234 



BIRDS. 



Only a few were got on Tay at or by the time Col. Drummond Hay 

 wrote — 1880. A pair were recorded as rarities at Ballathie, and one 

 was shot, and this was reported by Mr. Thos. Marshall {Scot. Nat., 

 vol. V. p. 260). 



Then there was a nest got with a "clutch" of ten eggs some 

 time prior to 1895, and recorded by Col. Drummond Hay (in lit. 

 to me). 



A pair were seen at the mouth of the river Dochart by Mr. 

 Holmes when fishing at Killin in, I think, 1897. 



But in the St. Andrews Museum there is one dating as long ago 

 as 1838, a female. 



In the north-east one was got and forwarded to Mr. Small in the 

 flesh, March 12, 1884 (Registers). 



Mr. W. Evans found five or six pairs breeding at Craigleith 

 Moss, Murthly, and was told by the keeper that they had bred 

 there for ten or twelve years — say as far back as 1875. 



One in Mr. Marshall's collection was shot, 19th April 1886, by 

 Mr. James Syme. 



In 1900 they bred on Tents Muir. 



And in 1904 the Shoveller is still designated as a "very rare 

 bird" in the extreme east of Forfar and the Arbroath district by 

 Dr. Dewar. But in 1905 I found it far from uncommon on the 

 further inland lochs of Eescobie and Loch of Forfar. It is un- 

 doubtedly an increasing breeding species through Strathmore and 

 elsewhere, as for instance at Methven Loch, where, Millais tells me, 

 there are about five pairs ; also at Kinnaird about two pairs ; and 

 other places, probably Lindores, Dupplin, and Meikleour, and he 

 adds : " I have killed specimens at Mugdrum and on Tents Mviir." 



Now, though we know of their nesting close to the south-western 

 boundary of our present area, viz. at localities in Forth, still it 

 remains a stranger in the breeding season, or almost so within south- 

 west Tay. It is not, however, very difficult to account for this, 

 because the lochs, with but few exceptions, are scarcely suited to its 

 requirements ; nor have the diving Ducks arrived there in any force. 

 When the Tufted Duck comes to take up house upon lochs suitable 

 for its requirements, the Shoveller is often found to follow, for the 

 A^ery good and sufiicient reason that lochs formerly unsuited to a 

 surface-feeding Duck become quite altered when the feed is loosened 

 and brought up, or floated up, to the surface. Of course it is not 

 every loch which is suited to either the one or the other, and if a 

 loch is too deep or does not contain the favourite food-supplies of 



