BIRDS. 



159 



possession) of " 2 eggs, Caprimulgus europceus, Dunes, Kincardineshire, 

 presented by Mr. Wm. MTier."i 



Millais writes in his notes, kindly prepared for me, as follows : 

 " Nightjars seem to breed very late in Perthshire. When grouse- 

 shooting at Murthly on August 12 I have almost annually come 

 across two pairs of Nightjars, with their young sometimes unable to 

 fly, close to the same spot — a bare patch on the open moor several 

 hundreds of yards from the trees." 



In the east of our area the Rev. Mr. M'Connochie knows of 

 several pairs in the neighbourhood of his manse and parish. Two 

 were shot last year, and two more were flushed by dogs, and he saw 

 one on a small moor in the parish, and they are heard " churring " 

 nightly in many parts. Thus it appears that they are pretty 

 generally diffused through the county. 



In the north of Fife Mr. W. Berwick adjudges its value as " not 

 very common." He adds : " I hear one often here [i.e. at Pathcondie] 

 during the night." 



Family TICIBJE. 



Picus major, L. Great Spotted Woodpecker.^ 



The Great Spotted Woodpecker can only as yet be valued here as an 

 autumn and winter visitant, of more or less regularity. It turns up 

 almost every -sWnter in greater or fewer numbers, while in some years 



^ ]MS. catalogue of the late Prof. Macgillivray's collection of eggs of British birds 

 in his own handwriting. 



On the fly-leaf, in the writing and under signature of Canon H. B. Tristram, is 

 an explanatory note as follows : ' ' This book was the property of the celebrated 

 naturalist, Mr. Wm, Macgillivray, and contains the catalogue of his collection of eggs, 

 wholly in his own handwriting. After his death his collections and catalogue were 

 purchased from his widow by Mr. J. R. Wise, from whose hands the greater portion of 

 the cabinet passed directly to me. — (Signed) H. B. Tristram, Castle Eden, Oct. 1854." 



And this has finally passed into my hands by the kindness of my good friend 

 Mr. Edward Bidwell, who got it at the sale of the late Mr. P. Crowley's collection. He 

 thought it might prove of some interest to me and to Scottish ornithologists. And 

 accordingly he sent it to me. 



- For an account of the former abundance and subsequent decrease of this bird as a 

 nesting species in Scotland generally, refer to articles by me, "On the Decrease in 

 Scotland of the Great Spotted Woodpecker" {ZooL, March 1880). 



And also a later paper on the same subject, "The Great Spotted Woodpecker in 

 Scotland" {Annals Scot. Xat. Hist., January 1892). 



But, though these papers are of general interest in the connection, there being no 

 direct references to the bird as breeding in the area of my present treatment, I only 

 refer to them thus in a footnote. 



