 covered with mud to the base. Mr Sim, 20 King Street, received 

 a specimen for preservation which had completed the moult, and 

 also a male which was killed near the lighthouse two days pre- 

 viously. The contents of their stomach differed but little from 

 those of the Tillery specimen. As a local bird, the Hoopoe was 

 first made known here by Thomas Ligertwood, Esq., who shot a 

 specimen on the links of Belhelvie, near Blairton, in spring, 

 about the year 1826. A specimen in the superb museum in 

 Banchory House was shot at the gardens there in the spring of 

 1837 or 1838. In the summer of 1841 a specimen was taken 

 alive at Carnoustie, on the banks of the Deveron. At Tillyhows, 

 another was shot by Mr James Duncan in 1848; and in the 

 spring of 1852 Mr John Henderson received for preservation a 

 specimen that was killed at Kintore in 1852. Another was seen 

 at Haddo House, and described as a bird with two heads. Mr 

 Mitchell has also stuffed several Hoopoes which were killed in 

 various parts of the county." 



To these instances I may add another communicated to me by 

 Mr Angus in a letter dated 12th November, 1868: "A Hoopoe 

 was shot on 29th September last at Turriff, and sent to Mr Sim 

 for preservation. The stomach contained beetles and grubs." 



THE NUTHATCH. 



4p 

 SITTA EUROP(EA. 



I KNOW of but two recent instances of the appearance of this bird 

 on the mainland of Scotland, viz., a specimen shot in the summer 

 of 1865 near Hermiston in Haddington shire by Mr Muirhead of 

 Salton Middle Mains, and one killed in a garden near Dunse, in 



