248 TIIF, FINPUOUN HEROXRY. 



White says that the Hing Ouzel is bigger than the Blackbird; for bigger, I 

 would have it read, plumper; and it has one peculiarity, namely, that it runs, 

 and docs not hop, as most of its genus do. Its note more resembles a 

 chatter, than the chirp of a Llaclcbird, and its flight is nearly continuous, nofc 

 swift, nor desultory, and generally high; indeed it is probable that it is more 

 used to long flights than any of its congeners, and hence arises this peculiarity. 

 Many people have considered that it is but a variety of the Common 

 Blackbird, but, although strikingly similar in general appearance, when examined 

 in the hand, the distinction is very obvious; there is a vast deal of gray in 

 the plumage, every feather almost having an edging of that hue, and this is a 

 good deal mingled with brown in the hen birds, whilst some of the cocks, 

 from the pure white of the crescent on the breast, and the blackness of the 

 rest of the plumage, are very pretty birds. There is no doubt that if the 

 Ring Ouzel is common in any country, that is not Great Britain; for, although 

 it has been said to breed in Korth Devon, I have never been able to meet 

 with direct evidence. All the Thrush kind flock in autumn, and hence they 

 are with us for a longer period at that season because food is more plentiful; 

 indeed, as I have elsewhere observed, it is the food which operates more 

 than anything on the habits, and appearance, and temper of birds; and by 

 that standard^ in my opinion, they can only safely be classed. 



hondon. 



THE FINDHORN HEROXRY. 



BY J. LOXGMUIR, ESQ., JUN. 



A ITrronry is a most interesting sight to an ornithologist, and one of 

 the best in Scotland — rather, in Britain — is the Findhorn ITeronry. Living 

 for a short time in Forres, which is between four and five miles distant 

 from it, the writer determined to see it; and, accompanied by a young friend, 

 Mr. II. Macrae, who volunteered to act as guide, started on Monday, August 

 21st., at the hour agreed upon. Passing through the west end of Forres, 

 and crossing the bridge which spans ''the burn," we turned up the Granton 

 road, the sides of which were bordered, not by unseemly stone dikes, but by 

 fresh-looking hawthorn. Occasionally a Wild Rose peeped through the leafy- 

 hedge, the foot of which was intertwined with the Yellow Bed Straw, {Galium 

 verum,) and here and there besprinkled with the bright-looking Vetch, (LatJiyrus 

 pratensis,) and its well-known cousin Vicia cracca. The strong- scented Yarrow, 

 or Nosebleed, {Achillea millefolium^ the leaf of which, loosely rolled together, 

 and put up the nostrils, ''causes, by an external blow of the finger, a bleeding 

 at the nose," contrasted well, in its stifi" erectness, with the humble tremulous 

 Bluebell of Scotland, {Campanula rotundifolia.) 



But the Hawthorn hedging and the green fields speedily gave place to the 

 Granton woods, which passed on both sides of the road. As they occasionally 



