Birds, 185 



of the river, two miles S.W. of the town, called Hawes-hood. Be- 

 neath the dripping ledges of shelving limestone which wall in this 

 secluded spot, the whole band of grey wagtails, picking up a scanty- 

 living, make a temporary sojourn. Should the weather become milder, 

 they soon return to their favourite haunts ; but if the cold increase, 

 and be accompanied with drifting snow storms, so as to drive them 

 from these retreats, our feathered friends make another move, and, 

 steadfast still to the locality, again appear amongst us. But the river 

 is now entirely quitted. The outlets of conduits, and the open chan- 

 nels in retired yards of the town, are their refuge from the storm. 

 Such was the case in January, 1842, but during the past, the grey 

 wagtails have never wandered from their autumnal residence : about 

 the middle of February the^ male birds become very noisy : in the 

 latter part of March both sexes, in pairs, move up the river and its 

 tributary streams ; and in the last week of April they may be again 

 found in their breeding quarters. Thomas Gough. 



Kendal, April 13, 1842. 



Notes on the habits of certain Birds. By Archibald Hepburn, Esq. 



The Jackdaw. The Rev. Mr. Stanley, in his pleasant work enti- 

 tled * Familiar History of Birds,' mentions a certain beechen wood 

 which was inhabited by a colony of jackdaws, but whether they built 

 only in the hollow trees or amongst the branches does not appear. 

 I have seen no mention of the latter fact in any of the few ornitho- 

 logical works which I have read. On the 13th of June, 1841, whilst 

 walking in Binnie wood, in company with two friends, we had just 

 emerged from a noble grove of beech trees, on a glade where the 

 woodman's axe had been busy, when the lively cawing of a jackdaw 

 awoke the deep stillness of the wood, and eager to learn what the 

 garrulous, social bird was doing in that lonely place, we walked to 

 the foot of the tall Scotch fir whence the sound proceeded ; there we 

 found the dead body of a ycung jackdaw, and heard the grateful 

 chatter of another : on looking upwards to the bushy, unnatural 

 growth of its branches, we perceived a bulky nest, whence the old 

 daw speedily made its escape. Professor Macgillivray mentions that 

 it frequents the ruined castle which frowns above the landing place 

 on the Bass : I have also observed several pairs nestling in the cliffs 

 on the north side of the same rocky isle. Although fond of the 



