532 Miscellanea— Zoological, by James Hardy. 



in the Western Hebrides by its Gaelic name, Iolair dhubh, signi- 

 fying Black Eagle. — Robert Gray, 13, Inverleith Bow, Edin- 

 burgh, 22nd April, 1879. 



Hen Harrier [Circus cyanens). — A female of this species was 

 shot at Penicuick., on 28th March, 1879. The bird is now so 

 seldom met with in Midlothian, that its occurrence, at any season, 

 seems worth placing on record. — Ibid. 



Hoopoe ( Upupa Epops). — A fine specimen — a male — of this in- 

 teresting bird was shot near Elie, in Fifeshire, on 8th April, 

 1879, and sent to Mr Small, taxidermist, Edinburgh, in whose 

 hands I saw it a few days afterwards. — Ibid. 



Red-throated Diver {Colymbus septentrionalis). — A very fine 

 male, in full breeding plumage, was shot at Q-ueensf erry, on 3 1 st 

 March, 1879. This bird is very rarely seen in summer dress in 

 any of the Eastern Counties of Scotland. The gular patch is 

 singularly lustrous in this specimen, but I suspect its lustre would 

 have faded as the season advanced. — Ibid. 



I am informed by Mr Robert Waite, Dunse, that he has 

 stuffed the following local birds since November, 1878; a Buz- 

 zard, shot at Blackburn, in the parish of Cockburnspath ; a 

 Merlin, found on the Knock Hill about four miles from Dunse ; 

 three Water-Rails : — one from old tile clay pits near Harcarse, 

 another from Billie burn near Chirnside, and the third from 

 Kimmerghame ; likewise a Goosander from the Whiteadder 

 near Edington Mill. Mr Waite, in September last, saw a bird 

 in his garden at Maryfield, with a conspicuous ruddy back — a 

 little less than a Blackbird — which he is confident was a Red- 

 backed Shrike. He had only a momentary glance of it, how- 

 ever, and nobody else seems to have come across it. 



Motella tricirrata. — In " Proceedings," vol. vii., p. 470, I 

 recorded Motella tricirrita, the Three-bearded Rock-ling, as a 

 Berwickshire fish, which was taken by a boat's crew belonging 

 to Cockburnspath Cove, on the 8th April, 1875, in a crab-creel, 

 off the coast between Siccar Point and Redheugh. Another has 

 been obtained, April 24th, 1 879, by the same men, while fishing for 

 crabs, nearly on the ground where the other occurred. It agreed 

 in every respect, even in size, with the previous example. This, 

 which would have been a prize to a local museum, was dispatched 

 to London, where the consignee did not think it worthy of notice. 



Acherontia Atropos. — A very fine example, recently de- 

 veloped, was received in June, from Innerwick, East Lothian. 



