Volume 9 - Electric Scotland

CONTRIBUTION TO ORNITHOLOGY OF KINCARDINESHIRE 147
B. Wings all the primaries new, the first from the outside not
exceeding one-fifth of the full growth ;
second from the outside is
longer than the preceding,
but shorter than the next ;
third from the outside, the longest in the wing,
and reaching the middle of the whitish patch
on the upper tail-covert ;
fourth and fifth as in "A."
Tail with three new rectrices, a fourth having been apparently
lost through rough treatment, for the new
feathers are very tender, and one came away as I was
handling the specimen, all the others old, and two of
them much worn and broken.
The lowest tier of outer wing-coverts new in both specimens, and
some (though not many) new feathers appearing among the old on
various parts.
MAGDALENE COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, 31 st March 1900.
CONTRIBUTION TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF
KINCARDINESHIRE.
By A.
NICOL SIMPSON, F.Z.S.
THE county of Kincardine, or the Mearns, is a maritime
one on the eastern seaboard of Scotland. It is bounded on
the north and north-west by Aberdeenshire, on the east by
the German Ocean, and Forfarshire adjoins
it on the southwest
limit. It is an irregular triangle, according to the
Ordnance Survey, with the north-east angle at the mouth
of the river Dee, the south angle at the mouth of the river
North Esk, and the west angle near Mount Battock.
The east side is
30^- miles, the south-west 1 8|- miles,
and the north-west 29^ miles, measuring in a straight
line. The distance of seaboard is
something like 35
miles. The greater portion of this coast -line is
rocky
and picturesque, and the cliffs in some places rise to a height
of over 200 feet. The area is about 383.4 square miles, or
248,195 acres, of which 1463 are inland sheets of water and
1385 are put down as foreshore. There are about 6000