BIRDS. 



353 



was obtained at Johnshaven during the winter of 1899-1900, and 

 Mr. J. Milne told me of the same. 



Mr. Malloch records two in his Register, and adds: "They are 

 the only ones I have seen about this quarter" {in lit., April 18, 1870). 

 One of these was shot, he says, by himself, and the other by a friend 

 — one at Buddon Ness, a male, on 3rd February 1883. 



Another is in the collection of Mr. Marshall, shot on the estuary 

 of the Tay by Mr. John Nelson, 13th February 1890. 



I do not find many announcements of its occurrence, but it does 

 not appear to be of very great rarity, if we judge of this by the 

 specimens which occupy places in many local collections. 



There are specimens in the Perth Museum, and others in Mr. 

 Frost's collection, and indeed in most of the private collections I 

 have inspected. 



In 1862 a young male was shot on the river Tay by Mr. P. A. 

 Dassouville, and was exhibited at a meeting of the Royal Phys. See. 

 Edinburgh, on January 1 1 of that year. 



Podicipes nigricollis (C. L. Brehm). Black-necked Grebe.^ 



I have always been doubtful regarding the records of this species 

 nesting anywhere within the area, and even was not quite reconciled 

 to the apparently circumstantial account given by Her Grace the 

 Duchess of Bedford of her experiences on a certain loch in Perthshire 

 (see the Field as quoted in the Strathearn Herald of 16th May 

 1903). Her G-race also wrote to me in 1905, and on account of the 

 very near view she had of the birds, which she had watched for 

 upwards of two hours at a distance of a few yards, on the 19th 

 April 1903, and of which there were two pairs, I give them place 

 here. Although seen there, however, both on the above occasion and 

 in other years by Her Grace, I cannot yet include them amongst 

 birds actually found breeding in Tay. The exact locality I prefer 

 not to divulge. 



1 I use the name " Black -necked Grebe" advisedly. So much confusion both in 

 the Latin and English synonyms of closely allied species often leads to imperfect 

 recording. 



The name '■'Eared Grebe" is apt to cause confusion with Podicipes a uW^w-s' of 

 Linnajus, which latter is the Sclavonian Grebe. And again, in the English names, it 

 may likewise be confused with the " Horned Grebe " which is also P. auritus. There- 

 fore I prefer to use "Black-necked Grebe" for P. nigricollis of C. L. Brehm, and 

 "Sclavonian Grebe" for P. auritus of Linnseus. Further, this also provides a 

 distinguishing name from the Red-necked Grebe or P. griseigena of Boddsert. 



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