2l8 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



ever, as in the case of the missel-thrush. I have 

 found the measurements, in a perfectly new 

 nest, to be, inside diameter 4^ inches across by 

 2f inches deep, and those of a nest containing 

 incubated eggs, and found the same day, 4 by 

 if inches. In position, the nest is quite firm and 

 strong ; but such nests as have been built in 

 hollows formed by the birds cannot be removed 

 without the bottom portions crumbling off; a 

 specimen for a collection must be taken from a 

 ledge. The normal clutch of eggs is four, laid at 

 the beginning of May ; in one instance, I found a 

 bird sitting on three. I have seen unfledged young 

 in the nest as late as June 30th ; but have no 

 positive information of a second brood being reared 

 in the same season. The eggs are bluish-green in 

 ground colour, and are spotted or blotched with 

 brown of varying shades. They are generally much 

 more boldly marked than blackbirds'. Addled 

 eggs are left in the nest. The ring ousel betrays 

 little excitement when the nest contains fresh eggs, 

 uttering a single cry perhaps as she flies off, and 

 remaining silent thereafter ; but as incubation 

 proceeds, she becomes more and more demonstra- 

 tive, and flies in wild excitement about the banks 

 of the stream during our presence. Should she fly 

 off without being seen, she maintains an almost 

 complete silence until the intruder ^ discovers her 

 secret, and then displays her alarm. The actions 

 at the nest, however, may be best described by our 

 choosing a particular case. 



We have reached the side of a large stream on the 

 Lammermuirs, and turn aside to a tributary water, 

 whose banks are heather-clad and adorned with 

 junipers ; at parts are naked scaurs by the water- 

 side, and our dreams run high of all the rare 

 mountain dwellers that these places may attract. 

 Presently a ring ousel moves along the bank by 

 short flights and disappears in a spot likely enough 

 to contain the nest, but she leaves again in restless 

 manner and flies off. We retreat a little to take a 

 clear view of the supposed haunt, and lie down to 

 wait. " Chack-chack," again the ousel comes ; she 

 is at present perched on a grassy slope a little down 

 stream. Slowly she advances towards the scaur, 

 quivering her wings and tail very frequently as she 

 goes, and at every halt uttering her bold call-note. 

 Now she moves along the heathery top of a small 

 scaur, enters a hole beneath the heather, emerges 

 again and flies to a streak in the scaur like a 

 sheep-run ; along this the bird hops and runs 

 until she reaches at length the same bank in 

 which she had previously disappeared. Still 

 calling " chack-chack," she flirts her wings 

 from her perch, descends the slope a little, halts 

 on a patch of grass, then flies to a tuft of 

 heather and at her next move silently passes into a 

 hole and is at rest. We have her secret now, and 

 on rising, cause her to leave her nest. Flying down 



stream and up the hillside, she alights on a burnt 

 stump, from which she will be able, no doubt, to 

 follow our actions, and again she calls. We cross 

 the stream, and mounting to the spot near the top 

 of the scaur, find the nest on a small shelf secreted 

 behind a tuft of heather. The bird flies towards 

 us, and watching at first from a low tree, comes 

 excitedly to us, calling as before, and flirting her 

 wings repeatedly from her perch on the heather- 

 tufts ; she beats backward and forward beside us, 

 constantly calling, and when we retire to the 

 stream-side she descends to a level with her nest, 

 and hops about the scaur " chacking," and flitting 

 in the greatest excitement about the spot where 

 her nest was, whilst her mate passes along the hill- 

 brow but does not come down to join her. 



The young birds continue to be fed by their 

 parents after they have left the nest, and on one 

 occasion we were much interested in watching a 

 male ring ousel so engaged. Our attention was 

 attracted to him as he kept flying about a hillside, 

 and after following him for a little we were soon 

 able to locate the position of the young. He pro- 

 cured the food on a level stretch of pasture near 

 the stream, and, flying with it to the slope, ascended 

 the heather-face by short stages, approaching in a 

 carefully circuitous manner the large heather-clump 

 under which the young were safely hidden, and 

 suddenly disappeared beneath the heather. The 

 crowing noise explained what was taking place, 

 and after feeding them the old bird rose suddenly 

 through a gap in the heather again and perched on 

 its top for a moment, with his breast towards us, 

 and the gorgeous white crescent thereon distinctly 

 marked against the dark surroundings. Only 

 occasionally did he call " chack-chack " and flirt 

 his wings, whilst his mate, less black in hue, 

 would answer from an adjoining fence-top ; but 

 during the feeding another cry, " zree-zree," 

 was repeatedly uttered, perhaps by the young. 

 After careful watching we crossed the burn and 

 found the young resting merely on the ground 

 beneath the heather, and heard them as they 

 flew off utter the bold call-note of the adult ; 

 they were well able to fly, and made for another 

 sheltering tuft further up the hill. 



The birds linger in their mountain haunts till 

 September, being sometimes seen in companies 

 during the first half of the month, and departing 

 about the middle of the month. 

 46, Cumberland Street, Edinburgh ; 

 December srrf, 1896. 



Astronomers, we regret to observe, have lost 

 two of their leaders. Monsieur Felix Tisserand's 

 death was followed, within a month, by that of 

 Herr Hugo Gylden, at Stockholm, on the 9th of 

 November last. The latter had charge of the 

 Stockholm Observatory from 1871. 



