120 Transactions. 
The Common Snipe is frequently started from the marshy ground, 
taking its flight at first in a rapid, zigzag manner. This bird has 
been called the heather bleater, from the remarkable noise fre- 
quently made by the males when on the wing during the breed- 
ing season, being considered like the bleating of an old goat. I 
have seen it stated that it is not known how the noise is made, 
but Macgillvray says it is made by the quivering of their wings. 
They ascend high in the air, wheeling round in circles, and fre- 
quently descend for some distance very rapidly, and then ascend 
again to make another descent. It is always during the descent 
(which they perform with half-closed and apparently motionless 
wings) that the noise isheard. The Curlew is abundant. There 
was in 1884 what appeared to be an instance of a pair 
of Curlews trying to remove their eggs because their nest 
had been found. The eggs were at some distance from the 
nest, in a shallow drain, out of which the birds seemed to have 
been unable to roll them. They were replaced in the nest, but 
the parents never returned to it. The Land Rail is not very 
common, and has decreased in numbers considerably within the 
last few years. A few pairs of Moor Hens inhabit the streams. 
The Wild Ducks are seldom seen, except when frost has sealed up 
the lochs and rivers, when they take to the mountain springs. 
The following are not known to nest in the parish :—The Pere- 
grine Falcon, seen only once. Itappearsthat the Pied Flycatcher 
has not been recorded from the south-west of Scotland until 1884, 
On May 13th, by the side of the Scar, I heard a bird whose note 
was not familiar to me, but resembled that of the Redstart. 
It proved to be the Pied Flycatcher, a bird which could not, 
from the conspicuous colour of the male, be in the district 
without being observed. The pair built a nest, composed entirely 
of withered grass, the finest being used as a lining, in a hole in 
an alder tree, about 18 inches from the entrance, in which on 
May 30th were six eggs of a paler blue than the Redstart’s. One 
was taken as a specimen, four were hatched, and the remaining 
one contained a half-formed bird. The pair returned this season 
to the same place, but only three eggs were laid. It is rather 
strange that none of their young returned to the district. The 
nest was on the Penpont side of the Scar, but once or twice the 
birds were seen in our parish. The Redwing and Fieldfare are 
met with in considerable flocks. The former was about the first 
bird to succumb during the winter of 1879-1880. The Stonechat 
