362 Banffshire Fauna. [APPENDIX. 
by a loud knocking at the street-door, and a person calling at the 
top of his voice, ‘Rise, man, Tam! I’ve brought a rare bird t’ ye 
—a duke.” Being awake, I immediately jumped up. On seeing 
the bird, I was delighted to observe a beautiful male pintail. It 
had been shot that night on the Deveron. 
Anas soscuas [ Wild Duck]. 
Plentiful, especially in winter. Among the sandy bents almost 
close to the ocean’s verge, and on the tops of our heath-clad hills 
and moors, I have found this species breeding; as well as on a- 
tree about thirteen feet from the ground, and on a rock in the 
craigs of Alvah. This latter nest was placed on a ledge fully 
thirty feet above the water, and had eight or nine feet of perpen- 
dicular rock above it. There is a hill near here, which I believe 
they used frequently to nestle on, but which they have now quite 
deserted—viz., Fern or Whin hill, better known as Gallow hill. 
It was on this hill—or rather piece of ground, for it hardly de- 
serves the name of hill—that the celebrated freebooter M‘Pher- 
son finished his earthly career. It is 4 rough and stony place 
where he lies, covered with heath and whin. The pheasant and 
wild duck used not unfrequently to breed on his very grave. On 
a small island on the Deveron stood a tall old poplar. About 
five feet from the ground it divided into two arms, one stretching 
upward, while the other bent over the river, and it is with this one 
that I am now concerned. In 1839 the Deveron, like the other 
rivers in Scotland, rose far above its usual height, so far, indeed, 
that it reached the arm of the tree alluded to, on which it depos- 
ited a good deal of rubbish. A female wild duck built her nest, 
a few years afterward, among the débris thus left, and succeeded 
in rearing a brood of thirteen young ones. Neither nest nor bird, 
though known of by some salmon-fishers who had a station close 
by, was disturbed. One morning the female was observed by 
these men to leave her nest and fly up and down the water in an 
unusual manner. Presently she was joined by the male, and both 
disappeared beneath a bank a little above where the nest was. 
The fishermen, who had watched them, observed the female re- 
appear alone, and, after flying up and down once or twice, again 
settled down on the water, just below the tree which contained the 
nest. After sailing about for a few minutes, she was heard to 
give “a quack,” when down went something into the water, and 
presently a young one was seen by her side. Away she swam 
with it to the bank referred to, consigning it to the charge of the 
male; after which she returned, and, having again sailed about 
for a short time, gave another ‘‘ quack,” when down came anoth- 
