98 



BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS 



occurred on the coast every autumn since 1889. We 

 found it breeding abundantly in Jutland (exactly opposite 

 our shores), and its being- found to do so on the Borders 

 is probably only a question of time. 



The following are the dates at which the under- 

 mentioned summer-warblers fledged (by which I mean 

 that the young left the nest) in my garden at Houxty. 

 In each case, the eggs had been laid, almost to a day, on 

 the corresponding dates in May — showing that exactly 

 one month elapses from laying to fledging : — 



The dates recorded are average ones, and are not 

 given as exceptionally early ; indeed I have seen both 

 young willow-wrens and whitethroats out a fortnight 

 before the dates above stated, but that was unusual. 



To the occurrences of what are called "rare birds" 

 little importance need be attached. Broadly speaking, 

 there is no such thing as a rare bird, save in a relative 

 sense. Go to its proper home — perhaps only a few 

 hundred miles away — and what has appeared a rarity 

 will be found as abundant as Nature's balance of life will 

 permit. All creatures seek out those zones of land or 

 sea which best fulfil their requirements. When one of 

 them wanders, by chance or stress, a degree or two 

 beyond its normal limits, it is described as a vara avis; 

 and sentimentalists bewail the death of a straggler as 

 though, had it survived, the whole species would have 



