140 Proceedings of the Royal Physic il Society. 
Lin.) got in this neighbourhood. One was killed as early as the 27th of 
October, but the other not till the beginning of January. They were 
both nearly pure white, with the point of the tail black ; showing the 
severity of the season. 
A male and female ruff {Tringa pugnax), shot in the neighbourhood of 
Carnwath in the beginning of September, were exhibited ; and a young 
male shoveller (Anas clypeata), shot near Aberdour in the end of December ; 
the keeper who killed it had never seen the bird before. Macgillivray, in 
his " British Birds," mentions that " in Scotland no authentic instance of 
its occurrence, at any season, has come to my knowledge." It has, how- 
ever, been observed once or twice since his time. Dr Smith also exhibited 
two large ducks, one killed in November last, on the coast of Mull, the 
other near Prestonpans, some weeks ago. Their unusual appearance had 
attracted attention, and gave rise to some correspondence in "The Field," 
one of the London sporting newspapers, as to the species to which they 
belonged. The birds, Dr Smith said, were undoubtedly young females of 
the black scoter {Oidemia nigra^ Flem.), the least common of our two 
scoters; and, in this immature plumage, rather puzzling birds to a young 
naturalist. Their general plumage was of a dusky brown ; the top of the 
head, from base of bill and along back of neck, brownish black ; sides of 
head below eye, of throat, and neck, grayish w-hite ; the abdomen of a dull 
grayish brown, the brown feathers being edged with white ; under tail 
coverts dark brown, no enlargement on bill, which, as well as the feet, was 
of a dusky brown colour. In one of the birds the bill was of a lighter colour 
at the nostrils. One of these birds was sent by Mr Sanderson, birdstufier, 
and the other by Mr Small, birdstufier, George Street. Through the 
kindness of Professor Allman, he was able to exhibit another immature 
specimen of this bird from the valuable collection in the Museum of the 
University. The occasional appearance of Oidemia nigra in this im- 
mature plumage has led, it is believed by naturalists, to the introduction, 
by mistake, of the Oidemia leucocephala (Steph.) among the list of 
British birds. Jenyns says, there is no good authority for considering the 
O. leucocephala as British. It is a bird of eastern Europe. 
Wednesday, February 22, 1860. — T. Strethill Wright, M.D., 
President, in the chair. 
M. Edouard Claparede of Geneva was elected a foreign member of the 
Society. 
The following donations to the library were laid on the table, and 
thanks were voted to the donors: — 
Large Map of Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. — From Lieutenant-Colonel J. 
D. Graham, U.S. Topographical Engineers. Transactions of the Zoolo- 
gical Society of London, Vol. IV., Part VI., 1859. Proceedings of the 
Zoological Society of London, Parts XXV. (1857), XXVI. (1858), and 
Parts I. and II., L859.— From the Society. The Quarterly Journal of 
the Geological Society of London, Vol. XV. Part III. No. 69, August 
1859. — From the Society. The Journal of the Royal Dublin Society, 
No. XV., October 1859.— From the Society. Journal of Geological 
Society of Dublin, Vol. VIII. Part II., 1859.— From the Society. 
