38 Proceedings. 



and clay being left behind. It was too late to go far on the 

 heath, so we were content to cut across the N.W. corner, and 

 then strike homewards. We had not gone far when a pair of 

 Stonechats told us, as plainly as they knew how, that they 

 had a nest near at hand. First the cock with his jet-black 

 head, and then the plainer hen flew to and fro, making a 

 " chat " of distress. After a while the hen Stonechat alighted 

 on a certain tuft of Heather, and returned again to her perch 

 on a Gorse-bush. She then went to the same tuft again, and 

 then the cock went there. On her third visit the hen popped 

 into the Heather, and on going to the spot we found a nest 

 with six eggs. The nest was made of fine, diy grass, and 

 lined with hairs, and was placed on the stalks of the Heather 

 so that the Heather completely covered it up. The eggs were 

 blue, slightly blotched with yellow. 



Passing through one of the clumps of Scotch Firs we crossed 

 over the low ridge running across the heath, and came to the 

 Eabbit-warren on its north-eastern slope. In a Eabbit-hole 

 we discovered a deserted nest of a Wheatear, placed about two 

 feet from the entrance of the hole. It contained three pale- 

 blue, addled eggs. A hen "Wheatear kept restlessly flitting 

 or running to and fi'o, with food in her bill, so she probably 

 had young near at hand. 



Hours might be spent with pleasure in examining the plants 

 on the Heath, but our time is exhausted, and we must go no 

 further. 



Before sitting down, I wish to explain that the foregoing 

 paper is not a work of imagination, neither is it a record of 

 any one walk I have ever taken. Each nest described is a 

 real nest, and each plant has been actually gathered in the 

 place where it is described as growing. The descriptions are 

 taken from diaries which I have kept extending over a period 

 of about eighteen years. I would cordially recommend to the 

 young the habit of making careful and accurate notes of what 

 they see. Knowledge is thus acquired which forms a basis 

 for further study ; and the habit of observing is one which 

 grows when cultivated, and which none of us can neglect 

 without suffering loss. 



