Transcuitions. ^ 



27th February. — I heard the peaweep. Does it migrate ? 



Ist March. — I found a lady-bird that I never saw before in my 

 garden. Red, with white strips, and abdomen brown. Robin 

 redbreast siiigs this mouth. 



15th March. — One of my butterflies came out to-day. It is a 

 white one. This shows heat has an effect. 



17lh March.— One of the Castle gamekeepers shot me a thrush 

 for stuffing. In skinning it I found above the joint of the leg (the 

 ulna) between the sinew and bone a quantity of white worms. 

 They moved when taken out, and were wound up in clusters with 

 a little raised lump as of fat. 



ISth March. — While among the hills getting heather for border- 

 ing I found a quantity of cranberries among the fog. They were 

 red, very plump, and had a very slight acid taste. I was not 

 aware before that they withstood the winter. They must make 

 excellent food for the wild birds in the winter when the hills are 

 bare. 



26th March. — I found in the wood a patch of toad spawn. The 

 pin-heads were almost ready to swim. They were quite formed, 

 though still enveloped in the jelly. 



29th March. — I got a white mole skin from the molecatcher 

 (Hastings) for 3d. It was pure white save a rusty-red strip on 

 the belly. He said that he got it near Sanquhar in a field where 

 he had got five or six, one of which was spotted black and white. 

 He also had got one in Boatford ground, but they were very rare. 

 He said moles couple in March, and breed in May, their nest con- 

 sisting of grass in the inside of a large hillock like a barrowful. 

 There were generally five to seven moles in a nest. 



8th April. — I got a snake brought to me by a boy from 

 Sanquhar. It was very dark ; also a young snake, which was 

 L lively. 



W^^ 2ord A2)ril. — Yellow hammer nest, outside withered grass, 

 ^^■inside fine roots, lined with white dog hair. Eggs whitish, 

 ^^V marked as with a pin, with a kind of colour approaching purple. 

 ^^m Found upon the roadside to Eccles under some grass and a 

 ^^K withered cone. 

 ^^H Following down the Eccles Burn that runs past Stepends, I 



Mr------ 



