394 



Note on the occurrence of the Redfooted Falcon (Falco 

 vespertinus, L.) in Roxburghshire. By William Evans, 

 F.R.S.E., etc. 



It will doubtless interest the Members of the Club, to know that a fine 

 example of this rare bird was obtained near Swinside, a few miles from 

 Jedburgh, on the 21st June, 1888, and taken the following day to Mr 

 Eobert Hope, Bird-stuffer, Jedburgh, who subsequently gave me all the 

 facts concerning it, and kindly forwarded the specimen for exhibition at 

 the meeting of the Royal Physical Society, Edinburgh, held 20th Feb. 1889. 

 Since then it has been secured by the Museum of Science and Art, 

 Edinburgh, where it is now permanently located. It is a male, probably 

 just about a year old, passing into the dress of maturity, and thus in a 

 most interesting phase of plumage. Speaking in a general way, the 

 prevailing colours are : — upper parts, dark bluish grey ; under parts, rich 

 reddish brown, mixed with light bluish grey, the whole interspersed here 

 and there by a few of the barred and striped feathers of immaturity. The 

 bird had been feeding on beetles, for Mr Hope tells me he found its stomach 

 filled with the remains of these insects. 



The Redfooted Falcon, it may be mentioned, winters in Africa and is a 

 summer visitor to the temperate regions of Europe and the adjacent parts 

 of Asia. In the central and eastern parts of the Continent it is abundant, 

 but as we proceed westwards its numbers rapidly diminish, and its visits 

 become more irregular. According to the latest authority, Saunders' 

 Manual of British Birds, only about 20 examples have been recorded for 

 the British Islands, and these mostly from the southern counties of England. 

 Northwards, the captures become more and more uncommon : and I am 

 aware of but two authentic occurrences, in Scotland, prior to the capture 

 of the specimen which forms the subject of this note, namely : — one, a 

 female, killed in Aberdeenshire in May, 1866, as mentioned in Gray's 

 Birds of the West of Scotland, and a young female in first plumage, shot 

 near Kinghorn, Fife, on 20th Sept., 1880, and preserved in the Edinburgh 

 Museum. 



New Plants for Northumberland. By Jamfs Hardy. 



1. Geranium pyrenaicum, L. 



In Messrs Tate and Baker's " New Flora of Northumberland and 

 Durham, p. 304," Geranium pyrennicum is given as a Ballast-hill plant from 

 the banks of the Tyne. Dr. P. W. Maclagan, of Berwick, writes me of 

 date August 4th, 188S, accompanying a specimen, that he found it near 

 Lowlynn. From the wet season it was very much drawn up among the 

 grass. " It is usually regarded as an alien, but at all events it is not likely 

 to be an escape." It is of old occurrence in the Edinburgh Flora, see Dr. 

 Greville's Flora of Edinburgh, p. 150, no. 6 ; and Prof. Balfour, and Mr 

 Sadler's Flora, p. 29, and earlier authorities. 



