Mr Muirhead on the Birds of Paxton. 381 



13 Pied Flycatcher. Muscicapa atricapilla. The Pied 

 Flycatcher is evidently a very rare visitor to this neighbour- 

 hood. I noticed a male at the side of the plantation at Finchy, 

 about the second week of May, 1872 ; which is the only instance 

 that I am acquainted with, of this bird having been observed 

 in this immediate locality. 



14. Dipper. Hydrolata cinclus. This lively bird is numer- 

 ous on the Tweed and the Whiteadder, at all seasons, except 

 when the water is covered with ice. I have frequently heard it 

 singing on the Whiteadder, during the winter time. The note 

 which it utters while flying rapidly along the course of the 

 stream, never fails to remind me of the pleasant trout fishing 

 days of spring and summer. 



15. Missel Thrush. Turdus viscivorus. The Missel Thrush 

 is plentiful at Paxton, and in the policy every year. There was 

 a nest in a tall oak tree here, in the spring of 1872, and one 

 morning when I approached the tree, I was suprised to hear the 

 old birds screaming very loudly, and to see them flying round 

 the tree, and darting into it every now and then. On going for- 

 ward, I observed a squirrel near the nest, and the birds kept 

 darting down at it till they forced it to descend to the ground. 



A Missel Thrush built its nest in a low bush on the lawn near 

 my house, in the spring of 1 874. The bush was not over 5 feet 

 high. 



1 6. Fieldfare. Turdus pilaris. This bird may be seen flying 

 in small flocks about the fields at Paxton, late in autumn. They 

 were very long in going away to their breeding quarters in the 

 sprang of 1873, for I noticed large flocks frequenting the high 

 trees above the Primrose Bank, as late as the first week in May. 

 They were then very wild and shy. 22nd December, 1874. — The 

 Fieldfares are suffering very much at present from the hard 

 frost ; they are found just now in the plantation at Finchy, in 

 great numbers. It slopes to the south, and the sun melts the 

 snow more quickly there than in other woods, and the birds 

 search for food amongst the fallen leaves. 



17. Song Thrush. Turdus musicus. The Thrush is very 

 plentiful at Paxton. I observed great numbers feeding in the 

 turnip fields in the autumn of 1874. Mr J. E. Harting says in 

 the "FieJd" of 31st October, 1874, that he thinks that the 

 Thrushes which aie seen feeding in such numbers in the turnip 

 fields in autumn, are on their way southwards. It is very pro- 

 bable that Mr Harting is right in his surmise, for we see great 

 numbers of Thrushes in the partridge shooting season amongst 

 the turnips, and shortly afterwards there are only a few. 



22nd December, 1874. — Although I constantly notice plenty 

 of Redwings and Fieldfares about here at present, I do not see 

 above one or two Thrushes amongst them. 



