The Scottish Naturalist. 8i 



Notes on the Effects of the Past Winter in the South-east of Scotland. — 



The extreme seventy and the long duration of the winter of 1878-79 will 

 be long remembered, and notes of its effects in different localities will be in- 

 teresting. Judging from newspaper and other reports of the numbers of birds 

 that have died from starvation in various parts of the country, this district, 

 so far as my experience goes, has suffered comparatively little. Although the 

 frost was not so severe, or the snow so deep, as in some localities, still it was 

 very hard, the thermometer, in the vicinity of Kelso, falling on two nights to 

 3° below zero. The effect on different species and genera of birds has been 

 very different. The great majority of those that I have dissected have been in 

 excellent condition : " pined " birds are the exception. Indeed, I have had 

 more very fat bii'ds, with fewer ' ' pined " birds in proportion, during the past 

 winter, than any previous one that I can remember. The fat appears to be a 

 provision of nature to protect them from the cold. 



Fieldfares and Redwings felt it most : they suffered severely in the early 

 part of the storm ; but very few of them died while they remained with us, 

 which was not long after the storm commenced.^ I believe they would either 

 go farther south or take up their quarters on the coast, where thei'e would be 

 something turning up for them after every tide. Wood-pigeons, for the most 

 part, fared badly; but some were to be had in good condition throughout 

 the whole winter. In the second week of February I saw numerous Cole- 

 Tits (no Blue Tits : most pi'obably they had migrated southwards) flying 

 and searching about for insects or their larva on the trees and hedges, in their 

 usual active manner. Chaffinches, Bramblings, Sparrows, and other hard- 

 billed birds, have, to all appearance at present, come through the ordeal 

 with very little loss. About the usual numbers are to be seen in their regular 

 haunts, which, to the farmer and gardener, is rather unfortunate. What 

 with the destruction of birds of prey, protective laws, &c., the great increase 

 in the number of the hard -billed birds in many parts of this district has 

 become a perfect pest. 



The following notes are from birds dissected during the winter: — Hawks 

 (Sparrow and Kestrel) were very fat ; Owls also, especially the Tawny Owl, 

 exceedingly fat. The only substances found in their stomachs were the 

 remains of mice and a few rats. The Creeper and the Skylark were in fair 

 condition in the middle of February. In the beginning of the same month, 

 a pair of Siskins, which had been feeding on the seeds of the alder, were in 

 excellent condition. Rooks generally are in fair condition. Some of them 

 commenced nesting at Ednam, Edenhall, and other places in this neighbour- 

 hood, in the end of February — the usual time — which, if they had been hard 

 up, would not have been the case until later in the season. Kingfishers, of 

 which I had four during the storm, were all fat. They were obtained on the 

 smaller burns and streams that were not frozen over. The cold does not 

 seem to have any bad effect upon them, unless, as sometimes happens, 

 they get frozen to their perch. Grouse — both black and red — in February, 

 though not fat, were in fair condition ; one, a grey hen, was obtained in the 

 beginning of the month on Tweedside, a few miles below Kelso — a long way 

 from its natural haunts (the Lammermoors, on the north— or the Cheviots, to 

 the south). It seemed to have eaten any green thing that came in its way. 

 The crop was distended with a large quantity of newly-swallowed leaves and 



^ Some of them have now returned (March 10). — A. B. ^'"y \ C>4 / 



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