BIRDS. 



267 



and is about one and a half miles south of Stonehaven. It enters 

 the perpendicular face of the cliff, which is about 150 feet high, 

 and the cave is 30 feet wide, gradually narrowing to the far end, 

 where it also comes out in the face of the cliff. It can be traversed 

 through its whole length, about 200 yards, in a boat at low water." 



There appeared a note in a recent number of the ZooJ. (July 

 1905) which is justly queried by the editor, about Rock-Doves {sic) 

 nesting in rabbit-burrows near St. Andrews and elsewhere in Fife ; 

 needless to say this is an error. 



Mr. Berwick says of this species: "Found in the rocks near 

 St. Andrews, etc., but not common." 



Turtur communis, Selhy. Turtle-Dove. 



Rare. Occasional visitant in autumn and -winter. 



Not of great rarity as observed by Col. Drummond Hay in the 

 Car.e of Gowrie {Scot. Nat., vol. iii. p. 290). 



Marked as an occasional visitor by 1877-8. One shot, 1871, at 

 Balmano, near Perth, by James Dow. "Another shot ten years 

 ago" {aud. Mr. P. D. Malloch, in lit., 24th December 1878) ; and he 

 adds: "I have it beside me now." This would therefore be about 

 1866 or 1868. 



One was obtained on 1 st October 1896 ten miles north of Blairgowrie. 

 Dr. Dewar marks it in 1904 : "Rare visitor to east of Forfar." 

 Occasional visitor in north-east Fife. Mr. AV. Berwick tells me 

 one was shot near Boarhills in August 1863. 



Order PTEROCLETES. 



Family PTEROCLID^. 



Syrrhaptes paradoxus {Fall). Palias's Sand-Grouse. 



Spasmodical. Occurring at long intervals. Sudden invasions. 



I need only to refer to such a well-known paper as Professor 

 Newton's,^ and to mention the specimens which were obtained within 

 the boundaries of Tay and Strathmore, and which he records 

 arranged, in his paper, geographically. 

 These are as follows : — 



No. 121. — Muchalls, Kincardineshire coast, two out of about 

 fifteen, 28th May 1863 {fide Sir AVilliam Jardine, aucf. Pro- 

 fessor Dickie, Edin. New Phil. Jour., p. 167). 

 ^ "On the Irniption of Palias's Sand-Grouse [Syrrhaptes paradoxus) in 1863 " [Ibis, 

 1864, pp. 18.5-222, with a sketch map). 



