Dr Smith's Ornithological Notes. 155 



January near Elie, Fifeshire. This rare bird, though belong- 

 ing to the short-winged hawks, was much in favour with 

 the falconers in days long gone by; and as it is almost 

 the only large hawk that generally breeds in trees, our 

 Secretary, ]\Ir Eobert Gray, in his "Birds of the West of 

 Scotland," has suggested that the hawks referred to in some 

 of our old charters where gxants of land have been given 

 to churches, and the right of preserving the hawks and 

 their nests, and even the trees in which they have nested, 

 has also been reserved by the donor, were probably gos- 

 hawks, and though this bird is now very rare, it was pro- 

 bably much more common in Scotland when it was thus 

 so carefully preserved and protected. In one of these 

 charters, granted by Eoger Avenel, of lands in Eskdale, to 

 the Abbey and Monastery of Melrose, in the time of Alex- 

 ander II. (a.d. 1235), it is stated that if the hawk had 

 nested in any tree, that tree shall not be cut down in the 

 following year until it is seen whether the bird may make its 

 nest in it again. Eeference is made to the subject of these 

 and many other reservations in the preface to the " Liber de 

 Melros," published in 1827 by the Bannatyne Club, where 

 these charters are printed at length. 



(2.) Sitta Europoea, the Nuthatch. — This bird has been very 

 rarely observed in Scotland. In March 1856 I exhibited to 

 the Society one that had been shot near Dunse, and indeed 

 only one or two instances of its occurrence in Scotland have 

 been recorded altogether, although it is not impossible it may 

 have passed unnoticed in the woody districts, which it speci- 

 ally frequents. The bird is common in England, but gets less 

 abundant towards the northern counties. It is said, however, 

 to be well known both in Denmark and Sweden. The 

 specimen is a female, and was shot on the 18th of January 

 near Jedburgh. 



(3.) Hylrid Pheasant, between Thaumalia pieta, the Golden 

 Pheasant, and Phasianus Colehicus, the Common Pheasant. — 

 This beautiful bird was shot by William M'Inroy, Esq., on 

 the 27th January, at North Meols, in Lancashire, within two 

 miles of Southport. The bird was a male, and measured 

 about half an inch less in length of body than the common 



