364 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
last, and was sent to Mr J. Carfrae, Princes Street, to be 
preserved. 
(4.) Hybrid Grouse, between Blackcoch 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 
