CXXxiv PROCEEDINGS—PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. 
Diver (a very fine specimen), from Mr. R. MTntosh, jun.; shot on 
Loch Kennard, Grandtully. A Pigmy Curlew (a very rare bird 
in this district), shot on the banks of the Tay opposite Mugdrum 
by Mr. Roger Davidson, Kinfauns, and presented by myself. By 
Lord Stormont, a Hybrid Pheasant, between the Golden and Com¬ 
mon Pheasant—a very uncommon, if not quite an exceptional, cross. 
Lastly, a mounted specimen of a Peregrine Falcon, in the plumage 
of the first year, shot near Blairgowrie, and presented by Mr. A. 
Nicol Simpson of Mayfield, Arbroath, who, I may remark, has 
always taken much interest in the Perthshire Society’s Museum, and 
especially in the birds of the Tay Basin. As also in this class, I may 
mention a very valuable addition made to the collection of Nests by 
Mr. Wood of Freeland, by the presentation of that of a Water Ouzel, 
or Dipper, built on the dead limb of an alder. This Mr. AVood was 
enabled to get sawn off at both ends, showing a portion of the wood 
with the nest on it, undisturbed, as it was found. The nest, which 
had three eggs in it (which were unfortunately broken), was on the 
limb of a very old alder, growing in a slanting position over the water 
of the River May, near Condie Wood-foot, having evidently suffered 
from the effects of some former high flood—the end of the limb 
having been broken off, together with what appears to have been 
a considerable-sized branch, leaving only the jagged stump on which 
the nest is constructed, the latter suspended about four feet above 
the water at its then low state, and at about mid-stream, or 12 feet 
each way from the banks, high on the one side on which the tree 
grew, and shelving on the other, both sides thickly covered with 
alder, and the stream shallow and rapid at the spot. *Such a position 
is most unusual, if not unique, for though the Dipper is known 
occasionally to build on the moss-grown roots of a tree projecting 
from the banks of the stream, it seldom, if ever, makes its nest on 
the tree itself. The usual site is chiefly confined to rocks and preci¬ 
pitous places near waterfalls and other un-get-at-able spots. The 
only way of accounting for this very unusual nesting-place appears to 
be that, during a previous winter flood, some turfy matter, with long 
grass attached, became so firmly fixed and entangled on the stump 
as to have induced the birds to build on it, and, by way of deception, 
to artfully blend the materials into the nest, with some of the long 
grass hanging down, so as to give the general effect to any un¬ 
suspicious passer-by that the whole concern was only the remnants 
of some high spate, to which the May is very subject. More 
especially would this be the case, as the entrance of the nest is so 
skilfully arranged as not easily to be perceived except from under¬ 
neath, and thus not likely to attract notice unless the birds were 
seen to enter, which no doubt they would be extremely cautious in 
doing. 
REPORT OF LIBRARIAN. 
The intended additions to the Library, through the generosity of 
the Duncan Trustees and other friends, which were announced in 
last year’s Report, have now been carried out. A large and, it is 
