554- Notes on the Birch of Slobo. By John Thomson. 



tops of the trees in which they had built or been reared, or on others in 

 proximity to them, chattering and singing as gaily as in spring. Both at 

 that season and in autumn they take extended nights in the direction of 

 the sea and back each day, leaving here about 9 or 10 o'clock a.m., and 

 returning between 3 and 4 p.m. I have watched their departure and 

 arrival, and noted that a northerly course, that which leads to the nearest 

 parts of the sea-coast was always taken. A Starling's egg was brought to 

 me by a person who saw one of these birds carrying it in its bill, and being 

 hotly pursued by another Starling, dropped it on the grass unscathed. 



The Water Ouzel is a familiar and well-known constant resident, and 

 its frequent occurrence during a walk by our river sides and burns has a 

 very enlivening effect. I can recollect of going when a boy to one of their 

 nests, which was built in a railway bridge, spanning a brook. There were 

 young birds pretty well feathered in the nest, and when I put my hand to 

 it they all sprang out and into a pool of water, about a foot deep, im- 

 mediately under. They at once dived to the bottom, and ran along it, and 

 catching sight of me again when they came to the surface, dived a 

 second time to escape observation. As the water was clear and smooth I 

 could see all their movements with perfect distinctness, and being much 

 struck at fcne time at their behaviour can still vividly recall the whole 

 incident. Those who are sceptical of the bird having power to pei'form 

 this feat of walking along the bottom of deep water, might very possibly 

 have their doubts dispelled by an exhibiti'on similar to that related, were 

 they to visit a nest with young birds at a like stage of development. 



As one result of the long succession of comparatively mild winters which 

 preceded the Arctic one of 1878-9, resident birds of most kinds had 

 multiplied excessively. In December 187-1 there was a snowstorm of con- 

 siderable severity, which began early in the month and continued to its 

 close — the snow having reached an average depth of about ten inches — 

 but there was not then a great apparent lessening of the numbers of birds, 

 more considerable diminution being observable amongst Partridges than 

 in any other case I noticed. In the following note on the Missel Thrush, 

 which I recorded at the end of 1879, one example is given of the great 

 abundance which had been attained to in many instances, and of the 

 disastrously fatal effects of the winter that had passed. 



" The return of the Missel Thrushes from lowland parts of the country, 

 where they had gone to pass the winter, was much delayed this year, and 

 there was the unusual circumstance of the Blackbird's song being heard 

 daily while no note came from the Missel Thrush. How small a remnant 

 came back was made very obvious at the season when various wild fruits 

 became ripe. In recent years as soon as the berries of the Eowan had 

 matured they were devoured by this bird, and a row of a score or thereby 

 of large Gean Trees, in the grounds of Stobo Castle, were, in a few daj^s, 

 similarly despoiled of their fruit. In such numbers did they flock to these 

 trees that I have seen, when they were suddenly alarmed, four or five 

 hundred rise all into 'the air together. This year ( — 79) the Gean Trees 

 yielded a large crop, and the Missel Thrushes of the surrounding district 



