70 HiKD NOTIOS FKOM ESKDALE. 



along- the hill side, just at the gate of the back entrance to the 

 house. As it also was in a very exhausted condition, I brought 

 it home and put it in one of the court-yards of my aviary. But 

 after considermg the difficulty of procuring a constant supply of 

 its proper food, I opened the door, after the bird had rested 

 awhile, and the moment I did so it rushed out, still unable to fly, 

 and fluttered away straight towards the river. How did the 

 bird know the river lay in the direction it took] I am quite 

 satisfied (from the place where it was when I picked it up) that 

 it had never been near or seen the river. It had evidently just 

 come off the hill on to the road. When it left the aviary it 

 could not see the river owing to the presence of a thick hedge, 

 beyond which was a wide, flat tield, and the river itself was 

 bounded by steep banks. Still, the bird made for it as if it had 

 been familiar with it all its life. Was this instinct 1 or did it 

 hear the sound of the water running during the time it was in the 

 aviary 1 



TEAL. 



These birds are very rarely seen in Eskdalemuir. I have 

 only once seen a covey during- all my sporting experience, and 

 out of it I shot one bird only. They breed annually over the 

 watershed in the parish of Ettrick. 



WILD GEESE. 



Thirty or forty years ago very many wild geer.e might have 

 been seen annually flying to and from their breeding grounds, 

 both in spring and autumn. Now, such a sight is not at all 

 common ; and whether these birds have become less numerous, 

 or whether they have changed their line of flight, it is hard to 

 say. I remember some years ago, when conversing with my 

 groom on the subject of wild geese in front of the stable on a 

 pitch dark night, that I remarked how seldom wild g-eese were 

 seen now, when at that very moment we heard a flock cackling 

 overhead. The coincidence was rather a startling one. I know 

 of one only being shot in the district. A flock having landed in 

 a friend's Held, he secured a specimen by stalking the birds. 



AVOOD SANDriPEK. 



I cannot include this bird in a list of rare visitors to Eskdale- 

 muir ; but as I succeeded in securing the tirst specimen then 



