ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 13 



in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, compared with its 

 song in Roxburghshire. 



The Song Thrush. — During the years referred to 

 there has been only one very decided change in the 

 numbers of the song thrush, and that was some seven- 

 teen years ago, when a long and very severe frost 

 either drove away or killed nearly the whole of the 

 song thrushes of the Borders. For a year or two 

 afterwards very few of these birds were seen, and their 

 spring and early summer songs were sadly missed by 

 all lovers of their notes. They gradually increased, 

 however, and for a few years there has been a full 

 complement of these songsters. 



Water Ouzel. — The lively water ouzel, or dipper (the 

 Scotch water craw) has maintained its numbers during 

 all these years. It is a familiar sight to all who wander 

 by the trout streams of the Borders, and in every river 

 or burn frequented by it the angler will find trout; this 

 because the food on which the dipper lives is exactly 

 of the same description as that on which trout feed, and 

 trout streams are plentifully stocked with such food all 

 the year round. Worms similar to earth-worms are bred 

 and live in vast numbers in the shallower parts of the 

 rivers and brooks, and these yield much food for both 

 trout and ouzels. Then the number of caddis-worms, 

 creepers, and larvie in the streams of rivers, and even 

 of small burns, is simply immense, so that there is 

 ample food for all concerned. 



Some writers blame the dipper for eating largely of 

 the spawn of salmon and river trout. I have no doubt 

 it now and again picks up such food, just as river trout 

 themselves do, but I feel certain that its chief food 

 consists of what I have just enumerated. I have seen 

 much of the bird and its ways in my very frequent 

 angling expeditions, lasting over a long course of years, 



