6 BIEDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
for food, and about the third week in October a weU- 
marked emigration of a great number of our bnrdB is 
°^In T904 I wished to photograph a Lapwing on her nest 
so a hut of spruce-branches was built and placed for several 
days conveniently near a nest, but when I went to photo- 
grih the bird, her eggs had all been festr^yed^y Rooks 
On moving the hut I found a Blackbird had made its 
nest in the spruce-branches, so care wa« taken when erecting 
the hut near a fresh Lapwing's nest not to disturb that 
of the Blackbird. This Lapwing's nest was also destroyed 
by Books, so the hut was moved a third time to another 
nest, where I obtained my photograph. As I sat in the hut 
with my camera, the Blackbird, which had fearlessly fo lowed 
her nest, incubated her eggs within two feet of me. 
Eventually, as the field had to be harrowed, the spruce- 
branches of the hut were carefully placed at one side o 
the field about one hundred yards ofi, and here the faitUul 
Blackbird had the satisfaction of rearmg her brood without 
further disturbance. , 
Nests on the ground, or in stone-dykes, are frequently 
recorded, as are also abnormally small and ^^^J^P^^Jf 
Thos. Corrie states that in the spring of 1870 a pair ot 
Blackbirds brought up two broods in the same nest after 
re-dressing it.* A nest with two eggs was found in tne 
first 3 of January, 1909, at MiUpool (Kirkpatrick- 
Durham, Kirkcudbrightshire).! tl.«n 
In the garden the Blackbird is even more destructive than 
the Song-Thrush, and it has been aptly described as the 
blackest of thieves " ; but its utility at other times of the 
year when there is no fruit should be taken mto considera- 
tion I have been confidently told by Mr. J. Murray that 
in 1904 he saw " a Blackie carrying an egg which it 
subsequently broke and sucked," a habit occasionally 
observed in the Mistle- and Song-Thrush. 
• Minutes of D. and G. Nat. Hist. Soc, December 6th, 1870. 
t Dumlries Courier and Herald, January 9th, 1909. 
