NOR WA V 23 



' On Monday evening we found an apparently new 

 Fieldfare's nest, an empty one, in the big wood, in which 

 were a few pellets of earth rather larger than big peas. 

 Possibly the birds bring the plastering material in that 

 form.' 



In the evening I took the boat and rowed across the 

 lake to a wood on the other side. It was too late, 

 however, to see many birds, but I put four young 

 Squirrels out of a small drey on a low pollard within 

 about 10 feet from the ground. I shot two of them, 

 which, strange to say, were nearly full-grown, so that the 

 weather must have been pretty severe when they first 

 made their appearance in this world. 



When crossing ^he lake, I saw a Lesser Black-backed 

 Gull, which hovered close over the boat. 



At the other side I got a glimpse of a very romantic 

 little burn running between perpendicular rocks about 

 60 feet high, with a considerable body of water. 



Since yesterday there is more (certainly no less) than 

 a foot of difference in the depth of the lake. The boat 

 was high and dry yesterday, and to-day it was lying though 

 not floating in at least a foot of water. At this rate 

 summer will soon come. 



Maij 23. 



Tuesday, the 23rd of May, was hot. The rapidity of 

 change in the weather is very remarkable, and the 

 streams from the snow-covered hills are raging torrents 

 by the middle of the day, and quite small in the morning 

 and evening. 



We heard the Cuckoo for the first time. 



After breakfast we went out, up the other side of the 

 river, but did not see very many birds. Alston shot 

 a <? Brambling, and each of us a Titmouse (query Marsh 

 Tit?). We saw and heard two Hawks, which we both 



