114 Trniif^arhori.t. 



Buzzard is seen, sometimes at a great lieight, sailing slowly and 

 gracefully in circles— at other times hunting along the hillsides. 

 The f^rouse appear to be very much afraid of this bird, as, on 

 two occasions, when one crossed the valley to the opposite hill 

 they seemed to clear off it altogether in the wildest manner. A 

 pair of buzzards nested until three or four years ago on a rock on 

 the farm of Appiu, but they have not returned since their young 

 were taken from the nest by some labourers, who had been work- 

 ing in the district. It seems a great pity that such fine birds as 

 the hawks should be persecuted as they are. The harm which the 

 larger ones would do to game would be but ti-iHing, while some 

 of the smaller ones feed largely on vermin. The Tmmiy Owl is 

 common in the wooded parts, nesting occasionally in a hole in 

 the o-vound, but more frequently in hollow trees. Books on 

 Briti-sh birds give the number of its eggs as from three to 

 live, but although not a season has passed for a long time 

 without my knowing of one or more nests, I never saw 

 more' than three, and in four cases out of live, not more than 

 two eggs. The Long-eared Owl is rare. It evidently lays 

 its eggs in pairs, at a considerable interval, as in a nest 

 of four found recently two were almost hatched, while the 

 other two were not more than half. From the situation of a 

 nest (amongst heather) found many years ago, it must have 

 been that of the Short-eared Owl, the only instance of its occur- 

 rence. But once has the nest of the Barn Owl been observed, in 

 a rabbit-hole. The female was wantonly shot. The Spotted 

 Flycatcher is plentiful. On all the streams the Dipper is found. 

 This bird sticks very closely to the same nesting site, there being 

 several places, generally by a water-fall, which are never without 

 a nest. The same nest is used year after year, if not carried 

 away by floods. The moss of which the outer part is composed, 

 being gathered fresh from the stones by the burns, frequently 

 frrows, when the situation is a damp one, forming a dense water, 

 proof covering for the lining of grass, the only part which seems 

 to require annual repair. There are almost invariably four or 

 five dry oak leaves as an inn6r lining. The eggs of a pair of 

 Dippers were taken last year, and the birds laid a second time in 

 the same nest, a very unusual occurrence, not, liowever, until 

 they had another a few hundred yards from the first almost com- 

 pleted, when it was swept away by a swell in the river. They 

 evidently considered that time would not permit of their building 



