192 
Tlie Scottish Naturalist. 
Hoopoe in Fyvie. — A fine adult specimen of Upupa epops was killed 
in this neighbourhood on the 26th August, and sent to me for preservation. 
This is the first instance known to me of the occurrence of this elegant bird 
here. — G. Sim, Aberdeen. 
Scops Owl in Aberdeenshire.— A fine female specimen of Scops 
giu was picked up dead, but in a perfectly fresh condition, upon the Great 
North of Scotland Railway, near Kintore, on September 2nd. This is the 
second, so far as I am aware, on record for Scotland. The first having been shot 
at Morvich, near Golspie, May, 1854, as reported by Messrs. Harvie-Brown and 
Buckley ("Vertebrate Fauna of Sutherland, Caithness, and West Cromarty," 
p. 163). The example now noted weighed two-and-a-half ounces. Extent of 
wings, eighteen inches ; beak to tail, six and-a-half inches. The stomach was 
crammed with earwigs and beetles. — Geo. Sim, Aberdeen. 
[Col. Drummond Hay recorded {Scot. Nat., vol. ii. new series, p. 365) a 
pair, male and female, shot at Scone, in May 1846. — Ed.] 
A late Scaup in the Solway, — A fine female scaup ( Fuligula mar- 
ila ) was taken not far from Carsethornon July4th,and I have had an opportunity 
of examining the preserved skin. The only explanation of such an unusual 
occurrence that suggests itself is, that the bird may have been a slightly 
wounded one that was unable to take the usual northward flight at the migra- 
tion period. — R. Service, Maxwellton. 
Sand-Grouse in Kirkcudbrightshire.— A friend tells me that he 
saw a Sand-Grouse (Syrrhaptes paradoxus) on 30th June at a place in Kirk- 
bean, which I am not at present at liberty to specify more definitely. As this 
gentleman knows the species perfectly well, having been quite familiarly ac- 
quainted with the appearance and daily habits of the birds during their mem- 
orable, but transient, visit of three years ago, I have every confidence in ac- 
cepting the statement. The bird was seen in a turnip field, and rose and flew 
to another field on my friend's approach. — R. Service, Maxwellton. 
The American Red-breasted Snipe in Argyllshire.— A fine 
male specimen of Machceramphu^ griseus, in first plumage, was shot at Pol- 
talloch, by a son of Colonel Malcolm, on the 2nd of September last. I saw this 
bird in Mr. Bisshopp's shop in Oban, where it had been sent for mounting. 
This is the third specimen of this North American species known to have 
occurred in Scotland. — W. Eagle Clarke, Edinburgh. 
The Gar-Pike in the Solway.— A Gar-Pike (Belone vulgaris) was 
brought to me in May by Mr. Marshall, fish-dealer. It was caught in a hand 
net near the mouth of the Nith. It was 33 inches long, in splendid condition, 
and weighed lib. 140Z. It was a female fish, and contained large masses of 
ova nearly ready for extrusion, and the gills and alimentary canal were infested 
by many small thread-like worms. The Gar fish is seldom met with in our 
waters, but of late years a few have been taken in the salmon nets in Auchen- 
cairn Bay. — R. Service, Maxwellton. 
