98 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE PERTHSHIRE SOCTETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. 
particular flight. Another rarity for the district is the 
Waxwing, or, as it is often called, the Bohemian Waxwing 
or Chatterer-one, out of a small flock of seven or eight 
birds, having been got at Seggieden, on the 29th of 
January of this present year. These were feeding on the 
berry of the holly, in company with the Redwing. So 
beautiful is this bird that Mr Gould describes it as one of 
the most singular and chastily-plumaged bird of the British 
Islands. Apropos to the attachment of “ Bohemian ” 
to the name of this bird, Mr Yarrell, in the second 
edition of his “ British Birds,” says it is not more 
common in Bohemia than it is in England. Though 
I have never heard it explained, I do not myself 
believe that the term ever had its origin in its being found 
in Bohemia, more than anywhere else, but that early 
authors so named it from the French term bohemien, as 
synonymous with gipsy, for which the country of Bohemia 
has ever been famous—a signification which would be well 
applied to the Waxwing, a wanderer, of no regular 
passage, appearing only at uncertain times and periods, no 
one exactly knowing whence. It was not till within the 
last few years, in 1856, that its native country was ever 
known with any certainty,—its breeding-place and mode 
of nidification being previously merely guessed at,—and it 
was entirely due to the unwearied researches of the late 
Mr John Wolley, in Lapland, in the year mentioned, that 
the discovery of the nests and breeding grounds put ornitho¬ 
logists for the first time in possession of full particulars 
respecting these points. The Great Grey Shrike, or 
Butcher Bird, though not so scarce as the last, is still far 
from being a common species in the county. Its occur¬ 
rence, however, has from time to time been noticed, and 
scarcely a season passes but it shows itself somewhere in 
the district. A very fine female specimen of this species 
was sent from Murthly, having been shot in that locality 
for the Society’s collection in March of last year. Mr J. 
G. Millais informs me that only very lately he saw 
another fine example of this bird in the same neighbour¬ 
hood, sitting on a whin bush out in the open. In the 
neighbourhood of Geneva, where the Great Shrike used to 
be common, I have seen it for hours perched on the ex¬ 
tremity of some decayed branch—a habit peculiar to this 
species, and from whence comes its specific name, excubi- 
tor : a sentinel. There it sits in erect attitude, with its 
white breast and light ash-coloured plumage shining in the 
full sun, like some bright speck against the darker foliage, 
and from thence it sallies forth in pursuit of beetles, or any 
thing which may happen to pass—be it mouse or small 
bird—which, when captured, it affixes to some thorn, 
or jambs into a fork of a branch, so as to enable 
it to tear the prey into small pieces. What remains 
is hung up and impaled, and left for another occasion 
—this slaughtering propensity obtaining for it the not 
inappropriate generic name of Lanius or butcher. It 
would take too long to dwell further on all the speci¬ 
mens deserving of remark. I will, therefore, merely men¬ 
tion the names of only a few others, which may be consi¬ 
dered as the more valuable contributions, such as the Bar- 
naele Goose, from the River Tay; Brent Goose, from Meth- 
venLoch; Canada Goose, from a loch at Fincastle (as this 
last is frequently kept in confinement, it is difficult to say 
whether it may have been truly wild, or a mere escape); 
the Pintail Duck, from the lower Tay; the Shoveller, from 
Metbven, where it is now ascertained to breed; the Ful¬ 
mar-Petrel, the Stormy Petrel, Little Auk, and Puffin— 
all four waifs from the sea, driven inland during the severe 
storms of late winters, and all got on the Tay, from the 
mouth as far up as opposite Scone, where one example of 
the Puffin was picked up in a dying state. In my con¬ 
cluding remarks on the birds I must not omit adding the 
Whimbrel and Grey-Plover—both rare, though pretty 
regular in their visits to the lower part of the district dur¬ 
ing the autumn and spring passages; and last, though not 
least, the Black-tailed Godwit. This specimen was pre¬ 
sented by one of our own members, Mr Horace Skeete, and 
was shot by his father on the estate of Freeland as far back 
as the year 1810, and not having quite completed its winter 
plumage, it is probably an autumn bird. This fine example; 
which is in beautiful preservation, is of much interest, as 
being, so far as I am aware, the first recorded as shot in 
Perthshire, while its congener, the Bar-tailed Godwit, is 
by no means uncommon in the autumn and winter months 
on the lower Tay. The Black-tailed Godwit was once not 
uncommon in the feus of Lincolnshire, where it regularly 
bred. This the Bar-tailed does not do in this country, going 
further north. Possibly, now that the attention of the 
Society has been drawn to the working up of the ornitho¬ 
logy of the county, the Black-tailed Godwit may prove not 
so rare to the district as has been supposed. 
Reptiles and Fish. There are about thirty-two species 
of these — eight of the former and twenty - four of 
the latter. The reptiles being so few, it should not 
be long before these are all collected. To get the 
fish, on the other hand, will require much assistance 
from those in the position to give it. The salmon, 
in its various stages as to age and season, should be 
represented. Trout from various lochs and rivers are 
particularly in request—bull-trout, char, and grayling, &c. 
I may here mention that the carp and tench are, though 
included in the Perthshire list, not truly native, having, 
