212 Recent Observations in Natural History. [Sess. | 
covers blank and started for home. Passing within fifty yards 
of the animal to make certain that it was a fox and nota 
hare, I pretended not to see him. Had I stopped and looked, 
doubtless he would have bolted. I ran to the top of the 
Tweed bank and halloed. A number of people on Norham 
Bridge halloed also, and in a few minutes the entire field 
cantered back. THurriedly telling his lordship the exact spot — 
where reynard was lying, I hastened to a point of vantage to 
see the sport. The fox, doubtless, saw the approaching horse- 
men and hounds, but, evidently in the hope of being passed 
unperceived, he lay still till the pack was within five yards of 
him. This to my mind demonstrates that, like deer, the fox — 
is much more frightened by an invisible than by a visible 
enemy. 
GROUSE SITTING ON TREES. 
Recently, while driving in a moorland district in Kirkeud- — 
brightshire, I observed birds sitting on two willow-trees in 
close juxtaposition by the roadside. On getting near, I saw 
they were a pair of grouse, the cock sitting on the one tree and 
the hen on the other, both being about twenty feet from the 
ground. This may not be very uncommon, but it is only the 
second time in my experience that I have witnessed it. On 
the other occasion I was shooting in Berwickshire; and on a 
small bit of moor at Max Mill, a detached part of the Lady- 
kirk estate, a covey of grouse was espied. Standing behind 
a knoll, five birds were driven past me, and I shot a brace. 
The remaining three flew only a short distance, and then 
settled on a thorn-tree. 
ROOKS DESERTING A ROOKERY. 
The tenacity with which rooks adhere for generations to 
a aS eee 
BN Rs AT A LIND LN GL ARAN IS eo PS. BY 
archy ~ 
nesting in particular trees has long occupied the attention of — 
naturalists. Before the imposition of the gun tax every village — 
had its “ sportsmen ” who annually sallied forth for “a day at 
the craws.” Despite the persecution to which rooks are 
subjected, they year after year build their nests in the same 
trees, or at least in the same plantation. In many country 
districts it is believed that by ceasing to shoot them they will 
