Ornithological Notes, by Robert Gray. 501 



eastern coast of Scotland, or has been overlooked. Of late years 

 it has been fonnd on the Island of Tyree, in some numbers. I 

 had previously recorded it from the Island of Benbecula, one of 

 the outer Hebrides. 



Shoveler {Anas clypeata). — A pair were shot near Jedburgh, 

 in May, 1878, by Mr Adam Elliot, Scremerston. The male was 

 killed on the 6th, and the female on the 11th of the month. I 

 am indebted to Mr Sanderson, for permission to examine both 

 birds, and have been informed that an egg almost ready for ex- 

 trusion was taken from the ovary of the female. From this it 

 may be inferred that the birds would have bred near the pond 

 where they were taken. 



Pintail Duck (Dafila acuta). — Two male specimens of this 

 handsome duck were shot at Bowhill, Selkirkshire, in the last 

 week of February. The head and neck of both were sent to Mr 

 W. Hope, taxidermist, Edinburgh, who kindly brought them 

 under my notice. A third, also a male, was shot at the same 

 place, on the 14th March. 



Common Scoter ( Oidemia nigra) and "Velvet Scoter ( Oidemia 

 fused). — With reference to my notice of Common and Velvet 

 Scoters having occurred in Scotland during the summer of 1876 

 (B.N.O. Pro. viii., p. 75), the following note relating to these two 

 species has been obligingly sent me by Mr T. H. Nelson, Coat- 

 ham, Eedcar : — " In the spring of 1877, after the main body of 

 Scoters had left for the North, there still remained on the sea, 

 east of Eedcar, a small company of Common Scoters, about 40 in 

 number, and four Velvet Scoters also were observed in the 

 vicinity of the other ducks. I was away from here until the end 

 of June, with the exception of a few days in May, when I saw 

 the birds on the sea about a mile east of Eedcar. I saw them 

 again in June, throughout July, and part of August ; and on the 

 12th of that month shot one of the Common Scoters — an old 

 male. The Velvet Scoters did not associate with the other ducks, 

 but remained two or three hundred yards distant from them. 

 They were seen at all hours of the day from day-break till dusk, 

 and were never seen to leave the water. They all disappeared 

 about the end of August, and would probably return in the 

 autumn with the main body." 



Great Crested Grebe (Podtceps cristatus). — A fine specimen 

 of this Grebe was shot at North Berwick, in the second week of 



