Birds. 5265 



never called the wheatear here, but simply the " stean chackert," that 

 is, " stone chatterer." 



The Sedge Warbler (Sylvia Phragmilis). Rare. It is only of late 

 years that this species has thought proper to visit us, a few doing so 

 annually. How pleasant and how enchanting it is to wander by the 

 margin of the running stream, either at latest even or earliest morn, 

 or even during summer's midnight hours, and hear the sedge warbler 

 pouring forth his long, harmonious song, himself all the while hid in 

 some neighbouring bush. A person not acquainted w r ith the bird 

 would think that there were a score of different sorts, so variable and 

 so like the song and call-notes of many others is his ever-changing 

 yet pleasant lay. Besides being found amongst the reeds and bushes 

 along the river's banks, these birds are also to be met with on several 

 of our w T hinny knowes and brambly brakes, far removed from any 

 water. I have seen them on the Binhill, a long, dry and rocky ridge 

 of hilly land near Huntly, and stretching hence away towards Keith. 



The Blackcap (Sylvia alricapilla). Rarer even than the last. A 

 few pairs in Duff House and Cullen House policies, and occasionally 

 at May en and Rothiemay, are amongst the chief, if not the only, 

 places which they frequent and breed in. A most noble songster ; 

 but I prefer the thrush. O, yes ! I love to hear the soft and melli- 

 fluent notes of our darling mavis above all others ; his high-toned 

 voice is so sweet and so mellow that it sinks to the very core, and 

 charms one so much. 



The Whitethroat (Sylvia cinerea). Somewhat more numerous than 

 either of the two last-mentioned, and generally arrives about the same 

 time. I once found the nest of a whitethroat, with young, at the end 

 of August. The young were only a few days old. 



The Wood Wren (Sylvia sibilatrix). Very rare. I am not aware 

 of this bird breeding here, but from the fact of having seen it at inter- 

 vals, and likewise from the circumstance of its having been observed 

 by others, as by Donaldson (a gentleman whose name I have already 

 mentioned, and whose word can be relied upon) at Bayndie, I make 

 no doubt but that they may at times do so. 



The Willow Wren (Sylvia trochilus). This species may be said to 

 be common throughout the whole county, in summer, wherever there 

 are weeds, plantain, whin, broom or bramble-bushes, as also in gar- 

 dens and orchards ; and I am sure that none of all our summer birds 

 are more willing with their music than this lively little fellow, for from 

 morning till night, for several months, he is almost constantly pouring 

 forth his quivering, shrill strains. The general place of nesting with 

 xiv. 2x 



