102 



CHAPTER OF VARIETIES. 



silver firs, the summits of which were quite filled with their " straw- 

 built sheds." After the subsiding of the waters, and for the greater 

 part of the season which succeeded this visitation, very few chaffinches, 

 and not a single sparrow, were seen. The former, however, gradually 

 returned, and are now nearly as numerous as ever ; but of the latter, 

 not one individual, as far as I can learn, has since been noticed, though 

 I have been very assiduous in looking for them myself, and in in- 

 quiring of all others who were likely to have observed them. What 

 seems to me to make this still more surprising, is the fact that there 

 is a great extent of wooded bank not a hundred yards from their usual 

 haunts, which was quite beyond the reach of the water, and on an 

 elevated part of which the silver firs grow, in which, as I have already 

 observed, many of their nests were built. 



I cannot think that the destruction of the garden is the cause of it, 

 for this reason, that a new one has been formed, at a little distance, 

 no doubt, from its predecessor, but still on a spot, the neighbourhood 

 of which they used formerly to frequent, and in it I have seen numbers 

 of chaffinches, hedge-chanters, redbreasts, and other small birds, but 

 never could distinguish any sparrows among them. All the other 

 grounds near the house have been restored to their former condition, 

 so that no change on them can account for it. 



Should you think this worthy of a corner in your Magazine, I will 

 feel much indebted to any of your numerous readers, who can suggest 

 a reason for this curious desertion of so common and familiar a bird*. 



T. M. G. 



Edinburgh. 



Black Rat. — It is, I believe, very generally supposed that the 

 black rat of this country has become very rare, and that it is now 

 almost every where superseded by the larger brown species ; so that the 

 circumstance of it still being common in one part of this island may 

 not be, perhaps, altogether uninteresting. At Ballindalloch they are 

 at present very numerous, and are the only species of rat known there, 

 principally frequenting the granaries and stables, where they do a great 

 deal of damage. It is, however, not long since they made their appear- 

 ance ; as I recollect, some years ago, that there was not a single rat of 

 any kind to be seen on that property. The black rat is in every respect 

 much less offensive than the brown one ; it is also smaller, and has 



* An exceedingly curious and interesting fact. Other communications from 

 T. M. G. will be very acceptable. — Ed. 



