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Solway, and the English hills, and the song of several larks over- 

 head, no one who has any love of nature can fail to be enchanted. 

 The Yellow Hammer is not uncommon. The Chaffinch, which 

 builds such a neat nest, comes next, in point of numbers, to the 

 Meadow Pipit. After reading White's " Natural History of 

 Selborne," in which he states that the male and female Chaffinchs 

 separate during winter into different flocks, I noted those in our 

 district, and found that at least nine out of ten were males. 

 Two nests of this bii'd were observed in the end of April last, 

 quite ready for eggs. They were frequently examined, and set 

 down in the end as forsaken nests. On June 9th, however, they 

 were found to contain four eggs each, quite fresh in one, almost 

 quite fresh in the other. The change in the weather must 

 account for this, April being mild, while May was remarkably 

 cold throughout. The House Sparrow is abundant. The Green- 

 finch is not very common. The Goldfinch is very rare, and known 

 only once to nest The Lesser Redpoll and Linnet are met with 

 in considerable flocks during winter. A few pairs remain to 

 breed, and the number of Redpolls which do so has increased con- 

 siderably during the last two years. The Bullfinch is not 

 uncommon. A few pairs of Starlings nest regularly, besides those 

 that are accommodated in boxes, put up for the purpose. The 

 Carrion Croio, which is nojb a favourite, is common. Unlike the 

 rook, it gathers the sticks to make its nest from the ground, 

 using " heather birns " exclusively, lining with a plentiful supply 

 of wool. It destroys great numbers of eggs, chiefly those of the 

 Red Grouse, and also occasionally attacks weakly lambs. A few 

 years ago I found a lamb with both eyes and its tongue picked 

 out and still alive. There are several rookeries in the parish, 

 chiefly in the valley of the Shinnell, but in some of them the 

 Rooks are very much persecuted. In the end of April, 1884, a 

 pair commenced to build their nest at Auchenhessnane ; probably 

 they were banished from a rookery for misbehaviour. They 

 wei'e allowed to rear their young, and this year there were ten 

 or twelve nests. It is very interesting to watch them during the 

 nesting season. I never saw a Rook take a stick for its nest 

 from the ground. They invariably break them from the trees, not 

 even condescending to pick up those that they accidentally drop. 

 The greater part of the twigs were taken from larches, which had 

 several dead branches, and were consequently easily broken, but 

 occasionally they went to ashes and birches. They showed a 



