Miscellanea, by Mr James Hardy. 515 



March 19th, I saw a pair of Cushats in a garden at Wooler, in 

 full view of the window, cropping the tops of Cabbages, among 

 the snow. They have been less numerous than usual this winter. 

 Mr John Anderson mentions that, during the winter of 1874, a 

 white Wood Pigeon was seen among a flock of Cushats at Lint- 

 law. There was another for two or three years among the woods 

 on the Marigold hills, where it was a very conspicuous object, 

 when sitting on the top of a lofty spruce fir, a place it seemed 

 to delight in. Unfortunately in the spring of 1869, it was shot 

 by a crowherd. 



Egyptian Turtle Dove, (Turtur Senegalensis) — Mr Clark has 

 at Oldhamstocks Mains, a paii stuffed, of this very beautiful bird. 

 He observed, five years since, just before Whitsunday, two of 

 them feeding in a field, which was preparing for turnips. Of 

 them he shot one, and next year two came, and he shot both, but 

 one fell among growing corn, and was not recovered. They were, 

 I am afraid, some one's domestic pets. Mr Gray, in " Birds of 

 the West of Scotland," p. 223, refers to a specimen, evidently 

 an escaped bird, which was shot at North Uist. This he now 

 learns is referable to T. Senegalensis of Capt. Shelley's " Birds of 

 Egypt," p. 218. 



Quail, ( Cotumix vulgaris). — "Recently, Mr Clark informed me 

 that Quails were not uncommon on Springfield farm, in the parish 

 of Oldhamstocks, and that they breed there. In the summer 

 evenings their call-note is a familiar sound coming from the grass 

 and corn fields. Two nests have been cut over, while mowing 

 hay ; there were about twelve eggs in the nest ; and these were 

 large for the size of the bird, and much resembled those of the 

 grouse. The birds arrive in May, and the impression is that 

 their flight is from the north, and that they are passing south- 

 wards. They fly rapidly, skimming off like a swallow, and 

 require to be shot at immediately they rise. They are occasion- 

 ally shot in the partridge season ; usually after the 7th October 

 on that farm. This being late, several of the Quails may have 

 then departed. In 1874, five or six birds were shot; in October 

 1875, two birds were started in a hedge between Branxton and 

 Thurston. In the summer, one had been heard in a haugh on 

 Cocklaw farm, near Oldhamstocks. Altogether, at least ten 

 have been shot, within the last six years, on Springfield ; and 

 during that period they have frequented the place. The fields 

 there rest on a raised platform ; the soil is gravelly and dry, and 

 lies well to the sun. On the 2nd week of September, 1874, one 

 of the Dunglass gamekeepers, when shooting partridges, shot a 

 Quail, at Whitburn on the Lammermoors. My friend Mr. 

 Archibald Hepburn remarks that the Quail has long been a sum- 

 mer visitant in East Lothian, about Birleton. Dr. Turnbull, 



