NOTES FROM GARDEN AND FIELD 121 



watching this, the same thing has happened. The snow- 

 berry bushes and hedges have all been cut down. I was too 

 near the bird on many occasions to have made any mistake 

 as to its identity. Mr Smail, our late President, informed 

 me that he knew the bird quite well in the Earlston and 

 Jedburgh districts. It has been seen at Berwick, and, in 

 favourable seasons, I am sure that eventually some other 

 observer will confirm my report as to its identity. I have 

 stood below the tree upon which it was singing, and listened 

 to its song, which is exceedingly sweet. Its mate was in 

 a nest not far off, although I did not succeed in finding it. 

 A night singer, I have heard it at 11 p.m., and again at 

 2 a.m., in passing in my conveyance when out on duty. In 

 colour, it is much lighter along the breast and abdomen 

 than the Common Whitethroat, and a softer grey colour 

 over the back, and seemed rather longer in shape than 

 the common form. One could hardly mistake it for the 

 Sedge Warbler, which is also a night singer. It would be 

 impossible, I should suppose, to mistake the birds, which 

 differ entirely in appearance. The shyness is remarkable, 

 for it likes to be in a position where a short flight would 

 remove it from all danger. The high wall which surrounds 

 the grounds at Blackadder was within thirty yards of where 

 it was nesting. 



Motacillidce. — The Wagtails are very plentiful by the 

 rivers, from early spring. The Grey Wagtail {M. melanope) 

 remains, in mild weather, with us all winter. M. rail is 

 occasionally seen, as also the Pied Wagtail [M. lugitbris), 

 generally about the end of April. 



At Whitehall, the garden entrance to Ninewells, and along 

 the beautifully wooded banks of the Whitadder to Chirnside 

 Bridge, the following birds are rarely absent during the 

 early weeks of June : — Phylloscop%is rufus, the Chiff-chaff ; 

 Regulus cristatus, the Goldcrest ; Sylvia hortensis, the Garden 

 Warbler; Sylvia atricapilla, the Blackcap (10th May); 

 Phylloscopus trochilus, the Willow Wren. The Chiff-chaff 

 is one of our earliest arrivals, sometimes as early as the 

 30th March, and remains till September. The others are 

 later in appearing, but their notes are best heard in the 

 early weeks of June, when they are busy nesting;. 



