Natural History Observations. By J. Thomson. 



257 



A short while after the leaves were fully developed on the trees, I noticed 

 that the foliage of the Elms began to be tinged with brown. They gradually 

 became brown and shrivelled to such an extent that some trees seemed as 

 if they had been struck by the electric fluid. Though very general on the 

 southern bank of the Tweed, about Maxton. this phenomenon was only 

 slightly observable in the Mertoun woods. Mr Hardy, to whom I sent a few 

 of the leaves, could not be positive as to the cause, though he suspected 

 it was due to a moth depositing its eggs on the leaves.* I observed that 

 after the deciduous trees had shed their foliage this fall, the leaves are 

 still clinging to the branches on the trees that were thus effected in 

 summer. 



December 8th, Frost very keen. Thermometer at Mertoun Gardens, 20 Q 

 at 7.30 a.m. Ring-ouzel (Turdus torquatus) on Elder bush below sus-. 

 pension bridge. Eight Redbreasts in perfect amity, following a labourer 

 engaged in sweoping leaves on one of the walks. Fully a dozen Water 

 Hens on a sunny bank below Mertoun churchyard. One Kingfisher on 

 stream at Mertoun House Anna. Forty or fifty Yellowhammers among 

 House Spai'rows in garden at Bntchercote. Blackbirds and Missel 

 Thrushes numerous at Maidenhall. Shepherd's two collies had a tussle 

 with a fox at Maitlandhall. Rooks and Blackbirds perched on trees and 

 hedges, near every cottage. 9th, Snow fell heavily in the afternoon. 

 Littledean long plantation. Fow small birds to be seen. Two Hedge 

 Sparrows, one of Avhich, sitting preening its feathers, allowed me while 

 only a couple of yards off, to stand and watch its movements for a con- 

 sider-able time. A colony of Long-tailed Tits. lOfch, Thermometer at 

 dusk showed 23° frost. 12th, Fresh. A considerable flock of Blue Tits 

 flitting noisily along trees on riverside. One Heron in river ; another 

 standing on point of a cairn, where ten or twelve feet of ice intervened 

 between it and the open water. At night heard an Otter whistling in the 

 river below Mertoun suspension bridge. Wild Geese heard flying in u 

 south-easterly direction. About the time the leaves were falling, I came 

 upon a cock Pheasant feeding among the leaves beneath a hedgerow in 

 Littledean Wood. When he rose and flew away along the wood, he did 

 not give utterance to the chuckle of alarm, and a few days afterwards, 

 when near the same spot, precisely the same thing occurred. Thinking it 

 very possible that I had on both occasions flushed the same Pheasant, 

 1 resolved to keep a sharp look-out for him in the future. On various 

 occasions between that time and Christmas I saw the same bird, and from 

 observations, came to the conclusion that he was both deaf and dumb. On 

 one day in particular I saw him a short distance in front of me, busy 

 pocking away, his head being to the wind. Crouching behind a mass of 

 earth and roots, the result of a blown down tree. I snapped branches and 



* There were no larvaa beneath the withered blotches. According to 

 Stainton's 'Lepidoptera Tineina,' p. 231, thelarvaa of Lithocolletix Schrtberella. 

 Fab., are excessively abundant, mining the under side of the leaves of the 

 Elm in autumn and in July. The larva of /.. tristrigella al*o mine* Elm 

 leaves. J. H, 



