364 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



last, and was sent to Mr J. Carfrae, Princes Street, to be 

 preserved. 



(4.) Hybrid Grouse, between Blackcock and Red Grouse. — 

 Two male, apparently hybrid grouse, in very fine plumage, 

 were exhibited. They show a resemblance to both parents, 

 and their size is intermediate between them ; being rather 

 less than that of the male blackcock, and 18 inches in length 

 from point of bill to middle of forked tail. The upper parts 

 of head and body are black, mottled with reddish-brown and 

 grey ; the breast is black, with slight reddish purple reflec- 

 tions ; the under parts black, mottled with red, and spotted 

 with white. The birds have the blackish bill of the black- 

 cock, and the scarlet free fringed margin of membrane over 

 the eyes, as in the Eed Grouse. 



Tail is slightly forked, and differs from Macgillivray's 

 specimen, in having eighteen feathers like the Blackcock, 

 instead of sixteen as in the Eed Grouse. 



The legs have the tarsi closely feathered all round, like the 

 Eed Grouse, there being no bare space on the back part, as 

 exists in the Blackcock ; and the feathers are as close and 

 thick as in the former. The feet are feathered for about a 

 third down the toes, whereas in the Blackcock the feathering 

 stops at the commencement of the toes, and in the Eed 

 Grouse it extends down to the claws. The toes are mar- 

 gined with pectiniform scales, as in the Black Grouse ; and 

 the claws are long, arched, and slender, like the Eed Grouse, 

 and do not resemble the shorter and stronger claws of the 

 Blackcock. The birds agree closely with the description of 

 a hybrid given by Macgillivray in his " British Birds," and 

 with those formerly exhibited (Proc. vol. ii. p. 245). They 

 were procured by Mr Aitken, farmer, Listonshiels, and had 

 been killed on the 8th December, on the Pentland Hills, 

 some twelve miles west of Edinburgh. The birds were pre- 

 pared by Mr Sanderson, George Street. 



(5.) Botaurus stellaris (Selby.) The Common Bittern. — A 

 beautiful male Bittern, now become one of our rare birds, 

 shot on the 24th January, near Balerno, in this county, 

 was exhibited. Its large membranous stomach contained a 

 couple of frogs, a large and a small one. The body of the 



