I02 WM Life around Edinburgh. [Sess. 



oak-tree near the stables at Dalmeny Park. A notice of this 

 incident appeared in the ' Field ' newspaper at the time. 



To turn to bird life again, from among the covert comes 

 the " coo-coo " of the stock-dove. Its call is easily distin- 

 guished, when once known, from the more melodious voice of 

 the wood-pigeon. A dozen years ago the appearance of a 

 stock-dove in the locality would have been recorded as a great 

 rarity, but it is now almost as common as the wood-pigeon. 



In my younger days I think the night-jar, or goat-sucker, 

 was more commonly met with than it is now, but their 

 numbers vary in diiferent years. In the gloaming it flits 

 silently by, hawking for moths along the edge of the woods, 

 and is sometimes mistaken for a bird of prey. 



There is another bird of which I would like to speak more 

 fully, and one that I am better acquainted with. Most of you, 

 I have no doubt, have read that delightful story ' The Star- 

 ling,' by Dr Norman Macleod, where Jock Hall, the poacher, 

 giving his opinion of the bird that brought the poor sergeant 

 into so much trouble, says, " I'm fond o' birds, — our ain 

 birds, that's maavies, linties, and laverocks, or even gooldies, — 

 but I'm no' weel acquaint wi' thae stirlin's. I'm telt yours is 

 no' canny, and speaks like an auld-farrant bairn." This is a 

 true picture of how the starling was regarded about forty or 

 fifty years ago. It was looked on as a great curiosity, and 

 much prized as a cage-bird. To-day, if one of our commonest, 

 it is still one of our most interesting birds. I shall give a 

 few extracts regarding it from old books, showing the opinion 

 of the naturalists of those times. 



In Macgillivray's book, published in 1837, he gives a list of 

 birds found in winter around Edinburgh, and second in his 

 list comes the starling, with the remark, " Flocks are some- 

 times seen in the spring." His opinion of this bird is that " in- 

 dividually the starling's ditty is certainly not equal to that of 

 the throstle, but yet it is by no means despicable." That the 

 bird was sometimes used as an article of diet we can gather 

 from his remarks : " The flesh of the starling is not much 

 inferior to that of a thrush, although tougher, and as a con- 

 siderable number may be occasionally obtained at a single 

 shot, this bird is not unworthy of the attention of the animal 

 designated by the name of ' sportsman.' " 



