20 MR selby's notice of birds 



boat, several green cormorants {Plialacrocorax cristatus) were seen 

 perched upon the pinnacles of the smaller isolated rocks, surveying 

 witli keen and watchful eyes our progress ; and always too much upon 

 the alert to permit us to approach within gun-short. The common 

 cormorant {Plialacrocorax carho) was also seen occasionally flying past, 

 but at a considerable distance from the shore, On our return, and to 

 the south of Northfield, a small flock of the young of the LaruH ridi- 

 bundus, black-headed or pewit gull, were observed : these in all proba- 

 bility had come recently down from Dunse or Pallinsburn, both great 

 breeding stations in this district. 



Observations on the Birds observed in the neighbourhood of Coldirandspath 

 in April, and those at St AbVs Head in June, 1833. By P. J. Selby, 

 Esq. (Eead July 17. 1833.) 



The cold ungenial weather which prevailed till the end of April re- 

 tarded the arrival of our summer visitants, at least ten days or a 

 fortnight bc^yond the usual average period of their appearance ; and, 

 from this cause, on the day of our excursion to Coldbrandspath and 

 Dunglass, which, it will be recollected, took place on the 16th of April, 

 not a single warbler or migratory bird came under our notice of any 

 species. This, indeed, I anticipated from the backward state of vegeta- 

 tion, as I have for many years remarked, that the arrival of our 

 songsters is regulated by, or rather accords with, the first appearance 

 of particular flowers, or the bursting of the buds of certain trees. Thus, 

 the willow- wren (*Sy/i'7'« TrochUus) wadi hlack-ca^) {Curruca atricapilla) 

 are never seen till the larch becomes visibly green. The greater petti- 

 chaps [Curruca hortensis) and wood- wren {Sylvia sibilatrix) are consider- 

 ably later, making their appearance with the bursting of the elm and 

 oak. The spotted fly-catcher {Muscicapa grisola) is seldom seen before 

 the oak is partly expanded ; and so with respect to the sedge- warbler 

 {Salicaria Phragmites), grasshopper- warbler, {Salicaria Locustella), and 

 others. 



The only bird which attracted notice was the dipper ( Cinclus aquati- 

 cus), which we observed skimming along, and following the various 

 windings of the rivulet which flows at the bottom of Dunglass Dean. 

 This neat and compact bird is the peculiar inhabitant of clear and 

 rapid running streams in hilly or mountainous districts ; being of rare 

 occurrence upon the slow and sluggish rivers of the flat or champagne 

 parts of the country. It is one of our earliest and, I may add, sweetest 

 songsters, commencing its lay as early as the latter end of January, or 

 beginning of the following month, and its first brood is generally 

 fledged or able to quit the nest by the middle of May. It dives with great 

 facility in pursuit of its prey, but certainly does not walk at the bottom 

 of the water, as asserted by some writers ; the same exertion of the 

 being wings necessary as well to keep it beneath the surface as give it 



