888 The Zoologist— September, 1867. 



breeds regularly about the rockier parts of them. I always hear the 

 lively little song of the dipper on or about the 1st of October, seldom 

 before, but all through the winter in the severest weather. The 

 sharper, monosyllabic cry of the dipper is seldom heard in winter. 

 The most securely placed nest of this species, that I ever find, is 

 placed under the arch of Dunipace Bridge, over the Carron River, in 

 a hole in the masonry, and fully an arm's length into the stonework. 

 The hole is so small that the smallest hand finds great difficulty in 

 getting in : here it rears its young unmolested almost every year. One 

 season a pair of starlings took possession of their hole, so I shot both 

 of them, and the dipper resumed possession the same season, towards 

 the end of May, and reared a second brood. Another nest was placed 

 against a rock within a few feet of the river : to secure the eggs, which 

 ] wanted, I had to wade above my middle into a somewhat strong 

 stream at the head of the pool, and I felt my legs being sucked into 

 the overhanging or concave surface of the rock. The local anglers 

 have a foolish antipathy to the dipper, and destroy every nest they can 

 get at: it is in vain to attempt to show them that, instead of feeding on 

 the trout ova, they feed on the trout ova's most deadly enemy, the 

 stone fly : from habit or wilfulness they will destroy the next nest they 

 come to. 



Missel Thrush. — The local name of this bird is in common with the 

 fieldfare, the " feltiflyer." It is also called the " storm cock." The 

 Rev. F. O. Morris, in his work on British Birds, says that the missel 

 thrush is very rare in the midland counties of Scotland. With us it is 

 very common, and 1 have times without number taken the eggs and 

 found the nest in Aberdeenshire, Ross-shire, and other counties. I 

 once found a nest containing eggs within three feet of the ground : 

 the eggs were most beautiful specimens, very thick at the large end, 

 and tapering to a small point at the other; a regular zone of fine 

 marbled spots and blotches of bluish purple encircled the large end, 

 and there were scarcely any markings on the rest of the surface, the 

 ground colour of which was clear pale blue. 



Fieldfare.— The "feltiflyer" arrives with us towards the end of 

 October, having been preceded by the redwings and most of our 

 winter visitors : it generally leaves us again about the middle of April, 

 though I have more than once shot them as late as the middle of 

 May. 



Song Thrush. — Local name, " mavi " or "mavis." Common; 

 breeds plentifully. I have found the eggs of a pale blue colour, 



