from New Granada, and Thaumantis camadeva, from the Himalayan district in India.

PAPERS READ.

I.—Note on the recent occurrence in various parts of Scotland of the Rough-legged Buzzard (Archibuteo lagopus).*

By JAMES LUMSDEN, F.Z.S.

The recent N.E. gales, although destructive to life and property, have given all interested in the migration of birds something to speculate on, in the almost unprecedented number of Rough-legged Buzzards which have been driven to this country.

About the 22d of October, Mr M'Culloch, bird-stuffer, showed me a specimen of the Rough-legged Buzzard (Archibuteo lagopus), which had been sent him from the neighbourhood of Castlecary, Stirlingshire. The bird, when first observed, was in the act of eating a grouse, but flew away on the approach of the gamekeeper who saw it. In about ten minutes, however, it returned to its feast, and was shot by the man, who was waiting for it near the place.

A few days afterwards I received a letter from Mr Robert Gray, stating that four Rough-legged Buzzards had been sent that week to the bird-stuffers in Edinburgh. Those proved to be but the first of a long list of specimens which have come in from almost every part of Scotland. Even now, it is impossible to say how many have been procured, or how many may have visited this country during the past few months; but I fear that few of the birds which landed in Scotland will ever return to their native haunts. Large hawks are now, unfortunately, so uncommon in the lowland counties, that when one does appear, it is almost sure to fall to the gun or trap of some watchful gamekeeper. The present flight has extended from the north-east to the southwest; and the following is a list of some of the captures of which we have authentic information :

1 Specimen from Castlecary, Stirlingshire.

*This Paper was read in Nov. 1875, but has since been rewritten, and brought up to the present date, May, 1876.-J. L.

Many more are reported; but we give only those which, without doubt, are specimens of the Rough-legged species, as some mistakes have occurred by persons confusing this bird with the Common Buzzard (Buteo vulgaris), of which specimens have also been more numerous than usual this season. The bird-stuffers in Glasgow have received several during the last few weeks. No fewer than six were sent in from one gamekeeper in Mull, in the beginning of February. Those birds were all fine dark specimens, with the darker feathers under the wings of a bright chestnut. On the Dumbartonshire hills, too, there were an unusual number of Buzzards seen, although, fortunately, there are not many captures recorded from this district.

The Rough-legged Buzzard may, when on the wing, be distinguished from the common species, by the dark band below the wings, which is more marked in immature than in adult birds. But the latter are very rare in this country. All the specimens which have come under my notice during the present flight have been immature birds, some of them having the dark band very distinctly marked.

The food of the Rough-legged Buzzards in this country seems to have been almost entirely rabbits. The stomachs of nearly all the specimens preserved in Glasgow contained rabbit fur and small bones, sometimes mixed with bits of grass, picked up most likely when tearing their prey on the ground.

The Rough-legged Buzzard is a native of the northern parts of

the European and Asiatic continents. "In Norway and Sweden," says Professor Newton,* "it breeds in the higher sub-alpine districts, and in Lapland, even to the North Cape, is the most common bird of prey." Mr Wheelwright+ says, that in one district of Lapland more than fifty nests were destroyed during the spring of 1862. It was obtained this year by Messrs Seebohm and HarvieBrown on the banks of the Petchora. It is known in Turkey and Greece, and has been observed in Italy and Sardinia. Its nest has been taken in England, and rarely in Scotland, where it is an autumn migrant. Specimens have been obtained nearly every year, but seldom if ever in the same numbers as during the past winter.

Obs. When on the subject of Buzzards, I may read the following notice which has been kindly sent me by Mr Gray: "A very fine Honey Buzzard (Pernis apivorus) was shot at Kilberry, Argyllshire, in the end of September, by Mr Campbell of Kilberry. The specimen is a young male, and the first bird in this plumage I have ever seen." This species is uncommon on the west coast of Scotland, although it has several times been obtained, and has even bred, on the east coast.

In illustration of his paper, Mr Lumsden exhibited a series of specimens of the Rough-legged Buzzard, both mounted and in the flesh, and expressed his indebtedness to Mr Alexander Martin, Exchange Square, and to Messrs M'Culloch & Sons, Sauchiehall Street, who had lent some of them for exhibition.

IL-Notes on a few of the Tube-building Annelids.

By Mr DAVID ROBERTSON, F.L.S., F.G.S.

The few annelid tubes that I now bring under your notice may be considered fair specimens of "Homes without Hands." It is not, however, to the suitability of these "homes," or to the various wants of their occupants, that I wish to draw your attention, but to the style of architecture maintained by each species. Omitting those that secrete calcareous, chitonous, and leathery tubes, I will confine the remarks that I have to make to those which build with

Yarrell's History of Brit. Birds, 4th ed., vol. i., p. 117.
+ Spring and Summer in Lapland.

"Ibis," Third Series, vol. vi., p. 110.

grains of sand, pieces of shells, and masses of clay, held together by means of a secreted mucus.

The specimen which I now hand round, marked No. 1, probably belonging to Maldane, is chiefly or wholly composed of clay. This example is very poor, but it is the only one at present at my command. They are frequently met with, about an inch in diameter, and twice that length, on mud bottoms in the Firth of Clyde; and, although plastic, they are sufficiently firm and tough to bear considerable strain without injury. The walls of this tube are hardest next the annelid, and they increase in thickness by the action of the exudation of the animal on the clay, becoming softer and softer as they extend outwardly, until the line between the tube and the soft mud in which it lies becomes imperceptible. In the construction of this tube there is no display of ingenuity on the part of the animal: a mass of stiffened clay, with an oblong cell for the occupant, closed at one end, open at the other, and destitute of all architectural design or beauty.

No. 2, Terebella, is also a clay tube-a compact, long, smooth cylinder, well defined, alike hard within and without, and which we may therefore suppose was built from bottom to top, according to the demands of the animal. This view is strengthened by observing a ring or joint near the top; as this is not seen on other parts of the tube, we may take for granted that this addition had been in progress of completion at the time the animal was captured, differing in this respect from No. 1, where the addition appears to go on laterally. As extraneous matter enters into the composition of the tubes, these animals may be fairly looked upon as builders; and not without interest, when we consider the nature of the thin, soft material out of which the fabric has been consolidated.

"We

In Professor Thomson's report on the work of the "Challenger," which appears in "Nature" of 23d Nov., 1875, he says: sounded in 1,875 fathoms, with a bottom of bluish-grey clay, and a bottom temperature of 1° 7c., forty miles to the south-east of No Sima lighthouse. The trawl was put over, and it brought up a large quantity of the bottom, which showed the clay was in a peculiar concretionary state, run together in coherent lumps, which were bored in all directions by an annelid of the Aphroditacean group. In many cases the annelids were still in the burrows." May it not be possible that the cohesion of those

lumps of which Professor Thomson speaks, was caused by the annelid, as in the previous instance.

The examples No. 3, also Terebella, have added to their clay tubes a few chips of shells and other hard materials, as if to give support to the structure, but they do not belong to the same species.

The specimen No. 4 is too fragmentary to be determined. It is less remarkable for the order in which the materials are built, than for the selection it makes of the particular materials used. The sand, amongst which the tubes are found at a depth of 60 fathoms, is of a yellowish-green tint, and is intermixed with a few grains of garnets and black sand. The specimens of the tubes. shown are placed on the sand in their natural condition; and a decided contrast between the native sand and that of the tubes is seen. This difference of shade will be found on close examination to arise from the animal having selected from the general material chiefly those grains most brilliant and conspicuous in colour, to adorn its subaqueous habitation.

No. 5, Petta pusilla, is made up of grains of sand of various sizes, which are fitted one into another with extreme neatness, and are securely held together by clean lines of white cement, anticipating our finest specimens of rubble work.

No. 6, Pectinaria belgica (Pallas). In this the building materials are much finer, and of a more uniform size, than in the previous cases. Nothing can exceed the manner in which these grains are put together, far surpassing the finest mosaic work. In this case the interbinding cement adds greatly to the beauty and delicacy of the structure. The cement has also the priority over all art compositions, inasmuch as it sets or hardens and remains insoluble under water.

No. 7, Owenia filiformis (D'Chiagii). The tube of this animal in its entirety tapers towards both ends. The taper is longest posteriorly, and is beautifully imbricated along its whole length, each piece being selected and arranged to suit the swell and decline of the taper. There are other species that follow the same style, but differ considerably in the execution of the work; as in No. 8, a doubtful species, which is much more coarse and rugged, and has a more abrupt taper.

No. 9, probably Terebella. The style and purpose of the workwormship of the tube in this case are not easily understood,