426 
NOTES TO THE 
hawthorn or heath-bushes. The nest is composed of moss and 
oi'ass intermixed, and is lined with feathers and a little hair, but 
it is usually a very loose structure. One in my collection has a 
lining of fine grasses under the feathers. The eggs are of a pale 
green, faintly spotted with buff colour ; they are sometimes almost 
spotless ; at other times the spots are gathered towards the large 
end. They often have a distinctly marked zone, and a few 
distinct dots of a darker shade of the same colour. They are 
laid during May and June ; the number is live or six. 
Whin-chat. — The Whin-chat {S. rubctra) " makes a nest of 
moss and grass. The lining consists of the latter material, with 
a few horse or cow-hairs added. One nest I have is almost 
entirely composed of moss. The eggs are of a clear, deep greenish 
blue, sometimes unspotted ; at other times more or less marked 
with very small indistinct spots of buff. They are five or six 
in number, and are laid from the middle of May to the end of 
June. The nest is commonly placed on the ground under a 
whin or hawthorn-bush, hid amongst grass or other herbage, and 
is difficult to hnd." 
The whin-chat, although said to remain the whole year, arrives 
in the spring and departs in September. I^either Mr. Davy nor 
any of his men ever knew an instance of a whinchat being taken 
in the winter months. The furzechat, or stonechat, does stay the 
whole winter. The whinchat nests on the ground, and the cocks 
and hens arrive at the same time. The furzechat breeds in the 
furze and is very common. 
Sheep in Australia, p. 152. — Mr. J. C. Sutherland, who has 
farmed sheep in Tasinauia, tells me that sheep were first intro- 
duced into New South AVales not more tlian one hundred years 
ago, by a man of the name of McArthur. The sheej) originally 
introduced were the merino of the purest breed. At this present 
time they have crossed the merino with Leicesters, growing 
a much heavier sheep and coarser wool. They made this cross 
because the original breed were getting too small and the wool 
too fine, the coarse wool now fetches as much in the London 
markets as did the fine wool formerly. 
I am told that when a lamb dies, if the shepherd takes off 
its skin and sews it on to the body of another lamb, the mother 
recognising the smell of its own lamb allows the foster-lamb to 
suck. This confirms White's idea that the animals know each 
other by the smell more than by sight. When Fortune was 
travelliug in China to collect tea-seeds for the Indian Govern- 
ment he spoke the language so well that he passed muster 
