182 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OP NATURAE SCIENCE. 
Perth Savings Bank; Mr R. Kidston, Stirling; Mr J. 
Barbour, Blairgowrie; Mr It. Reid, Blairgowrie; Mr D. 
Cameron, Bridgend ; and Mr W. Farquharson. 
The following were nominated for election at next meet¬ 
ing :—Major Dudgeon, Depute-Governor of the General 
Prison, and Mr W. Anderson, Balhousie School. 
DONATIONS, 
The following were intimated :— 
I. Perthshire Collection. —Specimens of lead ore from Glen 
Lyon—from Mr J. Robertson, Meggemie; teal duck—from 
Mr Stewart, Kinfauns Station; specimens of marine Crus¬ 
tacea from Firth of Tay—from Mr Frank Henderson, Bar¬ 
rack Street, Dundee; thrush’s nest and eggs, and hedge-spar¬ 
row's nest and eggs—from Mr W. Duncan, Almondbank; 
owl—from Mr R. M‘Intosh, Grandtully. The following 
specimens of the Mammals of Perthshire had been received 
in response to the appeal made at last meeting:—Two 
albino specimens of the common or brown hare, shot at 
Lynedoch — from Lord Stormont [specimens with white 
spots had been seen there before, but none altogether 
white, these being very rare] ; wild cat, shot on Craig 
Vinean about 30 years ago—from Mr W. Pitcaithly, 
Inver, Dunkeld ; two rabbits — from Captain D. M. 
Smythe, yr. of Methven; two stoats, one common shrew, 
and three long-tailed field mice—from Mr D. Dewar, Re- 
mony, Kenmore; weasel—from Mr R. MTntosh, Grand¬ 
tully; otter—from Mr J. S. Cruickshank, St John Street. 
II. Index Collection. —Mineralogical specimen—from Mr 
W. Barclay, Perth, 
NOTE ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE PARROT CROSSBILL 
IN PERTHSHIRE, AND PROBABLE NESTING. 
Dr Buchanan White said that he had received the 
following note from Mr J. G. Millais regarding the parrot 
crossbills and other rare birds which were reported in the 
newspapers to have been recently obtained by that gentle¬ 
man in Perthshire :—“With reference to the parrot cross¬ 
bills, I was lucky enough to obtain five of tbem—two old 
birds, and three young. They had evidently bred some¬ 
where in the fir-woods of Murthly, as the old hen had all 
the feathers worn off her breast, showing that she had un¬ 
doubtedly been sitting on eggs quite lately. The young 
themselves, although I do not think they had been out of 
the nest more than a month, had beaks larger than the 
largest specimen of the common crossbill. There was a 
flock of about 20 of them.” Mr Millais added that he would 
present to the Museum a specimen of the parrot crossbill, 
and also the reeve recently shot by him at Murthly. He 
mentioned that among other rare birds that he had obtained 
in the basin of the Tay were the following:—Roseate tern, 
green sand-piper, ivory gull, Iceland gull, Buffon’s skua, 
purple gallinale (shot at Errol), &c. Dr White mentioned 
that, though it was stated in the newspaper paragraph re¬ 
ferred to that the parrot crossbill had not been noticed in 
Scotland before, this was not the case, as it had occurred in 
at least four places. It had not before, however, been 
proved to breed in Britain. 
REPORT OF THE DELEGATES (DR BUCHANAN WHITE, F.L.S., 
AND MR ROBERT PULLAR, F.R.S.E.) TO THE MEETING 
OE THE EAST OF SCOTLAND UNION OF NATURALISTS’ 
SOCIETIES AT DUNDEE. 
REPORTED BY DR BUCHANAN WHITE. 
As was duly intimated to each member of the Society, 
the first annual meeting of the Union was appointed to 
be held in Dundee on the 6th and 7th of June last. The 
local arrangements were left in the hands of the Dundee 
Naturalists’ Society, by whom they were admirably carried 
out. The proceedings began with a meeting of Coun¬ 
cil, at which it was agreed that each Society in the Union 
should be assessed at the rate of sixpence for every paying 
member in it, for the first year. The hope was expressed 
that a smaller assessment would be sufficient for future 
years, but in view of the important works on the Natural 
History of its district that the Union hoped to publish, it 
it was believed that none of the Societies would grudge 
this assessment even if it were necessary to impose it 
again. It was also decided that the “ Preliminary Re¬ 
ports ” on the natural history of the district embraced by 
the Union, which were to be read at the general meeting, 
should be published. 
The general meeting was well attended by members of 
the various Societies in the Union. After an inaugural 
address by the President, the reports above referred to 
were received, and as much of each as time permitted 
was read. It is gratifying to notice that members of our 
Society had a prominent position in this first meeting of 
the Union, as out of 19 reports 8 were furnished by them. 
The President of the Union also was a member of our 
Society. In the evening a very successful Conversazione 
was given to the members of the Union by the Dundee 
Naturalists’ Society. The second day of the meeting was 
devoted to excursions, one by land and one by sea, 
which were well attended and very successful. The pro¬ 
ceedings were brought to a termination by a final meeting, 
