100 



BIRDS. 



one's while very carefully to scrutinise any that may be found doing 

 so. It i3 at the same time worthy of remark that the young of the 

 two species are verj" closely alike, and seem to run into one another's 

 colours, and that even in, say, the first year's plumages. This, of 

 course, should be borne in mind. 



The Rev. Mr. M'Connochie relates that on one occasion he found 

 quite a large flock on one little moor in the parish of Guthrie, some 

 fifty birds, evidently a migration from some other locality. This was 

 in the springtime. 



Anthus trivialis {L.). Tree-Pipit. 



Summer visitant. Fairly common. Breeds. Not observed to be 

 gregarious. 



The earliest authentic record of the Tree-Pipit in the area is given 

 by Col. Drummond Hay, who saw it in the Faskally woods, and again 

 afterwards in lower parts of the Tay valley ; but even at the date of 

 1880 he considered it as "rare and local." 



Mr. Milne first recorded it in his list of birds around Fordoun on 

 May 18, 1896. And Mr. M'Connochie speaks of "one or two 

 pairs near Guthrie Manse." 



In the south-west Mr. Godfrey says that it arrived on Rannoch 

 side on 24th April 1901, and became common in the birch and hard- 

 woods. I do not say it had not appeared there sooner, but the above 

 is the earliest notice I possess of its occurrence. 



But even in 1904 it was still considered of "very doubtful 

 occurrence in the east of Forfar by Dr. T. F. Dewar. 



Xow, as long ago as 1870 I knew personally of what might even 

 be termed its abundance in the central districts of Scotland, between 

 Forth and Clyde ; and I took many " clutches " of eggs within a 

 mile and a half of this house — Dunipace — in the Torwood and on this 

 property. A favourite nesting ground was in some rough, rushy fields 

 bordering a large fir wood, and along a bank of a large main lade or 

 principal ditch-cutting, which was overshadowed by a row of beech- 

 trees close to the wood. A company of ditchers and drainers were at 

 work, and I used to get them daily to mark nests for me, and I came 

 up, in the course of my daily inspection of progress, and took such as 

 I wanted. I attended to my inspection with considerably added zest \ 



I think the history of its advance points to a slow progress any- 

 where to the north of Stirlingshire. 



I cannot even yet consider it a very common bird far to the 

 north. In 1905, during May and part of June, I saw two males 



