1886-87.] Notes on Bird-Life. 15 



exception of the very birds whose nests are most common — 

 blackbirds and thrushes — do not care to build in these. I 

 noticed, when visiting the Garden the other day, a sparrow- 

 hawk darting hither and thither in search of a victim ; while 

 earlier in the season, from the road adjoining Fettes College, 

 we had a splendid opportunity of watching the kestrel at work. 

 Nothing is prettier in its way than the sight of this hawk 

 on the wing in search of a meal, as every short time it poises 

 itself in the air, and is quite motionless — for all the world like 

 a paper kite. I have seen also in the Warriston district the 

 missel-thrush, the long-tailed tit, and the fallow-finch; while 

 in Warriston Cemetery a pair of flycatchers regularly build. 

 During the month of August last I was residing at Glendevon, 

 near Eumbling Bridge, which is a perfect paradise for birds. 

 There you get the sparrow fresh and clean-looking, and with 

 nothing of the draggled and rakish air of his town brother. 

 The golden-crested wren was there in great numbers; while 

 we also saw upon more than one occasion the redstart. On 

 the Devon, which, as most of you know, is an exceptionally 

 clear stream, there were several families of the water- ousel, 

 and we could see how they worked their way on the ground 

 under water looking for grubs, &c. They were very tame — in 

 fact, perhaps a little too much so, as it was annoying to have 

 two or three of them come plump down into the pool you 

 were fishing. It was very interesting to watch them at play. 

 One would sit on a stone in the middle of the stream, dip, dip, 

 dipping away at his companion who was up to the neck in the 

 water at the side. Suddenly the latter would, with a brisk 

 chirrup, make for his friend, who then plunged out of sight 

 into the pool, closely followed by the other, when, after a 

 minute or so, they both suddenly appeared a little further up 

 the stream, shot up as it were from the bottom, and then 

 bobbed about with all the seeming buoyancy of corks. That 

 they walk on the bottom is not, I think, correct, as it must 

 require some considerable force to enable them to breast the 

 stream, at the same time keeping under water, as the mere 

 ceasing of exertion appeared to have the effect of sending them 

 to the top like an air -bubble. Occasionally the game was 

 varied by the players keeping their heads alone above the 

 water ; and in this way they chased one another in and out of 



