100 Zoological Notices, by James Smail. 



Bough-legged Buzzard. — I recently saw a Bough-legged 

 Buzzard that was shot in Stow parish. There was a pair, but 

 one escaped. They had been hunting the district for a good few 

 days. 



Owl's Nest. — In Liddesdale, where trees are scarce, the brown 

 Wood-Owl sometimes builds in a hay-stack. A friend informs 

 me, that a pair have built several years and successfully reared 

 their young on the top of a hay-stack, which stands under cover, 

 on his farm. 



The Earliest Morning Songsters.— Few writers, at any rate 

 few observers agree, as to which is the bird that lifts up its voice 

 first in the spring and summer mornings. This is not to be 

 wondered at, because circumstances have so much to do with it. 

 For many years of my life I have been afoot in the spring and 

 summer months, for angling purposes before dawn— this twice a 

 week or so ; and during these years I thus have had excellent 

 opportunities of hearing the varied feathered tribes begin their 

 morning voicings in several districts of the Borders. About 

 Kelso, I have often heard the Wren singing at the merest approach 

 of dawn ; and I once heard it at Wooden burn foot, before any 

 appearance of dawn whatever, the morning being fresh and 

 slightly rainy. In that district I occasionally heard the Eobin 

 first. In Leader water the Thrush was often first bird; and 

 sometimes the Wren. But I never heard any bird earlier with 

 its voice than the Eook, in the nesting season. I have heard 

 Eooks when it was so dark that I could not see them flying over- 

 head. Jackdaws are as early as any bird about Galashiels. In 

 Jed water, especially a few miles above Jedburgh, the Lark is 

 generally the herald of the morn. Whenever the morning was 

 frosty I seldom heard any bird until the dawn had given out a 

 goodly amount of light ; but when it happened to be fresh, with 

 mild rain failing, great numbers of birds were always singing 

 before it could be said to be light. Might this arise from instinct 

 telling them that under such an atmosphere food, in the shape of 

 slugs, worms, and grubs, would be found in abundance in the 

 morning light ? 



Singing of Birds in Autumn.— In Eoxburghshire I have not 

 heard any bird sing in autumn, saving the Eedbreast and Water 

 Ousel. I have heard the Lark singing in the Merse, however, in 

 autumn, and I have heard the Chaffinch sing his full song in the 



