28 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS. 



amongst the thickly- falling flakes. Next morning the 

 ground lay white as winter ; not a trout would rise, but I 

 got a clean-run bull-trout of 2 Ibs., the first of the season. 

 Many Lesser Black-backed Gulls frequent the Border rivers 

 at this period. 



On April 14th, my brother A. found a nest of the Grey 

 Wagtail in a crag on Coquetside ; a month later I found 

 another, with three new-laid eggs, on the Dunshiel Burn, 

 and others at intermediate dates. The Wagtails thus begin 

 to lay before the bulk of the other insectivorous birds have 

 arrived. The first nest of the Pied Wagtail was found in an 

 old stone-dyke, on the 17th ; another, in the burn-side, on 

 the 21st. The Yellow Wagtail does not frequent the hill 

 country. 



Year after year, at this season (mid-April) I notice, while 

 fishing along the burns, considerable packs of Golden Plovers 

 still frequenting the haughs and lower slopes of the hills, 

 though some of the local-breeding Plovers will already have 

 commenced laying higher out on the heather. These 

 packed birds are visibly blacker underneath than the 

 nesting pairs ; and one frequently hears far overhead their 

 loud and wild spring note " Tirr pee you" a note 

 which the former section have now almost ceased to utter. 

 It is only heard when the birds are on wing, and high in the 

 air. The breeding Plover's note is now confined to the 

 single plaintive whistle, and their peculiar rippling song ' or 

 warble. This latter, which is quite indescribable, is a sort of 

 joyous note of courtship, corresponding with the " drumming " 

 of Snipe and Peewit indeed, many of the wild birds have an 

 analogous note at this season. Among the bogs and mosses, 

 the Snipes course high overhead, often a dozen or more at a 

 time, and the strange bleating cry comes down from mid- 

 air, alternating with the sharp metallic " chip, chip," when 

 flying free. Dunlin, Piedshank, and Curlew indeed, most 

 birds of that class have dual notes ; these are their ordi- 

 nary means of alarm or communication ; and besides, the 

 note indicative of the exuberant spirit of the vernal season. 

 Snipes only drum head to wind, and when falling. On the 

 opposite page is a diagram of the flight of a drumming Snipe. 



