Ornithological Notes, by Robert Gray. 499 



passing miner, who lifted a stone and felled the poor wanderer 

 to the ground. 



Snow Bunting (Plectrophanes nivalis) . — A female in breeding 

 plumage was shot at Leith, on 24th May, 1878. This is, so far 

 as I am aware, the latest recorded stay of the Snow Bunting in 

 any part of the Lothians. 



Kingfisher {Alcedo ispida). — About twenty specimens of this 

 beautiful bird were obtained in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, 

 in the course of six weeks during the present winter. 



Stockdove ( Columba cenas). — A beautiful male bird of this 

 species was sent to me on the 12th March of the present year, by 

 Charles Watson, Esq., solicitor, Dunse. It had been shot on the 

 previous day in the woods of Dunse Castle, Berwickshire, out of 

 a flock of more than a dozen. Mr Watson informs me that those 

 birds had all left the woods in question at the commencement of 

 the storm early in December, and had only returned a week before 

 t*his specimen was obtained. The bird was in good condition and 

 its stomach contained a single bean and a few grains of rape seed. 



Capercaillie {Tetrao urog alius). — Judging from various records 

 that have reached me the Capercaillie has now obtained a perma- 

 nent hold in Fif eshire. I heard of an instance of a nest of this 

 bird having been found in a very unusual situation early in 

 August last year, viz. : — in the old nest of a hawk, built in a 

 pine tree, in a wood near Falkland in that county. There were 

 ten eggs in the nest. - 



G-reenshank (Totanus glottis). — Has been tolerably numerous 

 along the shores of the Forth during the present winter, ascend- 

 ing as far as Kinrosshire, three fine specimens having been ob- 

 tained from that part of the county which verges upon the river. 



Knot (Tringa canutus). — Knots appear to have arrived on our 

 coasts much earlier than usual last autumn, and many birds 

 reached us in full breeding dress. In a note from my friend, Mr 

 J. A. Harvie Brown, dated 4th September, he writes :— "On the 

 30th August, I saw a Knot at Grangemouth, with remains of the 

 actual summer plumage, part of the breast being of a deep ches- 

 nut. It is the first I have ever met with out of hundreds I have 

 shot, and thousands I have seen, which retained traces of the 

 summer plumage. Many, of course, have the buff breast, and I 

 take these to be the young of the year." In the same letter, Mr 

 Harvie Brown informs me that he saw flocks of Knots on that 





