12 



Notes 071 Bird-Life. [Sess. 



yourselves as best you can with advice aud aid from your 

 fellow botauists who wait to help you. lu the field or in your 

 study, be determined to succeed, and be sure you will. 



II.— NOTES ON BIKD-LIFE. 



By Mr ROBERT STEWART, S.S.C. 



{Read Nov. 24, 1S86.) 



When it was arranged that I was to observe and report on 

 Bird -Life in the Eoyal Botanic Garden, I was in hopes 

 that some interesting facts would be brought to light in this 

 connection ; but so far I have only been able to ascertain 

 generally, that although the numbers of birds which frequent 

 the Garden are considerable, still the varieties are compara- 

 tively few. 



During the spring and early summer — and the season at that 

 time promised well — I paid a good many visits to the Garden, 

 thoroughly exploring every bush or shrub where a bird might 

 build. Thrushes' and blackbirds' nests were abundant. It 

 has often occurred to me to inquire why the nest of the 

 thrush should be plastered inside, and the only reason I can 

 think of is, that as this bird builds in the early spring, the 

 cold winds are kept from the eggs and young by this mud 

 interior. This appears probable, for the blackbird, which, next 

 to the thrush, brings in the nesting season, also uses mud or 

 decayed wood in the manufacture of its nest, only the layer in 

 this case is in the centre and not in the inside of the nest, as 

 with the thrush. 



Next in order of numbers came the hedge-sparrow, and it 

 was amazing the number of nests of this quiet and retiring bird 

 that was this year in the Garden. These birds are always more 

 plentiful than one would suppose, as they are given to frequent- 

 ing the quietest corners, and appear quite content to spend the 

 greater part of their existence in an uneventful popping out 

 and in at the foot of hedges or among the shrubs. The hedge- 

 sparrow's nest is usually easily found, as it is built for the 

 most part in hedges while they are yet bare ; and a well-built 



