BIRDS. 



desirous of having them taken by experienced hands. I believe 

 these form still an unbroken " clutch " in his collection. 



It is likewise true that with the exception of eggs which I believed 

 to be genuine (and still do so), which were obtained from Mr. Small, 

 of Edinburgh, and were taken at Duddingston Loch, near Edinburgh, 

 in 1860 or 1861, this Stirlingshire nest was the first authenticated, 

 since Weir reported the breeding of the species in the neighbourhood 

 of Linlithgow on 22nd July 1838. 



It is true also that Mr. J. M. Buchanan (now of Leny) reported 

 having shot one on or near the shores of Loch Lubnaig, in his "List 

 of the Birds of Callander " {Proc. Royal Phys. Soc.^ 1879, and see Annals 

 Scot. Nat. Hist., 1899, p. 57), and that after long searching, Colonel 

 Duthie found it again at Callander. Then Mr. Evans found it in a 

 glen behind Bridge of Allan. There remains no doubt also that it 

 hfts reached as far as Almond Bank on the Almond in Tay, via a 

 slow but natural extension by Methven and Crieff, at w^hich inter- 

 mediate localities we have abundance of evidence of its residence at all 

 seasons of the year. I could easily quote much of interest and much 

 detail, but space will hardly permit of doing more than acknow- 

 ledging the assistance afforded by several correspondents for these 

 districts along the route of its slow advances, and upon whose 

 knowledge I can rely. Both as regards negative evidence and 

 positive evidence I wish to mention the names of those who have 

 helped. The following are decidedly negative with all their evidence, 

 i.e. against its appearances after the accounts were sifted, viz. : — 



Mr. Marshall, who had collected locally for thirty years, and 

 formed a fine collection of local British birds, and to whom I am 

 indebted for a carefully drawn-up and most excellent catalogue in his 

 own MS., assured me he "had never seen nor heard of its occurrence 

 anywhere in the Tay valley . . . excepting any information which the 

 Kev. Mr. J. Alexander could give me," and to whom Mr. Marshall 

 gave me an introduction, of which more anon. (See positive in- 

 formation.) 



Information from the Blairgowrie district utterly failed in con- 

 firmation, though my correspondent there was supplied with perfect 

 coloured plates from Dresser's Birds of Europe to assist him, after his 

 repeated assurances of its presence. 



Eggs said to have been taken " near Perth " on careful investiga- 

 tion turned out something else, or were on examination believed to 

 be Chiffchaffs, and were placed in the Museum ^Wthout any further 

 authentication. 



