216 



BIRDS. 



large numbers having been observed in the spring and summer 

 of 1892. 



This increase, however, was observable as far back as our 

 earlier records take us, as was written by Dr. Gordon in 1844. 

 William Brown,^ who has sent us many excellent notes, speaks 

 of it as abundant at the present time. The extraordinary increase 

 within the last two or three years has been almost universally 

 taken notice of. Captain Dunbar-Brander of Pitgaveny assured 

 us it had become most destructive to his fine gardens, especially 

 in 1892. We doubt, indeed, if there be any other area of Scot- 

 land so heavily stocked with this assertive species as the Moray 

 Basin, on the south shore of the Moray Firth. 



In the Carn district around Glenlivet, Hinxman says it is, 

 as yet, only thinly distributed as a nesting species, and in flocks 

 in autumn among the rowan-trees. Just according to the bare- 

 ness or the wooded character of the different areas is its rareness 

 or abundance, but its nest has been known to be placed far above 

 the birch-wood, on the top of a stone wall,^ just as we have also 

 found Fieldfares nesting at times, on the fjelds of Norway, upon 

 the ledge of a bare rock. 



By 1893, the Missel-Thrush had become even more abundant, 

 and is decidedly, at this time, pushing its advance higher and 

 higher up the valleys, and becoming quite a feature amongst 

 the birch-woods, over 1000 feet above the sea. So much is this 

 the case that quite recently it has obtained a local name from the 

 farmers and inhabitants of the Carn District of Spey. The Ring 

 Ouzel is called the ' Black Chacker,' and the Missel-Thrush now 

 receives the name — in contradistinction — of the ' Grey Chacker.' 

 The natives also clearly distinguish between the nesting habits of 

 the two species, the Black Chacker building its nest low down and 

 the Grey Chacker high up in the birch-trees. Curiously, it has not 



1 Mr. William Brown, birdstuffer, Forres, has taken great pains to send us 

 information, and we desire to record our thanks to him for the conciseness of his 

 notes, which we frequently quote. Were all notes we received as concise and to 

 the point as his, an infinitude of time and * boiling down ' would have been saved. 

 We are primarily indebted to Dr. Gordon for recommending his correspondence, and 

 we have since then spent several days in his company on the coasts and sand-dunes 

 near Forres. 



2 In Stirlingshire, by the late Dr. W. Leslie of Falkirk, whose notes and collec- 

 tions passed into our hands after his death. 



