254 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 
as I am going to show that it has no title to be included as 
a British bird, and to prove that, I must quote some extracts 
from a pamphlet or paper, professing to be “A list of the 
birds that have been observed to breed in the island of 
Arran, Scotland, since the year 1835, by Dr. Martin Barry.’* 
The bird has been admitted into our lists, as most natural- 
ists are aware, on the faith of a skin labelled “ Unst., ath 
May, 1854,” in neat characters by an unknown hand, The 
mysterious interloper was lot 401, at the sale of the collec- 
tion of Mr. Troughton of Coventry, and its purchaser was 
Mr, F, Bond. I turn to the list I have just spoken of, and 
there I find the Red-throated Pipit, and at the end the 
following remarkable sentence: “I have received a nest 
with the old birds from Uist (sic), taken May 4th.” I have 
not the smallest doubt that here we have the identical bird, 
the date agreeing and the locality also, though the latter 
appears to be misspelt ; and the obvious explanation is that 
Mr. Troughton had bought it at the sale of the collection 
said to have been formed by Dr. Barry. It only remains 
for me to show that this list, of which I have never seen 
but one copy, is untrustworthy, and from the tissue of mis- 
statements contained in it I will select as follows :— 
“TI believe that this the first time the Aigle Jean-le Blanc, 
Circaetus gallicus (Vieillot), has occurred in Scotland. I have 
several times seen specimens in Ireland; the last one was nailed 
up to warn the smaller fry not to steal poultry. 
“The Great Black-headed Gull, Larus ichthyaetos, was obtained 
by myself on the island of Arran, June 5th, 1844, with the eggs. 
“It is strange to find the slender-billed Tern, Anois tenuirostris, 
breeding so far north—my pair of birds were shot on the Island of 
Arran, and three eggs obtained June 1oth, 1844.” 
® A recent, and I need hardly say, a trustworthy list of the Birds of 
Arran, with notes, appeared in 1872 from the pen of Mr. Robert Gray. 
As a matter of course the Red-throated Pipit is not admitted. 
