500 



seen at Inchinnan in June were breeding when the male was shot. A few straggling pairs may 

 also remain in the eastern counties. Sir William Jardine mentions, in his ' History of British 

 Birds,' that he saw a nest and eggs, with the female bird, that had been brought from Gullane 

 Links, in East Lothian. 



" Regarding the occurrence of the bird itself on the east coast, the Earl of Haddington 



informs me that he shot a beautiful male at Tyninghame, in February 1861 ; and Dr. J. A. Smith, 



of Edinburgh, has sent me word of a pair, male and female, which he examined, having been 



shot at Kincardine, on the Forth, on the 1st April, 1859. In December of the same year, a 



young male was obtained near Aberdour, in Fifeshire. Mr. Harvie Brown has also informed me 



that Mr. Samuel Singer, of Kincardine, has on two occasions shot the Shoveller on the Firth 



of Forth. The species is included in Don's 'Fauna of Forfarshire,' a county in which it is still 



found. The last specimen that came under my observation was shot in 1867, in the loch of 



Forfar, by one of the Earl of Strathmore's keepers. In Aberdeenshire it has several times been 



procured, as I am informed by Mr. Angus, who has given the following account illustrating how 



much may be done sometimes by earnest perseverance in tracing species correctly : — ' In the 



spring of 1856, Mr. Davidson, gamekeeper, Seaton House, shot an adult female Shoveller at the 



dam near the toll-bar at the bridge of Don. It is now in Mr. Mitchell's museum. I shot an 



adult male at the same place on 21st April, 1866. The tinting of the plumage was almost 



perfect; the stomach contained seeds, insects, and a large quantity of gravel. On 4th. of May 



of the following year I learned that two " Wigeons with braid nebs " had been shot at the dam ; 



but on calling at the house of the person who killed the birds, I was told they had been cooked 



and eaten. I fortunately found, however, the heads, which had been thrown out, and recognized 



them as female Shovellers. On the 6th, I visited the dam by 4 A.M., and had the good luck to 



rind three Shovellers, two males and a female, busy diving and feeding. By crawling behind the 



embankment on the south side of the water, I got quite close to them, and waited to get the 



birds in a line ; but they were either too far apart, or not on the surface at the same time. I 



killed one of the males with my first barrel, and wounded the female with my second; but she 



managed to escape seawards. The other male rose within ten yards ; his flight was much slower 



than that of the Mallard, and he did not rise to the same height. Though killed fourteen days 



later than the specimen shot in 1866, the male I secured on this occasion was not so far advanced 



in its breeding-plumage. Its stomach contained sand, mud, and fresh mollusks. On the morning 



of the 23rd I again visited the dam in company with my friend, Mr. Proctor, who fired two 



unsuccessful shots at the other male, which I was informed had regularly frequented the place, 



arriving at night; but after this he did not return. Mr. John Wilson, Methlic, who is an 



enthusiastic ornithologist, and who possesses a very select and neatly mounted collection of our 



local birds, informs me that he once observed this species on the lake at Haddo House ; and I 



may add that an Aberdeenshire male Shoveller, formerly in the collection of the Rev. Mr. Leslie, 



of Coul, is now in the University here.' 



" Messrs. Baikie and Heddle mention that a Shoveller was killed in Orkney by Mr. Strang 

 in 1833 ; but there appears to be no other trace of its appearance there, or in any of the 

 Shetland Islands." In Ireland, Thompson writes, " it is a regular winter visitant to some parts 

 of the island." I do not find it recorded from Greenland ; but " Mr. Baring-Gould believes that 



