﻿62 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



temporaria) I ever saw. It was fully 3 J inches in length, and 

 beautifully marked. In wet spots, at elevations of 2400 feet on 

 Ben Ledi and 2800 feet on Stuc-a-Chroin, Frogs were observed 

 by me this autumn. Under a stone at about 2300 feet on Ben 

 Ledi, I found a Common Toad {Bufo vulgaris)^ and last year one 

 was met with still higher on the cliffs of Tarmachan (Tay). 



Newts — In addition to the East Lothian localities mentioned 

 in my former paper for the Warty Newt {Molge cristata), I have 

 recently (1903) found the species in an old clay -pit at East 

 Saltoun. In April 1896 I found the Smooth Newt (Molge 

 vulgaris) in a quarry-hole about a mile east of Aberfoyle, and 

 have also noted it at Drumshoreland (1894 and 1900), Ratho 

 (1896), Bo'ness (1901), and Torry, Fife (1901). In addition to 

 the numerous localities previously given for the Palmated Newt 

 {Molge palmata), I have found it in an old quarry near Burntisland 

 (February 1896), Pass of Aberfoyle (May 1896), and Loch-a- 

 Chroin, 2500 feet altitude, adult females and young, common 

 (17th September 1906). 



AVES OR BIRDS. 



The most popular group of all is unquestionably that of 

 Birds. For one person who takes heed of other groups of 

 animals, there are scores who interest themselves in "our 

 feathered favourites," and naturally there has been a corre- 

 sponding annual crop of records — good, bad, and indifferent ; 

 indeed, the volume of records has now become so large as to be 

 quite embarrassing. The result, however, is that the Avifauna 

 of the area is well known : the list of species cannot be far 

 from complete, and the faunal status of each can be given 

 with much confidence. 



Perhaps the earliest definite record relating to the Fauna 

 of "Forth" is the reference in certain copies of Fordun's 

 Scottish Chronicle to the great numbers of " Solendse " or 

 Gannets nesting on the Bass Rock. This entry appears for 

 the first time in the abridged "Cupar MS.," written by 

 Walter Bower, abbot of Inchcolm, between 1447 and 1449/ 

 and therefore dates from the middle of the fifteenth century. 

 But the foundation stone of our bird-list may be said to have 

 been laid by the celebrated naturalist, John Ray, who visited 

 the Bass in 1661, and has left a record of the species he met 



^ Of. Skene's Historians of Scotland, vol. i. (1871), Preface. I have been 

 at some trouble to fix the date of this record, as the usual statement, without 

 qualification, that it is in Fordun's Scotichronicon gives the impression of an 

 earlier date, seeing that Fordun lived in the fourteenth century. 



