THE PINTAIL AS A SCOTTISH BREEDING SPECIES 41 
county, the female was flushed off her nest and eggs; on the 17th 
of the same month a nest was found near Hawick but within the 
boundaries of Selkirkshire. This nest contained seven eggs, five 
of which duly hatched out (4.5.4.4, 1902, p. 120). 
As far as we have been able to ascertain, the above are all the 
reliable records of the breeding of the Pintail in Scotland. There 
are two instances not so well authenticated, and these we shall 
mention under their respective areas. 
SUTHERLAND. 
An occasional winter visitor. 
In the Fauna of Sutherland, Caithness, and West Cromarty, 
p. 190, Dr Harvie-Brown writes: ‘‘Mr J. M. C. Wallis obtained a 
nest and eggs of the Pintail in 1882, on a loch in Sutherland well 
known to us, but the down and feathers having been destroyed by 
moths, the eggs can hardly now be considered perfectly satisfactory, 
although we did, on a previous examination of the down and 
feathers, declare them to be undoubted Pintail’s.” The above 
cannot be accepted as a well-authenticated record, but it would 
be well if naturalists in Sutherland kept a lookout for Pintail in 
the nesting season. 
INNER HEBRIDES. 
An occasional winter visitor. 
In 1881 Dr Harvie-Brown found a nest and eggs on Hysgelir, 
off Canna, one of the Inner Hebrides, which he identified by the 
eggs and down as being those of the Pintail (Fauna of Argyll and 
the Inner Hebrides, p. 129). Later, however, he seems to have 
entertained considerable doubt as to whether this identification 
was correct, and it has not been accepted in the newest lists. We, 
therefore, merely mention it here, though we do not consider the 
record a good one. 
NortH ARGYLL. 
An occasional visitor. 
DEE. 
Occasional visitor. 
Tay. 
Winter visitor, 
A pair were seen on a loch in the Rannoch district of Perthshire 
up to 28th April 1902 (4.5.4.4, 1902, p. 184), but the breeding 
of the Pintail in this area has not yet been established, although 
many of the lochs seem to us quite suited to its habits. 
III AND I12 F 
