'550 Notes on ilea Birds of Stobo. By John Thomson. 



out its feet. A curious variety which I possess, and which was shot at 

 Baron Hill, North Wales, has the head, neck, wings, and tail, of a greyish- 

 white colour ; chin, dusky ; back, breast, and underparts, pale yellow. 



The Cole Tit is common, and the Long-tailed Tit is seen at intervals. 

 Though I have diligently looked for it, I have not been able to discover 

 the Marsh Tit. 



The Spotted Flycatcher is plentiful. Its usual time of arrival is the 

 middle of May, and it seems to depart again about the middle of September. 

 Before its departure for some weeks it frequently resorts to the roofs of 

 houses, for the purpose of feeding on the flies and other insects which are 

 ordinarily there in plenty at that season. A pair built one summer against 

 the trunk of an Elm and amidst a thick growth of young shoots, and on 

 the following year another pair (probably the same or their progeny) 

 returned to find the site occupied by a. Chaffinch's nest. So strong was 

 their attachment for the place that, instead of finding another suitable 

 situation, which they might easily have done, they attacked the offending 

 Chaffinches, and succeeded in driving them away. Thereafter they con- 

 structed their own nest a few inches off the Chaffiuch's. 



A male Pied Flycatcher was shot in tin; parish on May 22nd, 1879 ; 

 two pairs had nests last year, (1885) ; and on the 1st of May this year, I 

 saw a male haunting in the vicinity of the trees in which they built. It 

 showed little distrust until I went up close to one of the trees, when it 

 evinced unmistakeable signs of alarm or displeasure, proving very con- 

 clusively a former connection with the spot. On the 5th of May, I again 

 saw a male, a few hundred yards from the place just indicated. 



The great scarcity of the Kingfisher is due mainly I believe to its in- 

 ability to endure the rigours of our climate. It had become tolerably 

 frequent with us for a few years preceding the severe winter of 1878-9, 

 but at the present time is indeed very scarce. From the following incident 

 it would appear that the bird has an accommodating appetite. At a siding of 

 the railway at Stobo Station, two or three Kingfisher's were one day 

 observed passing and repassing from some waggons to the Tweed — there 

 distant about 150 yards, and the object of attraction at the waggons was 

 found to be the grease used for oiling, on which they were feeding. One, 

 however, came to grief, by striking against a telegraph wire. It was 

 brought to me alive, and showed a quiet demeanour, not offering to peck at 

 the hand. The Kingfisher was not led by stress of weather to make this 

 repast, but obviously on account of the suitableness to its palate of the oily 

 substance. I have seen Rooks eating it greedily. 



The Carrion Crow not seldom follows the windings of a brook or river 

 in quest of food, but more in the hope of finding stray pieces of garbage 

 than with an intent to prey on unwary fish. Yet these are sometimes taken. 

 The late Mr William Hogg, (brother of the Ettrick Shepherd, and for a 

 number of years shepherd at Stobo Hope), wrote to the Editor of the 

 " Edinburgh Journal of Natural History," in January 1838, of a pair of 

 these birds having been seen by him — in a meadow near his house at Stobo 

 Hope — devouring what from evidences he felt justified in concluding was 



