•256 



BIRDS. 



Goosander anywhere in Tay ; but I will not be surprised to learn of 

 a heavy addition after it becomes better established in the remoter 

 parts of the north-west. 



At the time Millais sent me his notes, he spoke of it as a "scarce 

 visitor to the Tay and Eden estuaries." 



Mergus albellus, L. Smew. 

 Occasional winter visitant. 



It usually only appears in very severe ^vinters. One, however, 

 was obtained in full summer garb on Tents Muir district, and is now 

 in the Museum at St. Andrews ; but there is no date given in the 

 list, nor in the particulars which have been furnished to me by 

 Mr. Canch. 



There is also one in the Montrose Museum which bears the 

 legend, "Capn. Wright, Eden, 1837." 



Col. Campbell claims to have seen, once only, a pair off Tents 

 Muir shore (date 1). 



In 1888 a female was shot at the Ponds, at Stormontfield, near 

 Perth, on the 20th November 1888, by Mr. John Marshall, and is in 

 Mr. Marshall's collection at Stanley. 



Another is recorded as obtained on the Tay, near Seggieden, on 

 30th November 1890. This was only the second got in Tay proper 

 to Col. Drummond Hay's knowledge, and the fifth in the whole 

 district of the watersheds as defined by the Salmon Fisheries Com- 

 mission, i.e. " extending along the shore of Scotland from the Red 

 Head to Fifeness."! But there is another — a female — given in Mr. 

 Small's Registers as sent by Col. Drummond Hay, which bears date 

 of 2nd January 1891. It may be the same? 



In 1893 one is reported from Kilgraston — a male — near the 

 Bridge of Earn, and was preserved by Mr. Malloch, of Perth, and is 

 in the Perth Museum. 



Another male was got at Crieff (Hinxman's Movements of Birds) 

 in 1895 {Annals Scot. Nat. Hist., 1896, p. 144). 



Millais records seeing a pair of Smews flying over the Lucky 

 Scaup in February 1885. He says: "These were the only ones 

 I ever saw." 



Some are mentioned as visiting the lochs around Guthrie two 

 winters ago by the Rev. Mr. M'Connochie, in his list drawn up for 

 me in June 1905 (say came in the winter of 1903-4). 



1 These boundaries were, of course, defined in the interests of the Salmon Fisheries, 

 but the general jjrinciple of watersheds is adhered to. 



