50 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS. 



one " dazed " egg — a local name, signifying that the 

 embryo has perished after being partially developed ; addled 

 eggs are those which are unfertile from the first. The 

 summer birds, however, are now at the height of their 

 domestic cares. On June 10th, my brother found a nest of 

 the Wood Wren {Sylria sibUatrix) with G eggs, at the Black- 

 burn linn, a rocky glen on Redewater, fringed with trees, 

 and with a thick undergrowth of long heather and fern. 

 Another pair were breeding in a straggling wood high up on 

 the fells above East Neuk. This species, and the Willow- 

 Wren, nest all over the moorlands, the latter in every wooded 

 burn and glen as far up as the trees grow. The young Ring- 

 Ouzels are now nearly full-feathered, yet on the 17th another 

 nest contained five newly-laid eggs. 



In 1877, on June 15th, I observed several Clouded Yellows 

 {Colias edusa), and caught one — a butterfly I have never 

 seen in the North of England before or since. Of the 

 aristocracy of the insect world, the Emperor Moth {Saturnia 

 pavonia minor) is a characteristic species on the moors, and 

 its handsome green and red-spotted caterpillar may often be 

 seen among the heather in the early part of the shooting 

 season. 



On the same day I found a nest of the Dunlin in a flowe 

 on the highest part of Darden. The old bird fluttered off"; 

 her nest was on a grassy tussock, one of hundreds, each 

 islanded in a labyrinth of black oozy peat-channels, and con- 

 tained a single egg, almost hatching. 



June 22«cL — Found a nest of the Twite among the heather 

 on Lanshot hill. There were two eggs, and two small 

 young. It is rather perplexing, at first sight, to find the 

 white eggs of a Linnet where one only expects the sombre ones 

 of a Titlark. My brother found another Twite's nest with 

 four young, just fledging, on July 30th, on Elsdon Hillhead. 

 At Silksworth the Tree-Pipits have eggs now, but I have 

 rarely seen this species on the moors, and never chanced to 

 find them nesting there. A Redpoll's nest on June 28th, 

 in a thick osier-bed, had 4 eggs, and among the lining was 

 a feather of a Kestrel. 



The first young Black-game were observed on the wing on 



