THE RING OUZEL. 33 



to the neighbourhood of the upper streams of the Dye and 

 the Watch, where its song, which somewhat resembles that 

 of the Blackbird, adds a charm to the moorland scenery.^ 

 Mr. James Smith, shepherd, Byrecleugh, has informed me 

 that the Eing Ouzel is often to be seen in the Hall Burn, 

 Wood Cleugh, and near Wrink Law, and that he has several 

 times discovered its nest in that locality. Mr. Hardy 

 writes : — " It used to come, when I was a boy, in flocks in 

 spring-time, to the haugh beside the Pease Burn below 

 Penmanshiel, where a large quantity of haws on an old 

 hedge formed the attraction. It bred abundantly on 

 Ewieside about 1856, and frequented Channobank, where 

 there were whin bushes, on the tops of which it used to be 

 seen whistling. I have observed it on the Weir Burn, on 

 the east side of Laughing Law. It breeds in many wooded 

 glens of the Lammermuirs. On 22nd July 1885 I observed 

 several on the ' Glitters ' on Great Dirrington Law. Dowlaw 

 Dean," near Fast Castle, appears to be a favourite haunt 

 of the Eing Ouzel on its arrival in spring, as it has been 

 often noticed there in April. Mr. John Boyd, of Cherrytrees, 

 tells me that it used to be so plentiful about the moors at 

 Abbey St. Bathans during the grouse- shooting season, that it 

 frequently put the dogs off the scent of the game." ^ Mr. 

 Lockie states that it is rather scarce in the Westruther 

 and Spottiswoode districts, but is frequently seen between 



1 I love to see the purple bloom across the moorlands spread, 

 The purple bloom o' Lammermuir, I love, I love to tread ; 



I love to wander by the marsh that plough has never torn, 



I love to see the reed-tufts wave where ne'er has waved the corn. 



Dr. Henderson, Chirnside, MS. Poems. 



2 No more in Dowlaw's rugged Dean we '11 seek the rose-wort's flower, 

 Nor sit beside the murmuring brook at noon-tide's sultry hour. 



From MS. Lines to the Memory of Alexauder Allan Carr, Surgeon, Ayton, 

 Author of the History of Coldingham Priory, by George Hendkeson, Surgeon, 

 Chirnside, 10th March 1840. 



s Mr. Hardy's MS. Notes. 



VOL. I. C 



