1336 Reptiles. 



7th. Are the lapwings migratory ? Do many arrive from the north 

 in the beginning of winter and return thither in March ? 



8th. Is there ever any influx of golden plovers into the district ? 



I have carefully perused the many excellent ' Lists of Birds ' w T hich 

 have appeared in this magazine with reference to the subject of migra- 

 tion, but I have not found much information of the kind. However, 

 Mr. Briggs, Melbourne, Derbyshire (Zool. 657), has accurately pointed 

 out the annual increase of the song- thrushes in November, and their 

 departure in spring, but the Rev. G. Gordon (Zool. 506), states that 

 this bird is a permanent resident in Morayshire, and according 

 to Professor Macgillivray, they brave the severity of a Hebridean win- 

 ter, haunting the shores, and feeding on Turbo littoreus and Trochus 

 conuloides : they are migratory in Upper Lanarkshire, and from the 

 same author I learn that the lapwing is also a permanent resident in 

 the same stormy regions. I ought to have stated that Motacilla 

 Boarula, though found here during winter, is by no means so abun- 

 dant as at other seasons, there is a marked decrease in October, and an 

 influx in March or April after the pied species appear. Mr. Briggs 

 has a note on the partial migration of the skylark and pipit (Zool. 

 657), and I feel assured that this gentleman, whose polite attention to 

 the inquiries of Mr. Jerdon regarding the song-thrush, has enabled 

 me to give additional interest to this paper, will in like manner favour 

 his fellow labourers with such notes on the subject under discussion 

 as his journal affords. 



Archibald Hepburn. 



Whittingham, Jan. 3rd, 1846. 



Remarks on a Tortoise. — Like White of Selborne, I too have my old tortoise, 

 which has been an inmate of my garden upwards of thirteen years, and this day, 

 March 4th, I find it breaking ground. One not so long resident was observed to have 

 its head above ground a week since, or about the 26th of February ; I see on re- 

 ferring to my notes that this is earlier than usual. The " box tortoise " from New 

 York, on one occasion, came out the 1st of March, but a frost setting in killed it. The 

 one now alluded to is Testudo Graeca, which seldom leaves its retreat before the middle 

 of April, it then refuses food for some time ; a crushed snail, however, it can rarely re- 

 sist. I think I have ascertained its yearly growth, as on its first appearance (if 

 watched) it will be seen that a fresh line of bright yellow has been added to the shell 

 at the junction of the marginal scales with those of the back, this seldom exceeds one- 

 sixteenth of an inch. For a certain period this may indicate its age, by counting the 

 striae or furrows ; but in very old specimens, the early markings become obliterated, 

 and like old cows, whose rin^s on the horns are worn out, they also get out of mark. — 

 W. F. L. Ross ; Topsham, Devon. 





