464 PRACTICAL ORNITHOLOGY. 



Or7i. The lambkins are basking in the sun, and there stands 

 a most lovely Pied Wagtail with a tuft of wool in its mouth. 

 It must have its nest in that quarry. Here are two fishers. 

 They must have poor sport, the water being so very low and 

 clear, and the sky so bright. Go to them, Physiophilus, and 

 say, Gentlemen, Piscatores, how fares it with you this fine May 

 morning ? I hope you have had several glorious nibbles. It 

 gives me pleasure to see two fools, each at one end of a rod, 

 and a sham fly at the other. 



Phys. Nay, go thyself. / am no admirer of " quaint old 

 Izaac." A Wheatear ! two of them on the top of the wall. 

 They have alighted by the edge of the pond. 



Orn. We cannot shoot them, as the Water Company 

 threatens all intruders. This is the reservoir that supplies 

 Edinburgh. 



Aud. It is a fine sheet of water, considered as such, but as a 

 lake it is more remarkable for the bareness of its banks than 

 for any other quality ; and there seem to be no birds upon it, 

 not even a Heron. In such a place in America there would 

 be Ducks or Coots, or Water Hens. How amazingly like our 

 Red Lark are these Pipits. If I had met with them in a 

 prairie I should certainly have taken them to be the same as 

 ours. Are there no Dippers here l 



Orn. The only bird to be met with on the margins of the 

 lake is the Sandpiper, but the Dipper I have often seen on the 

 brook below, as well as in the glen before us, although we have 

 not met with it to-day. Here, however, is a pair of Ring 

 Ouzels, which are migratory birds, arriving in the end of April, 

 and dispersing themselves over the hilly and mountainous 

 tracts, as far as the northern coasts. 



Aud, Beautiful birds! their cry is very like that of our 

 Robin, the Turdus migratorius, and so is their flight. 



Phys. Another pair. Hear the Red Grouse ! " Cok^ eok, 

 cok, go-hack, go-back.'''' There he bounces away ; down he 

 comes on the side of the hill, where he runs and struts with 

 his tail raised and his wings drooping. Whirr ! off goes the 

 hen. How easily I might shoot her ! 



Orn. Down with that gun of thine ! Thou mightst be 



