BIRDS. 



271 



25tli April, which was shot in one of the Glenferaess woods, and 

 the female was seen about the mansion-house three weeks later. 



[Lanius collurio, L. Red-backed Shrike. 



The Ked-backed Shrike is stated to have been killed in Castle Grant 

 woods, on the authority of Mr. J. Webster in Dr. Gordon's Fauna 

 of Moray.'] 



Family AMPELID^. 

 Ampelis garrulus, i. Waxwing. 



The AYaxwing is a rare bird north of the Ness. Two are recorded 

 from Sutherland (Fauna of Sutherland and Caithness, p. 120), and 

 since then another was obtained by Mr. G. R. Lawson ^ on 

 January 27th, 1893, as it was feeding on the berries of a coton- 

 easter in his garden at Golspie. 



Captain Stirling writes us that a Waxwing was killed at 

 Fairburn in 1875. 



We are indebted to Mr. Hoy's notes for an early record of 

 this bird south of the Ness. ' Two were shot at Gordon Castle, 

 December 29th, 1809. A good many were seen for some days 

 past, but never observed here before those shot by the Duke 

 (Duke Alexander), as well as the following' {i.e. Crossbill, ^.r.). 



St. John mentions the Waxwing, but gives no date of where he 

 observed the bird. One was shot at Abemethy in 1860, another 



at Nairn about Christmas 1881, by Gordon, Esq. Gray 



talks of them as occurring occasionallj' in flocks in Morayshire. 



Dr. Gordon records in the latest edition of his Fauna: — 'Wax- 

 wing very abundant ; large flock in January 1869; two at Aldourie, 

 Lochness ; four seen and two killed at Glenferness, Findhorn ; two 

 killed at Dalvey, near Forres ; four seen same day at the distillery 

 at Forres ; one at Elgin ; a flock at Innes House, five miles east 

 of Elgin ' (as originally recorded in the Zoologist, p. 2769). 



Aidclach, one of the many men who have been directly influenced and interested in 

 natural-history pursuits, by the kindly and earnest tuition of Dr. George Gordon of 

 Birnie, and to whom we have been introduced, and who has greatly assisted us in 

 his district, Mr, R. Thomson is a good entomologist and botanist. 

 ^ G. R. Lawson, Esq., Town and County Bank Agent, Golspie. 



