224 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



season, and in warm weather, and the " butterfly " days 

 which precede a change, they frequently make excursions 

 during the day, sometimes in numbers. I need scarcely 

 remind naturalists that the bird is not affected by light 

 to the same extent as our other indigenous species ; and 

 distributed as they are, during the breeding season, up to 

 a high latitude (70 N.) their sight is adapted to the con- 

 tinuous day of an arctic summer. When viewed through a 

 good binocular they exhibit an alertness and vivacity 

 of expression which well indicates that light has little or 

 no effect on them. On the 2ist of the present month 

 (September), in a bright sun, two birds repeatedly quartered 

 a small meadow on East Buccleuch farm, west of Clearburn 

 Loch, paying particular attention to the sides of the surface 

 drains. At the same time three birds spent the afternoon 

 quartering and requartering a small area not exceeding an 

 acre on the east side of the loch near the Hawick road. 

 The birds were most diligent, seldom resting more than a 

 few minutes. 



The birds seem to subsist principally on voles and mice ; 

 at all events, I have no information of their preying on birds. 

 No doubt this arises from the vast abundance of the voles, 

 great numbers of which are taken, particularly during nesting 

 time. To give three instances : Charles N. Dunlop, Esq., 

 of Whitmuirhill, Selkirk, informs me that twenty-nine voles 

 were removed from a nest on Hislop, and that next day 

 twenty -seven voles were found in the same place. The 

 shepherd at Dumfedling counted thirty -seven voles at a 

 nest containing ten eggs found on that farm at the end of 

 February. And Mr. Glendinning, shepherd, Howpasley, tells 

 me that he counted twenty-seven at a nest on that farm con- 

 taining ten young birds. In flushing a bird at the present 

 time it is not uncommon to find a dead vole or two at 

 the place where it rose. 



It is pretty clear from the information received that the 

 bird has during past years nested regularly in small numbers 

 in the area embraced in Eskdalemuir and the top of Teviot 

 and of its tributary the Borthwick. I particularly refer to the 

 information specified in the Schedule obtained from Craich, 

 Falnash, Hislop, and Redfordgreen in the Hawick district ; 



