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OF THE 


BHRWICKSHIRE 
NATURALISTS CLUB. 


INSTITUTED SEPTEMBER 22, 1831. 


“MARE ET TELLUS, ET, QUOD TEGIT OMNIA, CQiLUM.” 
x 


1882—1884. 


ALNWICK : 
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB 
BY HENRY HUNTER BLAIR, MARKET PLACE, 
1885. 


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PROCEEDINGS 


OF THE 


BERWICKSHIRE NATURALISTS’ CLUB. 


Address delivered to the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, at 
Selkirk, October 11th, 1882. By the Rev. JAMES 
FarquHaArson, M.A., Selkirk, President. 


ALLOW me, in the first place, to return you my sincere 
thanks for the high honour you conferred upon me twelve 
months ago in electing me President of the Club. I esteem. 
it a special honour to hold office in the first year after the 
celebration of the Club’s jubilee. At first I failed to see 
any good reason for selecting myself for that special honour. 
Neither for regularity of attendance at the meetings, nor for 
amount of contribution to the proceedings, could I claim dis- 
tinction. But it occurred to me as a reason for my selection 
that I was the oldest member of your western, or Selkirk- 
shire contingent ; and that, whether accidentally or of inten- 
tion, my tenure of office as President in the year after the 
jubilee marked the wider range of territory which the Club 
now claims as its own, and indicated that so far from think- 
ing our work done after fifty years’ happy labour, we simply 
gird ourselves afresh, and with the strength of acquired 
experience issue forth to explore “fresh fields and pastures 
new.” 

It is the custom of the Club to regard the President’s 
address as the record, or minutes, of the Club for the 
year. Accordingly, without further preface, I shall endeav- 
our to lay before you a short description of our excursions, 
and of the business transacted after the day’s walk or drive 
was over. In preparing this record I need scarcely say 

B.N.C.—VOL. X. NO. I. A 


2 Annwersary Address 


that I have been very greatly indebted to Mr Hardy, who 
has supplied me liberally with his own notes, and procured 
for me aid from other members of the Club, which I shall 
acknowledge in due course. 


Happineton MEETING. 


Ovr first meeting for the season was held at Haddington, on 
Wednesday, May 31st. The weather was very fine throughout 
the day, an earnest at the outset of the friendly skies with 
which the Club has been favoured at all the meetings of the 
year, with the exception of this our closing meeting. About half 
a dozen members put in an early appearance, and breakfasted at 
9 o’clock in the George Hotel. A second and more numerous 
party came by a later train and breakfasted at 10.30. Several 
members travelling from Berwick by the express arrived at 
Longniddry after the departure of the Haddington train, and 
had to walk to the town, thus unfortunately missing the pleasant 
excursion to the Garleton Hills. The following members of the 
Club were present during the whole or part of the day :—Rev. 
James Farquharson, A.M., Selkirk, President ; Dr. F. Douglas, 
Kelso, and Mr Hardy, Oldcambus, Secretaries; Emeritus Pro- 
fessor Balfour, F.R.S., etc.; Revs. Paton J. Gloag, D.D., Gala- 
shiels ; Joseph Hunter, A.M., Cockburnspath; George Marjori- 
banks, B.D., Stenton; Thomas S. Marjoribanks, Prestonkirk ; 
Robert Paul, F.S.A., Dollar; Joseph Hill Scott, M.A., Kelso ; 
William Snodgrass, D.D., Canonbie; William Stobbs, A.M., 
Gordon; R. H. Williamson, M.A., Whickham; Lieut.-Col. 
Aytoun, Edinburgh ; Captain Forbes, R.N., Berwick; Captain 
Macpherson, Melrose; Captain Norman, R.N., Berwick; Dr. 
John L. Crombie, North Berwick; Dr. J. Robson Scott, Edin- 
burgh ; Dr. Charles Stuart, Chirnside; Messrs Chas. Anderson, 
Jedburgh; James Bogie, Edinburgh ; William B. Boyd, Faldon- 
side; Thomas Brewis, 6, Regent Terrace, Edinburgh; Thomas 
Darling, Berwick; Robert Douglas, Town Clerk of Berwick ; 
Robert Gray, F.R.S.E., etc., Edinburgh ; W. H. Johnson, Kdin- 
burgh, J. E. H. Kelso, Edinburgh; Alex. Leitch, Fairneyside ; 
Peter Loney, Marchmont; A. L. Miller, Berwick ; Stanley Scott, 
Abbey House, Kelso; George Heriot Stevens, Gullane; Charles 
Watson, Dunse; and William Wilson, Berwick. Apologies 
were received from the Rev. J. F. Bigge, Stamfordham; the 
Rey. Dr. Sprott, North Berwick; and the Mayor of Berwick. 


Annversary Address. 3 


The Club was joined by several members of the newly-founded 
Kast Lothian Natural History Society, and thus the day proved an 
occasion for the interchange of greetings between this, the young- 
est daughter, and our own venerable mother Field Club. The 
East Lothian Society was represented by the Revs. R. Nimmo 
Smith, John F. Grant, Alexander Thomson, and T. N. Wannop ; 
Henry Martin, M.D., F.S.A.; Messrs Magnus Badger, John 
Brook, David Croal, William Davie (secretary), A. M. Main, — 
Martin, and James Robb, all of Haddington; and Mr Frank 
Muirhead, Haglescarnie. 

Soon after 11 o’clock a start was made for the Garleton Hills, 
some members driving, while others remained behind to make 
leisurely acquaintance with the antiquities of the town. The 
_ pedestrians were under the guidance of Mr Robb and Mr Badger, 
enthusiastic members of the local Society, and were accompanied 
by some lady-members of the same Society. 

The line of the excursion lay along the public road past the 
District Lunatic Asylum to the Hopetoun Monument. Then the 
route was taken along the ridge of the Hills eastward to the 
British Camp on the Kae Heugh; from which the members of 
the party made their way in groups in as direct a line as possible 
to Haddington. 

The Hopetoun Monument was the first point at which a halt 
was made, and there the walking and driving sections of the 
party reassembled. Seated on the projecting rocks, or reclining 
on the close, rich grass, they enjoyed the wide-spread prospect 
extending on all sides. Unfortunately the heat-haze was so 
dense that the Fife coast was entirely hid from view, and even 
the nearer landscape a good deal obscured; but nearly the whole 
of East Lothian, from the Doon Hill of Spot to Falside Hill 
above Tranent, could be studied as on a map, and enough was 
seen to fill the eye and impress the mind with the fertile nature 
of this richly cultivated county ; while the slopes of the Lammer- 
moors to the south spoke also of its pastoral wealth. 

The next halt was made at the British Camp, which was ex- 
amined with interest, but found to display no peculiar or notable 
features. Itisirregularly circular. On three sides it is defended 
by a triple mound, while the precipitous Kae Heugh sufficiently 
protects the remaining northern side. There are no remains of 
hut circles, or erections of any kind, within or connected with the 
camp, and apparently no provision for a supply of water, 


4 Anniversary Address. 


The names of many of the places in the immediate vicinity of 
the Hills are interesting to the antiquarian and the student of 
Scottish History. ‘Barns, Byres,” I quote Mr Hardy ‘(both named 
from being parts of an ancient grange), the three Garmiltons, now 
Garletons, and another Barns, associated with the names of the 
Stewarts, the Lindsays (Sir David Lindsay of the Mount being 
one), the Setons, the Hepburns, the Kinlochs, and other historic 
names, and Kilduff and Athelstaneford, that recall thememory of 
the restless author of ‘Douglas,’ and the more venerated writer of 
‘The Grave,’ stand at the base, or on the spurs, of these hills. 
Kilduff is a particularly bright white mansion, screened on the 
north by a wood that mantles a hill-top above it. There are 
Pictish, or at least Gaelic, place-names in the vicinity, such as 
Drem, Kilduff, and Ballencrieff, but these indicate a newer stra- 
tum of history than that characterised by the rude hill forts and 
their outlying burial places, with inartistic clay urns and slab 
cists.”’ 


The walk was not productive of much in a natural history point 
of view. Of the geology of the district passed over Mr Hardy 
says :—‘‘The rock on the outskirts of the Garletons, as laid bare 
in a quarry near the public road to Aberlady, was a pale chest- 
nut-coloured volcanic ash or claystone, accompanied by a broad 
mass of trap that had disrupted the claystone. In the centre of 
the hills the rock is porphyritic, and of deeper tints. The por- 
phyry here is broken up into a series of separate peaked sub- 
conical eminences, which form from a distance a conspicuous 
serrated green ridge. A deep waterless valley penetrates them 
lengthways, and descends to a broad level flat between 
these hills and the hill of Kilduff. There are also a few cross 
ravines, as among hills projected on amore extensive scale; and 
on what is called the Kae Heugh the rock becomes precipitous. 
There is an extensive quarry near the central valley, where the 
stones are broken with a machine put into action by steam, to 
form road metal and material for garden walks. In proceeding 
to the Hopetoun Monument the hematite mine was passed. 
Some of the samples of mammillated iron ore extracted from it 
are very fine. It is understood that the vein is by no means 
exhausted, and may yet become available when there is a better 
demand for the ore.” 

Few plants worth recording were picked up. The magnificent 
profusion of whin blossom on the hill slopes deserves record. 


Anniversary Address 5 


Looking on it one could sympathize with the almost idolatrous 
enthusiasm of Linnzeus, who is reported, on first seeing in this 
country a mass of whins in full blossom, to have fallen on his knees 
and thanked God that he had lived to see the gorgeous sight. 
Vicia angustifolia, var.) Bobarti, and Anagallis arvensis were picked 
up in a grass field on the descent from the Monument. Viola 
lutea occurred on the hill pastures in abundance; and Cerastium 
arvense was found in considerable quantity in a cultivated field to 
the west of the British Camp. Cynodontium Bruntoni grew on a 
stone wall and on the rocks. While the party were seated at 
the base of the Monument, Dr. Stuart produced from his vasculum 
for their delectation a number of rare plants grown in his garden 
at Chirnside, among them specimens of the fine blue and white 
Aquilegia Stuarti. After dinner Arum ‘maculatum and Lathrea 
sguamaria, gathered in the neighbourhood of Haddington, were 
exhibited. 

No rare birds were observed, but it was pleasant in the bright 
summer day to see and hear such old friends as the stonechat, 
the whinchat, the wheatear, the pipit-lark, the pied wagtail, the 
white-throat, the willow-wren, and the corn-crake. The Kae 
Heugh is so named as a haunt of the jackdaw, but its imperti- 
nent inhabitants were not visible while the visitors stood on the 
brink of the precipice. 

After the party’s return from the Garleton Hills, the town of 
Haddington, pleasantly situated on both banks of the Tyne, here 
a broad clear stream crossed by a very ancient and picturesque 
bridge, was inspected with much interest. Under the effi- 
cient guidance of Mr Robb, the House of the Earl of Bothwell 
was first visited. In the records of Haddington it is called 
“the town house of the Master of Hailes”; and the tradition 
runs that Queen Mary, who had fled from Borthwick Castle, dis- 
guised as a page, here changed her borrowed garments for 
feminine attire, and pursued her way to Dunbar, there to rejoin 
Bothwell, who had escaped earlier. It is evidently a very 
ancient structure—its winding staircase, its high-pitched roof, its 
almost obliterated coat of arms on the outer wall, distinguishing 
it among the surrounding buildings. 


The Nungate, an ancient suburb of the town on the east side 
of the Tyne, now largely tenanted by Irish, was next visited. 
Here the chief object of interest was St. Martin’s Chapel, one of 
the earliest ecclesiastical buildings in Scotland. Mr Hardy, ina 


6 Anniversary Address. 


separate paper, will give an account of this interesting structure, 
now standing roofless and desolate, and not over well kept. 

The reputed property of the ancestors of John Knox in the 
Giffordgate, near the old bridge, was pointed out. The original 
building has disappeared, the site being occupied by a modern 
dwelling. ‘The site of St. Catherine’s Chapel, specially noticed 
in Knox’s ‘History of the Reformation’ under date 1549, is 
ascertainable by the name of ‘Katie’s Garden’ being still attached 
to it. The site of the Minorite or Franciscan Monastery is 
occupied by the present Episcopal Church. The church of this 
monastery, and not the Parish Church of St. Mary’s, is the true 
‘Lamp of Lothian.’ It was burnt by Edward III. in 1355. 
From the Chamberlain Rolls, we learn that it was rebuilding in 
1362. It survived the Reformation, but in 1572 the east gable 
was granted to Thomas Cockburn of Clerkington, to be demol- 
ished and carried away; and the pavement was transported to 
the Parish Church (St. Mary’s), and laid there. The monastery 
appears on record in 1281, in the reign of Alexander III., but 
may belong to the previous reign. Ofit no vestige remains. 
There was an altar to St. Duthac in the Minorite Church.” 

The noble edifice of St Mary’s Church, the western end of which 
is the Parish Church of Haddington, engaged the attention of 
the visitors for a considerable time. ‘The church was gifted to St. 
Andrews by David I. before 1147, the charter being renewed by 
William previous to 1166. ‘The present building belongs to the 
second pointed period, some portions of the tower to the third. 
The eastern portion is now roofless, but is well-cared for by the 
Department of Woods and Forests. The east window has been 
recently restored as a memorial of the Rev. Dr. John Cook, for 
many years one of the ministers of the collegiate charge of Had- 
dington, and Trincipal Clerk of the General Assembly of the 
Church of Scotland. In the magistrates’ pew in the Parish 
Church lie the Episcopal service books, which were in use when 
Episcopacy was for a brief period the established religion in 
Scotland, and which have never been removed. Curious old pre- 
Reformation alms-dishes were seen, as well as a valuable solid 
silver chalice, which has been in use for the last 250 years in the 
Parish Church. Beside the architectural attractions of this fine 
building, much interest was taken in the tomb of the Maitland 
family with its numerous monuments; and perhaps still more 
interest in the simple slab, with characteristic inscription, on the 


Anniversary Address. 7 


grave of Mrs Carlyle, to whose remarkable character so much 
attention has been recently directed by the morbid ‘‘ Reminis- 
cences” of her famous husband. The inscription runs thus :— 


“ Here likewise now rests Jane Welsh Carlyle, Spouse of Thomas Carlyle, 
Chelsea, London. 


She was born at Haddington, 14th January, 1801, only Daughter of the 
above John Welsh, and of Grace Welsh, Caplegill, Dumfriesshire. 

In her bright existence she had more sorrows than are common ; but also 
a soft invincibility, a clearness of discernment, and a noble loyalty 
of heart, which are rare. For forty years she was the true and 
everloving helpmeet of her Husband, and by act and word un- 
weariedly forwarded him, as none else could, in all of worthy that 
he did or attempted. 


She died at London, 21st April, 1866, suddenly snatched away from 
him, and the light of his life as if gone out.” 

There had been laid out in the Town-house some of the earlier 
Burgh Records and Books of its ancient Trade Corporations ; 
and various interesting local antiquarian relics, along with a seal 
of the Convent of St. Mary’s, Coldstream, which had been found 
in an old house in the town. These at various periods in the 
day were examined with interest by members of the Club. 


Dinner was served at 4°30 p.m., and nearly 50 sat down at 
table. After dinner some interesting objects were shown, in- 
cluding extraordinary monstrosities of the Sloe gathered near 
Pease Bridge, which were supposed to have originated from the 
frost injuring the fruit, the bushes having flowered prematurely. 
These were sent to the Museum of the Botanic Gardens, Edin- 
burgh. An exceedingly interesting paper was read by Mr Robt. 
Gray, F.R.S.E. ‘On tho Bird Life of the Firth of Forth during 

_the Storms of October and November, 1881.” Another interest- 
ing paper was read by Mr Hardy, ‘On the Seals of the Burgh 
and Corporation of Berwick-upon-Tweed,”’ ‘‘occasioned by the re- 
cent discovery, near Morpeth, of a leaden seal of Henry IV., 
with the arms of Berwick, being an impression of the great seal 
of the realm, as the inscription purports, for his land beyond the 
Tweed. A cast of this, communicated by Mr Woodman, Stob- 
hill, Morpeth, was exhibited, also a tracing of the burgh arms in 
the reign of Alexander II., and impressions of the present 
Mayoral and Corporation seals of this ancient town.’”’ Both papers 
will find a place in the Transactions. 

The following were proposed for membership :—Mr Alexander 
Bowie, Canonbie, Dumfriesshire; Mr W. Edward Kelso, 3, 


8 Anniversary Address. 


Northumberland Street, Edinburgh ; Colonel Alexander Murray 
Brown of Longformacus; Rev. Robert Nimmo Smith, first charge, 
Haddington. 

There were laid on the table, there not being time for read- 
ing: 1, Notice of localities in Berwickshire for Adder’s-Tongue 
fern (Ophioglossum vulgatum), which indicated a new habitat 
for it near the Pease Mill, Cockburnspath. 2, Sketch of the Life 
and Writings of Samuel Smiles, L.L.D.,; by Mr David Jerdan, | 
Dalkeith, the brother-in-law of. Dr. Smiles. Dr. Smiles was 
born at Haddington, December 23rd, 1812.. This article was 
not intended for publication, but the Club has to thank Mr Jer- 
dan for his kind communication. ad 


The party broke up in time to allow of departure by the 
evening trains ; and the members of the Club left Haddington, 
carrying with them pleasant memories of their visit to the 
ancient burgh, and of the kindness and attention shown them 
. by the members of the youthful local sister Society. 


Hovunam MEETING. 


Wuen I accepted the office of President, I resolved, if possible, 
to attend all the meetings of the Club during the year, although 
the distance of Selkirk from the ordinary field of your operations 
frequently necessitates a three days’ absence from home, in order 
to allow of my attendance at a field meeting. I had made 
arrangements to attend the meeting at Hounam, when the death 
of a near relative summoned me to Aberdeen, and rendered it im- 
possible I should be present. This I regretted very much on 
personal grounds, for I was most desirous of seeing the Roman 
Camp at Chew Green. In the previous autumn several visits to 
the very perfect and finely displayed Roman Camp at Saalburg, 
near Homburg v.d. Hohe in Germany, had given me, to quote 
‘The Manse Garden,’ the bite for that kind of antiquarian 
remains, and I wished to compare, I fear it would have been in 
some respects to contrast, the German Camp with that which 
lurks among the bare hills at the head waters of theCoquet. In 
the absence of ocular inspection, I must content myself with the 
minute description of the district visited and of the Camp, which 
Mr Hardy has kindly prepared, and which I now incorporate in 
this address. 

THE second meeting for the season was held at Hounam. 
The following were present:—Dr. F. Douglas and Mr Hardy, 


Anunwersary Address. 9 


Secretaries; Revs. Charles J. Cowan, B.D., Morebattle ; David 
Hunter, B.D., Kelso; Joseph Hunter, Cockburnspath; Peter 
McKerron, Kelso; David Paul, Roxburgh; William Stobbs, 
Gordon ; George Watson, Hounam; Dr. Jas. Denholm, Broom- 
hill; Dr. Charles Douglas, Kelso; Dr. Edward Johnson, Kelso ; 
Dr. Robson Scott, Belford; Messrs W. B. Boyd, Faldonside ; 
William Crawford, Dunse; William Currie, Linthill; John S. 
Dudgeon, Longnewton Place; Arthur Evans and friend, Screm- 
erston; Wm. Johnson, Edinburgh; J. B. Kerr, Kelso; Peter 
Loney, Marchmont; John Thomson, Kelso; Thomas Turnbull, 
Lilliesleaf ; Charles Watson, Dunse. 

In the early part of the day the company consisted of small 
detachments of members, some of whom had passed the evening 
in the neighbourhood, but all making towards Hounam as a 
' gathering place. Having gone with one of these parties that 
started from Kelso at 7 o’clock in the morning, which ultimately 
followed out the programme, I have chiefly its adventures to 
detail. This consisted primarily of Mr W. B. Boyd, Rev. D. 
Hunter, Kelso; Dr. Johnson, Tweed House; Mr W. B. John- 
son, Edinburgh; and myself. After entering the upper Kale 
valley, Veronica Anagallis was observed near some of the stag- 
nant pools. The Foxglove accompanied us, more or less, till we 
reached Hounam. Dr. F. Douglas had long ago gathered 
Geranium lucidum on walls near Gateshaw, and it was said to be 
not uncommon near Hounam. In the lower part of the valley, wiid 
roses bloomed profusely, one of the floral features, along with the 
abundance of Foxglove, of the present season.* Sinapis arvensis 
and occasionally Raphanus Raphanistrum reached the limits of 
cultivation, so far as we traced them here; at least above Chester 
house. After passing Gateshaw, the rising southern bank of 
Kale is full of Spirea Ulmaria and Geranium pratense. There 
was much Petasites vulgaris at Chester house. Beyond Chester 
house, Mr Boyd noticed 8 or 4 tall plants of Arabis Thlapsi, on 
the bank of the public road near the plantation. The rising 
ground on the left is Heavyside, a detached portion of More- 
battle parish. We crossed Kale at Heavyside bridge, and 
looking up the river to a wooded Crag called Heavyside Dean 
Crag, where Zhlapsi was first detected in a wild state in this 


*Where in consequence of recent severe seasons old shrubberies have 
been cut over, amidst which Foxgloves had formerly grown, large numbers 
ot young piants of this species had sprung up, and have flowered profusely 

is season. 


i&B 


10 Anmwwersary Address 


vicinity, we could observe the maiden pink (Dianthus deltoides) 
growing; and also the common rock-rose ( Helianthemum vulgare), 
both being in blossom. In front of us, more or less, on the steep 
green slopes to the left, were the Howgate terraces, examples 
of a very old and now abandoned mode of cultivation, at the 
base of Hounam law. They are very well seen, the ground 
being free of brackens; and are pretty regular in their succes- 
sion. There was a fine section of them, where they crossed a 
corner into a ravine. Some of them in this tract were no doubt 
effaced by a later system of laying out the ridges. The hills of 
considerable acclivity and height accompanied us on either side, 
for we passed up in a gap, till we entered Hounam. Most of 
the sides were cultivated pretty well up; the upper parts continu- 
ing the green of the fields, although of a different shade, without 
any heather; they being productive of pasture grass, and plots 
of brackens. The brackens in several spots had been browned 
by late spring frosts. At Hounam, Chenopodium Bonus-Henricus 
and Sisymbrium officinale grew by the river-side. At the small 
inn breakfast was had about 9 a.m., when the Rev. Jos. Hunter 
joined us; afterwards the Revs. David Paul, P. McKerron, and 
C. J. Cowan, were welcomed as an accession to our ranks. We 
then resumed the journey ; the Capehope burn was passed, where 
some very good old ashes were noticed; and then as we drove on, 
we had the slopes of the Philogar heights on the right, where 
again culture-terraces, catch water ditches, and it may be old 
water-lines crossed the hill-faces, mixed with old cultivated land 
with winding and not straight ridges; all now under pasturage. 
The severe English raids of 1544-5, tradition affirms nearly 
depopulated Kale Water. We passed the cottar’s house at 
Under Chatto, and the shepherd’s house at Swinlaws. Chatto 
Craig with its fort was on the right, and the Dod Law with its 
twisted furrows, said to be very distinct in a slight snow storm, 
on our left. In three or four instances we saw, on either hand, 
what appeared to be ancient camps, or abandoned ‘sheep- 
rees” (circular folds) of old date. As we turned up to go to 
Bughtrig, the heathy height of Humblemoor was on our left, 
and Hangingshaw hill on our right. Beyond the slack where we 
turned, on the hill across the river is Pennymuir, where the 
trysts for sale of sheep and cattle are held; and where as late as 
1848, the Cheviot Games were celebrated. Genista tinctoria is 
said to grow at Pennymuir. The road we parted from pro- 


Anniversary Address. 11 


-eeeds to the Hindhopes, which in our subsequent journey by the 
way that we chose, we were to overtop, and look across upon. 
In walking up the hill, and previously by the road-sides, the 
shepherd’s pansy (Viola lutea) in purple, yellow, and yellow and 
purple varieties appeared in the pastures; and much lady’s bed- 
straw also; and a mixture of Ste/laria holostea, which indicated 
dryness. Myosotis repens and Montia fontana grew in the ditches. 
The pastures shewed bent (Nardus stricta), and. also Juncus 
squarrosus. In the hollow we passed a horse-shoe shaped camp. 
Some blasted brackens were noticed but none afterwards; al- 
though the Juncus squarrosus was frost-bitten at the Black hill. 
Wheat-ears frequented the walls, and a grouse was started, but 
moor-game is not plentiful. Larks were numerous overhead, 
and the curlew’s voice was audible. On crossing the ridge 
Bughtrig came into view. On porphyrite rock by the road-side, 
- Racomtrium heterostichum and Hedwigia ciliata grew in the open, 
and Bartramia pomiformis and MMnium hornum on the shady side, 
with some common liverworts. We next cross a small feeder of 
the Capehope burn, and looking downwards see bare heath- 
covered rounded hills, with “glitters” at their bases, and yellow 
up-castings of soil indicating the retreats of rabbits. On the back 
ridges behind Bughtrig, are two plantations, in which are 
sycamores and ashes of about 150 years’ antiquity. Many 
chaffinches frequented them, and were in full song. The 
cuckoos are also numerous here during early summer. The 
shepherd’s pansy again enlivened the road-side, along with 
Hypericum pulchrum, the Lady’s Mantle, Stellaria graminea, and I 
believe Geranium sylvaticum also. A bush of Hemlock grew in 
the plantation near the house, probably introduced there for 
medicinal purposes. It ascends Coquetdale to Linn-Shiels 
(Baker). The shepherd tries to keep bees, but the springs are 
too cold for apiculture. 

Bughtrig is a lonely steading i the midst of the hills. The 
windows command a fine view of the hills in front, across the 
Capehope, the two tallest being the Standard and the Stanchills 
or Staneshiels. There is also a third notable hill, whereon the 
body of a Sir John Sadler, who was slain in a Border foray, is 
said to be interred (in his silver armour); the finding of whose 
forgotten tomb is an object of much solicitude and search to the 
shepherds, who expect that some one will yet be enriched by 
making the grand discovery. Fully as interesting is a much 


12 Annwersary Address, 


lesser elevation called the Mote, at the base of the Standard, and 
close to the Capehope burn, on which there is a large Camp, 
situated on a level half way-up, and the steep apical portion 
above that is fortified with upright and cross ramparts, It is 
ascended by a road which is protected by standing stones, and 
these erect projections continue round part of the top, and 
strengthen most of the transverse terraces. Similar upright 
stones are well known to accompany British roads and walls 
among the Cheviots near Wooler. The Mote will be noticed in 
subsequent articles. The rock we had been travelling over, is a 
red, brown, or grey, porphyrite, or a variation of it, up to the 
English border. Leaving the conveyance, there now mustered a 
walking party of eight, under Mr Simson’s guidance, which 
could only be extended a short way, it being the anxious season 
of sheep-shearing. We crossed the hay-field which contained 
among the pasture grasses rather a curious mixture of plants ; 
wild and zigzag red clover (Trifolium pratense et medium) ; Lotus 
corniculatus; Orobus tuberosus; much yellow-rattle (Rhinanthus 
erista-galli); hop-clover (Zrifolium procumbens); Tormentil; 
Milkwort; earth-nut; and in the marshy spots, Ragged Robin ; 
Orchis latifolia O. palmata ; Lysimachia nemorum and Ajuga reptans. 
In a rocky ravine of the Capehope, above a water-fall, a wild 
rose, Zeucrium scorodonia, and the obiquitous yellow pansy were 
remarked. Looking down the glen about two or three miles a 
slated house or houses on-the right side of the stream was sup- 
posed to be Yett; a quarter mile below it is the Duke of 
Roxburghe’s'shooting lodge, Greenhill. The common trout pene- 
trates above Bughtrig. The bed of the stream furnishes a fine 
sharp sand adapted for building purposes, which was being util- 
ised when we passed; very suitable stones of grey porphyrite 
were also being quarried from the hill side. The day now be- 
came so extremely sultry, that we almost expected a catas- 
trophe akin; to that of the famous tramp to Yevering Bell, June 
26th 1878, when so many fell out of the ranks. However, on 
the present occasion, although the journey extended to twice its 
reputed length, 6 miles instead of 3, and there was a consider- 
able lagging behind, the labour was cheerfully undergone, and 
the distance accomplished. /Pipits and wheat-ears were the only 
birds among the ferns ; the whin-chat was expected, but it could 
not be recognised ; nor even the ring-ouzel in what is known to 
be its summer resort. Three black-cocks were seen on the wing. 


Awnwersary Address. 13 


From the shooting records of the district, black game is ap- 
parently more plentiful than grouse. The yellow-hammer we 
heard, and the willow-wren also in a young fir plantation. The 
curlews were, more or less, clamorous in general. A wood- 
pigeon and a small flock of young starlings were also remarked. 

As applicable to the Zoology of this and the neighbouring hill 
district of Roxburghshire, I may here introduce a notice, dated 
July 6th, from Mr Adam Elliot, Samieston, in reply to some in- 
quiries. ‘‘ As to the birds, the Golden Hagle and the Peregrine 
have been shot among the hills you passed over; the former of 
course a chance visitor, but the other from Henhole. I fireda 
shot at a Peregrine this spring among these hills, but out of 
range. JI have at different times started the fox among the 
heather on the hill-sides ; and the stoat-weasel in his pure white 
_ winter coat sometime hunts the hill-sides in the day-time. The 
adder I believe is pretty common. I found a large skin of one 
on Bughtrig about a month since. I got also one or two Micro- 
lepidoptera that I had not seen before, and saw the Emperor 
moth on the wing. Ihave no doubt that the Badger inhabits 
the hills also, and probably the Polecat. Mr Douglas, a few 
years since at Swinside, came on a Badger one morning at the 
sheep corn-boxes on the hill, which he killed with his colley. In 
a small lochlet between this and Hounam, I have shot the Goss- 
ander, Pochard, Golden Eye, Blue-winged Shoveller, Tufted 
Duck, and Red-throated Diver; also two Wild Geese on one 
occasion; as likewise the Pintail Duck and the Merlin-falcon 
near the same locality. Snipes and woodcocks are generally distri- 
buted, but scarce and uncertain in appearance. The woodcocks 
I have frequently seen late in the year among the Border-hills ; 
they generally lie among the fern near to springs on the hill- 
sides.” Mr Thomson, Towford, also furnishes some local notes. 
Peregrines have been shot in the vicinity of Hindhope ; ‘‘corbies”’ 
are numerous; and ravens are now and then present; dotterels 
are occasional visitants; and ring-ouzels breed there in summer. 
Water-ouzels frequent the streams; whin and stone chats are to 
be seen ; larks and meadow pipits abound; and there are plenty 
of plovers. ‘‘Herons are plentiful on the Kale,” he says, ‘and I 
have counted six at atime in front of Towford School. They 
frequently roost in the wood at the back of the school here, but 
never build. The late Mr Ord told me that he remembered a 
Heronry in this wood, but they have now deserted it as far as 


14 | Anniversary Address. 


breeding is concerned. Herons frequently visit Bughtrig.” 
Adders he accounts rare and none have been seen lately. There 
are still recollections of badgers having been hunted on the Kale. 
Mr Simson, Oxnam Row, who also farms Bughtrig, writes, ‘It 
is ten years since I captured a badger in Oxnam Water on my 
hill, and I have his skin in the house.’’. 

Yellow Pansies continued to flourish till we gained Watling 
Street, which in many places we found little better than a grass- 
grown track, so seldom is it now travelled. It proceeds here 
along a devression of the hills—a natural pass. Black-hall Hill 
(1573 feet) fronted us on the left; its sides were seamed with 
lengthways parallel ridges, as if the result of a series of land- 
slips. We were now skirting on the left, part of Woden or 
Wooden Law (1388 feet), where the triple rings of the camp on 
the brow were manifest; only one of the company visited it. 
The next hill to it is called Luden. Passing beyond it, we had 
a fine opening out of the view to the main part of Roxburghshire, 
but a mist blurred the distant country. The remarkable twin 
Broundenlaws—Elfingshope and Edelshope—which as seen from 
Ruberslaw appear two dusky eminences emerging from a land of 
twilight, were here close at hand, and not black and heathery as 
was expected but green and grassy. Dunion and Ruberslaw rose 
unveiled above the haze. Carter Fell and the intermediate junc- 
tion ridge, here and there swollen into partial prominences, 
sharply define the boundaries of the sister countries. As we 
skirted the rock-faced hill on our left, we looked down on sheer 
descending steeps, here and there fissured by rugged cleughs, 
and naked scaurs; at others clad with verdurous ferns and dwarf 
grasses, with more vivid green of rushes and moistened herbage 
margining the little runlets; while grazing sheep appeared to 
hang from the declivities. The dark green bordered brooks, in 
these gulleys, are the tributaries of the infant Kale, whose glit- 
tering waters appeared on the lower ground beneath, where 
Upper and Nether Hindhope stand near the single or collected 
streams. These rivulets descend in ravines from a succession of 
steep concavities scooped out from the north side of the range, 
which here unite to form a hollow enclosure. They are sup- 
plied by upland peat-mosses that overhang the sharp edges of the 
ridges, and maintain a continuous trickling of moisture. 

One of the cleughs whose head we crossed is called Skerry- 
burghope [perhaps Scauryburnhope]. Two of the places over- 


Anniversary Address 15 


hanging Hindhope from the pass are called Kelso Steps. Pre- 
vious to the reign of Edward I., the Kelso monks would neces- 
sarily have intercourse by this pass with Redesdale to remove 
their tithe two year old colts and fillies from the haras or 
stud of the Umfravilles in Redesdale and Cotteneshope forests 
(see Proc. ix. p. 458) ; and they may have caused stones for steps 
to be placed on brokeh or swampy portions of the way. Nay 
more, by this passage they would traverse the Kale at Towford, 
which may have obtained its name from the ticklish operation 
of transferring haltered young animals, or animals led with 
‘tows”’ (ropes), from bank to bank across. I do not say that 
this was so, but this is an apt way of accounting for the deriv- 
ation of both words, for both circumstances may have happened. 
There were two fords mentioned in 1542 on the Tyne called respec- 
tively ‘‘ Towes bank,” and ‘‘Towes forde,” perhaps of identical 
_ significance, in the first part with the ford on the Kale. * 

‘‘ At Hindhope,” remarks Professor James Geikie, in a letter, 
with which he has favoured me, ‘the Roman road at the hill- 
top runs upon a highly altered volcanic ash, which immediately 
overlies Silurian. The porphyrite above the ash is generally a 
purplish or reddish blue rock— often coarsely crystalline. At 
the head of the Coquet you get Carboniferous Sandstones, etc., 
resting on nearly vertical Silurian. In the neighbourhood of 
Hindhope the Silurians are here and there fossiliferous—the 
fossils shew that the rocks belong to the Upper Silurian. The 
porphyrites and ashes are seen again and again lying abruptly 
on the upturned edges of the Silurian.” 

The road has, at this pass, been so diminished by land-slips 
that it must be dangerous to take ina snow storm. We observed 
as we wound along, that Poa annua occupied a great propor- 
tion of the foot tracks beaten by sheep. ‘The other grasses 
were Scwrpi (deer’s hair), Vardus, and especially Juncus Squar- 
rosus, (rose-bent or stool-bent). This Juncus, although when in 
seed rejected by sheep, affords an early bite, much relished 
by them in spring; and is not profitless as many suppose. 
(See Walker’s ‘‘ Essay on Natural History,” p. 524; Johnston’s 
‘‘ Flora of the Eastern Borders,” p. 200 ; ‘‘God’s Treasure House 
in Scotland,” p. 227). Festuca ovina was the next most profuse 
grass, and as we came among the flow-mosses, the hoary cotton- 
grass, or moss crops, whose recuperative virtues in amending 

* Hodgson’s Hist. of Northumberland, Part ITI, vol. II., p. 239. 


16 Annwersary Address. 


pining stock, the shepherds universally coincide in lauding, be- 
came conspicuous. Becoming clear of the pass, the road conducts 
us along the crest of the Black Hass, a sort of slack or lower 
level, whence we obtain our first, and by no means cheering, view 
of English ground. For that is the desolate and secluded tract 
of Kidland, which extends in a sort of triangle, at a modified 
elevation, lumpy, confused, and tumultuous; here and there 
heathery, or peat rifted, but mostly green; in short a medley of 
bogs and moors and dry hillocks, up to the base of the great 
Cheviot (2658 and 2676 feet), whose vast bulk combined with 
the tall heights of Hedgehope (2348 feet) and Dunmore (1860) 
constitute its mighty eastern barrier. Most of its eminences, 
which are intersected by winding streams, are scarcely decided 
hills; but Cushet Law (2020 feet), Shill-Moor (1784 feet), and 
Shill-hope Law (1642 feet), are bulky heights, The most mas- 
sive lay in front, viz. Thirlmoor (1833 feet) a long-backed un- 
bending ridge, that shut out an expected view of Redesdale ; 
somewhat heathy, but mostly green, rutted here and there with 
earth-slips and open fissures, and dimpled and unequal on its 
broad sides; and shewing rock precipices and sections where its 
base is washed and limited by the upper waters of the Coquet. 
The adjacent western portion is Harden Edge (1500 feet), and 
not far from its upper end isthe head of the river. At very wide 
distances is a sprinkling of slated shepherd’s houses, and we see 
distinctly as marks of occupancy, the roads and beaten tracks 
that keep up intercourse with the low country, or conduct to the 
nearest peat-moss. These diminutive dwellings are almost swal- 
lowed up in the surging wilderness. Buckham’s Walls (1341 
feet) on a slope in the open, and Makendon, Phillip, i.e. Fullhope, 
and Blindburn on the Coquet were those within a moderate dis- 
tance of us. It is still as of old in 1542, that there is ‘‘ but one 
house or two at the most in one of the valleys, for the ground 
yrof wyll serve none otherwyse”; there not being ‘“‘such great 
parcelles of medowe or pasture together that are able to fynde 
above one household in one place.” 

But meantime we are still upon the waste with the sun beating 
hot upon us, and the Roman Camp of Chew-Green, that we are 
in search of, seems ever to be moving away from us instead of 
becoming nigher, as we compass one long stretch after another, 
till at length the illusion terminates on turning round the base 
of the Brown Hart Law (1664 feet) where we began the descent 


Annwersary Address. 17 


towards the isolated low broad capped hillock, with the Coquet 
winding round its southern base, and the green camp surmounting 
its northern end, and thus were mocked no longer. Most, I 
daresay, were disappointed with its insignificance, for it requires 
to be excavated to unfold its teachings. It occupies a dry plat- 
form on a humble eminence of the native greywacke rock, al- 
most surrounded by marshy ground. Itis an earthen-ramparted 
camp and has been disturbed by innovations or re-occupations. 
Recent attempts have been made to exploreit, but nothing except 
ashes was found. I am told that some drainers found a bronze 
sword here, which the shepherd’s children at Makendon lost. 
There is aplan of the Camp in Mackenzie’s ‘‘Hist. of Northumber- 
land,” vol. 11., p. 487 ; anda map with an account of it in Jeffrey’s 
“Roxburghshire,” vol. 1., pp. 218-220, which all can consult. I 
shall afterwards refer to Mr H. Maclauchlan’s Survey in 1850-51. 
But it is not so well known that its possession once formed a 
subject of controversy between the English and Scots Borderers, 
who each laid claim to it, or its precincts. This we ascertain 
from ‘‘A Book of the State of the Frontiers and Marches betwixt 
England and Scotland, written by Sir Robert Bowes, Knight, at 
the Request of the Lord Marquis Dorsett, the Warden General, 
1550”; Printed in Hodgson’s “‘ Hist. of Northumberland,” Part 
II., vol 11., pp. 208-211. ‘‘The meats or boundes of the Middle 
Marchies,” it says, ‘‘from the Hanging Stone south and westward 
keepeth always the highte of the edge or fell to Heppeth gate 
hede, an usuall place of metinge at Dayes of trewce betweene 
the Wardeyns of England and Scotland. And lykewise from 
thence to Kemylpethe [an old name of Chew Green and the 
Watling Street adjoining] another place where meetinge hath 
bene at dayes of trewce where theire is a litle parcell of ground, 
in which theire hath bene howses builded in tymes past called 
Kemylspethe Walles claymed both by the Englishe borderers to 
be of England and by the Scottes to be of Scotland. Insoemuch 
as within the remembraunce of man theire was lyke to have byne 
a great fraye betweene the Englishmen and Scottes ata day of 
trewce holden at Kemylspethe walls clayming the same to be parc- 
ell of Scotland before the assuraunce taken. And the Scottes 
were forced to retyre from thence agayne into Scotland ground 
before the officers of England would graunt any assuraunce or 
meete with the Scottes. And ever synce that tyme ye Riddes- 
dall men make their sheales neare unto yt ground in controuersy. 
Cc 


18 Anniversary Address 


And likewise the lard of Farnehurst and his tenants uppon the 
other side north and west neare unto the same. And soe wth 
their Cattell in Common they doe pasture and eate the said 
ground in traverse in the sommer tyme but neither parte builded 
thereuppon.” In this outlandish place, duels appear also to have 
been fought, in lawless times. Robert Snowdon, born at Hepple, 
in Rothbury parish, we are told, ‘“‘in the 16th year of his age, 
fought and slew John Grieve, a celebrated Scotch champion, in 
a pitched battle, with small swords, upon Gamble path, on the 
borders.” This is said to have happened before the Union. 
(Mackenzie, vol. 11., p. 76, Note). 

It was most interesting to alight upon Greywacke at Chew- 
green, and to have its accompanying slates laid bare in the deep 
foot drains; the grey clay resulting from their decay forming the 
subsoil. This had not been overlooked by one to whom the Club 
owes much, the late Mr George Tate. In his memoir prefixed to 
the ‘New Flora of Northumberland and Durham’ pp. 8-4, he 
says, ‘“‘Cambro-Silurian strata are highly inclined against the 
porphyry, in the bed of the Coquet a little above Philip, and ex- 
tend beyond the source of that river into Scotland. In a deep 
ravine, eastward of Makendon, they are well exposed; and the 
Roman camp at Chew Green is formed out of them; for some of 
the rampiers are natural walls of Greywacke in situ, the rock 
having been removed on both sides. Southward of the Coquet 
they extend for some distance along Watling Street.” In his — 
‘‘Outlines of the Geology of Northumberland,” p. 46, Professor 
Lebour also refers to this junction on the Coquet,: ‘‘ between 
Philip and Makendon, the porphyrites which form the main mass 
of the Cheviot range are seen in a beautifully clear section abut- 
ting against grits of the Silurian age or Greywacke. The latter 
are bent up on end by the intrusion of the former, thus giving a 
limit of age to that event.” On this point as bearing on the age 
of the Cheviots, Professor Lebour thus recently writes me: ‘I 
used to regard the whole mass of Cheviot rocks much in the same 
way as George Tate did, i.e., as being a huge boss which had 
been pushed through the old Silurian, and possibly other pre- 
Carboniferous rocks bodily. The recent researches of the Scotch . 
survey, however, as well as those of Messrs Gunn and Clough of 
the English survey, incline me to think that I was wrong, and that 
although undoubtedly, somewhere or other, the porphyrites, etc., 
do pierce through the Silurian rocks of Makendon, etc., yet the 


Annwersary Address. 19 


great mass of them overlie these old rocks, having in fact been 
poured out over their denuded edges as lava flows and ash beds 
long after the Silurian beds had been overturned and worn down, 
but before the deposition of the lowest Carboniferous deposits, 
which, I take it, must be made to include the Upper Old Red 
Sandstone. This does not alter my previous view of the age of 
the main mass of the Cheviot rocks which I still regard as being 
probably Devonian.” 

The party rested for a time in the hollow of the camp, which 
is wellscreened. Watling Street climbed Thirlmoor hill opposite, 
the track much disfigured at places, by attempts made by trav- 
ellers to eschew the poached ground. The sheep were thinly 
scattered over the hill-faces, and the shepherds and their dogs 
were wending across the slopes among their flocks, or disappear- 
ing down the slacks; their steady progression forming subject of 
remark, After leaving a record of the visit, in a bottle under a 
cairn, and enjoying the quiet of the moorland solitude, dreary 
no doubt at most times, but now enlivened by the bright sun- 
shine, we resumed the backward journey. 

There were many Curlews on the waste; and fragments of 
theit eggs were picked up. Young pipits were flying round the 
camp at Ad Fines. Rooks, at certain seasons visit these uplands 
in great flocks, and are said to make depredations on the moor- 
fowl eggs. Lapwings frequented the summit of the Brown Hart 
Law. 

The mossy ground near the camp yielded much of Sedum 
villosum in fine flower; also Dicranum crispum; Polytrichum 
alpinum; Myosotis repens; large-flowered Cerastiwm vulgatum ; 
Luzula multiflora; Carex ovalis and binervis. The Rev. W. Stobbs, 
whom we encountered on the fell, found much of Seclla nutans on 
the banks of the Coquet near Blindburn. The Rev. David Paul 
communicates: ‘‘the only Fungi I observed in our walk between 
Bughtrig and the Makendon camps were three (this being the 
worst season for the larger Fungi, lying between the spring and 
autumn growths) viz. Agaricus pascuus; Ag. semiorbicularis, and 
Ag. campanulatus. The sedges I found on the hills were Carex 
ovalis; C. curta; C. precox; C. binervis; C. panicea; and C. 
vulgaris.” 

On regaining Hounam we found the rest of the company either 
promenading the road leading from the village, or gathered in 
picturesque groups on a grassy meadow by the Capehope burn ; 


20 Anniwersary Address. 


—ground where formerly a statute fair had been wont to be 
held. The tent in which the Club dined was pitched here, 
by the side of the stream among shady ashes and lime trees ; and 
opposite rose a steep hill face, prolific we are told of the uni- 
versal shepherd’s pansy, yellow when grown on peaks, but in- 
clined to be variegated at humbler altitudes. Some of the mem- 
bers during the day had ascended Hounam Law ; others had ex- 
plored the sides of the Capehope Burn. Sedum villosum had been 
collected in quantity. The Club previously visited the ‘‘Rings’’ 
and ‘‘Shearers,” in July, 1865 : see “‘ Proceedings,” vol. v., p. 191. 

At dinner Dr Robson-Scott occupied the chair. The following 
were proposed as members : The Most Honourable the Marquis of 
Lothian ; Mr John Walker Logan, Avenue, Berwick ; Mr Richd. 
Stephenson, Chapel, Dunse. Dr Stuart of Chirnside sent a col- 
lection of Violas of his own raising ; and a new variety of fox- 
glove of a pale rose colour, from seed picked in a glen in the 
Highlands. Dr Robson-Scott said that the Heronry of Swindean 
of which he gave an account in 1865, was now deserted, and he 
was requested to contribute his statement to the ‘‘ Proceedings.” 
Mr John Thomson spoke of a case of the nidification of the 
Water Ouzel on Hindhope burn, where a receptacle for sheltering 
the cock-bird, accompanied the ordinary breeding nest. He also 
exhibited a silver coin obtained during recent excavations in the 
neighbourhood of the site of Old Roxburgh, supposed to be a 
silver coin of Robert II. or III., but the inscriptions were very 
defective. On the obverse within the encircling outline of a rose, 
like that on David IT’s coins, was a profile looking to the left, of 
a crowned king, with an upright sceptre in front ; the inscripticn 
effaced except scor. R. + Ro....Reverse, a long-limbed cross from 
side to side of the coin: in the centre: VILLA EDINBVRGH, sur- 
rounding 4 mullets, one in each angle of the cross. The outer 
legend imperfect, which had been originally : DNS PROTECTOR. Ms. 
ET. LIBERATOR. MS. Dr Robson-Scott mentioned his having 
found Epilobium augustifolium in some. of the cleughs on Carter 
Fell. The Rev. David Paul communicated that he had found 
Valeriana dioica on Roxburgh moor ; and that Radiola millegrana, 
both this year and last, grew in a pot from peaty soil brought 
from Sunlaws. He also had an unrecorded station for Botry- 
chium Lunaria half-way between Roxburgh and Fairnington, on 
the grassy margin of the road. Rain began to fall from a local 
thunderstorm that had been gathering among the hills, but most 


Annwersary Address. 21 


of the company obtained shelter in the hospitable manse till it 
was over, and the rest rapidly drove out of it. 
LONGFORMACUS MEETING. ; 

The third meeting of the Club was held on Wednesday, July 
26th. The principal object of the meeting was to visit Longfor- 
macus, a point in the Lammermoors farther than the Club had 
previously penetrated. The place of assembly was Dunse, 
whither several members made their way on the previous even- 
ing, the trains both for arrival and departure not being very con- 
venient for making the journey to and fro on one day. Most of 
the members in attendance breakfasted in the White Swan Inn, 
and the following were present during the whole or part of the 
day—Rev. Jas. Farquharson, M.A., Selkirk, President; the two 
Secretaries, Dr. Douglas and Mr Hardy; Revs. Paton J. Gloag, 
D.D., Galashiels; George Gunn, Stitchill ; Joseph Hunter, Cock- 
burnspath ; Peter M’Kerron, Kelso; William Snodgrass, D,D., 
Canonbie; and William Stobbs, Gordon; Dr. Denholm of 
Broomhill ; Messrs John 8. Bertram, Cranshaws; James Bogie, 
Edinburgh; T. Craig-Brown, Selkirk; William Crawford, 
Dunse; William Currie of Linthill ; William Gunn, Chief Magis- 
trate of Dunse; James Heatley, Alnwick; Andrew Ker, New- 
town St Boswells; Peter Loney, Marchmont; J. 8. Mack of 
Coveyhaugh; George Muirhead, Paxton; Richard Stephenson, 
Chapel, Dunse ; Charles Watson, Dunse; Joseph Wilson, Dunse ; 
Mr Williamson, Dunse ; James Wood, Galashiels. 

It had been arranged that those, who were disinclined for the 
longer journey to Longformacus, should visit Langton House, 
which had been kindly thrown open to the Club by the Hon. R. 
Baillie Hamilton. Two parties were therefore formed, and I 
append to my record of the day’s proceedings a short note by Dr. 
Douglas concerning the doings of those who visited Langton 
House. Having accompanied the party which went to Longfor- 
macus, I confine my observations to their portion of the day’s 
work. I omit all reference to historical and antiquarian points, 
as I understand Mr Hardy is to deal with these in a separate 
paper. 

The party, occupying two waggonettes, left Dunse about 11 
o’clock. The general direction of the road: to Longformacus is 
north west, and the distance upwards of seven miles. Amid 
much that is featureless and uninteresting in the surrounding 
Scenery, several points deserve notice. First and chief of all is 


22 Annwersary Address. 


the view from Langton Edge. Seldom could this celebrated 
view have been more “ glorious,” to use Burns’s enthusiastic 
epithet, than as it presented itself when the party, chiefly on foot 
for the horses’ sake, had slowly climbed to the top of the long 
ascent. The weather was magnificent; the atmosphere clear ; 
the sun’s rays tempered by a thin veil of cloud. The splendid 
panorama lay under the eye, its bounding line on the horizon 
stretching from the Farne Isles and Pamborough Castle on the 
east, along the Cheviots and Liddesdale Hills to the west, where 
it was closed by Ruberslaw and the Hildon Hills in the middle 
distance ; while within this wide environment of hill expanded 
the rich and wooded Merse and lower Teviotdale in all the ful- 
ness of summer prime. The view, both in the clear air of the 
forenoon, and in the afternoon on the return journey when 
a slight haze added a new charm to the landscape, commanded 
the admiration of every member of the party. With reluctance 
they turned their backs upon it, and re-entering the conveyances 
proceeded on their journey. Soon another horizon opened up. 
The ridge of Langton Edge being surmounted, the eye could 
range in one direction far over the Selkirkshire hills to the 
mountains which rise around ‘‘ dark Loch Skene,”’ among which 
Whitecombe and Loch Oraig were distinguishable ; while in an- 
other the two Dirringtons, Great and Little, rose close at hand, 
with Twinlaw Cairns beyond. After this not much occurred in the 
few fields, and among the moory and swampy ground, and young 
fir plantations which bordered the road, to attract the eye of a 
naturalist. Several wheat-ears jerked their short flights along 
some stone walls, and a few pipits were seen. In along planta- 
tion just before the road descends into the valley of the Dye, a 
spotted fly-catcher was observed. Afterwards the whin-chat, the 
white-throat, the wren, the grey and pied wagtail occurred at 
different places; but bird-life was not abundant along the line of 
excursion. In the long plantation referred to, many prostrate 
trunks gave evidence of the severity of the gale of the 14th Octo- 
ber, 1881, which here, as elsewhere throughout Berwickshire, had 
worked havoc among woods. 

At Longformacus the party were met by Captain Brown, the 
Rey. George Cook, minister of the parish, and the Rev. George 
Wilsvn, of Glenluce, a gentleman whose geological and antiqua- 
rian knowledge of the locality contributed greatly to the pleasure 
of the visit. Of the place itself Mr Hardy, who with his usual 


Anniwersary Address 23 


minute thoroughness has made himself acquainted with its place- 
names and antiquities, writes :—‘‘ Longformacus lies in a shel- 
tered hollow, well screened with plantations. A well-defined 
basin of rising ground stretches beyond it, and far round it on 
either hand, which is terminated on the north by the heights 
above Cranshaws, and the detached bulk of Spartleton, with the 
green fields of Bothal spread out on its eastern slopes, which here 
closes up the vale of Whitadder, Below these ridges lie Oran- 
shaws Castle, environed in trees, and the kirk and farm nearer 
the river, aad opposite to them Harehead and Western Wind- 
shiel, and, higher still, Crichness. The lands of Fellcleugh and 
Ellemford and Smiddyhill are lower down the Whitadder. In 
the flatter space between Whitadder and Dye, Redpath stands 
- lone and bleak.” After the rather cheerless country through 
which we had been driving, and under the light of a bright 
summer day, Longformacus presented itself as a most attractive 
spot—a wooded and sheltered oasis dropped among the bare up- 
lands of the Lammermoors. 

Some of the party remained to inspect the village, and visit the 
mansion-house and its grounds; but the majority proceeded up 
the valley under the guidance of Captain Brown and Mr Wilson. 
Above the village the Dye forms a succession of deep pools, 
which by some are believed to have a connection with the sin- 
gular name, Longformacus. ‘‘The British Llwcher, according to 
Chalmers, signifies a place of pools, or a stream that stagnates 
into pools. The popular name of the place is ‘ Lochrie’.”” Pro- 
ceeding along the south side of the stream, its tributary, the 
Watch, was soon crossed by a rather frail wooden bridge. The 
party then dispersed to hunt for objects of interest in a natural 
birchwood which stretched for some distance along the Dye.. One 
good plant, Crepis succisefolia, was found in considerable quantity ; 
but beyond this, and a profusion of Polypodium Dryopteris, no plant 
was met with deserving special mention. At a point where the 
stream makes an abrupt turn at right angles to its former course, 
and where some shaly rock is exposed, Mr Wilson showed 
those who accompanied him numerous specimens of worm-tracks 
and casts. Similar vestiges of early Silurian annelid life were 
found in a small disused quarry just as the party, quitting the 
wood, struck across a narrow hangh, and by aid of extemporised 
stepping stones, which Captain Brown had sent a man on to lay 
down, passed to the north side of the Dye. 


24 Annwersary Address. 


It may be mentioned here that Mr Wilson has found Grapto- 
lites in the Silurian shales of Longformacus in more than one 
spot, specimens of which he exhibited; and also that a report he 
mentioned has been confirmed, that Rubus Chamemorus is a native 
of the Lammermoors, a new plant being thus added to the Flora 
of Berwickshire. 

Our object in crossing the Dye was to visit an Ancient British 
camp, locally known as Runklie. It lies about a mile anda 
half above Longformacus, where the flanks of the hill Wrinklaw 
drop abruptly down on Dye Water. The spot is naturally cap- 
able of defence, being a kind of promontory projecting into the 
valley, towards which it is protected by precipitous slopes. On 
the other sides the fortification has been defended in the usual 
way by walls or mounds, the outline of which is distinctly to be 
traced. On two sides, in addition to that towards the valley, the 
ground falls away abruptly into short ravines. Altogether the 
spot was well chosen fora camp. In comparatively recent times 
Runklie was the site of a farm-house and buildings, and also of a 
mill, the ruins of all of which still appear within the limits of 
the more ancient remains. The place deserves fuller description 
than can now be given, and might reward excavation. ‘The 
name is somewhat puzzling. I suggest that it may simply bea 
corruption of the name of the hill, Wrinklaw; which again re- 
solves itself into the familiar Rink. 

At Runklie we were among the haunts of the Curlew, which 
was both seen and heard. A moor blackbird, Zurdus torquatus, 
startled by our approach, flew, clamouring, down one of the 
bounding ravines, aud disappeared under the abrupt face of the 
camp. This bird is said to be not uncommon in these upland 
valleys. 

From Runklie we returned by a path along the elevated 
ground north of the Dye. Arrived at the Manse, attention was 
directed to a ruin of which nothing definite could be ascertained. 
It forms the western boundary of the Manse garden, and con- 
sists of the gable end of a dwelling whose walls were four feet 
thick. It is said to have been at one time the Manse; but more 
probably it was a mansion built with a view to defence, when 
these Border lands were less peaceable than they happily are 
now. Symphytum tuberosum grows along themargin of the deserted 
garden of this building without a history; and some aged ash 
trees, survivors of a more numerous group, stand near at hand. 


Annwersary Address. 25 


At the Manse the party were hospitably entertained at lunch, 
and Mr Cook exhibited two handsome silver Communion Cups, 


the inscription on which bears that they were GIVEN BY Sr 
ROBERT SINCLAIR OF LAMFORMACVS TO THE KIRK 
THEROF * 1674. 

The Church was afterwards visited, of which Mr Hardy says: 
—‘“The church was built ‘upwards of a century ago,’ says the 
Statistical Account, apparently on old foundations. A stone in- 
troduced into the south wall preserves on a shield the engrailed 
cross of the Sinclairs, with the initials “I. 8.” There are tomb- 
stones in the churchyard—throughs—to the Rev. Robert Mon- 
teith and the Rev. George Bell, and to the Rev. Selby Orde. 
_ The first was the friend of the Rev. Alexander Carlyle of In- 
veresk, and of John Home, author of ‘ Douglas ;’ and his name 
will long survive in Skirving’s ballad of ‘Tranent Moor,’ for his 
conduct, or alleged conduct, in the runaway battle of Preston- 
pans. In the interior of the church are tablets to the memory of 
Mrs Raitt and the Rev. Walter Weir.” The Church occupies a 
very sheltered spot among wood, and not far off is the mansion- 
house, which, ‘as already stated, was visited by some of the party 
who preferred a quiet saunter to the longer and rougher walk 
up the Dye and to Runklie. Of the mansion-house Mr Hardy 
says :—‘‘ It was in the year 1715 that the present mansion-house 
was erected, as was ascertained by an inscription on a stone ob- 
served when the present re-edification of it took place. New 
walks and flower borders have been laid out; the garden has 
been renovated also, a promising herbaceous border being one of 
the additions. Pyrola minor grows wild in the wood within the 
policies across the Dye. This year and last the foliage of the 
beeches here has been much blotched and mined, and punctured 
with small openings, by the larvee and imagos of Orchestes Fagi, 
a small leaping dusky black beetle. There are numerous orna- 
mental coniferee here, mostly juvenile. The shoots of Pinus 
nobilis were hurt by summer frosts in 1881. Picea Nordmanniana 
is found to be the hardiest of the pines; the height of the tallest is 
at present 38 feet. Besides these there are here silver firs ; stone 
pines and black Austrian pines; also Picea Cephalonica(40 ft. high); 
Abies Douglass (47 feet high) ; Sequoia Wellingtonia, of a height 
of 32 feet, and diameter at one foot from the ground 7 feet; and 
Cedrus Deodara. As regards the heights, &c., there are others of 
the same kinds nearly as high. The sizes are very good con- 

D 


26 Anmversary Address 


sidering the elevation of the place. A large ash tree, blown 
down in 1879 in the park behind the house, had a circumference 
at 1 foot from the ground of 18 feet 6 inches; its diameter being 
6 feet 6 inches. A wire railing crossing it has grown into the 
trunk since 1850, to a depth of 1 foot and for a length of 5 feet 
6 inches. A plane tree at present standing in the churchyard 
has a circumference at 3 feet from the ground of 12 feet 6 inches. » 
A beech tree in the park hasa circumference at 3 feet from the 
ground of 13 feet 8 inches. Fearful havoc was committed in the 
woods on the estate by the autumnal gales. Near the mansion- 
house is a large rookery. Since many of the tall trees have been 
prostrated by the winds of October and November several of the 
rooks have this year selected very humble trees to nestin. A 
heronry once existed here, but is now deserted.” 

The party re-assembled at the Church, and parting, with warm 
thanks, from our kind and hospitable friends who had done so 
much to make our visit pleasant and profitable for the work of the 
_ Club, we turned our faces southward. On the return journey no 
incident worthy of note occurred, beyond a fresh feast of the eye 
from Langton Edge, and the party reached Dunse in time for 
dinner at. 4 o’clock, the Langton House detachment having 
already returned. ; 

In the course of the day some members of the Club visited 
Dunse Castle gardens, where what is said to be the oldest myrtle 
in Scotland was pointed out. Mr Watson’s rock-garden at 
Dunse also attracted much attention. 

The following is Dr Douglas’s account of the visit to Langton 
House. ‘‘About 14 or 15 members of the Club accepted the 
polite invitation of the Hon. R. Baillie Hamilton to visit Lang- 
ton, and see the treasures of art which it contained. The mem- 
bers were most courteously received by Mr Hamilton, who 
kindly explained the subjects of the numerous objects of interest 
which the Mansion House contained. ‘The pictures, most of 
which were left by the late Marquis of Breadalbane to his sister 
Lady Elizabeth Pringle, were numerous and many of great 
value; chiefly were to be remarked a magnificent work of 
Rubens—John Baptist’s head brought on a charger to Herod ; 
Landseer’s grand picture of the Stag at Bay, familiar to all by 
its numerous engravings; three other pictures of Landseer illus- 
trating scenes near Taymouth ; paintings by Guido, Carlo Dolci, 
Raffaelle, Titian, Murillo, Velasquez, Weenix, and: many other 


Anniversary Address. 27 


distinguished painters. Portraits by Gainsborough, Sir T. Law- 
rence, &c. Several fine busts: one of the Emperor William of 
Germany presented by him to Lord Breadalbane, and another 
of a young Prince of Prussia modelled by the Crown Princess, 
Princess Royal of England. Mr Hamilton also showed some 
beautiful specimens of Roman and Florentine Mosaics, and 
several valuable ornamental vases brought by himself from the 
Imperial Palace at Pekin and other places in China. The above 
form but a small portion of the numerous objects of interest dis- 
played. The party afterwards visited the gardens and grounds, 
‘which are laid out with much taste, and inspected inter alia some 
Alpine plants brought from the Pyrenees by Mr and Mrs Baillie 
Hamilton; and before their departure were hospitably entertained 
in the Grand Dining-room of the Mansion, which of itself is a 
fine specimen of Elizabethan architecture, erected about twenty 
years ago, from designs of Bryce, by the late Marquis of Bread- 
albane. The views in the park have been much shorn of their 
beauty by the wreck caused amongst the trees by the memorable 
gale of 14th October, 1881.” 

At dinner the number of the party was greatly reduced owing 
to the necessity laid upon many to leave early in order to catch 
the only available train going west. After dinner a number of 
objects of interest was exhibited and examined. Of these many 
were the property of Mr Charles Watson, who gave the following 
list of his exhibits :—‘‘ 1. Armlet of Bronze, found near Greenlaw 
many yearsago. 2. Sun-ring, found at Polwarth Mill in 1801. 
3. Glass Linen-smoother, used by my grandmother in the end of 
last century. Vide Trans. Soc. of Ant. Scot. 1879-80, pp. 63, 64. 
4. Snuff-box, presented by Prince Charles Edward Stuart in 
1746 to Lady Seaforth, and by her to her cousin, Mrs Mackenzie, 
of Muirton, Invernessshire, (my grandmother), circa 1770. 5. 
Snuff-box, which belonged to Robert Watson, tenant of Nether- 
mains, Chirnside, my great-great-grandfather, 1705. 6. Intaglio; 
belonged to John, Duke of Lauderdale, circa 1670. 7. Mezzotint 
of John Duns Scotus, by John Faber, the elder, 1690-1721. 8. 
Seals. (The Nos. refer to Laing’s Catalogue of Scottish Seals.) 
63. Mary, A.D. 1564. ‘‘ Regina Scotorum dotariaque Francie.” 
—67. James VI. Rex. Scot. 1567-1625.—429. Patrick Hepburn, 
Karl of Bothwell. ‘Sl. Patricii comitis de Bothuel et diii de 
Halis.” A.D. 1520.—790. Alex. Stuart, Duke of Albany, 2nd son 
of Jas. II. A.D. 1473. “Sigillum piicipis Alexri ducis Alban, 


28 Anniversary Address. 


Comit. March. di vall. Anad. Ma. Admiram.”’—1076. Melros, 
Chapter of the Monastery ‘of St Mary’s. ‘“S’ comune capituli 
Monasterii de Melrose.’”’ A.D. 1422.—1091. Monastery of N® 
Berwick. ‘‘ Sigillum commune Monasterii de North Berwick.” — 
1124. Priory of St. Bothan’s (i.s.) ‘‘ Ave Maria gracie plena.”’ 
A.D. 1557.—Duke of Buccleuch. 1674.—A smaller seal of N ‘+ 
Berwick.—Four unknown.” 


A painting, hung on the wall of the room, bore the inscription, 
‘John Duns Scotus, Doctor Subtilis. Born at Duns, A.D. 1274. 
Died at Cologne, Nov. 8, 1808. Presented by Mr James Watson 
to the Feuars of Duus, A.D. 1811.” Along with this portrait, 
and also belonging to the town of Dunse, was shown a copy of the 
works of Duns Scotus, in black-letter, double-columns, printed at 
Venice in 1490. 


Dr James Denholm, Broomhill, showed some valuable manu- 
scripts and papers, of which the following is a list :— 


1. Unpublished poem, holograph, of the Ettrick Shepherd. Dated 
Mount Benger, Apr. 6th, 1827. 


2. Prize Power signed by Lord Nelson, 8 July, 1803, and witnessed by 
Captain Hardy of the Victory. 

3. Crimean Despatch signed by Lord Raglan, 1855. 

4. King’s Constitution signed by Wm. Pitt, in favour of Andw. Miller, 
to be Commissary of Stores at the intended settlement in New 
South Wales, 1786. 


5. Printed circular soliciting subns. for National Monument on Calton 


Hill, signed by Scott, Jeffrey, Alison, Cockburn, “‘Grecian’”’ Williams 
and others, 1821. 


6. Pass to Gally Ho. of Commons, written and signed by Wm. Cobbett, 
Ap. 8rd, 1823. 


7. Signature of Ld. Brougham—Letter of Sir E. Brydges—Signature of 
Sir 8. Romilly. 

The Rev. George Gunn exhibited a fine entirely polished celt of 
greenish Silurian slate from Stichill; Mr Leitch, Fairneyside, a 
socket of Silurian slate, with a hole in it, for a spindle to revolve in; 
Mr Loney, a pair of fine red deer antlers, both broken below the 
branches, found six feet beneath the surface, in a drain near 
Dogden Moss; the Rev. Joseph Hunter, a small old hand-bell, 
from Cockburnspath, said to have been rung before funerals. 
This bell is encircled by three lines of inscription :—GIFTED- 
BE IOHN:-HENRIE: BOWER: IN -EDINBVRGH : TO: THE: 
SESSIONE-AND:KIRKE-OF-COCKBVRNSPETH:1650. A 
drawing of a curious double-spouted, snake-headed, brass vessel, 
like a coffee-pot, found in taking down an old house on the 


Anniversary Address. 29 


Langton Estate, was handed round. 

Mrs Essex Thompson sent specimens of Anagallis tenella, from 
East Bolton, near Alnwick ; and it was reported that Dr Stuart, 
Chirnside, had found Zorilis nodosa, a plant new to Berwickshire, 
on a bridge at Bogend. In the morning Mr Muirhead had ex- 
hibited a vasculum full of beautiful rarities from his garden at 
Paxton, conspicuous among which was a fine spike of Epipactis 
palustris in full flower. 

A copy of the Club’s ‘‘ Proceedings” for 1881 was laid on the 
table. 

The following papers were read :— 

1. On the Effects of Lightning in Smelting and Altering 
Gravel at Chapelhill, Cockburnspath, 10th July, 1882. By Mr 
- Hardy. 

2. On Marine Shells and Fragments of Bones found at the 
Base of Hutton-Hall Cliff, opposite Edington Mill. By the Rev. 
George Wilson, Glenluce, Corr. Mem. of the Scottish Society of 
Antiquaries. 

3. On examples of the Wood-Ant (formica rufa), sent by Mr 
Arkle from Yardhope Wood-foot, Northumberland. 

4, Analysis of a ‘‘Black Rain” which fell on the farm of Black- 
adder West Mains, by Dr Stevenson Macadam, with a letter from 
Mr Young, Dunse, relating the circumstances. 

5. List of Hill Forts, Intrenched Camps, Standing Stones and 
Tumuli on the Scotch side of the Cheviots. By Professor James 
Geikie, LL.D. 

Interesting discussions followed the reading of some of these 
papers, most of which will find a place in the ‘‘ Proceedings” for 
1882. 

The following were proposed for members :—Rey. William D. 
Herald, Dunse; Mr Robert Roberton, Ladyrig, Roxburgh; Mr 
John 8. Bertram, Cranshaws; Mr William Gunn, Dunse; Mr 
Andrew Ker, St Boswells; Rev. Arthur Gordon, Greenlaw ; and 
Mr J. P. Simpson, Alnwick. 

The party broke up about seven o’clock, after a long and plea- 
sant day, most of it spent on ground new to the Club. 


CORBRIDGE MEETING. 

Corbridge, the scene of the fourth meeting of the Club, is a 
village, or rather small town, with a population in 1881 of 1187, 
on the north bank of the river Tyne, about seventeen miles west 
from Newcastle. It isa place of great antiquity, and its own 


30 5 Annwersary Address. 


history possesses much interest, as it was at one time a burgh, 
the site of considerable ecclesiastical establishments, and comes 
frequently into notice in connection with the numerous invasions 
and forays of the Scots previous to the union of the kingdoms. 
It also stands in a district notable for the number of Roman 
remains found init. The Roman Wall is only two miles and a 
half to the north; and less than half a mile to the west of the 
town, Corchester, the site of Corstopitum, the first station on 
Watling Street to the north of the Tyne, has been productive of 
many vestiges of the greatest of ancient military empires. Some 
of these Roman remains have been transferred to museums at 
Newcastle and elsewhere ; but others are preserved in the neigh- 
bourhood, and several inscribed and sculptured stones have been 
built into the walls of houses and gardens in Corbridge itself. 
One lighting on these relics of a byegone age, while sauntering 
about the little town, is transported in thought to the era of 
a great but now vanished civilisation, and confesses himself in 
the presence of a hoar antiquity. To add to the attraction of 
Corbridge for the Club, it is situated in a fertile and beautiful 
reach of the valley of the Tyne, and in the vicinity of several 
ancient fortified places, two of which, Aydon Castle and Dilston 
Castle, were visited by the party, which assembled at the Angel 
Inn in Corbridge on Wednesday, August 30th. 

The following gentlemen were present at this meeting :—Rev. 
James Farquharson, M.A., Selkirk, President; Dr F. Douglas 
and Mr Hardy, Secretaries; Sir Walter Elliot, F.R.S., etc. ; Col. 
J. Barras, of the East Indian Army; Revs. J. E. Elliot-Bates of 
Milburn Hall; J. F. Bigge, Stamfordham; Henry B. Carr, 
Whickham Rectory; A. Johnson, Healey Vicarage; David Paul, - 
Roxburgh; William Snodgrass, D.D., Canonbie ; John Walker, 
Whalton ; R. H. Williamson, Whickham ; — Wilson, Hexham ; 
Dr Charles Douglas, Kelso; Dr Main, Alnwick ; Messrs Thomas 
Arkle, Highlaws, Morpeth; John Balden, Dilston; H. H. Blair, 
Alnwick ; John B. Boyd, Cherrytrees; W. B. Boyd, Faldonside ; 
J. Bulman, Corbridge; J. W. Collingwood, Glanton Pyke; M. H. 
Dand, Hauxley Cottage; J. T. 8. Elliot, yr. of Wolfelee ; Robt. 
Forster, Corbridge; E. B. Gibson, Alnwick; James Heatley, 
Alnwick; W.T. Hindmarsh, Alnwick; J. L. Newbigin, Aln- 
wick; Robert Reed, Newcastle; Robert Renton, Fans; Adam 
Boberion Alnwick; John Turnbull, Abbey St Bathans ; W. 
Willoby, Berwick. 


Annwersary Address | 31 


Many of the visitors arrived by train from Newcastle, and as 
they walked across the level ground which lies between the rail- 
way and the river, the little town presented an attractive appear- 
ance in the bright morning light. Immediately under Corbridge 
the ground falls in rapid descent to the Tyne, and the steep slope 
is divided into long parallel gardens, admirably placed to catch 
the sun, and on this side giving quite a picturesque character to 
the place. On farther acquaintance we found that Corbridge had 
thoroughly mended its ways since 1776, when a writer says it 
“was dirty and disagreeable.” Now the streets are well kept ; 
many modern villas have been erected; gardens and shrubberies 
are seen on all sides; and signs of comfort and prosperity are 
prominent. If old industries such as flax-spinning and weaving, 
. shoemaking, lime-burning, and market-gardening for the supply 
of Newcastle, have died out, obviously the labouring population 
have found other profitable outlets for their industry, while not 
a little money must be made by the letting of houses and lodg- 
ings, the place having become a favourite resort for summer 
visitors. 

From the low haugh-land on the south side of the river the 
town is entered by a bridge of seven arches, built in 1674, re- 
markable as the only bridge which withstood a high and destruc- 
tive flood in 1771. The bridge, the widening of which was 
finished in April, 1881, is a substantial structure; and the views 
from it, both eastward and westward, interested the party. 
Downward, to the east, it could be seen that an enormous 
deposit of drift, running from S.W. to N.E., had at one time 
quite closed up the valley, and must have held back the water 
of the river to forma lake along the wide and level space four 
miles westward to Hexham. On this level ground, once the 
bottom of the lake, the soil is rich and many feet deep, and in 
the neighbourhood of Hexham is appropriated to market gardens, 
which are very productive. The great ridge of drift has been 
cleft by the action of the river, the opposing scaurs corresponding 
to each other at the point where the stream has cut its way 
through the obstacle, about a mile below Corbridge, and allowed 
the waters of the lake to drain off. Upward and westward from 
the bridge the eye ranged over a varied and beautiful prospect. 
On the north bank of the river the ground rising rather rapidly 
displayed much cultivated land, with the mansions of Beaufront 
Castle, Sandhoe, and Stagshaw, surrounded by their parks and 


32 Annwersary Address. 


extensive plantations. On the south side beyond the haugh-land 
the ruins of Dilston Castle were just visible amid stately trees ; 
while between, and closing the view westward, appeared the 
ancient town of Hexham with its wooded environs. 

After breakfast the party started for the day’s walk under the 
guidance of Mr Robert Forster, a resident in the town and 
author of a ‘History of Corbridge and its Antiquities, &c.”’ 
Attention was first directed to a Peel Tower at the north-east 
corner of the Market Place, and adjoining the churchyard. Itis 
said to have been built early in the fourteenth century, and was 
formerly the residence of the vicars of Corbridge. Erected for 
defence, and of great strength, it no doubt served as a refuge for 
successive ecclesiastics in former troublous times ; especially when 
in their reprisals on the English, bands of Scotch marauders in- 
_vaded Northumberland, carrying death to such inhabitants as 
they found unprotected, and driving away their cattle as booty 
to the north of the border. The Parish Church, dedicated to St. 
Andrew, is the most interesting object in Corbridge, and even 
our cursory visit of it, which was all that the other work of 
the day permitted, occupied a considerable time. Jt isimpossible 
here to give a full account of this structure, the greater part of 
which dates probably from the thirteenth century, and which in 
its earlier days was repeatedly reduced to ruins by the invading 
Scots; but the part which attracted most attention during our 
brief visit was the square tower which rises at the west end, 
and is undoubtedly more ancient than the rest of the church. It 
is reckoned by somé to be of Saxon architecture, and the quarry 
whence its materials were taken was the old Roman Station of 
Corstopitum close to the town. ‘The blocks of stone are massive 
and bear the characteristic marks of Roman workmanship. The 
base of the tower is used as a baptistery, and is entered by a 
semicircular archway of the unusual proportions of eight feet in 
width by sixteen in height. All the stones visible in this arch- 
way, and the mouldings from which the arch itself springs, are 
Roman, and were probably transferred directly from the Roman 
Station to the Christian Church. Much of the floor of the 
Church consists of tomb-stones, many of them bearing inscrip- 
tions. On one is a floriated cross in relief, and alongside of this 
is sculptured a pastoral staff or crook, supposed to be the insignia 
of an ancient ecclesiastic. J am indebted to Mr Hardy for the 
following interesting and elaborate note on one of the monumental 


Annwersary Address. 33 


inscriptions in the Church. ‘An ancient tomb under an arch 
beneath the window of the north transept, bears in old letters 
the following inscription: hic IAcHT.INTERRIS.ASLINI:FILIVS. 
HVGO. i.e. here lies underground, Hugh fitz Aseline. Hutchin- 
son (View of Northumberland, 1., p. 145) conjectured that this was 
the tomb of one of the founders of the church, and in this he has 
been followed by others. But we can now say something about 
this personage so highly honoured, and the period when he lived. 
He was a small landholder at Corbridge of the time of Edward I., 
and possessed a couple or more of dwelling-houses in the town. 
In 6 Edward III. (1331-2) Robert son of Hugh fitz Aselin de Cor- 
brigg died, seized at Corbrigg of two messuages and thirty acres 
of land. (Cal. Ing. post Mort. 11, p. 51.) In some old documents 
_ concerning Corbridge preserved in vols 1. and 11. of the ‘‘Archzeo- 
logia Aliana,” N.8., we have afew correspondent references to 
this Hugh. In 1316, 9 Edward II., he is spoken of as no longer 
alive, and we learn that one of his messuages was situated in the 
Market Place. In 1329, a toft in Prenestrete is noticed, as hay- 
ing once belonged to Hugh fitz Asceline. In the time of Edward 
I., he witnesses two separate conveyances of tofts in Corbridge. 
William de Tynedale, who in 1289 succeeded his cousin Sir 
Thomas de Dyveleston, in ‘‘Diveleston maner, Colbrig boscus,”’ 
etc., signs along with him. John fitz John de Corebrigg held 
a messuage in Oorbridge in the street of the Fishers’ Market, 
that he had by infeftment of Agnes once the wife of Hugh fitz 
Asseline of Corebrigg. In the Inquisitiones of 1331-2, the peculiar 
surname of Asseline or Asselyn is found in Berkshire in a certain 
“William Asselyn de Upledecombe.”’ It may also enter into the 
composition of the place-name Hslington, North Northumberland, 
sometimes spelled Hsselington and Astlington. The inscription 
is a hexameter verse. The style of lettering is a sort of climax, 
commencing with small letters and terminating with large capi- 
tals. Hugh left behind him a wife and son to attend to the 
ordering of his sepulchre, who in this followed the example of 
similar constructions at Hexham. Doubtless also he had secured 
the concurrence of the ecclesiastical powers, by good works done 
in his life, to be allowed to occupy as his monument a niche 
which is part of the sacred edifice, and it may really have hap- 
pened that his means helped forward certain re-edifications. 
Corbridge was once a ‘“ borough-town,” and sent members to 
parliament. Whether it had a mayor, with a popular occupant 
E 


34 Annwersary Address. 


such as Hugh, is by no means obvious; but he had certainly 
achieved the honour of being a chief citizen.” 

The Wall-rue (Asplenium Ruta-muraria) grows luxuriantly on 
the walls of the Church and on other old edifices about the place. 

Leaving the Church the party, still under the guidance of Mr 
Forster, started for Aydon Castle, a fortified mansion about a 
mile and a half N.E. from Corbridge, which, dating from the 13th 
century, has been recently repaired, and is now inhabited by the 
tenant of the farm attached to it. As we issued from the town 
we passed on the left hand several garden allotments, granted by 
the late Algernon, Duke of Northumberland, to the inhabitants 
of Corbridge, and believed to occupy the site of one of the three 
churches once existing in Corbridge, in addition to the Church of 
St. Andrew which we had just quitted. We soon left the public 
road, and followed a narrower path along Wain-House Lane, the 
route followed by waggons, or wains, in conveying limestone 
from some now disused quarries to the kiln. The lane is sunk 
between high banks clothed with aluxuriant growth of bramble, 
honeysuckle, and wild rose. The botanists of the party picked 
up along the road and lane, going and returning, Chenopodium 
Bonus Henricus, Ballota nigra, Plantago media, Galium Mollugo, 
Tragopogon minor, Betonica officinalis, Origanum vulgare, Cyno- 
glossum officinale, Reseda Lutéola, Hypericum perforatum, and pulch- 
rum, and Hieracium subaudum, which last is very conspicuous, and 
at this season a characteristic flower of the district. It was after- 
wards found in perfection at Dilston, and by a detachment of the 
party on the following day on the banks of the Tyne at Choller- 
ford. Leaving the lane we followed a bridle-path through some 
fields to the lower part of the dean on the west bank of which 
stands the Castle. In one of the fields grew an amazing profu- 
sion of the wild carrot, Daucus Carota. The plant stood as thick 
as if it had been sown for a crop, although we learned that it 
was regarded by the farmer as a troublesome weed. The path 
wound through the finely-wooded dean—where we observed 
Prunus Padus growing—and crossing the rivulet in the bottom, 
rose by a steep ascent and brought us abruptly in view of the 
ancient mansion. For a building more than half a thousand 
years old it presents a wonderfully fresh appearance, having 
been carefully repaired by the present proprietor, Sir Edward 
Blackett, Bart., of Matfen. We were most courteously received 
by Mr and Mrs Rowell, and conducted over the house, where 


Annwersary Address. 35 


modern furniture and all the domestic appliances of the nineteenth 
century appeared in quaint and comfortable contrast with the 
thick walls, small windows, deep recessed window seats, wide fire 
places, narrow passages and tortuous stairs, which spoke of other 
manners and customs among the dwellers within, and of the 
dangers to be warded off from hostile visitants without. Those 
of the party who scrambled through a trap-door and reached the 
roof, were rewarded by a wide panoramic view to the south and 
west over the valley of the Tyne, and the hollow in which Hex- 
ham stands, rich in woods, away to the heights of Aliondale and 
Alston Moor. 

On the walls of the Castle, and at their base, overhanging the 
dean, were observed Wallflower ( Cheiranthus Cheiri), and Pelli- 
tory, (Parietaria officinalis), Malva sglvestris, and Companula lati- 
folia—the last in profusion, and splendid flower. In the inner 
court-yard grew in the crevices and on the cope of the wall, 
Chelidonium majus, Linaria Cymbalaria, Arenaria trinervis, Galium 
Moilugo, Asplenium A i and Cytisus Scoparius, 
(Common Broom.) 

I am indebted to Mr Hardy for the following valuable inform- 
mation regarding this most interesting house. ‘The latest account 
of the place, in Mr J. Hudson Turner’s ‘‘ Domestic Architecture 
in England from the Conquest to the end of the 13th Century,” 
is not readily to be met with, and may be given here. The 
account is illustrated with engravings of the exterior of the castle, 
and the most of its architectural peculiarities outside and in- 
side :— 

“ Although this building is now, and has been for some time, 
called a castle, it was known in the 13th and 14th centuries by 
the name of ‘ Aydon Halle,’ as was also its dependent manor. 
It is indeed only a Border house carefully fortified. The general 
plan is a long irregular line with two rather extensive enclosures 
or courts formed by walls, besides one smaller within. On two 
sides is a steep ravine, on the others the outer wall has a kind of 
ditch, but very shallow. The original chief entrance is yet by an 
external flight of steps, which has a covered roof to the upper 
story, and so far partaking of the features of the earlier houses 
of the preceding century ; it contains at least four original fire- 
places. Some of the windows are square-headed, with two lights. 
The stable is remarkable for the total absence of wood in its con- 
struction, the mangers being of stone, and as Hutchinson 


36 Anniversary Address. 


remarks, was evidently constructed for the preservation of cattle 
during an assault. The windows of the stable are small oblong 
apertures in the wall, widely splayed internally and secured by 
iron bars. Among other details worthy of notice is a good ex- 
ample of a drain. The number of fire-places in this building 
may be attributed to its situation in a district where coal was dug 
and easily procured, at the time of its construction. 

‘‘The manor of Aydon belonged, in the early part of the 13th 
century, to a family which derived its name from the place. The 
male line of the Aydons failed in the time of Edward the First, 
who gave Emma de Aydon, the heiress of her family, in marriage 
to Peter de Vallibus. Ata later time a moiety of the manor of 
Aydon was held by Richard de Grosbeke, in right of his wife, by 
whom it is probable the present building was erected. It has 
been already observed that its date is ‘late in the 13th century, 
and the period of the acquisition of the property by de Vallibus 
may be certainly placed after the year 1280. The subsequent 
descent of this estate is not very clear. In a list of the names of 
all the castles and towers in the county of Northumberland, with 
the names of their proprietors, made about the year 1460, it is 
called ‘the castle of Aydon,’ and is described as being the joint 
property of Robert Raymese, and Ralphde Grey. The Raymeses 
are said to have had a joint interest in it with the family of Car- 
naby until the time of Charles the First.” 

On the way to Corbridge a young redstart tempted some of the 
party into a short chase, but it proved too strong on the wing for 
its pursuers. As no zoological facts of interest fell to be re- 
corded during the day, I may here insert a note on some of the 
wild quadrupeds and birds of the neighbourhood, which has been 
furnished by Mr Forster, to whose guidance we were so much in- 
debted both at Corbridge and Aydon Castle. 

‘‘The Glede, Fulmart, Wild Cat, and Badger have during the 
last 40 years been extinct in this neighbourhood; but within the 
last two years I have heard that there are some Badgers in Dip- 
ton Wood, about two miles south of Dilston Castle. The Stoat, 
Weasel, and Fulmart, were in some parts of the neighbourhood, 
when I was a youth, pretty numerous. Weasels are now nearly 
extinct ; so are Jays, Hawks, and Magpies, all (I think foolishly, 
if not wickedly, ) destroyed by gamekeepers. There are not now 
more than one fourth of the Swallows and Swifts there were in 
my youth. The Sandpiper, which I often saw in those days 


Anniwersary Address. 37 


when I fished in the river, is not now seen. The Kingfisher, 
then plentiful, is not now to be seen in the neighbourhood. 
There are yet a few Herons. I saw three about three miles east 
of Corbridge about six weeks ago.” 

In passing through Corbridge the party took shelter from a 
shower in the Inn; but they were soon again on foot, making 
now for Dilston Castle, about a mile distant, on the south side of 
the valley of the Tyne. On traversing the level ground beyond 
the river, notice was taken of the progress of the harvest, which 
this year was later than usual. Wheat, oats, and barley in the 
neighbourhood were almost all in stook, but only a field here 
and there was cleared, and its produce secured in rick. By 
_a gentle ascent along a tree-shaded road the entrance to the 
grounds of Dilston was reached. Entering between two massive 
stone pillars, probably the remains of the original gateway, the 
first objects to attract the eye were some lofty and umbrageous 
Horse Chestnuts, this season displaying little fruit. Mr Balden, 
the agent at Dilston, here kindly met the party, and acted as 
guide to the ruins of this mansion of melancholy memories. The 
present proprietor has done much both for the discovery of the 
original plan of the building by uncovering foundations, and for 
the preservation of those walls which are still standing. The 
Castle had been of great extent, and the enormous thickness of 
the walls in the older portions gives token of its great strength 
as a place of defence. A mere fragment of the lordly pile now 
remains, and the rooms and vaults in this portion were examined 
with interest, as was also the small detached domestic Chapel 
close to the Castle. ‘The dimensions of the Chapel within are 32 
feet by 15, the height 18 feet. It is a plain and unadorned 
structure. Below the floor of the Chapel is the vault which con- 
tained the remains of several members of the Derwentwater 
family down to the year 1874, when most of them, on the sale of 
the estate, were removed to the Roman Catholic Chapel at Hex- 
ham. The body of the last Karl, however, who was beheaded in 
1716, was transferred to the burial-place of his descendant, Lord 
Petre, at Thorndon in Essex. On the east gable of the Chapel 
there has recently been discovered a sculptured stone bearing a 
coat-of-arms, which had been concealed for a length of time 
by a thick growth of ivy. The owner of this heraldic emblem 
has not yet been determined. 

The romantic story of Dilston, and its successive owners, has 


38 Anniversary Address. 


been often told, and need not to be here repeated at length. It 
begins far back, for it is alleged that the domain was in posses- 
sion of a family of the name of D’Hivill soon after the Norman 
Conquest. From this family, it is assumed, was derived the 
name of the place, Dyvelstoun, afterwards contracted into Dilston. 
From the same family name is derived the designation of the 
stream, on the precipitous bank of which the castle stands,-— 
Devil’s Water,—certainly a fitter parentage for the title of this 
beautiful little river than the inappropriate one which the modern 
spelling of the name suggests. From the lords of Dyvelstoun 
the castle and lands passed, in default of direct issue, into the 
hands of various kindred families in succession, until, through 
marriage, they became in the end of the 15th century the pro- 
perty of the Radcliffes of Derwentwater. Itis with the Rad- 
cliffes that the romance of Dilston is associated, and chiefly with 
James, Earl of Derwentwater, the last of the race who bore the 
title. Few histories are so sad as that of this young and popular 
nobleman,—the bright promise of his morning quenched in 
blood on a scaffold ere the noon of life was reached,—his splen- 
did home left to the mercy of rapacious strangers and underlings, 
by whom the costly furniture was scattered far and wide in the 
neighbourhood, either sold or given away,—his lordly halls and 
chambers seized and tenanted by homeless vagrants, until at last 
it was deemed necessary to lay the building in ruins in order to 
disperse ‘‘the rookery.” The Commissioners of Greenwich 
Hospital, to whom the Government made a grant of the forfeited 
lands of the Radcliffes, by the studied neglect with which they 
treated Dilston Castle, would appear to have wished to wipe out 
all association of the name of Radcliffe and the title of Derwent- 
water with the district. Better days, however, were in store for 
the place. Under the care of the late Mr John Grey, the resident 
representative of the Commissioners, great alterations were made 
on the grounds around the Castle; the surface was cleared of 
unsightly rubbish, and care was taken to preserve the ruins from 
wanton destruction. A commodious and elegant house, for the 
use of the Commissioners’ representative, was erected at a short 
distance from the old mansion, commanding a beautiful view up 
the Devil’s Water. The gardens, walks, and shrubberies con- 
nected with this house now give a finish and richness to the 
grounds, a contrast to the desolation which prevailed a hundred 
years ago. In the year 1874, the possessions of Greenwich 


Annversary Address 39 


Hospital in this neighbourhood were put up to auction, and 
Dilston Castle and estate were purchased by W. B. Beaumont, 
Esq., M.P., who has added to the modern house, and makes it 
occasionally his residence; and who, as has been already men- 
tioned, has done much for the preservation of the old walls of 
the Castle and the Chapel. If there must still be melancholy 
associated with Dilston Castle, it is the romantic sadness of a 
tragedy in the distant past, no more the irritating sadness of 
modern neglect. 

Dilston and the glen of the Devil’s Water are good botanizing 
ground. Among the grass between the ruin and the brink of 
the precipitous descent into the glen Viola odorata was found 
growing in profusion. Half a dozen of the party walked up the 
- east side of the stream, crossed by stepping-stones, and returned 
by the west side. It was late in the season, but such good plants 
as Prenanthes muralis, Stellaria nemorum, Veronica montana, EHquise- 
tum hyemale, Circwa Lutetiana, Melica uniflora, Prunus Padus, Sani- 
cula Huropea, Asperula odorata, Betonica officinalis, &c., were recog- 
nised. Lizbes alpinum and Aquilegia vulgaris were also noticed, but 
‘could scarcely be considered indigenous. The course of the 
Devil’s Water above Dilston is very picturesque. Steep banks, 
occasionally breaking into rocky scaurs, but for the most part 
covered with brushwood, and well-grown trees, now closely gird 
the stream, now recede and leave room for sheltered grassy haughs. 
The view is constantly varying, and always pleasing, certainly 
never suggestive of aught connected with the prince of darkness. 
On emerging from the wooded valley at a cottage a short distance 
from Dilston Mill, we found by the wayside a profusion of Malva 
moschata, Linaria vulgaris, Barbarea vulgaris, Hypericum perforatum, 
and Rubus cesius. Near the new Cemetery Convolvulus arvensis 
was observed growing in abundance along the margin of the 
road. 

The scattered groups into which the party had broken up 
were all assembled in the Angel Inn soon after 4 o’clock, when 
29 sat down to dinner. After dinner Dr Allen Wilson, Alnwick, 
was proposed as a member. The following two papers were 
read :—1. Qn Temple Thornton Farm Accounts in 1308, com- 
municated by Mr William Woodman, Morpeth. Temple Thorn- 
ton was the only Preceptory of the Knight Templars in North- 
umberland ; this they farmed; all their other property in the 
county was in the hands of tenants. The return, here translated 


AO Anniversary Address 


and annotated, was rendered to the Sheriff of Northumberland, 
on the suppression of the order. 2. Brief Notes on the Geology 
of Corbridge, Northumberland, by G. A. Lebour, M.A., F.GS., 
Professor of Geology in the University of Durham College of 
Physical Science, Neweastle-on-Tyne. Thanks were voted to the 
contributors of the papers. 

In the course of the conversation which followed the reading 
of these papers Sir Walter Elliot mentioned that Meottia Nidus- 
avis had lately been found near Branxholm in Teviotdale; and 
the President gave an account of an old vine, which he had seen 
at Whickham the previous day, when he was the guest of the 
Rev. R. H. Williamson. This vine is believed to have been 
planted about the year 1735. It covers the whole of the sloping 
roof of a vinery, 28 feet long by 12 wide. The stem before 
_ sending off the horizontal branches is 15 inches in girth; and 40 
principal lateral branches spring from the horizontal ones. It 
is of the Black Hamburgh variety, a steady bearer, and this year 
had produced 239 good bunches of grapes. Mr Williamson had 
stated that the vine was always carefully tended, and as far as 
he could remember had always produced, during the last sixty 
years, pretty much the same crop both in quantity and quality. 
This vine was not to be set in comparison with the famous 
Hampton Court vine, and other known patriarchs of the vinery, 
but it was worthy of a short notice in the Proceedings. 

Sir Walter Elliot gave notice that he would propose at the 
business meeting of the Club in October, that in future only one 
copy of the Proceedings be issued to each member ; and also that 
he would call attention to the subject of the organization of the 
work of the Club, which had been remitted to a Committee to 
report upon, 

The meeting broke up about 7 o’clock, a delightful day having 
been spent in a district new to many of those present, and in 
more favourable weather than the gloomy and wet character of 
several preceding days had promised. 

A small detachment of the party spent the next day in visiting 
Hexham, and the Roman Camp at Chesters. At the latter place 
they found excavations going on at the charge of the venerable 
proprietor, Mr Clayton, and saw the labourers engaged in un- 
covering a short row of columns, which had belonged to a build- 
ing within the camp, and opposite the south gate. This little 
appendix to the Corbridge meeting, however, is recorded with 


Annwersary Address. 41 


the view of directing attention to a remarkable sculptured stone, 
discovered in 1881 during excavations made under the porch of 
Hexham Abbey Church. The stone when found was 10 feet 5 
inches in length, about 33 feetin breadth, and a foot in thickness. 
It weighs about 2 tons. The lower end was rounded, but some 
inches have been cut off to make it straight and give it a more 
secure rest, where it now stands against the west wall of the 
south transept of the Church. The figures on the stone are 
rough but spirited, and represent a Roman soldier on horseback, 
bearing a standard, and trampling under foot an ancient Briton, 
whose head is shown in a singularly contorted position. The lower 
portion of the stone is occupied by an inscription, the greater 
part of which is in excellent preservation, but some letters are 
‘obscure. Dr. Collingwood Bruce reads the inscription as 
follows :— ) 
DIS MANIBVS FLAVINVS 
EQ ALA PETR SIGNIFER 
TVR CANDIDI AN XXV 
STIP VII H S 
which he says may be expanded thus :—Dis manibus. Flavinus eques 
ale Petriane, signifer turme Candidi, annorum viginti quinque, 
stipendiorum septem, hic situs [est]. The following may be accepted 
as a translation :—‘‘ To the gods of the lower world. Flavinus 
a horse-soldier of the ala Petriana, standard-bearer of the troop 
of Candidus, twenty five years old, and of seven terms of service, 
[or, campaigns | lies here.” 


JEDBURGH MEETING. 


The fifth meeting of the Club was held at Jedburgh on Wed- 
nesday, September 27th. The morning was most unpromising, 
and the majority of those who attended the meeting left home 
under a heavy downpour of rain, and with little hope of brighter 
weather. The Club’s usual good fortune, however, did not de- 
sert it; for by the time Jedburgh was reached, rain had ceased 
to fall, and the sun was beginning to assert his power. It was 
afterwards learned that to the north and south severe thunder- 
storms prevailed at various times during the day ; but the Club 
enjoyed bright skies along the whole route traversed, and were 
under cover at the Hotel in time to escape heavy rain, which 
again began to fall about 4 o’clock. 


The members, and friends of members, present were—Rev. 
EF 


42 Anniversary Address. 


James Farpuharson, M.A., Selkirk, President; Dr. F. Douglas, 
Kelso, and Mr Hardy, Oldcambus, Hon. Secretaries; Revs. T. 
S. Anderson, Crailing; J. E. Elliot Bates, of Milburn Hall; 
John F. Bigge, Stamfordham; J. Hill Scott, Kelso; John 
Walker, Whalton; Geo. P. Wilkinson, Harperley Park; R. H. 
Williamson, Whickham; Sheriff Russell, Jedburgh; Dr. H. 8. 
Anderson, Selkirk; Dr. William Blair, Jedburgh; Dr. Alex. J. 
Main, Alnwick; Dr. J. Robson Scott, Belford; Dr. M. J. Turn- 
bull, Coldstream; Messrs James Bogie, Edinburgh; A. Hay 
Borthwick, Melrose; Fred. J. W. Collingwood, of Glanton Pyke ; 
James Cumming, Jedburgh; Jas. T. S. Elliot, yr. of Wolfelee ; 
Wm, Elliot, Sheriff Clerk, Jedburgh; John Freer, Melrose ; 
Douglas Govan, Fife; Wm. T. Hindmarsh, Alnwick; W. H. 
Johnson, Edinburgh; R. D. Ker, Edinburgh; John McDougall, 
Jedburgh ; Frederick L. Roy, of Nenthorn ; Thos. Robson Scott, 
of Newton ; David M. B. Watson, Hawick; and James Watson, 
Jedburgh. 

After breakfast at the Royal Hotel all turned towards the 
Abbey. It is not necessary to describe this stately ruin. Details 
concerning it may be found in many easily accessible publica- 
tions; and the Proceedings of the Club in former years record 
much concerning it. What calls for notice now is that, since 
the Club last visited Jedburgh, by the munificent liberality of 
the Marquis of Lothian, to.whom the Abbey now belongs, it has 
been put in a condition more worthy of the noble architecture it 
exhibits. The old Parish Church which encumbered and dis- 
figured the interior of the nave has been entirely removed ; por- 
tions of the fabric which threatened to give way have received 
support; and when it could be done judiciously, decayed stones 
and fragments have been removed, and new stones, fac-similes of 
of the old, have been substituted. The accomplished architect, 
Mr Rowan Anderson, to whom the work of restoration, or rather 
of preservation, was entrusted, has also erected in the old en- 
trance from the cloisters a copy of the famous west doorway, 
which in its sharp freshness gives an idea of what the whole 
Abbey Church must have been when it rose under the hammer 
and chisel of those wonder-working medizval masons, and stood 
in untarnished richness, a goodly house of God. The visitors, 
besides enjoying the impressive view of the interior now obtain- 
able from the site of the grand altar, inspected with interest 
various objects brought to light during the process of restoration. 


Annwwersary Address, 43 


Tn the roof of the turret stair to the north of the west entrance a 
stone is imbedded, on which lettering, believed to be Roman, 
occurs. We were informed that the words ‘‘ Julius Czesar’’ are 
found in the inscription, but no member succeeded in deciphering 
the name of ‘great Ceesar.”” Monograms and coats of arms of 
several bishops have been found on pillars of the central tower ; 
and three fragments of crosses, which had been found inserted as 
lintels, attracted much interest. They display old Celtic orna- 
mentation. One of them is especially rich—from a central stem 
spring three branches on each side, which curve into circles, sup- 
porting within their circumference figures of animals. A ram, 
a dog, two eagles, and two more obscure winged figures occupy 
the compartments, which are also ornamented by foliage of vari- 

ous kinds, and what seem intended for bunches of grapes. The 
fragment presents an unusually rich appearance, and makes us 
regret that the rudeness of a former age has left us but a frag- 
ment of what must have been a splendid monument. 

The party then proceeded through one of the side doors to the 
Abbey Gardens, which occupy the site of the old Manse and 
Manse Garden, and what was at a more remote date the site of 
the monastic buildings and cloisters. Here a profusion of her- 
baceous plants were displaying their beauty, and manifestly 
revelling in the rich soil and sunny shelter of this choice spot. 
The keeper of the Abbey and Gardens, Mr Turnbull, is an 
enthusiastic florist, and it was with difficulty we tore our- 
selves away from the treasures it was his delight to show. We 
certainly did not leave without violation of the tenth command- 
ment, although I believe we kept within the bounds of the 
eighth. 

Queen Mary’s House, with its chambers so narrow and com- 
fortless, and to our modern eyes so unworthy of royalty, and with 
its tapestry, said to have been worked by her Court ladies while 
they waited for the recovery of their sovereign from the fever 
brought on by her rapid ride to visit Bothwell at Hermitage 
Castle, received a brief visit; as did also the Museum with its 
numerous interesting but not well assorted contents. On one of 
the walls of the Museum hung a banner bearing an inscription in 
letters stitched on the silk, which asserted that it was taken from 
the English at the Battle of Bannockburn. I notice this article 
because I observed attached to the old silk a piece of cloth in the 
form of a shuttle, very similar to the shuttle-shaped patches on 


AA, Anniversary Address. 


the Flodden Flag at Selkirk. Probably both flags, whatever 
their origin, were similarly ornamented, because both at one 
time belonged to Corporations of Weavers. 

It had been intended to arrange for a botanical excursion up 
the Jed, but the rain of the previous night had so saturated soil 
and herbage that the idea was abandoned. On the suggestion 
of Sheriff Russell it was therefore agreed to drive to Edgerston, 
in the belief that the proprietor, Mr Oliver Rutherford, although 
the Club came upon him without warning, would make us wel- 
come 'to visit his grounds. About half-past twelve o’clock the 
party in two well-filled conveyances left the town by the Bridge 
near the new Parish Church, and drove up the valley of the Jed 
for Edgerston. ‘‘Sylvan Jed” wore its fairest garments in 
honour of our visit, the clear light bringing out all the beauty of 
the scenery, and the balmy air allowing us to enjoy each succes- 
sive picture of wood-crowned red cliff and scaur, and tower, and 
gleaming water, and distant hill. Since autumn had touched 
the woods with his magical finger, no high wind had occurred to 
strip the trees of their leaves, and the landscape in umbrageous 
richness and variety of tint baffled description. It must be left 
to the memory of those who had the good fortune to see it on 
that tair September day, and to the imagination of those who did 
not. Every variety of tint was presented to the ravished eye, 
green and yellow of every hue, gold, and crimson, and scarlet, 
and rich russet, with here and there dark masses of pine. The 
long perpendicular cliffs of red sandstone springing boldly from 
the margin of the river served asa foil to the gorgeous colours, 
and down the runnels which broke their surface at intervals, 
drooped festoons and fringes of foliage from the rich woods 
above, graceful ornaments softening but not weakening the com- 
manding features of the rocks. One maple as we drove up the 
steep end of the Edgerston avenue next the house attracted the 
eyes of all,—a brilliant flaming flower amid sober surrounding 
green. 

Nor was the interest of history, legend, and story, aroused by 
each well-known Border name as we wound our way upwards, 
less intense than the enthusiasm excited by the lovely autumn 
scenery. The old Burgh we had left, Jedburgh itself,—Inch- 
bonnie, —the Capon tree,—Lintalee, stronghold of the Douglases, 
—Fernichirst, the home of the Kerrs,—Mossburnford, at one 
time the residence of a valued member of the Club, the late Mr 


Annwersary Address. A5 


Archibald Jerdan,—Old Jedward,—these are names to conjure 
with, and the full story of any one of them would occupy more 
than the whole space devoted to this address. Besides, is not 
their chronicle written in Jeffrey’s ‘‘ Roxburghshire,” in whose 
pages one may read, and learn that the peace-loving members 
of the Berwickshire Club were that day driving over scenes, 
where almost every field had witnessed the shedding of blood 
in hot strife, and every name recalled a deed of heroic or of law- 
less daring. As the elevation increased the umbrageousness of 
the woods became less marked, and the country more open, while 
it was also evident that we had passed from the warm red sand- 
. Stone to the harsher greywacke. Distant prospects also opened 
up from the higher reaches of the road, the toll bar on the ridge 
of Carter Fell, among other landmarks, being discernible. 

The geological character of the upper Jedwater district being 
comparatively unknown, I gladly avail myself of the following 
particulars from Professor James Geikie, contained in a letter 
from him to Mr Hardy,—being the results of the Government 
Survey under his charge. The Ordnance geological map of Rox- 
burghshire is now, it is understood, in the engraver’s hands— 
and Dr. Geikie has written the accompanying memoir, so that by 
and bye the members of the Club will have access to an adequate 
guide-book for prosecuting inquiries of this description. 

“On going up the Jed above Jedburgh you pass first over the 
red sandstones and crumbling shales and clays, which are too well 
known for me to add any notes here. You will remember the 
classical unconformabilities of these beds upon the upturned 
Silurians in the neighbourhood of Jedburgh itself. There is 
even a finer section than that at Allars Mill, to be seen in Wood- 
field Burn and Willowford Burn—two little streams which unite 
just before they enter the Jed a little below Mossburnford. 
The best section is in the Woodfield Burn—one of the clearest I 
ever saw anywhere. Close to Dovesford (Camptown) the Lower 
Silurian comes out from under the Old Red Sandstone and forms 
the bed of the Kaim burn up to Edgerston House, where conglo- 
merates and grits overlie sometimes the Silurian, sometimes the 
Old Red igneous rock (Porphyrites). Dod Hill (977 ft.)is a cap 
of coarse red sandstone resting partly on Silurian and partly on 
Porphyrite, which last forms Stotfield Hill (967 ft.), and the 
other hills overlooking Edgerston House on the east. This 
mass of Porphyrite is an outlier nearly entirely surrounded by 


46 . Anniversary Address. 


conglomerate. In the bed of the Kaim Burn, however, below 
Edgerston Loch, the conglomerate has been denuded away, and 
the porphyrite is there seen overlying the Silurian. Following 
up the Kaim Burn you find it heading in a chain of conspicuous 
hills running west and east. These are all composed of varieties 
of porphyrite. Silurian re-appears along the base of these hills 
on their southern margin, but it is immediately overlaid with 
sandstones and shales, clays, etc. which continue to the top of the 
Cheviots in the Carter Fell district. Catscleugh Shin (1742 ft.) 
on the north-east of Carter Fell is a great sheet of Basalt or 
Dolerite resting upon a bed of Volcanic Tuff and Ash. The sand- 
stones, clays, shales, cement-stones, and limestones which lie 
along the tops of the Cheviots here, and stretch down their slopes 
towards the north, are the equivalents of our Lower Carbonifer- 
ous of Middle Scotland. 

‘‘ Tn the district you traversed you have fine examples of un- 
conformability, overlap, ete. The Silurian consists of Lower and 
Upper divisions, but the junction between the two is concealed 
below the Porphyrites. The Porphyrites rest unconformably 
upon the Silurian, and had been highly denuded—worn into 
hill and dale—before the Old Red Conglomerates were laid down. 
These last indicate shallow water, possibly lacustrine, with 
torrents coming down from ahilly region. The “ Jed-beds” of 
soft red sandstones and shale, etc. are the somewhat deeper 
water equivalents of these shore-beds. The overlying Carboni- 
ferous strata indicate a gradual depression of the area and the 
accumulation of sediment in an inland sea or lake, which now 
and again had more or less open connection with the ocean. 
But to make all this intelligible would require a map, and much 
detailed description.”’ 

The valley of the Jed was left at Camptown, and the party 
turned into the long and pleasant avenue, which skirts the brawl- 
ing Kdgerston or Kaim Burn, and after a course of a mile and a 
half, the last part very steep, leads to the mansion-house. Mr 
Oliver Rutherford welcomed us most kindly, and invited inspec- 
tion of the house and grounds by the members of the party. 
The house, which has been enlarged by additions to the ancient 
tower, suiting it to modern requirements, occupies a commanding 
situation, from which, in the intervals between the fine old 
trees which stand around it, pleasant views are obtained of the 
hills to the east and south. In the dining-room were seen full 


Anniversary Address A7 


length portraits of George II., and Queen Caroline, and of 
George III., said to be by Gainsborough; and reported to have 
been brought from Government House in America, during or at 
the close of the war of Independence. The gardens are exten- 
sive, and in this upland region each spring must prove how 
wisely they have been laid out on 
“ slopes that, slanting south, 
“ Breathe off the snow, and show a warming green.” 

A beautiful double-flowering variety of Pyrethrum imodorum 
attracted notice in the garden; and among the shrubs beside the 
house a Golden-Crested Wren was seen by some of the party, 

Bidding farewell, with thanks, to the proprietor, the representa- 
tive of an ancient Border race, on whom we had so unceremoni- 
ously intruded, we drove back to Jedburgh, and reached the 
Hotel at 4 o’clock, after paying a short visit to the handsome 
new Parish Church, erected by Lord Lothian in lieu of the old 
structure, which had been removed from the nave of the ruined 
Abbey Church. 

Thirty-two sat down to dinner, and after dinner the following 
objects were exhibited and examined. 

A fine specimen of the Wild Cat, showing the abrupt tail and 
other marks of the genuine Felis Catus, shot a few years ago at 
Wolfelee, and brought for exhibition by Mr J.T, 8. Elliot; who 
also showed a massive upper-stone of a Quern, found recently on 
Bonchester Hill, and remarkable as having the hole for insertion 
of the driving handle in the side, instead of in the usual place 
on the upper surface. 

Mr Cumming, Jedburgh, exhibited a fine specimen of Ache- 
rontia Atropos, (Death’s-Head Moth) found this summer on Lan- 
ton Moor ; a Mecca Peggum, a roll of narrow parchment, 18 feet 
long, beautifully covered with Arabic characters in red, black, 
and gold; the intention of the quotations from the Koran being 
to incite Mahommedans of the fanatical Wahabee sect to a religi- 
ous war against Great Britain; and a leaflet 7 inches by 43, 
being a handbill of the Kelso Races run on Oct. 12th,1781. A 
very large Fungus, probably Zycoperdon giganteus, was also laid 
on the table ; it measured 3 feet in circumference, and weighed 
43 lbs, and was found by Sheriff Russell growing near Timpen- 
dean Castle on Sept. 25th. Rev. G. P. Wilkinson exhibited the 
beautiful Jet ring, of which he had previously shown a gold fac- 
simile, as noticed in the Proceedings, vol. vi11., p. 28. 


A8 Anmversary Address 


Papers were read ‘‘On the Lepidoptera of Roxburghshire,” 
by Mr A. Elliot, Samieston; and ‘On the disappearance of 
Herons from a breeding-station on Bowmont Water,” by Dr. 
Robson Scott. The authors of both papers received the thanks 
of the Club, and it was agreed to print the papers in this year’s 
Proceedings. 

There were proposed as members—The Right Hon. the Earl 
of Home; the Rev. Robert Stewart, The Manse, Jedburgh; and 
Mr George Bulman, Corbridge-on-Tyne. 

After this long narrative, I need not detain you by lengthened 
closing remarks of a general nature. Our Club has now com- 
pleted its first period of fifty years, and taken the first step into 
a new period. Will it live to celebrate its centenary? Some 
appear to have their misgivings and to suspect that, having 
exhausted its territory, the Club must decay and perish through 
sheer want of fresh sustenance. To this timorous suspicion I 
would suggest a threefold reply. 

1. In the first place, while it is true that to several of the older 
members the region explored by the Club must be very familiar, 
it must not be forgotten that there is always a new generation 
rising up to whom these familiar scenes are not known; and that 
it is the delight of the older members to introduce these newer 
men to what is so well known to themselves, and to call forth 
and guide their enthusiasm while they make acquaintance with 
the fauna and flora of the district, or read the ever interesting 
story associated with ruin, and relic, and family tradition of which 
our beautiful Border country is so productive. This younger 
generation, ever renewed, renews the life of the Club. 

2. Then they who dread atrophy for the Club, through 
dearth of suitable fresh food, forget the boundless fertility of 
nature. We are pre-eminently a Natural History Society; and 
it must never be forgotten that Natural History is a science of 
observation. Nature is an unfailing mother, and her offspring 
is as varied as unfailing. Every year produces its own crop of 
new facts, which, like the harvest of the farmer, must be gathered 
in and garnered. These facts are invaluable; and it is the pro- 
vince of a Society such as ours to see that none of them escape 
accurate observation and intelligent record. They are not only 
the delight of the specialist and systematist; but they are the 
raw material out of which the wider theories of life and organis- 
ation must be constructed, let the theoriser be evolutionist, or 


Annwersary Address. 49 


anti-evolutionist ; and by his ability to absorb, harmonise, and 
explain these facts satisfactorily, must his theories stand or fall. 
There is no fear of a dearth of facts, nor of a fall in their value. 
Even from Berwick, the cradle of the Club, the Proceedings are 
every year enriched by interesting notes. We are not reduced 
to the gleanings of the fields: the harvest is not yet half-reaped. 

3. And as a last consideration, I urge that the Club should 
give free scope to the instinct which has been guiding its wan- 
derings of late years, and go farther afield. It is easier now, 
thanks to railways, to travel in numbers a hundred miles, than 
it was fifty years ago to gather a score of people to one point 
within a radius of twenty miles of Berwick. I do not see why 
we should not claim as our territory the whole valley of the 
Tweed from Berwick to that distant height beyond Tweedsmuir, 
where 
“The Tweed, the Annan, and the Clyde 

They a’ rise in ae hill side.” 
Here, to say nothing of Northern Northumberland, and East 
Lothian close at hand, there is scope enough for the exercise of 
the Club’s energies for generations, without a too frequent return 
to favourite localities. 

Let us not then dream of exhaustion, but pledge ourselves to 
work in a manner worthy of our fifty years’ history. Then, with 
no half-hearted wish but with a confident hope, may we say of 
the Club, Floreat in sempiternum; and let me add, in the pious 
spirit of our founder and of successive presidents, 7 maorem 
Dei gloriam. 

SELKIRK MEETING. 

The last meeting of the Club for the season was held at Sel- 
kirk on Wednesday, October 11th. The good fortune in weather, 
which we had enjoyed at the previous meetings of the year, now 
forsook us. The day proved dull and gloomy throughout; mists 
trailed along the hill summits, and hid the distant views; and in 
the afternoon occasional drizzling showers marred the comfort of 
the party. The unfavourable weather, however, did not inter- 
fere with the accomplishment of the day’s programme, nor hinder 
the members present from enjoying this their second visit to 
‘‘ Kttrick Forest.” 

A considerable number appeared at breakfast at 9 o’clock in 
the County Hotel, and were afterwards conducted by the Presi- 
dent over the grounds of the Haining, which had been kindly 

G 


50 Anwwersary Address. 


thrown open to the Club by Mr Pringle Pattison. On passing 
the Manse gate attention was directed to the unusual size of 
many of the leaves of the Ivy covering the garden wall. The 
Ivy is of the common variety, and hitherto had not presented 
any peculiarity. This year, however, while all the leaves were 
large and vigorous, a number grew to an enormous size. Four 
taken at random, measured as follows :—Greatest breadth, 
8ic, 7x0, 8:5, 8:5 inches; circumference, measured from tip to 
tip of the lobes, 28, 233, 26, and 253 in. The plants as usual 
had. been stripped of leaves during mild weather in March ; 
immediately after, such young leaves as escaped the pruning- 
knife expanded and made some progress, thus getting ahead of 
the rest which were but beginning to escape from the bud. Then 
_ followed two or three weeks of cold weather, when growth was 
arrested. On the return of mild weather the leaves which were 
ready to take advantage of it shot ahead of their neighbours, 
and proved conspicuous for size throughout the whole season. 
The property of Haining lies for the most part in the parish 
of Selkirk, but extends southward into the parish of Ashkirk, in 
Roxburghshire. The mansion-house is in the immediate vicinity 
of the town of Selkirk, the park-wall forming the boundary of 
some of the streets. It occupies an elevated situation, about 600 
feet above sea level, and is well sheltered by finely grown trees. 
The principal front has a southerly aspect, and looks out on a 
small sheet of water, Haining Loch, which is oblong in form, 
about a third of a mile in length from N. to 8., and less than half 
that in breadth. The banks of the Loch are beautifully wooded, 
the trees being of various kinds, and admirably disposed to suit 
the varied and broken surface of the ground. The style of the 
house is Italian, with porticoes on the two principal elevations ; 
but the full design was never carried into effect, and the build- 
ing is somewhat disfigured by a portion of the old house, of very 
plain architecture, which was never taken down, but remains 
attached to the west side, and contains the kitchen and servants’ 
apartments. The terrace between the front of the house and the 
Loch is ornamented by a row of marble statues representing 
various mythological personages. These were brought from the 
Italian quarries by the late Mr John Pringle, who in this way, 
and by utilising experience acquired in extensive continental 
travel, gave to the buildings and grounds of The Haining a 
unique character for which they were long distinguished. The 


Anniversary Address, 51 


grounds, indeed, are of a charming description. Naturally very 
undulated, and showing many broken outlines, successive pro- 
prietors during last century, and the early part of the present, 
were at great cost, and displayed good taste in beautifying them. 
In spring, when the trees around the Loch present their varied 
tints of green, or in autumn, when rich browns and golden yellows 
pervade the masses of foliage, the house makes a pretty picture 
with its row of white statues on the terrace gleaming in the sun, 
and numberless water-fowl, wild and tame, disporting themselves 
on the green slopes, and on the surface of the water. On occa- 
sion of our visit the weather was not of a nature to bring out all 
the charms of The Haining. The sun refused to shine; the 
‘clouds lowered, if they did not send down their contents on our 
forenoon walk; and passing gusts brought showers of leaves 
to our feet, reminding us that the glory of the woods was past. 
Enough was seen, however, to call forth the admiration of the 
party, and to make them wish their visit had been paid at an 
earlier period of the year, and that they had formed acquaintance 
with Haining in its full summer or autumn beauty. 

When Haining first comes within the range of documentary 
evidence, it appears as a demesne attached to the Castle of Sel- 
kirk, the site of which is on a wooded knoll between the present 
house and the highest part of old Selkirk, now known as Castle 
Street. No vestige of the Castle remains. *Ata very early 
period Haining was granted by the King in tack to the Constable 
of the Castle. In the end of the 15th century it was in the 
possession of a Scott, a member of the Buccleuch family. Then 
in succession it appears to have become the property of the 
Murrays of Falahill and Philiphaugh ; again of the Scotts; and 
then of the Riddells of Riddell. The last proprietor of the name 
of Riddell was notable as a persecutor of the Covenanters. After 
his death Haining passed by purchase to the Pringles of Clifton, 
of whom the present proprietress, Mrs Pringle Pattison, is the 
representative. The Pringles of Clifton and Haining, a branch 
of the Pringles of Galashiels and Smailholm, were a family which 
produced many men of ability and public spirit. For several 
generations the head of the family represented Selkirkshire in 
Parliament ; and during last century two of the lairds of Haining 

* For many of the antiquarian details in this report I am indebted to 


T. Craig-Brown, Esq., Selkirk, who has a County History of Selkirkshire 
nearly ready for publication. 


52 Anniversary Address. 


occupied places on the bench in the Court of Session. These 
were Lord Haining, who passed advocate in 1691, was elevated to 
the bench in 1729, and died in 1754; and Lord Alemoor, who took 
his seat as judge in 1748, and died in 1776. On the death in 
1842 of Mr Robert Pringle, the last male representative of the 
Pringles in the direct line, the property of Clifton passed out of 
the family to Mr Elliot, of Harwood, Haining remaining in 
possession of Mr Robert Pringle’s sister, who had married Mr 
Archibald Douglas of Edderstone, and Midshiels. Mrs Pringle 
Douglas’s only daughter married Mr John Pattison, and to them 
the property now belongs. 

The principal approach to The Haining was formerly from 
Castle Street; but now a handsome arched gateway on the road 
from the Railway Station to the town opens on an avenue, which 
conducts by a steep ascent to the north side of the house, in 
which the entrance-door is placed. On passing into the grounds 
the first object noticed by the party was a large Oak in a slight 
hollow to the left. The trunk is short, but the horizontal 
branches into which it divides at a height of about 7 feet, cover 
a wide space. The girth of the tree 2 feet from the ground is 12 
feet 8 inches ; and the branches extend from side to side in one 
direction 80 feet, and in another 75 feet. In contour the tree is 
hemispherical, but its symmetry has been a little injured by the 
loss of a branch on one side. 

At the House a Black Swan, standing on the grass leisurely 
preening itself, served as an introduction to the great company 
of water-fowl which attracted our notice as soon as we reached 
the banks of the Loch, after passing round the stables, which 
lie to the west of the House, and are separated from it by a 
little wooded ravine. These birds form quite a feature of the 
place, and are carefuily protected by Mr Pattison. It was inter- 
esting to see the mixture of wild and tame creatures, the gener- 
ally shy and hidling Water Hen walking fearlessly about and 
coming close to the House, while the Coot was but less bold, 
and even the Wild Duck did not take to flight, although it kept 
well out of reach. Mr Pattison has favoured me with the fol- 
lowing list of the water-fowl which are either kept on the Loch, 
being domesticated, or frequent it, being wild. 

“« White Swans. Rouen Ducks. 

Black Do. White Call Do. 
Swan Geese. Brown Call Do. 


Anniversary Address. 53 


White Chinese Geese. Shieldrakes. 


Brown Do. Do. Black Indian Ducks. 

Canada Geese. Tufted Pochard. 

Bean Do. Red-headed Pochard. 
Laughing Do. Teal. 

Egyptian Do. Grebe. 

Brent Do. Bald-coots. 

American Runner Ducks. Water-Hens. 

Pekin Ducks. Water-Rail. 

Cayuga Do. Herons. 

Aylesbury Do. Wild Duck, or Mallard.” 


At the date of our visit the water of the Loch was of a dirty 
-brown colour. It was mentioned that this is invariably the 
appearance of the water during the summer months, this dis- 
agreeable characteristic, which greatly detracts from the plea- 
santness of the scene, disappearing on the advent of frost. It is 
difficult to account for the phenomenon. Microscopic examin- 
ation of the water does not cast much light upon it ; for although 
that reveals the presence in summer of a great quantity of a 
cateniform conferva, the muddy colour remains unexplained. 
This conferva multiplies to such an extent as to form a thick 
. yeasty scum in corners into which the wind has drifted it; but it 
does not seem probable that it can tinge the water brown 
throughout the whole extent of the loch. It has been suggested 
that eels, which abound, may stir up the muddy bottom, and 
thus foul the water; but this seems improbable. The phenom- 
enon invites investigation, and meantime remains of unknown 
origin. Perch are found in the Loch; but Trout are wanting. 

Both the White and the Yellow Water Lily, Vymphea alba 
and Wuphar Jutea grow in the Loch, the latter in great abund- 
ance. Typha latifolia is also found, but certainly introduced. 
The reeds along the margin are for the most part Arundo Phrag- 
mites. Listera ovata in great quantity, and very vigorous, occupies 
a damp and shady corner on the S.W. margin. Polygonum amphi- 
bium grows to an unusual size in shallow water at the N.W. cor- 
ner, and deserves here to be accounted an ornamental plant, its 
innumerable dense spikes of pink blossom quite brightening the 
the spot which it frequents, while its broad floating. green 
leaves hide the turbid water from sight. 

In other localities within the grounds are found Trollius 
Europeus, Habenaria viridis, and H. chlorantha, Carex paniculata, 


54 Anniversary Address. 


C. teretiuscula, and C. paludosa, Botrychium Lunaria, and Ophioglos- 
sum vulgatum. A streamlet falling into the Loch on the west side 
issues from a small sheet of water, the Picmaw Moss, which is a 
breeding place of the Black-headed Gull, Larus ridibundus. In 
spring this part of the grounds is lively with the vociferous cries 
of these birds; but our visit was made at a season when not a 
solitary gull was to be seen, and when it would have been vain to 
hunt for even a withered remnant of the plants enumerated. 
The party, after observing for a time the water-fowl congre- 
gated near the House, walked round the Loch, going by the west 
side under the long limbs of fine beeches which stretch overhead 
across the path, and dip down to the surface of the water; and 
returning by the east side where the ground rises more abruptly 
and to a greater height than on the opposite side, and the path 
runs among Scotch Firs, Beeches, Planes, Birches, &c., admir- 
ably mingled for effect of foliage. Near the N.E. corner of the 
Loch, and almost on a level with it, is an old well* of fine clear 
water, to which, and to the water of the Loch the townspeople had 
at one time a right of access, the ground bordering on the 
Loch here having been burghal property, and approached by 
a narrow lane along-side the present garden. This ground, 
with a small neighbouring field, was purchased from the burgh 
in 1819 by Mr John Pringle ; the lane was shut up, and the citi- 
zens lost their right of access to Haining Loch, except on occasions 
of fire. A more questionable right was but recently in possession 
of the town of Selkirk, that of running part of its sewage into Hain- 
ing Loch! The advantage of this arrangement was more than 
doubtful ; for not 200 yards from the end of the sewer was the 
mouth of the pipe which led a supply of water from the Loch to 
the Pant-well in the Market Place, the principal public well in 
the town! We have changed all that. The town is now well 
supplied with water from another source, and a complete system 
of drainage renders it unneccessary to send to Haining Loch one 
drop of that water when it has been converted by use into sewage. 
After a brief visit to the Garden, which is close to the N.E. 
corner of the Loch, the party left The Haining by the upper gate, 
and passing along Castle Street and down Back Row, reached 
Dovecot, the residence of one of our number, Dr. Henry Scott 
* This Well is sometimes mistaken for St. Mungo’s Well, which is a 


few hundred yards distant, in the Deer Park, and is at present the source 
of water-supply to the House. 


Anniversary Address 55 


Anderson. Here was pointed out a large Horse-Chestnut, said 
to have been planted by Mungo Park, who married an aunt of 
Dr. Anderson. Whether the great traveller planted the tree or 
not, it goes by his name, and serves, with his statue close by, to 
keep alive the memory of his connection with Selkirk, in which 
parish he was born, and where he served his apprenticeship as a 
surgeon with Dr. Anderson’s grandfather. 

While a few of the party remained at Dovecot to inspect some 
interesting relics of Mungo Park, others walked on to examine 
two trees which had been struck by lightning during a severe 
and prolonged thunder-storm, which passed over the town on 
Saturday, June 24th. The trees are within the grounds of 
-Knowepark, a villa belonging to Mr Richard Turnbull, manufac- 
turer, and close to a low hawthorn hedge separating Knowepark 
from Parkend, the house of Mr Scott, Rector of the Grammar 
School. The tree which has been most injured isa Willow, pro- 
bably Salix Russelliana, overhanging the public road, and at the 
end of the hedge, which slopes upward to the other tree, an Ash, 
about 56 feet distant. The rise of the ground between the 
two trees is 6 or 7 feet, so that although the Willow is 45 feet 
in height and the Ash only 35, their summits are nearly on a 
level. The Willow measures 7 feet 6 in. in girth, and at 84 feet 
from the ground divides into four principal branches, one of 
them continuing the trunk upwards, the other three sloping out- 
wards at various angles. All the branches were injured, but the 
chief injury was done to the upright one. The leaves on its 
upper twigs were blackened and destroyed, the wood in several 
places split to the heart, and great sheets of the bark torn off, 
and scattered to a considerable distance. At the root under 
the main branch a large hole was scooped in the ground. But 
the feature of chief interest is connected with the other tree. 
This is an Ash of two trunks springing from one root, one of 
the trunks, 4 ft. 4 in. in girth, touching the hedge. It showed, 
immediately after the storm, a narrow slit as if cut with a knife 
on the trunk next the hedge. The cut began at the height of 
the hedge 33 feet from the ground, and ran in a straight line for 
five feet to the point where the first branch projected from the 
main trunk. There it stopped, and neither on bark nor foliage 
above, nor on any other part of the tree was there mark of light- 
ning. It was suggested that while the principal downward force 
of the lightning had expended itself on the Willow, shattering 


56 Anmwwersary Address 


and blighting it, an upward current, intense enough at starting 
to cut the bark, had flowed up the Ash, but had divided among 
its branches, and passed off through the twigs and foilage with- 
out leaving trace of its dangerous presence. By the time we 
visited the trees the bark of the Ash had become slightly detached 
from the wood so that the wound gaped a little, instead of pre- 
senting the sharp clean cut which at first attracted notice. 

On re-assembling at the Hotel at 12 o’clock the party was re- 
inforced by several members, who had arrived by the midday 
train. Notwithstanding the threatening aspect of the weather it 
was resolved to proceed with the remainder of the day’s pro- 
gramme; and by half-past twelve almost all the members pre- 
sent were seated in two large waggonettes, and left the town for 
a drive up Yarrow as far as Hangingshaw. The route was for 
the most part the same with that traversed during the former 
visit of the Club, on June 28th, 1876. A pleasant account of 
that day’s proceedings is given by the President of the year, Mr 
Campbell Swinton (Proc. of B.N.C. vol. vi. pp. 12-17.), and 
if is unnecessary to narrate here what is well told by his flowing 
pen. We drove past Philiphaugh House, up the north-east bank 
of the Yarrow by Foulshiels (the birthplace of Mungo Park), and 
Broadmeadows, to Hangingshaw. Leaving the grounds of 
Hangingshaw by the upper gate, we returned under the dark 
shadow of Blackandro, whose wooded steep was shrouded in 
trailing mist, and entered the Bowhill grounds at the West 
Lodge. Newark Castle was passed on the way to Bowhill 
House, from which the drive through the old wood was followed 
to Colin’s Bridge, where the Ettrick road was reached, and 
whence the three miles down the valley to Selkirk were soon tra- 
versed—Carterhaugh, with its fairy legend of Tamlane, and 
Philiphaugh, with its memories of triumphant Covenanters, 
and a ruined cause in the fugitive Marquis of Montrose, lying 
in full view on the opposite side of the river. Even under 
the gloomy sky overhead, which threatened every moment 
to discharge a deluge of rain, the drive was enjoyed; but in 
but in a bright summer day this is oneof the most delightful drives 
in the south of Scotland, presenting many charming views along 
the narrow wooded valleys, and overflowing with romantic asso- 
ciations.' It traverses the scenes so tunefully sung by Sir Walter 
Scott in the closing lines of the ‘‘ Lay of the Last Minstrel,” in 
which he tells how the advent of summer rekindled the poetic 


Anniversary Address. Gy 


fire in the heart of ‘‘the aged Harper.’’ The wand of the en- 

chanter has touched the vales of Ettrick and Yarrow, and not 

least those spots whose names he has made familiar when he 

sings :— 
“ But still 

When summer smiled on sweet Bowhill, 

And July’s eve with balmy breath, 

Waved the blue-bells on Newark-heath ; 

When throstles sung in Harehead-shaw, 

And corn was green on Carterhaugh, 

And flourished, broad, Blackandro’s oak, 

The aged Harper’s soul awoke ! 

Then would he sing achievements high, 

And circumstance of chivalry, 

Till the rapt traveller would stay, 

Forgetful of the closing day ; 

And noble youths, the strain to hear, 

Forsook the hunting of the deer ; 

And Yarrow, as he rolled along, 

Bore burden to the Minstrel song.” 


During our drive frequent halts were made that the many his- 
torical and romantic associations connected with the ground tra- 
versed and the places seen might be explained. In connection 
with the battle of Philiphaugh, fought in 1645, and in which the 
troops commanded by Montrose were routed with great slaughter 
by the covenanting general, Leslie, it was stated on the authority 
of Mr Craig Brown that the principal struggle must. have taken 
place about a mile from Selkirk on the haugh where now stands 
the house called Lauriston Villa, and where formerly stood the 
mansion-house of Philiphaugh. The monument near Philip- 
haugh House, generally accepted by tourists as on the site of the 
battle, was erected by Sir John Murray simply in commemoration 
of the fight, and no more marks the site of the battle than does 
the monument on Peniel Heugh the field of Waterloo. On the 
day after the battle a number of prisoners were executed in cold 
blood by the victorious Covenanters, and the scene of this cruel 
and unworthy sequel to the battle has been designated ‘‘ Slain 
men’s Lee.” Mr Craig Brown believes that the spot is to be 
found within the Bowhill grounds close to the present School at 
Newark. 

On passing the farm of Harehead, a dry bank by the roadside 
was pointed out, where the glow-worm, (Lampyris noctvluca), has 
been frequently seen. 

Hangingshaw had not been previously visited by the Club. 


It is now a small, but comfortable and snugly situated country 
H 


58 Annwersary Address. 


house; but the Hangingshaw of last century is described as 
having been the finest mansion in the south of Scotland, full of 
costly furniture and valuable curiosities. It did not occupy the 
site of the present house, and was accidentally burned to the 
ground between 1764 and 1779,—the exact date I have been un- 
able to ascertain. Hangingshaw was the ancestral seat of the 
Murrays of Philiphaugh, their possession of the property dating 
almost from the period when it ceased to be, like the other lands 
in the ‘“‘ Forest,” in the immediate possession of the King. The 
* property passed by purchase into the hands of the father of the 
present owner, James Johnstone, Esq., of Alva, Stirlingshire. 
The avenue leading to the house is of great length, and presents 
some of the finest trees in the district, two rows of lofty beeches 
being especially worthy of notice. Across the Yarrow, right 
opposite Hangingshaw, Newark Hill, which is embraced within 
the Bowhill policies, falls with an abrupt descent into the valley. 
The portion of the Hill facing the Yarrow is known as Black-. 
andro’, and is densely clothed with fine trees, Oak, Scotch Fir, 
Beech, Birch, Larch, &. The steep slope behind Hangingshaw, 
covered with Oaks, answers to Blackandro’; and this part of the 
vale of Yarrow is not unworthy to be compared with the narrow 
valleys and pine clad heights of the Black Forest in south-western 
Germany. 

In the course of our drive localities were pointed out where sev- 
eral rare plants are found. On the haugh by the Kttrick about two 
miles above Selkirk a Hveracium was picked up during an excur- 
sion of Professor Balfour’s class in June, 1868. It was figured 
and described by the Professor under the name of H: collinum in 
the Trans. of the Ed. Bot. Soc. vol. x., part 1, p. 17. The rough 
ground where it grew has now, been brought under the plough, 
and the plant has disappeared. Scolopendrium vulgare has also 
ceased to be a piant of the district, the few tufts which grew on 
Selkirk Bridge having been destroyed in the process of widening 
the bridge. Lathrea squamaria grows plentifully under an old 
Ash at Foulshiels, and among Poplars at the lower end of How- 
den haugh. Chrysosplenium alternsfolium, very uncommon in the 
district, is found on the steep banks of the Yarrow below Broad- 
meadows Lodge. Campanula latifolia, Carduus heterophyllus, 
Cireea Lutetiana, Adoxa moschatellina, Scilla nutans, Melica uniflora, 
&c., are abundant by the Yarrow along “the Duchess’ Walk,” 
Trientalis Europea grows freely on ‘“ Nathan’s Knowe,’’ a spot 


Anniversary Address, . 59 


denuded of trees on the height behind Bowhill, which stands out 
conspicuous like the tonsure-baldness of a priest. Weottea Nidus- 
Avis is found occasionally under trees in the Bowhill grounds ; 
where also in suitable localities grow Pyrola minor, Lustera ovata 
and cordata, Ophioglossum vulgatum, and Botrychium Lunaria. 
Blysmus compressus was picked up many years ago in a marshy 
spot between the farms of Middlestead and Hartwoodmyres, and 
near the site of an ancient camp which was pointed out on our 
drive down the Httrick. Attention was called in passing to the 
Mote hill on the farm of Howden. Its summit is encircled by 
an entrenchment. 

The only zoological fact worth recording during the day was 
-the occurrence of a flock of Siskins, (Carduelis Spinus), which 
rose from an Alder thicket on the left side of the road, when we 
were within half a mile of Howden Farm. They were seen but 
afew moments as we drove past rapidly, and some doubt re- 
mained as to their being Siskins. The Haining gamekeeper, 
however, whom I had asked to look out for the flock, brought 
me in a few days a pretty specimen of a young bird, one of a 
flock which he found frequenting the Alders where we had seen 
them. Itis worth recording that Macgillivray, who speaks of 
the bird as rare in Scotland, mentions having found it in Selkirk- 
shire. ‘On the 5th September, 1832,” he says, ‘I saw a con- 
siderable number in a fir-wood, in Ettrickdale, in Selkirkshire. 
They were in the tops of the trees, accompanied by Grey Fly- 
catchers, Golden-crested Wrens, and Black Titmice ; but I suc- 
ceeded in shooting three individuals. But in no other part of 
Scotland have I ever seen this species, which I must consequently 
infer to be rare in that country.” (Macgillivray’s British Birds, 
Vol. 11., p. 402.) } 

The Hotel was reached in time to constitute the annual busi- 
ness meeting at 3 o’clock. In terms of the motion, of which he 
had given notice at the Corbridge meeting, Sir Walter Elliot 
proposed that in future only sufficient copies of the Proceedings 
shonld be printed to give one copy to each member, and a few 
extra copies, to be sold at the rate of 2s. to members, and 4s. to 
non-members. This motion having been seconded, Mr Turnbull 
moved that the printing of the Proceedings continue as at pre- 
‘sent; which motion was also seconded. On a vote 10 supported 
Sir Walter Elliot’s motion, and 9 Mr Turnbull’s. When the re- 
sult was declared, several members stated that they had abstained 


60 Anniversary Address. 


from voting through a misunderstanding as to the effect of the 
first motion, and it was agreed that another vote should be taken, 
Yes or No. fora change on the present system, when the negative 
was carried by a large majority.* 

Sir Walter Elliot also moved that Mr. W. B. Boyd, and Mr. 
Muirhead be added to the Committee on the organization of the 
work of the Club; and that the Committee be requested to pre- 
pare a Report, to be printed and circulated among the members, 
with the view of coming to a decision on the subject. The 
motion having been seconded by Mr. Bigge, was unanimously 
agreed to. 

New members to the number of 28, who had been proposed 
during the year, inclusive of those nominated at Selkirk, were 
now elected, and their names were added to the list of the Club, 

George P. Hughes, Esq., of Middleton Hall, Wooler, was 
elected President for next year. Mr Hughes is a member of the 
Club of 26 years’ standing, and has on several occasions been the 
Club’s representative at the meetings of the British Association. 

The meetings of the Club for next year were fixed for Leitholm 
and Eccles, Holy Island, Aberlady, St. Mary’s Loch, Wooler and 
Cheviots, and Berwick. 

The President’s Address was then delivered. There was time 
for the reading only of part of the Haddington Meeting, the 
whole of the Jedburgh meeting, and the conclusion. 

In the morning, and in the afternoon when members were 
assembling for the business meeting, numerous objects of interest 
laid out on tables in the room, were examined and explained. 

With the permission of the Town Council of Selkirk, Mr Rod- 
ger, the Senior Town Clerk, exhibited a bundle of Charters 
granted by James V., confirming the privileges of the Town. 
The older Charters, granted by David I., had been destroyed 
during an invasion of the English. The “documents exhibited 
were :— 

1. Charter by King James V. to the Burgesses and Community 
of the Burgh of Selkirk, confirming to them the said Burgh, with 


*It has been ascertained that restricting the printing of copies to one 
number for each member, copies for Societies, etc., being prepared: as 
~ usual, would effect a saving of £20 per annum. Some arrangement of 
this sort is required to be made. More papers have been received for the 
three past years than the funds admit of printing. It is necessary also 
to supply illustrations for valuable articles that have been offered. 
Several drawings have been presented by friends of the Club, but 1or 
want of means only a few of them can be engraved at one time.—J. H. 


Annwersary Address. 61 


all the lands, rents, possessions, commonties, liberties, and privi- 
leges formerly enjoyed and possessed by them. 4th March, 1535. 

2. Charter by King James V. to the Burgesses and Community 
of the Burgh of Selkirk, confirming verbatim to tuem Charter of 
the said Burgh, 4th March, 1535; Licence to till yearly 1000 
acres of their common lands, 20th June, 1536; and Grant of an 
yearly Fair, 2nd September, 1536. 8th April, 1538. 

3. Charter by James V. to the Bailies and Community of the 
Burgh of Selkirk, empowering them to elect a Provost yearly, 
and conferring upon the said Provost and Bailies the office of 
Sheriff within the said Burgh. 2nd October, 1540. 

4. Copy of an Act of Parliament, 28th June, 1633, oa e 
‘the above three Charters. 

Mr Rodger also exhibited the Silver Cup of the Burgh of Sel- 
kirk, used now on the rare occasions when distinguished public 
men are received as freemen of the Town, and installed in all the 
privileges of its Burgesses by the quaint ceremony of ‘licking 
the birse.”” The Cup was presented to the town by the fourth 
Duke of Buccleuch after the famous ‘‘Carterhaugh Ba’,” played 
on Monday, 4th Dec., 1815. After describing the ‘‘Ba’,” which 
had nearly ended in aserious melee between the contending 
parties, the towns-folk of Selkirk and the men of Ettrick and 
Yarrow, Lockhart says in his ‘‘Life of Scott,”— 


“ The good Duke of Buccleugh’s solitary exemption from these heats of 
Carterhaugh, might read a significant lesson to minor politicians of all 
parties on more important scenes. In pursuance of the same peace- 
making spirit, he appears to have been desirous of doing something grati- 
fying to the men of the town of Selkirk, who had on this occasion taken 
the field against his Yarrow tenantry. His Grace consulted Scott about 
the design of a piece of plate to be presented to their community; and 
his letter on this weighty subject must not be omitted in the memoirs of 
a Sheriff of Selkirkshire :— 

“To His Grace the Duke of Buccleugh, &c., Bowhill. 

“ Hdinburgh, Thursday (Dec. 1815). 


“My dear Lord, 

“ T have proceeded in my commission about the cup. 
It will be a very handsome one; but I am still puzzled to dispose of the 
birse in a becoming manner. It is a most unmanageable decoration. I 
tried it upright on the top of the cup; it looked like a shaving-brush, and 
the goblet might be intended to make the lather. Then I thought I had 
a brilliant idea. The arms of Selkirk are a female seated on a sarco- 
phagus, decorated with the arms of Scotland, which will make a beautiful 
top to the cup. SoIthought of putting the birse into the lady’s other 
hand ; but, alas! it looked so precisely like the rod of chastisement up- 
lifted over the poor child, that I laughed at the drawing for half-an-hour. 
Next, I tried to take off the castigatory appearance by inserting the 
bristles in a kind of handle; but then it looked as if the poor woman had 
been engaged in the capacities of housemaid and child-keeper at once, 


62 Anniversary Address. 


and, fatigued with her double duty, had sat down on the wine-cooler, 
with the broom in one hand and the bairn in the other. At length, after 
some conference with Charles Sharpe, I have hit on a plan, which, I 
think, will look very well if tolerably executed, namely to have the lady 
seated in due form on the top of the lid (which will look handsome and 
will be well taken), and to have a thistle wreathed around the sarco- 
phagus and rising above her head, and from the top of the thistle shall 
proceed the birse. I will bring a drawing with me, and they shall get the 
cup ready in the meantime. I hope to be at Abbotsford on Monday 
night, to stay for a week.” 

‘In a postscript he adds :— Your Grace will be so good as understand 
that the thistle—the top of which is garnished with the bristle—is en- _ 
tirely detached in working from the figure, and slips into a socket. The 
following lines are humbly suggested for a motto, being taken from an 
ancient Scottish canzonetta, unless the Yarrow committee can find any 
better :-— 

i ‘ The souter gae the sow a kiss; 
Grumph ! quo’ the sow, it’s a’ for my birse.’” 


Mr James B. Brown, Thornfield, Selkirk, exhibited. the 
‘‘Flodden Flag ;”’? and an old volume of the Weavers’ Incor- 
poration of the Town. The story of the Flag is told by Mr 
Campbell Swinton at p. 15 of the volume of the Proceedings 
already referred to; as well as that of another object exhibited, 
an Andrew Ferrara sword, now in the possession of Mr W. H. 
Brydone, manufacturer, Selkirk, which is said to have been 
borne by an ancestor of Mr Brydone in the disastrous Battle of 
Flodden. 

Mr T. Craig-Brown exhibited the Deacon’s Staff of the Cor- 
poration of Shoemakers, and the curious old Halberd carried in 
former days in holiday processions, and which bears the inscrip- 
tion, ‘‘God bless the King and the gentil treed’’ ; and also a vol- 
ume of the Minutes of the Corporation,—the ‘‘ Sutors of Selkirk.” 

Dr. Anderson shewed an interesting relic,—a small volume 
containing a metrical version of the Psalms, with Watts’ Hymns 
appended, which had belonged to his uncle, Dr. Alex. Anderson, 
who accompanied Mungo Park in his last and fatal expedition to 
Africa. Anderson was cut off by fever before Park reached the 
Niger, but the little volume had been preserved by Park. On 
the traveller’s death it fell into the hands of the nativesy one of 
whom was wearing it as an amulet, when Richard Lander re- 
covered it, and brought it back to England. 

From the Haining Mr Pattison sent a pair of Horns of the Red 
Deer, which had been found in Linton Moss, Roxburghshire ; 
and a Skull of Bos primigenius. In length each Deer Horn is 3 feet 
8 inches, and carries 7 points, one of them forked. The brow- 
antler is 15 inches in length; the girth immediately above the 


Anniversary Address 63 


brow-antler 73} inches; and the spread of the horns from point 
to point 4 feet linch. The tips of the cores on the Ox skull 
are broken off ; still they show a spread of 2 feet, 6inches. The 
length of the skull is 1 foot 10 inches, and the girth of the core, 
above the corrugations at the base, 12 inches. 

The President exhibited a Black-letter Bible, bearing on the 
New Testament title-page to have been printed at London in 
1583 by Christopher Barker. He stated that the volume, which 
is in excellent preservation, at one time belonged to Dr. John 
Barclay, the celebrated lecturer on Anatomy in Edinburgh ; and 
that he had reason to believe it was the Bible used in the Church 
of Crail, when Archbishop Sharp was minister of that Parish. 
He also showed a copy of Macgillivray’s Natural History of Dee- 
side, a finely printed work, of which a limited number of copies 
had been printed by command of the Queen, and presented to 
public bodies and a few private individuals by the late Prince 
Consort. Several volumes on Ornithology, and Botany, and 
copies of Geological and Meteorological Reports, issued by the 
Government of New Zealand, under the editorial care of Dr. 
Hector, Director of the Geological Survey in that country, were 
laid on the table, in illustration of the enlightened zeal displayed 
by the Colony in the promotion of Science. It would rejoice the 
heart of every scientific man if the Government of this country 
did as much in proportion to its resources for the promotion of 
science as the Government of New Zealand. 

A box containing specimens of Fungi from the Pistol Planta- 
tions, Blackadder, had been sent by post by Dr. Stuart, Chirn- 
side, who was himself unable to be present. The specimens had 
been considerably injured in transit, but were submitted to Mr 
Paul, who identified the following :—1. Agaricus laccatus, var. 
amethystinus ; 2. Ag. fascicularis ; 3. Ag. melleus ; 4. Leotia lubrica ; 
5. Peziza onoiica; 6. Cantharellus tubeformis. Dr. Stuart re- 
ported that he had sent a collection from the same locality to Mr 
Worthington G. Smith, F.L.S., who had detected among them, 
1. Agaricus maculatus,—a beautiful pure ivory-white mushroom, 
supposed to be poisonous. It becomes spotted with blue when 
decaying; 2. Ag. melleus; 3. Ag. laccatus; 4. Ag. laccatus, 
var. amethystinus; 5. Ag. eruginosus; 6. Ag. butyraceus ; 7. Ag. 
strangulatus; 8..Ag. epipterygius; 9. Rassula emetica; 10. 
Pexiza leporina, a great rarity, found on two occasions, on sides 
of ditches; 11. Leotia lubrica; 12. Marasmius peronatus ; 18. 


64 Anmversary Address 


Cantharellus tubceeformis, Fries. This last Mr Paul has found at 
Loch Awe. During the day’s excursion, Coprinus comatus, which 
is edible, was seen in great perfection and abundance between 
Haining Loch and the garden wall; Hygrophorus chlorophanus, 
Fries, was found at Bowhill, on the lawn, close by the house. 

Soon after 4 o’clock dinner was announced, and the following 
27 gentlemen sat down at table:—Rev. James Farquharson, 
M.A., Selkirk, President ; Dr. F. Douglas, and Mr Hardy, Secre- 
taries; Sir Walter Elliott, F.R.S., etc.; Revs. John F. Bigge, 
Stamfordham; Paton J. Gloag, D.D., Galashiels; D. Maclean, 
Allanton ; D. Paul, Roxburgh ; W. Snodgrass, D.D., Canonbie; 
R. H. Williamson, Whickham; H. 8. Anderson, M.D., Selkirk ; 
Messrs Charles Anderson, Jedburgh ; George Anderson, Heath- 
erlie Hill, Selkirk; Wm. L. Blaikie, Holydean; James Bogie, 
Edinburgh; A. H. Borthwick, Melrose; John B. Boyd, Cherry- 
trees; Wm. B. Boyd, Faldonside ; James B. Brown, Selkirk ; 
T. Craig Brown, Selkirk ; Wm. Currie, Linthill; W. H. John- 
son, Edinburgh; George Muirhead, Paxton; Robert Renton, 
Fans; Peter Rodger, Senior Town Clerk, Selkirk; John Turn- 
bull, Abbey St. Bathans; and James Wood, Galashiels. 

After dinner a most interesting paper on the ‘‘Sutors of Selkirk” 
was read by Mr T. Craig Brown, for which he received the 
thanks of the Club. He suggested the probability of the trade 
being a survival from the time before the death of Alexander 
III., when all the skins from Ettrick Forest were brought to 
Selkirk to be tanned by the king’s tanner. This was confirmed 
by the mention in a papal letter (recorded in the ‘Liber de 
Calchow’) of a portion of the lands of Selkirk called ‘‘Sutorcroft.” 
Although there was no reason to believe that the trade reached 
great dimensions, the fact that there were 26 masters when the 
Corporation was formed in 1609, pointed to a considerable sale 
of shoes and boots outside the burgh. Mention was made of the 
heavy requisition of shoes from the souters of Selkirk by the 
rebel armies in 1715, and in 1745: After reading copious ex- 
tracts from the Records of the craft, which are still for the most 
part extant, Mr Craig Brown traced its gradual decay until 1832, ~ 
when the Reform Bill, by depriving it of its votes in the election 
of a member of Parliament, dealt it a fatal blow. 

The party broke up in time to allow of the members taking tea 
at Dovecot and the Manse, before those from a distance left for 
home by the 7.25 train. 


65 
Obituary Notices. By JAMES HARDY. 


Nive of the Club’s Members have passed away during the 
past year ; among them several men of acknowledged ability and 
reputation in science and literature; and two of them active 
participators in the Club’s researches, known to every one, and 
generally lamented. Within a very limited space, I can do little 
more than enumerate them, with only meagre allusions to their 
biographies culled from a variety of sources. 1. Mr Thomas 
Robertson, died at Thornhill, Alnwick, Feb. 22nd, 1882, in his 
77th year. Mr T. Robertson filled no small space in the annals 
of his native town. In his early years, London was selected as 
a field for improvement. While there he assisted his fellow 
townsman, ‘‘Jemmy Catnach,’”’ in the production of the Seven 
Dials literature which was so plentifully scattered over the land. 
Returning to Alnwick, his energies were devoted to’ the forma- 
tion of a business in which his innate taste and perception of the 
beautiful found full play. The mansions of the county gentry 
are filled with specimens of his skill; and Alnwick Castle, rich 
in the glories of Italian art, owes not a few of its treasures to 
him. With ‘Algernon the Magnificent,” he was an especial 
favourite, his inventive genius and ready resources being avail- 
able in allemergencies. With his native town and its institutions 
he was all along closely identified. He wasan early, if not one of 
the oldest members of the Mechanics’ Institute, founded in 1824; 
of the Common Council of the Borough ; and also of the old Town 
Commission. To these, as also to the Infirmary, the Savings’ 
Bank, and to the Burial Board his services were at all times 
freely rendered. His ready wit, his humour, and unfailing tact, 
made him an especial favourite. He was buried in Alnwick 
Cemetery, his body being accompanied to the grave by the Com- 
mon Council, and a great number of the tradesmen of the town. 
Mr Robertson became a member of the Club, Sept. 29th, 1875. 
2. Mr Algernon Freire-Marreco, M.A., F.C.S., Professor of 
Chemistry in the University of Durham College of Physical 
Science, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; born at North Shields in 1837; 
died 28th February, 1882; became a member, Sept. 25th, 1873. 
Professor Lebour’s friendly commemoration of his late colleague 
will be read with much interest. 2. Lord Henry Francis Charles 
Kerr, Huntly-burn, Melrose, died 7th March, 1882, in his 82nd 


year, having been born on the 17th August, 1800. He was the 
I 


66 Obituary Notices. By James Hardy. 


third son of the sixth, and uncle of the late as well as the present 
Marquis of Lothian. He became a member, July 30th, 1863. 
Meetings of the Club near Melrose received the cordial welcome 
of Lord Henry Kerr. 4. Mr John Forster Baird of Bowmont 
Hill, Northumberland, Barrister, died at Hampstead, London, 
March 15th, 1882, aged 59. He was the son of the late John 
Forster Baird, Newcastle-upon-[Tyne. He became a member, 
Sept. 29th, 1875. 5. Mr James Aitchison, bailiff to his Grace 
the Duke of Northumberland, died at Alnwick, May 6th, 1882, 
aged 62 years. Mr Aitchison was long manager to the Rev. R. 
W. Bosanquet of Rock Hall, in the breeding of Leicester sheep. 
He was much respected by the tenantry on the Alnwick estate. 
He became a member, Oct. 31st, 1877. 6. Colville Brown, 
M.D., formerly of Berwick, died at Winnipeg, Manitoba, 
Canada, 6th May, 1882, aged 43. He-was gold medallist in 
surgery in the University of Edinburgh. He had practised for 
about 20 years very successfully in Berwick, when he left on 
account of his health, for Winnipeg. Asa keen sportsman and 
naturalist he had many friends, and on one occassion had the 
dignity of Sheriff of Berwick conferred on him. He was a fre- 
quent and popular contributor to ‘‘The Lancet.” His death 
created deep sorrow throughout the Borders, his kindly genial 
disposition and high abilities having greatly endeared him. He 
became a member, May 25th, 1865. We have only one short 
notice from his pen; ‘‘On the Change of Colour in the Feathers 
of the head of the Black-headed Gull,” in Proc. vol. vit. p. 5381. 
Dr. Paxton informs me that Dr. Brown was born at Yetholm, 
and was taken to Gatherick, a farm on the Ford estate, when ten 
months old, where he was brought up in the house of his grand- 
father, Mr Lockie, the tenant, and there he resided, with inter- 
vals in Edinburgh, until he settled in Tweedmouth as a medical 
man. When Dr. Brown was a student, he frequently came over 
to Norham, and saw a little practice with Dr. Paxton, and got a 
little experience in making up medicines from his prescriptions. 
After settling in Tweedmouth, Dr. Brown married the youngest 
daughter of the late Mr Robert Carr, farmer of Felkington, a 
near neighbour, and then crossed the water to Berwick. The 
family has now quitted Gatherick, his brother James having 
entered to a lease of Spindleston. 7. Mr John Sadler, Curator 
of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, died 9th December, 
1882, aged 46. Mr Sadler was an acute practical botanist, an 


Obituary Notices. By James Hardy. 67 


able writer, and a good lecturer, and was greatly esteemed for 
his amiable qualities. His sudden removal excited a widely 
spread feeling of regret. His membership only dates from Oct. 
18th, 1880. His friends Dr. William Craig and Dr. Charles 
Stuart have given commemorative notices,which will be valued 
by the Berwickshire, as well as by the Alpine Club, of which 
he was ‘the life and soul.” 8. Mr William Hugh Logan, 
formerly banker at Berwick-upon-Tweed, and joint lessee of 
the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh, died 23rd Dec., 1882, at 2 
Leopold Place, Edinburgh, aged 66. Mr Logan wasa successful 
. dramatic writer. He also wrote two professional works—‘‘ The 
Scottish Banker’’—and a volume on the law and practice of bills 
of Exchange. His principal work is entitled ‘‘ Pedlar’s Pack of 
Ballads and Songs, with Illustrative Notes,” Edinburgh, 1869, 
480 pages, which is of value to collectors. The preface of this 
is dated, Berwick-on-Tweed, 81st Dec., 1868. It had been in- 
tended to form one of the Abbotsford Club series of publications. 
Along with Mr James Maidment he edited ‘‘Works of the Drama- 
tists of the Restoration,” 14 vols; and Mr Maidment likewise 
had his co-operation in re-producing numerous rare tractates of 
antiquarian value. Both he and Mr Maidment were correspond- 
ents to ‘‘Notes and Queries,” and both also participated in the 
authorship of ‘‘ Wilson’s Tales of the Borders.” For this uni- 
versally known work, Mr Logan wrote tales which filled fifteen 
numbers; and his friends Mr Maidment and Theodore (after- 
wards Sir Theodore) Martin filled two numbers each. He was 
also a frequent contributor to periodical literature. When resi- 
dent at Berwick, Mr Logan was twice elected Mayor, served the 
office of Sheriff, and was a Justice of the Peace for the Borough. 
He became a member of the Club, May ‘st, 1850. 9. Mr 
William Stevenson, Accountant, Dunse, died at 6 Moss Street, 
Paisley, 20th January, 1883, aged 62. Mr Stevenson was an 
accomplished self-taught geologist, archeologist, and meteor- 
ologist. He had thoroughly studied the rock formations and the 
physical geography of Berwickshire, and as is well known, had 
completed a work on the geology of the district. His geological 
map of Berwickshire, which had lent its aid to the Ordnance 
Survey, he had professed his willingness to allow the Club to 
publish. He became a member, Sept. 7th, 1853 ; was President 
in 1864; and contributed several valuable papers to the ‘ Pro- 
ceedings”; but unfortunately these are fewer than might have 


68 The late Professor Algernon Freive-Marreco. 


been anticipated. He was avery constant attendant on meet- 
ings, and was a general favouriteamong the members. Person- 
ally he was of a most genial disposition and unassuming manners, 
and these qualities, no less than the vivacity of his conversation, 
and the accuracy of his scientific information rendered him one of 
the most agreeable of friends. It is to be hoped that an account 
of the life-work of this modest and not fully appreciated cultivator 
of science will appear in next number of the ‘“‘Proceedings”’ of the 
Club to which he was so much attached. Je)EL. 


IN MEMORIAM, 
The late Professor Algernon Freire-Marreco, M.A., F.C.S. 


Tue lives of scientific men are seldom eventful, and that of the 
eminent chemist whose name stands at the head of this notice 
was no exception to the rule. Born at North Shields in 1837, 
Professor Marreco may be said to have spent his whole life in 
the North Country, if we except afew early years sojourn in the 
Peninsula—the native land of his father, who was a distinguished 
member of the Marreco branch of the old Portuguese family of 
Freire. From infancy almost Mr Freire-Marreco showed a pre- 
dilection for solid reading, and at the Hscola Polytechnica, of Lis- 
bon, his love of the physical sciences was fostered in a manner 
which, at that time, would have been impossible in any English 
school. The effect of this foreign training was marked through 
life. To it he owed an almost colloquial knowledge of the classic- 
al languages, and equally sound knowledge of the chief modern 
European tongues, a wonderful drilling in mental arithmetic 
which an abnormally retentive memory enabled him to profit by 
to the utmost, and lastly a passion for Chemistry. 

On returning to England, when still quite a youth, he was for 
a short time in the well-known Newcastle school then conducted 
by Dr. Collingwood Bruce, the historian of the Roman Wall. 
Here he anglicized and enlarged the knowledge he had acquired 
abroad, and preserving the taste for science which had come to 
him as a child, he entered the laboratories of the late Dr. 
Richardson, who was in those days the leading analyst in the 
North of England. It is clear that Dr. Richardson knew a good 
man when he got one, for we soon find the young chemist en- 
gaged in the most responsible work, and entrusted with investi- 


The late Professor Algernon Frevre-Marreco. 69 


gations of the utmost importance not only as to certain points 
connected with the great industries of the district, but often also 
as to judicial cases involving questions of life and death. As 
early as 1859, Dr. Richardson, who till his death held the position 
of Reader in Chemistry in the University of Durham, appointed 
Mr Marreco to act as his deputy in that office, as well as in those 
of Lecturer in Chemistry and Demonstrator in Practical Chemis- 
try in the Newcastle College of Medicine. In time Mr Marreco 
entered into partnership with Dr. Richardson, and at the death 
of the latter, in 1867, was formally appointed to fill the posts of 
which he had been de facto the holder for more than eight years. 
Between the years 1859 and 1871, there was probably no 
branch of applied chemistry in which Mr Marreco was not con- 
sulted, and he was—had money-making been his object—in a 
fair way to obtain the largest and most lucrative practice as a 
consulting analyst in the North of England. But in the last- 
named year, 1871, the University of Durham College of Science 
was founded, and Mr Marreco, throwing business to the winds, 
became a candidate for, and obtained against an honourable 
array of well-known chemists, the Chair of Chemistry in that 
Institution. From that moment Professor Freire-Marreco’s true 
life-work may be said to have begun. He had the most exalted 
views as to the aims and objects of the great science colleges of 
which that at Newcastle was one of the first, and to the last day 
of his life he acted unflinchingly up to his ideal. A professor, 
he thought, should give himself up entirely to his teaching, and 
accordingly from the day of his election to the new Professorship 
he never accepted remuneration for any work unconnected with 
the College curriculum. Rightly or wrongly, he held that the 
whole time of a professor belonged to his College. Even time 
spent in original work he regarded as, to some extent, stolen 
time which could be better employed in the services of his post. 
To this view of his, consistently held to the end, must be ascribed 
the limited number of published records of researches which Pro- 
fessor Marreco has left behind him. Nevertheless among those 
papers which he did consent to write, are some of the highest 
value, such, for instance, as those in which are detailed the 
results of an elaborate series of experiments conducted by him, 
to investigate the influence of coal-dust on colliery explosions. 
But if Professor Marreco did not print much, he dd much to 
redeem the country from the charge of being forced to go to Ger- 


70 The late Professor Algernon Frevre-Marreco. 


many for men competent to manage our large chemical works. 
Every year young men left his laboratories fully equipped for 
real work, and with nothing to fear from foreign competition ; 
and in the world of industrial chemistry his well-weighed recom- 
mendations became time after time passports to positions of 
commercial and scientific eminence. Indeed one of Professor 
Marreco’s chief characteristics was his love for his students. All 
old students of his will bear us out when we say, that in the late 
Professor of Chemistry at the Newcastle College, they found not 
only a teacher of singular patience, energy, and ability, but also 
a friend whose interest in their welfare went with them far be- 
yond the Oollege walls. 

But it was not only as a teacher, or as a thoughtful friend in 
after life that Professor Marreco will be remembered. No one 
could keep order in a lecture room more effectively than he, but 
no one, at the same time could sympathize more thoroughly with 
the vagaries of students. Students, we all know, are apt to get into 
scrapes—no one was more ready to help them out of them than the 
Chemical Professor. Students cannot be always working. 
Though no longer school-boys they still require a little play, and 
the play of “men” is apt to be more costly than the play of 
boys. Hence subscriptions for cricket and football clubs, soirées, 
athletic sports, etc. In all these things the late Professor was 
ever foremost with purse and experience. His enthusiasm in all 
connected with the success of ‘‘his men,’’ in examination or in 
races, in the cricket field or in the hard battle of life, was indeed 
something to see and remember. 

In furthering the local interests of his own branches of science 
he was always active. He may be said to have founded the New- 
castle Chemical Society, of which, after having steered it through 
the dangers of its early years as Secretary, he became President 
in 1876. He was likewise one of the founders of the Northern 
Photographic Association. For many years he was Secretary of 
the Natural History Society of Northumberland and Durham. 
He was a member of the first Council of the Chemical Institute 
of Great Britain, and had much to do with its formation ; he was 
a Fellow of the Chemical Society of Great Britain and of that of 
Berlin, and an Honorary Member of the North of England Insti- 
tute of Mining Engineers, to whose Transactions he contributed 
some of his more important papers. He was an honorary Mas- 
ter of Arts of Durham. But honours were of small account to 


The late Professor Algernon Freive-Marreco. ‘71 


him, and it was but rarely that he allowed the prefix ‘‘Professor”’ 
to which he was entitled, to be used before his name. Hewasa 
staunch Conservative in politics, but his conservatism was as 
liberal as possible on many questions. Thus in the matter of the 
education of women, Professor Marreco was a regular corres- 
‘pondent of Miss Jex-Blake, and practically sympathized both in 
money and influence with her efforts to place women on an 
equality with men, as to the attainment of medical and other 
degrees. He had-taught more than one lady-student himself, 
and was always most proud of the academic honours which they 
earned. 

To close this brief notice of a remarkable man without men- 
tioning some of the personal characteristics which endeared him 
to his friends, would be to leave it imperfect indeed, but these 
cannot be fully dwelt upon here. Those who knew him will not 
need to be reminded of the bright searching eye, the quick 
repartee, and everflowing humour, which were his when in 
health, nor of the scathing words of sarcasm which any sham or 
mean action brought, quick as thought, to his lips. But these 
things must be spoken of to those who never saw him and who 
never heard his admirably terse sentences full of sense and wit, 
pouring forth in choicest English even in the most careless talk. 

For though the son of a foreigner, Professor Marreco was in 
most things a thorough Englishman, a fact not to be wondered 
at when we remember his almost constant residence in this coun- 
try, and the fact that, on his mother’s side, he belonged to the 
great engineering North Country family of the Harrisons. 

Professor Marreco died on the 28th of February, 1882, of a 
painful and protracted internal disease, borne with a patience 
which surprised those acquaintances who knew only the quick 
temper which distinguished him, but which scarcely sur- 
prised those friends who also knew the depth of character and 
strength of will which were his in an equally eminent degree. 
In accordance with his directions no one was asked to his funeral, 
but notwithstanding this the cortege which accompanied his re- 
mains to the grave was one, we believe, by reason of the number 
and standing of those of whom it was composed, unparalleled in 
the annals of Newcastle. 

It is gratifying to know that a medal to be called the ‘‘Freire- 
Marreco Medal,” with an accompanying valuable prize of books, 
will be given annually to the best chemical student in the College 


72 The late Mr John Sadler. By William Craig, M.D. 


of Physical Science, and that thus the name of one whose whole 
heart was in the success of that College will be linked in per- 
petuity with its progress. . G. A. Lzpour. 


The late Mr John Sadler, Curator of the Royal Botanic 
Garden and Royal Arboretum, Edinburgh. By WILLIAM 
Craic, M.D., F.R.S.E., &e. 


By the death of Mr John Sadler, Curator of the Royal Botanic 
Garden, Edinburgh, the Club has lost one of its most distin- 
guished as well as one of its most esteemed members. 

John Sadler was born at Gibleston, Carnbee, Fifeshire, on 3rd 
February, 1837. His parents removed before he was two years 
of age to Moncrieffe House, near Perth, where his early years 
were spent. His father was gardener to the late Sir Thomas 
Moncrieffe, Bart. of Moncrieffe House. John received his edu- 
cation partly at the parish school of Dunbarnie, and partly at 
the Perth Academy, at both of which seminaries he proved him- 
self a distinguished pupil. . 

After finishing his school education he assisted his father for 
some years in the garden at Moncrieffe House, and thus became 
practically acquainted with the cultivation of plants and their 
best mode of propagation, knowledge which he turned to good 
account many years afterwards when he was appointed Curator 
of the Royal Botanic Garden at Kdinburgh. 

From his earliest years he appears to have been an ardent 
student of botanical science. Endowed with talents of a very high 
order, and possessing excellent opportunities for prosecuting his 
favourite study, he soon became distinguished for a knowledge of 
native plants. There is abundant evidence in his writings that 
the flora of Perthshire was with him a favourite study from his 
earliest years. His innate love of native plants found ample 
scope for developement, in studying the wild flowers of Mon- 
erieffe Hill and the surrounding country. To use his own 
words written twenty years ago: ‘In the very words Wild 
Flowers methinks there is something peculiarly charming, which 
carries us back to pleasant memories and associations.”’ ‘These 
were the days when the heart knew but little care, and when our 
purest daily delight was with the blue violets and silvery daisies 
on the green, or the golden primroses and dandelions on the 


The late Mr John Sadler. By William Craig, M.D. 73 


bank,” It is difficult to conceive of a Botanist being reared in 
more favoured circumstances for prosecuting his favourite study. 
Moncrieffe Hill, ‘‘the Glory of Scotland,” afforded ample oppor- 
tunities for an ardent and zealous young botanist. In the im- 
mediate neighbourhood were also Kinnoull Hill, Glen Farg, the 
banks of the Tay and the Earn, Invermay, and other places all 
rich in botanical specimens, and young Sadler from his earliest 
years was well acquainted with their ‘‘Wild Flowers.’’ To use 
his own words :—‘“‘ This highly interesting district, as well might 
be expected, forms a grand field for the pursuit of natural his- 
tory in all its branches, but perhaps more especially for that of 
botany, or the studying of plants.” 

In 1854, John Sadler removed to Edinburgh to become Assist- 
ant to Professor Balfour, at that time Professor of Botany in the 
University of Edinburgh, and from this time dates his connection 
with the Royal Botanic Garden. He was then only seventeen 
years of age, and no doubt was attracted to Edinburgh by the 
fame of Professor Balfour, then in the zenith of his popularity 
and attracting students from all parts of the world. This step 
marked a new era in Sadler’s history. That innate love of 
botanical study which distinguished him from his earliest years 
found a new and wider field for developement, and subsequent 
events showed that it was fortunate for botanical science that 
John Sadler became assistant to so distinguished and zealous a 
botanist. He was a diligent and successful student, and per- 
formed the duties of assistant to the entire satisfaction of the 
Professor. Professor Balfour from the very first took a deep 
interest in this young assistant. He found in him all that a 
professor could desire in a student. There soon arose a friend- 
ship between Professor Balfour and his assistant which existed 
to the very last, and which subsequent years only deepened and 
strengthened. The Professor loved him as a member of his own 
family, and John Sadler on his part had a profound love and 
admiration for his distinguished master. This mutual love and 
esteem ripened into a friendship which was deep and lasting. 

Shortly after removing to Edinburgh he took up his residence 
in Experimental Cottage, situated within that part of the Royal 
Botanic Garden which was then used as the Experimental Gar- 
dens, and from this time to his death he resided within the 
Garden. 

From being junior assistant he gradually rose to be principal 

J 


74 The late Mr John Sadler. By William Craig, M.D. 


assistant, and for nearly a quarter of a century John Sadler was 
known as the accomplished assistant to the Professor of Botany. 
During these years he rendered valuable assistance to Professor 
Balfour in the work of the class. For many years he had the 
prixcipal share in conducting the work of the miscroscopic class. 
He also rendered valuable assistance at the weekly Saturday 
excursions, excursions which were largely attended by students 
and greatly enjoyed. He also assisted in revising the proofs of 
Professor Balfour’s numerous and valuable publications ; and in 
the second edition of Balfour’s Flora of Edinburgh, Sadler appears 
as joint author. 

Few Professors had such a power of infusing enthusiasm into 
their students as Professor Balfour, and undoubtedly much of 
this power lay in the way he conducted his weekly Saturday 
excursions. Saturday after Saturday the Professor accompanied 
by a band of students proceeded to the country to examine the 
flora of some district, often travelling many miles by rail to 
reach the destined ground. There was something about these 
excursions which it is difficult to describe, but which tended to 
inspire the young mind with a love for botanical study, and there 
can be no doubt that these weekly excursions were not only 
greatly enjoyed by John Sadler, but also tended in no small de- 
gree to make him the distinguished botanist he ultimately became. 

He, like the Professor, was always present at these Saturday 
excursions, and thus had an opportunity of becoming well 
acquainted with the flora of the country around Edinburgh. 
Few men were so zealous in the field as Professor Balfour, and 
undoubtedly young Sadler caught much of his fire and ardent 
love of his favourite science. He also, like his master, became 
a keen observer, and few men ever possessed ina greater degree 
the faculty of distinguishing plants than John Sadler. This was 
a marked feature in his character. He would often astonish his 
scientific friends by the quickness with which he could discrim- 
inate between species of plants closely resembling each other. 
His knowledge in this respect was remarkable, and it was a 
knowledge he was ever ready to communicate to others. 

After removing to Edinburgh he generally spent his holidays 
in botanical rambles in the Scottish Highlands, his favourite 
resort being the Breadalbane Mountains. The flora of the 
Perthshire Highlands especially that of the Breadalbane Moun- 
tains, is beyond all question the richest in Scotland and of these 


The late Mr John Sadler. By William Craig, M.D. 75 


Ben Lawers is not only the highest but the richest in Alpine 
plants. Sadler spent many of his holidays at the foot of this 
mountain, staying at the Old Mill near Lawers Inn. Day after 
day he made excursions to this famous mountain, one of the 
loftiest in Britain, and surpassed by none in its interest to the 
botanist. On several occasions when staying at the foot of Ben 
Lawers young Sadler walked to Corry Ghalair in Glen Lochay, 
a distance of nearly 20 miles and back the same evening, after 
botanizing the rocks in that famous Corry. I believe there were 
only two plants of any consequence known to grow on Ben 
Lawers that Nadler did not gather on that Mountain—Sawifraga 
rwularis and Cystopteris montana. He, however, on one occa- 
sion at least gathered a fine specimen of Woodsia tlvensis on 
the rocks near Lochan a’ Chait. Sometimes Sadler spent his 
holidays on the north side of Ben Lawers, in Glen Lyon, and it 
was while staying in Glen Lyon that he first examined the rocks 
on the north side of Meall Ghaorgdie, a mountain 3407 feet in 
height. On these rocks he gathered some rare plants including 
Cystopteris montana and Bartsia alpina. 

Tirai in Glen Lochay at the foot of Meall Ghaorgdie was also 
the abode of Sadler during his holiday rambles, and his reminis- 
cences of his abode in the old farm house at Tirai, and of his 
fishing for salmon in the Lyon, must be fresh in the minds of his 
many botanical friends. 

In those days Sadler was an excellent walker and frequently 
went great distances to explore some mountain or glen. He had 
an excellent knowledge of the habitat of Alpine plants. He be- 
lieved that the geological formation as well as the direction of a 
corry had much to do witb the flora of a mountain. He main- 
tained that the elevation of the rocks above sea level had not 
much to do with the flora of a district, provided you had a large 
high mass of mountains behind to keep these rocks always cool 
and moist. Whatever may be said about the views Sadler enter- 
tained on these questions, it is well known to all his botanical 
friends that few men had a better knowledge of the kind of 
ledges and corries in which to seek for rare alpine plants than 
Sadler had, and in our excursions there was no one who sur- 
passed him as a searcher for plants. He was moreover an 
excellent cragsman, creeping along on his hands and knees, ven- 
turing often where few dared to follow, and some of his rarest 
finds were made when so engaged. 


76 The late Mr John Sadler. By William Craig, M.D. 


On the death of Mr McNab in December, 1878, John Sadler 
was appointed Curator of the Royal Botanical Garden, and on the 
acquisition of the Grounds around Inverleith House for the 
purpose of an Arboretum, he was also appointed Curator. As 
Curator of the Royal Botanic Garden he was ever anxious to 
maintain it in a high state of cultivation, and at the same time 
to make it as available to the public as possible. He had 
only begun to lay out the grounds of the Royal Arboretum, when 
he was so suddenly cut off in the very prime of life, but what 
little he had accomplished showed that he was pre-eminently well 
qualified to make these grounds attractive, alike as a place of re- 
sort and for the purposes of the scientific study of forestry. In 
1867 he was appointed Lecturer on Botany in the Royal High 
School of Edinburgh. He was a popular and successful teacher, 
but resigned this situation as well as the Assistantship to the Pro- 
fessor of Botany, on his appointment to the Curatorship of the 
Royal Botanic Garden. 

He was a member of many learned Societies, and took a warm 
interest in their proceedings. He was for many years a Fellow 
of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh. He contributed many 
valuable papers to its Transactions, and after his appointment as 
Curator of the Royal Botanic Garden, he gave regular reports on 
the state of open air vegetation at the Garden, reports which 
were always fully printed in the various papers and journals, and 
read with great interest by the general public as well as by 
scientific botanists. For 21 years he was the acting secretary of 
this suciety, and as an appreciation of the excellent way in which 
he discharged the duties of the office, he was presented with a 
handsome timepiece and a purse containing 71 sovereigns. The 
clock bore the following inscription written by the late Sir Robert 
Christison: ‘‘Joanni Sadler, in re botanica peretissimo, scientia 
insigni, Soc. Bot. a secretis, comitatem propter ac plurima officia 
D. D. D. que Societas Botanica Edinensis, 1880.” On the same 
occasion Mrs Sadler was presented with an elegant gold bracelet 
set with corals and pearls, bearing the following inscription: 
‘« Presented to Mrs Sadler by the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, 
in token of their gratitude to her husband for his manifold ser- 
vices, 1880.” 

He was a vice-president of the Scottish Arboricultural Society, 
and for 19 years discharged the duties of secretary. When he 
retired from the secretaryship, the Society presented him with a 


The late Mr John Sadler. By William Craig, M.D. 77 


handsome gold watch and appendages and a purse of 100 sover- 
eigns. The watch besides a suitable inscription had the follow- 
ing motto: ‘‘ Ye may be aye stickin’ in a tree ; it will be growin’ 
when ye’re sleepin’.” The manner in which he discharged the 
duties of secretary to this Society, and the valuable services he 
rendered to it, can be best learned by quoting the words of the 
then President, Mr Robert Hutchison of Carlowrie. In making 
the presentation Mr Hutchison stated that Mr Sadler ‘‘ under- 
took the office of secretary at a time when the very existence of 
the Society was flickering in the balance between life and utter 
‘extinction, having battled sore for life for seven years previous. 
~The advent of Mr Sadler seemed to infuse new energy and life 
into it, and it had gone on ever since increasing and flourishing 
under his fostering care; and instead of being, as it was nineteen 
years ago, a mere name, it was now one of the most important 
institutions of the country. This state of things was due in every 
respect to the energy and indomitable perseverance of their sec- 
retary.” 

He was also a Councillor of the Royal Caledonian Horticultural 
Society, of the Royal Physical Society, the Edinburgh Natura- 
lists’ Field Club, and a corresponding member of many local 
learned Societies throughout the country. He was one of the 
original members of the Scottish Alpine Botanical Club, filled for 
some time the offices of its Secretary and Treasurer, and at his 
death was a member of the Executive Committee. His loss to this 
Club will be very great. He took a deep interest in its annual 
excursions, having only been absent from two excursions since its 
formation in 1870, and it was while on an excursion with this 
Club at Braemar that he discovered in Corry Ceann-mér the 
willow which bears his name Salz Sadleri, a willow new to 
science; and the same day he discovered in the same Corry Carex 
frigida, a plant new to the flora of Britain. He was present at 
the last meeting of the Club at Loch Awe and Killin, but on 
account of the state of his health was unable to go any of the 
excursions. The last excursion of the Club, to a Corry near 
the head of Glen Lochay, was one Sadler was specially anxious 
to make. Ever since he visited Glen Lochay in his early rambles 
he had often looked towards this Corry with a wistful eye, and 
his desire to accompany us was very great. The day however 
was boisterous in the extreme and after walking a few miles 
Sadler was forced to turn, not however without a sad heart. 


78 The late Mr John Sadler. By William Craig, M.D. 


This was the last time that Sadler attempted a botanical excur- 
sion. 


He was elected a member of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ 
Club 138th October, 1880, and on several occasions was present at 
the excursions of the Club. He took great pleasure in attending 
these meetings and was always present when his numerous duties 
permitted. 


For many years he was a member of, and took a deep interest 
in, the High Constables and Guard of Honour of Holyrood 
House, and at the time of his death was Moderator of that 
ancient body. 

Besides contributing many valuable papers to the Transactions 
of the Societies of which he was such a distinguished member, 
and furnishing many contributions to scientific periodicals, he 
published two books, one ‘‘ Rambles amongst the Moffat Hills,” 
and another ‘‘ Wild Flowers and Ferns of Bridge of Earn, includ- 
ing a complete List of the Perthshire Ferns.” Both of these works 
are out of print, but they are both written in aracy stile and full 
of valuable information. At his death he was engaged writing a 
Flora of Forfarshire, a work he had nearly completed and one 
containing information not to be had elsewhere. When this 
work is published it will form a valuable contribution to Botan- 
ical Science. ; 

For the past year he had not been in robust health, yet he was 
able to attend to his duties till the severe snowstorm of the be- 
ginning of December. On Monday, 4th December, Mr Sadler 
attended to his duties in the Arboretum. On Tuesday and 
Wednesday he felt colded and remained within doors busy writ- 
ing, but nothing serious was apprehended. On Thursday he 
took seriously ill, evidently suffering from the effects of a chill 
caught while in the discharge of his. duties on the Monday, and 
despite the skill and attention of his medical attendant, aided by 
the professional advice of Professor Maclagan, he gradually sank 
and died calmly on the early morning of Saturday, the 9th 
December, 1882. On the following Wednesday his mortal re- 
mains were laid in the tomb in Warriston Cemetery, there to 
await the resurrection of the just. His funeral was attended by 
many true and loving friends, some of whom had come from 
great distances, but all sorrowing much because they would see 
his face no more. He died at the comparatively early age of 45 


Mr John Sadler. By C. Stuart, M.D. 79 


years. He was twice married, and has left a widow and seven 
children to mourn his untimely end. 

It is impossible in any obituary notice to convey a true idea of 
all that John Sadler was. He was aman of genius, and a most 
eminent botanist. In 1869 the Royal Caledonian Horticultural 
Society awarded him the Neill Prize of £50 in recognition of his 
many eminent services to science. His was a kind of universal 
knowledge. There was no department of Botanical Science in 
which he was not well versed. He was an eminent fungologist 
and at the time of his death was president of the Fungus Club. 
One of the Fungi was named after him. He was particularly 
well skilled in the flora of Scotland, and it may be questioned if 
any man knew it so well. 

However great he was in science, he was even greater in social 
life. John Sadler was one of the most genial of men. He had 
a warm heart and was one of the truest friends I ever met. 
Those who knew him best loved him most. He was ever oblig- 
ing to his friends and few men were more widely known or more 
highly esteemed. In him were concentrated many excellencies, 
excellencies such as are rarely met with in one individual. His 
death has caused a blank in our scientific societies and in our 
social life which no one man will be able to fill. You may find 
many friends and many scientific geniuses but you will find few 
John Sadlers. 


2 


“Search the land of living men 
Where wilt thou find his like agen ?”’ 


IN MEMORIAM. 
Mr John Sadler. 


Tuer sudden and lamented death of Mr John Sadler, Curator 
of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, caused a pang of deep 
sorrow to his numerous friends. Although for some time back 
his health was far from strong, the fatal termination of his ill- 
ness came unexpectedly upon those who knew him best. Taken 
away almost in his prime, the loss to his own family is irrepar- 
able. But after their sorrow, he is sincerely mourned by the 
members of many scientific societies with which he was con- 
nected, and by none more so than by the members of the Scottish 
Alpine Botanical Club, with which society he was associated 


80 Mr John Sadler. By C. Stuart, M.D. 


from its commencement.* His loss to this club, of which he 
was ‘‘the heart and soul,” can never be properly estimated. 
One of the best practical botanists in Scotland, he well knew the 
habitats of allthe rare plants, both in the Highlands and Low- 
lands. He was an original genius, with a keen apprehension 
of every subject he inquired into; and no one brought in con- 
tact with him could ever forget the penetrating glance of his 
bright black eye. His varied knowledge charmed every one, 
so delightfully was it flavoured with the sly ‘‘ Scots wut” which 
formed part of the man. A most delightful companion on the 
mountain-side, his inimitable manner of relating, in language 
bubbling over with humour, the extraordinary adventures he 
had met with in his plant hunting expeditions helped to while 
away the time on many a steep ascent, and can never be forgot- 
ten. In illustration of his graphic power in description I here 
append a specimen of his address at the opening of The New 
Institute, Berwick, on 30th May, 1882. 
‘““THE GERMINATION OF THE SEED. 

Tf we took a seed we would find that it was a little mansion house, 
beautifully built up with the finest bricks, all fitting together in the most 
perfect manner. Then you would find an inhabitant, a little baby plant. 
This lay in a cradle which was beautifully prepared, sometimes in the 
garret, sometimes in the drawing room, sometimes in the parlour, and 
sometimes in the kitchen. But it was always in one place, in each par- 
ticular species. For instance if you examined the seed of the pea and 
bean, either in Great Britain, or Australia, or America, you would find 
the embryo in the same position in each specimen. It was wrapped up 
in the finest muslin, in the form of starchy matter which was provided 
for its food. You put the seed into the soil, where it was provided with 
a certain amount of moisture, heat and air. It might be necessary also 
to keep it partly in the dark. Through the walls of the dwelling house, 
a certain amount of moisture penetrated, and the starch by the action of 
heat in a beautiful chemical process, was converted into sugar, or the 
finest kind of wine, so that a plant was not a teetotaller in its infancy ! 
The little baby then began to grow and push its foot out of the door of its 
mansion house. Afterwards it went down into the soil in the form of a 
root, which was just like a sponge. It then cautiously sent up its little 
stem, then the branches, leaves and flowers. The last had certain organs 
which produced fruit, and in these was found the seed in which you get, 
the little baby plant again, so that the whole vegetable iife went round 
and round. It occurred just the same in the most minute plant, as in 


* Professors Balfour and Dickson, Mr W. B. Boyd, Capt. Norman, R.N., 
Drs. Craig, Aitken, and Charles Stuart, members of the Berwickshire 
Naturalists’ Club, are also members of the Scottish Alpine Botanical Club. 


Mr John Sadler. By C. Stuart, M.D. 81 


the largest tree in the forest. It was in such matters as this, that he 
wanted his audience to take an interest. And he trusted the next time 
he came to Berwick he would be able to bring some diagrams to illustrate 
the remarks he had made. It was such subjects as these that the great 
and good had studied, and had found in them sources of some of their 
purest enjoyment.” 


There was a charming freshness and originality in his descrip- 
tions, even of the commonest objects, which never failed to rivet 
the attention, and which constituted him perhaps the most suc- 
cessful exponent of popular botany who ever lectured. Inti- 
mately acquainted with the mountain flora of Scotland, his name 
is associated with one of the Alpine willows, which he discovered 
at as wild a spot as exists in the kingdom, Corry Ceannmor, 
Glen Callater, near Braemar. In August, 1874, the writer was 
near him when, on high grassy ledges on the north side of the 
lake, he discovered this willow. 

We had almost crept along the precipitous ledges running 
from the Break-neck Waterfall, at the head of Glen Callater, 
which extends towards the weird-looking inky tarn, gathering 
Carex rupestris, and other rarities. The day was grey and very 
windy, and our footing on such steep ground was far from secure. 
John Sadler took to the steep grassy ledges facing the north-east 
side of the lake, and ascended for about 1000 feet from one 
ledge to another. The climbing was not so difficult, but the 
getting down was another matter, especially as the way was 
obscure, and not without risk did he make the descent, bringing 
with him cuttings of the willow, and also a Carex never before 
gathered nearer than the Swiss Alps, and named Carex frigida. 
Both were submitted to Dr. Boswell Syme, LL.D., who pro- 
nounced the willow new to Britain, and named it Salix Sadler, 
after the discoverer ;* and the Carex also proved a species new 
for Britain. A plant of the willow is growing on the Rock- 
Garden, Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, and the Carex has also 
been cultivated with success. 

The favourite quarter of our departed friend in the north was 
Bridge of Lochay Inn, half-a-mile from Killin, on the road to 
Kenmore. Picturesquely situated on the river Lochay, and 
overshadowed by the Finlarig woods and the everlasting hills, 
this quiet retreat has been a welcome sight to many a weary 
botanist ; and Mr and Mrs Cameron have ever a kindly welcome 

* A living plant of this rarity is growing on my rock garden at Chirn- 
side. 

K 


82 Mr John Sadler. By C. Stuart, M.D. 


for the whole brotherhood. Ben Lawers, Maol-na-Ptarmachan, 
Cam-a-Creag, Maol Ghirdy, Craig Mohr, &c., are within reach, 
and their Alpine flora is the richest in the kingdom. Here Mr 
Sadler has conducted many a happy party, and introduced many 
an ardent botanist to the beauties of Flora in this classic region. 
No one can ever forget the pleasure of a first excursion to Cam- 
a-Creag and Maol-na-Ptarmachan, and the delight with which 
he saw growing the snowy gentian, the mountain forget-me-not, 
the ‘“‘himmel” blue of the mountain Veronica, the green of the 
spleenworts which fringe the moist crevices, the Alpine willows 
and mountain saxifrages, the rare Woodsia hyperborea, &c., &c. 
Here, on the Mica Schist, in a state of disintegration, there is a 
growth observed and a vigour attained by these Alpines seen no- 
where else. Wherever our party began operations, even in the 
far North, the finish to the excursion was generally at Bridge of 
Lochay ; for whether at Ben Lawers, Cam-a-Oreag, or Craig 
Mohr, there is always, if the weather proves favourable, a grand 
excursion to be had. It would be difficult to relate how often 
Mr Sadler made returns to his favourite ground; at all events, 
he never tired of renewing his acquaintance with the Alpine 
flora of the district. In the year 1876 we visited the West 
Highlands, and ascended Ben Nevis on a very stormy day. 
Botanically we did little. On the following day the precipices 
under the peak were examined, Saxifraga rivularis and Juncus 
castaneus being the best plants obtained, close to the melting 
snow. Mr Sadler did not like Ben Nevis much, so we returned 
through Glencoe, and got to Tyndrum early next day, proceeding 
to Bridge of Lochay partly by rail. In the evening we hired a 
vehicle and drove up Glen Lochay to a deserted farm-house 
named Chirrai. Climbing up the grassy bank, covered with 
sweet-scented Gymnadenias (G. conopsea and G. albida) and but- 
terfly orchises, we came to the roofless dwelling. Our friend, 
ten years before when botanising, had lived here among the 
herds, and, looking down, began in his humorous strain to de- 
scribe his experiences. In the big kitchen lived the master and 
mistress, with half-a-dozen herds, and a number of lasses to 
mind the dairy work. Our friend occupied the other end, and 
pointed out the remains of a wall press where he kept his plants. 
At night the herds retired up a ladder or ‘“‘ trap’’ to one side of 
the loft, followed by about half-a-dozen collies; the lasses re- 
tired up the same ‘‘trap” to the other side of the loft. Shortly 


Note on the Fungi of Roxburghshire. . 83 


the snoring of the sleepers was appalling, but worst of all, the 
dogs first commenced to snarl and then to fight in earnest; 
clouds of dust descended through seams in the boarding upon 
the devoted head of our friend, who was only too delighted when 
day broke, and he was able to extricate himself from his diffi- 
culties, and breath the pure air of Maol Ghirdy. I feel how 
vain on my part it is to describe the recollections of the scene as 
related at the time, but I have endeavoured to give a sketch of 
an actual adventure which our friend had, and he had many 
such to relate. We returned down Glen Lochay on a lovely 
summer night to our hostelry ; and it is difficult to realise that 
‘the man who had kept us all amused has passed away from 
among us, almost in his prime. 

His popularity among the students attending the botanical 
class is too well known to require to be noticed. At the weekly 
excursions he was their genial companion, and did everything to 
inspire them with a love of nature and the interesting science 
they were studying. Itis sad to think that the bright career 
that was before him, as Curator of the Botanic Gardens and 
Arboretum—work so congenial to his nature—should have been 
so suddenly closed by his untimely death. Providence has so 
ordered it; but his memory will ever remain green in the 
hearts of many true friends, who have spent happy days in his 
company, in climbing most of the Scottish mountains in pursuit 
of their favourite science. 

“ Fell star of fate! thou never canst employ 
A torment teeming with severer smart, 
Than that which memory pours upon the heart, 
While clinging round the sepulchre of joy.” 
C. Sruart, M.D. 


Note on the Fungi of Roxburghshire. 

Rev. D. Pavt reports from Roxburgh the occurrence this year 
(1882) of the following species hitherto not recorded within the 
limits of the Club :—Ag. (Clitocybe) cerussatus Fr. var. difformis 
Schum, Pine wood, Oct.; Ag. (Mycena) sanguinolentus A. and §., 
among fir leaves, July; Ag. (Volvaria) gloiocephalus, Fr., Cow- 
pasture, Roxburgh Glebe, Oct., a rare and handsome fungus; 
Polyporus destructor, Schrad., on fallen fir, Oct.; P. adustus, Fr., 
frequent; P. fumosus, Fr., on stump, Nov.; Zrametes mollis, 
Smrft., on fallen apple tree, Janry. 


84 


On the Bird Life of the Firth of Forth during the Storms 
of October and November, 1881. By Roperr Gray, 
V.P.RBS.E., F.S.A., Scot. 

[Read at the Meeting of the Club at Haddington, 31st May, 1882.] 
Ar a meeting of this Club held in Dunbar about a year ago, I 

read a communication on the effects of the preceding winter 
[1880-81] upon birds and other animals—the protracted frosts 
and snowfalls having been unprecedently severe. Some of you 
may. remember that I then expressed a hope, that many years 
might pass before another occasion would arise for any of us to 
chronicle so much suffering among our feathered friends. The 
records of that memorable winter showed an amount of distress 
among birds that had almost no parallel; but it was to a great 
extent confined to what are called soft-billed birds, and our sym- 
pathies therefore lay almost wholly with 


“The various vocal quires 
That harmonize fair Scotia’s streamy vales.” 


The observations which I have now to make mostly refer to the 
sea birds of the Firth of Forth during the disastrous storms of 
October and November, 1881. For some time previously there 
had been nothing of unusual interest to take note of, unless we 
except a rush of migrants to our shores, which took place on 
22nd September, and will no doubt be fitly recorded in due time 
and in the proper place by my friend Mr Harvie Brown, whose 
attention has for some years past been closely occupied by tabu- 
lating certain returns from the lighthouses and similar posts of 
observation along the coast line of Scotland. I may only men- 
tion, in passing, that among other interesting birds taken in the 
lantern of the lighthouse on the Island of May, at the time re- 
ferred to, there was a specimen of Cyanecula Wolfi—a form of 
blue throated warblers, which has only occurred twice before in 
the British Islands. On the 24th of the same month the fulmar 
petrel appeared at North Berwick, and one specimen at least was 
obtained; while ten days later an unusual number of spotted 
crakes (Crex porzana) made their appearance in various parts of 
Scotland, but notably the eastern counties. There were besides 
the usual flights of tawny and short-eared owls, rough-legged 
buzzards, snowflakes, siskins, bramblings, and grey shrikes, 
among land birds, and grebes, divers, and goosanders among 
those that had come by sea. Up to Friday, the 14th October, 
the weather had been such as is usually experienced at the close 


The Bird Life of the Firth of Forth. By Robt. Gray. 85 


of autumn and commencement of winter; but on the morning of 
that day the south-eastern shores of Scotland were visited by an 
awful storm—the disastrous effects of which among our seafaring 
people will be long remembered. During its continuance many 
boats were wrecked, and nearly 200 fishermen were drowned on 
the coasts of Berwickshire and East Lothian alone. Great 
northern divers, red-throated divers, grebes, guillemots, and 
other sea birds were quite unable to withstand the fury of the 
gale; and in the midst of a sea lashed into a state of commotion 
which fairly overpowered every living creature, they sought 
shelter in some numbers in the harbours at Dunbar and other 
seaports between Burntisland and Berwick-on-Tweed. Their 
presence in such circumstances attracted a good deal of attention, 
and showed that the birds had instinctively betaken themselves 
to these places of refuge before the storm had reached its height, 
as it is believed by all who witnessed the appalling effects of the 
hurricane that no living thing, bird or beast, could have existed 
either in the air or in the water. Such birds, indeed, as were 
unable to seek the shelter of harbours owing to their having been 
far-from the land when they were overtaken by the storm must 
have been utterly destroyed. The storm was as unexpected as 
it was destructive ; it came on without further warning than a 
sudden and heavy fall of the barometer—a sign which, so far as 
the fishermen were concerned, was unfortunately to a great ex- 
tent disregarded, and hence its calamitous effects. I may add 
that the appearance of great northern divers and grebes in tidal 
harbours in Scotland is in my experience without parallel. 

The first oceanic birds that came shorewards, by which I 
mean those species that are known to congregate and feed to- 
gether at considerable distances from land, were the pomarine 
skuas—a flock of which made their appearance at Prestonpans 
while the gale lasted. ‘They were in a state of great exhaustion, 
and about half-a-dozen specimens were obtained there, and one 
or two more at other parts of the coast, one having been secured 
as far up the Firth as Queensferry. The stomachs of all the 
birds examined were empty, with the exception of one, which 
contained the remains of a wading bird, probably a ruff. Simul- 
taneously there appeared large numbers of storm petrels, many 
of which were blown some distance inland, where they were 
captured—records of the birds having been caught or otherwise 
dispersed having reached me from Dunbar and the Lammer- 


86 The Bird Life of the Firth of Forth. By Robt. Gray. 


moors. The main body, however, remained in the Firth eight 
or ten days, during which time the birds frequented for the most 
part the lee side of Inchkeith, quite near to the anchored ships 
that had been forced there for shelter. On the 22nd October, 
while crossing from Granton to Burntisland in a stiff gale of 
wind, I observed upwards of a dozen storm petrels following the 
big waves, rising and falling in their flight with their customary 
ease; and two days afterwards, on the return journey, when the 
ferry steamboat was, to the great discomfiture of the passengers 
on board, obliged to run as far as Inchkeith in its passage across, 
I had an excellent opportunity of seeing the birds in increased 
numbers enjoying their shelter on the lee side of the island, 
where, surrounded by large steamboats and other windbound 
vessels, they crowded together, and fed upon the refuse thrown 
overboard by the ships’ cooks. It was an extremely interesting 
sight, and I was informed that the birds had been there from the 
date of the great storm. A lesson, indeed, might have been de- 
rived from their presence by the captains of ocean-going steamers, 
several of whom, impatient at the delay, had set sail, in some 
cases oftener than once, only, however, to return partially 
disabled to their former anchorage. The petrels, actuated no 
doubt by an unerring instinct, wisely remained under shelter ; 
and I would venture to say that in any future case, when these 
birds are seen under such circumstances, much expense might be 
saved by the masters of wind-bound vessels, if they quietly re- 
mained at their anchorage until the petrels let them know when 
it was time to leave. I commend this observation to the atten- 
tion of my friend Mr Buchan, the excellent secretary of the 
Scottish Meteorological Society, as a means of increasing the 
interest, if not the importance, of future weather forecasts. 

On the 21st November there occurred a tremendous storm of 
wind and rain, which affected the whole of the western coasts of 
Scotland, including the inner and outer Hebrides. This was 
accompanied by very high tides, which flooded many of the 
towns even in sheltered places, such as Fort William, Oban, and 
Tobermory, where great damage was done to property. During 
the continuance of the gale, several flocks of petrels were ob- 
served, and many birds of the two commoner species—the storm 
petrel and the fork-tailed or Leach’s petrel—were captured in 
the town of Oban and elsewhere. There can be no doubt 
that while the storm prevailed small flocks of both species 


Notice of deserted Heronry. By J. Robson-Scott. 87 


were wafted across the country to the eastern side of our island, 
and I have records in my note-books of having seen and ex- 
amined a number of Leach’s petrels from various localities in the . 
Firth of Forth, among which instances I may mention one that 
was picked up alive on the 26th November on the shore at 
Granton, where it had been washed up among the sea-weed ; 
another that was taken in the lantern of the lighthouse on the 
Isle of May on the day following; and a third that was dis- 
covered a day later in an exhausted state on the beach west of 
Dunbar. Many of these birds must have been blown eastwards 
and been drowned ; for although their presence is associated at 
times with storms of the most dangerous character, they do not 
appear to be able to resist such sudden outbreaks as those to 
which I have referred. The numbers of drowned birds that are 
cast up occasionally upon our sands and rocky shores are but 
painful proofs of their fatal effects, and I have no hesitation in 
concluding, from what has come to my knowledge, that in the 
memorable storms of October and November, 1881, hundreds, if 
not thousands, of sea birds of all kinds—gulls, guillemots, divers, 
ducks, puffins, and petrels—were, without distinction, literally 
blown into the sea, and overwhelmed by the pitiless waves. 


Notice of the deserted Heronry at Swinden, Bowmont 
Water. By J. Rosson-Scort, M.D. 


Wiru reference to a notice that I read before this Club, 16 or 
18 years ago, relating to the heronry situated at the farm of 
Swinden in Bowmont Water, belonging to his Grace the Duke of 
Roxburghe, I have now to state that the herons have deserted 
the place. The trees upon which they built their nests were 
alders, remnants of the primeval woods, which formerly clothed 
the valleys and low grounds of thiscountry. The trees had been 
failing from the effects of age, and doubtless the birds were 
Sagacious enough to observe this, and taking timely warning 
departed to a more secure retreat. In the spring of 1880 it was 
reported to me that there were no nests built that year, and that 
the birds. appeared to be leaving the place altogether, and on 
visiting the lonely glen the following year I found that such was 
the case, and that most of the old nests were blown down, thus 
rapidly obliterating all record of what had been a scene of activ- 


88 On Shells, &e., found at Hutton-hall Cliff. 


ity and interest to all lovers of nature. On my last visit, a few 
weeks since, I found one solitary solemn looking bird, perched 
on the summit of one of the old trees, apparently surveying the 
deserted spot; at my approach he rose deliberately and flying to 
a short distance, settled on a rising ground, in full view of his 
former abode. ‘‘Dulcis reminiscitur Argos.’”? Soon after the 
notice above alluded te appeared in our Proceedings, His Grace 
the Duke of Roxburghe determined on planting some suitable 
trees that the herons might take possession of, to rectify the 
progressive decay of the old forest, but, as I have said above, the 
birds took flight before the time the young trees had attained the 
requisite size and strength. 


On Marine Shells and Fragments of Bones found at the 
base of Hutton-hall Cliff, opposite Edington Mill. By 
the Rev. GEoRGE WILSON, Glenluce; Corr. Mem. of the 
Scottish Society of Antiquaries. 


Foulden West Mains, 13th July, 1882: On the 11th July I was 
at Edington Mill. At the foot of the Hutton-hall cliff opposite 
the Mill, just above the stepping-stones, I picked out of the clay 
three fragments of bone, and three specimens of the common 
shell Littorina littorea. About 40 years ago I got at the same 
place a lot of charred embers, shells, and charred bones, includ- 
ing what I took for pig and deer bones. A medical student who 
took charge of them for the Edinburgh Museum, lost them. 
The sandstone cliff has always been more or less overhanging, 
and the place seems to have been a cave or rock-shelter. I 
never saw any tool. [At Edington Mains somewhat further up 
the river on the other side of it, Mr John Wilson, at the foot of 
the bank below his house, came upon a collection of cockle-shells, 
fish-bones, and pieces of charcoal. This was conjectured to have 
been a family feasting place of the ancient Britons. Club’s 
Proc. Vil. p. 23-4.] 


89 


Notes on some Historical and Literary Matter bearing on 
the Works called the Catrail By Miss RussELu of 
Ashiesteel. 


Ir was perhaps an omission that the photographs of the por- 
tion of the Catrail remaining at the Rink, and of the adjoining 
fort of similar construction, presented to the Club in the summer 
of 1880, were not accompanied by some notes about the locality 
where the line seems to have crossed the Tweed. The most im- 
portant circumstance about the Catrail on the Tweed, or indeed 
anywhere, is this: that the early church of Melrose was un- 
doubtedly in the diocese of Lindisfarne, and therefore in North- 
umbria, or at least on territory belonging to Bernicia; while 
Traquair is known from the document called the Inquest of 
David, printed in the Chartulary of Glasgow, to have been in 
the early diocese of Glasgow, which is further known, in connec- 
tion with the history of Kentigern, to have been co-extensive 
with Cumbria; to have been Cumbria, in fact. If these latter 
authorities should not be thought conclusive as to a state of 
things which was obsolete long before their date, it may be 
added, that they are borne out by the name of Traquair; the 
form Travercoir seems to be the Cornish (rather than Welsh) 
church-town or church-lands; the choir being the old monastic 
church, where, if the numbers allowed of it, there was probably 
some sort of service being chanted day andnight. It is the word 
which formed Bennchor or Bangor, the high or head choir, both 
in Wales and Ireland. And the same word appears in Duchoir, 
the spelling given in Pont’s maps for Dewchar, the locality where 
the church of Yarrow stands; the Black Choir; the adjective 
being in the Welsh, not the Gaelic form. 

All these circumstances have been long in print, if not alto- 
gether accessible to the general public; but it does not seem 
ever to have been distinctly observed, that as Traquair and Mel- 
rose are both in the valley of the Tweed, and both on the south 
side of the river, the frontier between Cumbria and Bernicia 
must have crossed the river somewhere between them: or that 
it is therefore in reality beyond doubt, that the works called the 
Catrail, as suggested by Whitaker in England, and believed by 
Sir Walter Scott in Scotland, mark the frontier; and on the 
Tweed, with the Saxons of Bernicia as near as Old Melrose, must 
have been seriously intended to defend it, where the rivers 

L 


90 Notes on the Catrail. By Miss Russell. 


Ettrick and Gala make a natural frontier. I have only lately 
been aware that Mr Cosmo Innes had suggested this line of re- 
search about Cumbria, as long ago as when he edited the Kelso 
charters; but I do not think any one could have made much of 
the bishoprics, if the course of the Catrail had not been recorded. 
As to the large size and defensive character of certain parts of 
the Catrail, it is to be noted that Alexander Gordon, who must 
have perambulated the line about 1725, and who, as far as the 
literary world is concerned, was the discover of it, was so entirely 
convinced of its being the fortifications of a frontier, that to 
account for it, he, not knowing much about Scottish Cumbria, 
formed the odd conjecture—very odd when the history and pur- 
pose of the Roman walls are considered—that it might have 
been constructed by the Caledonians to keep out the Romans, 
after the peace made with Severus. (What really happened on 
that occasion seems, from the inscriptions, to have been that 
Severus re-constructed the northern Roman wall, in Stirling- 
shire, to keep out the Caledonians. The only difference of 
opinion among authorities is, as to whether it was not rather that 
in the north of England; but the evidence is in favour of the 
former. ) 

Gordon’s own observations are generally so accurate and 
painstaking, that this queer theory is another example that one 
must not expect a man who is good in one line to be necessarily 
good in another. (His miles are nearly all two, ‘lang Scots 
miles” in fact, but that measure does as well as any other for 
long distances. ) 

I am speaking, it must be observed, of the defensive character 
of the Selkirkshire and Midlothian parts, properly the Picts’ 
Work Ditch and the Gala Waier forts. As to the Roxburgh- 
shire part, the Catrail proper, I was much struck by the way in 
which two letters, signed respectively N. E. and W. McK., which 
appeared in The Scotsman of October 13th and 16th, 1880, on this 
part of the line, confirmed the opinion of the highest authorities, 
formed on purely historical grounds, as to the old population of 
Teviotdale. The letters agreed in saying, from what was unmis- 
takeably fresh observation, that the Catrail proper never can 
have been a work of any great strength, (I believe that is the 
case with the part that still forms a boundary between two 
estates), having no forts near it in some places, and being, where 
the measurements were taken, only about twelve feet wide in 


Notes on the Catrail. By Miss Russell. 91 


all; and also having no appearance of having been everywhere 
continuous. The conclusion of one of the writers is, that it 
might have been a boundary-line between two friendly tribes. 
And it was on seeing this, that I saw for the first time that Mr 
Skene and the late Mr E. W. Robertson were right in regarding 
Teviotdale as having been inhabited by a Welsh or Cymric 
population, as well as Selkirkshire. Mr Skene’s reason for 
thinking so is that at the battle of the Standard, long after the 
final conquest of Cumbria, the Tevidalenses and Cumbrenses 
formed one body in the Scotch army ; besides that inthe sixth 
century, which is the period we are more especially concerned 
with, Kelso seems to have been a Welsh possession, under the 
name of Calchvynyd or Chalkhill, nearly the equivalent of 
Chalkheugh or Calchow. The ‘‘ mey and tey” dialect of Teviot- 
dale has a very much more Celtic character than the accent of 
the country to the westward; it seems always to have been re- 
garded as a very strange sound in Galashiels. 

Towards the English border it appears as if the works of the 
Catrail must assume the character of fortifications again ; I have 
not the reference, but the Statistical Account says in one place it 
was twenty-five feet high. Mr Skene points out, in the first 
volume of his history, ‘‘ Celtic Scotland,” that it occurs at Daw- 
ston, which he identifies with Degsastane, the scene of a great 
historical battle, the result of which was the crushing of a com- 
bined effort, on a large scale, of the Cumbrian Britons and Scots 
of the West Highlands, to drive back the Saxons of North- 
umbria. Mr Skene regards the stones on the Ninestane Rig, 
and others in the neighbourhood, as connected with the battle 
and pursuit ; and such memorials certainly seem in many cases 
to have been records of violent death, in battle or otherwise. 
But he does not mention there, that he had already placed the 
battle of Degsastane at Dawston, on philological grounds, rather 
than at Dalston in Cumberland, in a work published in 1867, 
the least known of his publications, but one treating mainly of 
Scottish Cumbria. It is an edition of the much-disputed poems 
of the Welsh bards of the sixth century, and apparently the 
first there has ever been in which they were really printed ex- 
actly as they stand in the oldest manuscripts. (The oldest ex- 
isting collection seems to have been made in the half-century 
after Geoffrey of Monmouth’s fictitious history appeared, and 
has quite the air of an attempt to preserve the real antiquities 


92 Notes on the Catrail. By Miss Russell. 


of the Cymri.) The literal translations are executed by distin- 
guished Welsh scholars, and Mr Skene did not in any way 
interfere in them himself, which was no doubt judicious in the 
circumstances, his theory as editor being, that much of the 
obscurity of the poems is owing to its having been forgotten that 
many of them relate to Scottish Cumbria, not to Wales or Corn- 
wall. This seems probable enough when so stated, and I do not 
know that it has ever been seriously disputed; but it is so 
opposed to the received legends—real traditions they are not— 
that it has never attracted much general attention, though it has 
had its effect on literature; and the title ‘‘The Four Ancient 
Books of Wales” though I do not know exactly what other 
could have replaced it, does not attract Scotch readers. The 
hardest part of it is, that while the Arthurian legends—for the 
theory in great part concerns what may be called the historical 
foundations of the Arthurian romance—have been given up with 
great reluctance in the west of England, or not given up at all, 
even on the alleged localities being shown to be impossible ; no- 
body in the sonth of Scotland wants them at all; on the Yarrow 
in particular they would be considered altogether superfluous. 
I rather imagine that after the final conquest of Cumbria, the 
consciousness that something was lost gradually suggested the 
myth of the Lyonesse, the region between Cornwall and the 
Scilly Isles, in which Arthur’s last battle is said to have been 
fought, though there was no such land in the time of the 
Romans, and Sir Charles Lyell pronounced any recent invasion 
of the sea there to be geologically very improbable. And the 
same explanation applies to a similar mythical submerged dis- 
trict off the coast of Wales, in Cardigan Bay. It is conjectured, 
in one of the notes to the Welsh poems, that the name of the 
supposed district, Gwaelod, or the Sunken, may be a transposi- 
tion of the letters Gwaedol, or Wedale, the old name of the dis- 
trict between the Gala and the Leader in Scotland. 

It is of importance to observe that Arthur’s campaigns in Scot- 
land (he being apparently a Cornish Briton, and holding the 
office of Guledic, or Imperator, or leader against the Saxons, a 
remains of Roman organization which has been completely for- 
gotten, unless it is what the romances mean by the Pendragon ; 
Pendragon in reality being the name of a castle, which Uthyr 
may have had as his stronghold) Arthur’s campaigns in Scotland 
do not seem to have been forgotten till, the fallacies of the 


Notes on the Catrail. By Miss Russell. 93 


southern topography, and the observation of the numerous 
Scandinavian legends in the romances, which must have come 
through the close connection of Normandy and Brittany, caused 
the whole history of the sixth century, as popularly known, to 
be set down as mythical, together with the important circum- 
stance that Arthur was never king of England. 

There is all the difference in this respect between the sixteenth 
century and the eighteenth; the illustrious Camden, who had 
learnt Welsh that he might understand British history, says 
without hesitation that Agned, the scene of one of Arthur’s 
battles, is Edinburgh ; while Alexander Gordon is much puzzled 
by the little Roman building called Arthur’s O’en; the engrav- 
ing of which we owe to him. In fact till the regular business of 
criticism began in the seventeenth century, the real traditions 
remained, without its being thought necessary to account for 
them. In the district under consideration, and in the valley 
which contains what I should say was now the most satisfactory 
part of the Catrail, the Gala Water forts, it has never, indeed, 
been altogether forgotten that Arthur is said to have founded 
the Church of Stow; the statement occurs in some copies of 
‘‘Nennius”’ which there seems no more reason to doubt, as to 
the historical part, than any other brief chronicle; and the tra- 
dition was known to Hollinshed in the sixteenth century. 

The famous Morte d’ Arthur, by Sir Thomas Mallory, is full 
of allusions to the Marches of Scotiand (if there is any old allu- 
sion to the Catrail, it is as included in this), and the king of 
Scotland, who is sometimes Caradoc of Galloway, sometimes 
Angus or Arawn, the brother of Urien and Loth, (he is called 
Lleminawy or Lennox in the Welsh poems.)—N.B. A Sir Her- 
vise le Reule appears among the Knights, and the early name of 
Abbotsrule was Rule Hervey. 

As to the narrative which goes by the name of Geoffrey of Mon- 
mouth, its authority, such as it is, is in favour of the northern 
localities of Arthur’s battles. Geoffrey or his authority was un- 
willing to lose the wonders of Loch Lomond, and the imposing 
fortress of Alclyde or Dumbarton ; and he transports Arthur and 
his army there to the conventional ‘‘ Lincoln” and ‘ Bath” in 
a way nothing short of railways could have effected. He has 
also placed the wood of Celidon in Lincolnshire. I imagine 
*‘Lindocolinum”’ in this case is the extinct village of Zincum, on 
the upper part of the Tweed, above Drummelzier, which was in 


94 Notes on the Catratl. By Miss Russell. 


the wood of Celydon ; Lincum must have been on the old main 
road. between Edinburgh and Carlisle. Lindocolinum was also 
called Kaerliudcoit ; and curiously there is a town of this name 
in the ancient list of cities attached to Nennius. Further, it 
somewhat strengthens Mr Skene’s theory, that the Mons Badon- 
icus was the great stronghold of Buden Hill, near Linlithgow, 
to observe that Urien does double duty in Geoffrey, first as king 
of Mureif, that is, the region of the Roman wall, and secondly 
as Urbgennius of Bath. 

Again in the quaint proceedings drawn up to be sent to Rome, 
about the independence or otherwise of Scotland, Arthur actually 
appears as an English invader, and Llew or Loth, and his son 
Medrawd, as patriotic Scotch Cymri. 

It is to be observed, that the name of the Catrail having been 
preserved at the part of the line which is not a regular fortifica- 
tion, affords a presumption that it originally applied to the whole 
line, at least as far as the ditch extended, and was retained in 
Teviotdale by there being a Cymric population on both sides. 
Cat or Cad has here no doubt the secondary meaning of 
“defence”? not of battle. Cadar is defence in modern 
Welsh ; Raid a good deal the same word in Welsh as in English. 
Gordon, to whom we owe ‘nearly all our earlier information 
about the Catrail, found that name in use from the English 
border to the Borthwick Water, and that thence northwards to 
Galashiels the works were called the Picts’ Work Ditch, which 
is, beyond a doubt, the correct name, in the same sense as that 
of the Mahratta Ditch of Calcutta. It is certain from Bede that 
the Picts, whoever they were, occupied the south-east of Scot- 
land, and the country up to the southern Roman wall, after the 
Romans, or rather the legions, left the country. And I find 
that part of that wall is known as the Picts’ Wall. Taking Mr 
Skene’s dates, which are no doubt the most correct obtainable, 
the legions left Britain for the last time in A.D. 409; Arthur, 
who seems to have done a good deal to check Saxon invasion in 
his own day, comes just about a century after that time, as the 
last great battle of his recorded victories, that of Badon Hill, 
was fought in 516; his final battle of Camlan in 537 ; and Edwin 
of Deira and Bernicia, who seems to have obtained possession of 
Edinburgh before his death, comes about a century after Arthur ; 
he adopted Christianity in 627. 

It must be understood, I am taking Mr Skene’s view, and re- 


Notes on the Catrail. By Miss Russell. 95 


garding the Picts as the old Gael of the country, who, within 
historical times, occupied the whole country north of the Forth 
and Galloway and Lothian; that is, all Scotland except Cum- 
bria ; and. eventually became Scots in the ninth century, more 
through a political change than anything else. The present 
Lowland Scotch may have more Gaelic and Welsh blood than 
has been generally supposed; it has only been fully demon- 
strated of late years that all the Celts and Gauls known to anti- 
quity were fair, and that the dark race of the western coasts 
must be descendants of the Iberians or Basques, a few words of 
whose language remain in the names of places. The two hill- 
names of Pen-Christ and the Dun-Ian or Hill of St John, in 
Roxburghshire, show Welsh and Gaelic side by side in Christian 
times. I mention these names only as a matter of local interest; 
however speaking generally, the Gaelic theory of the Picts is the 
only one which will really work at all in the east of Scotland; if 
they were either Goths or Cymri, the Gaelic names all over Fife 
and Forfarshire are altogether unaccounted for; the Scots (when 
the dates are severely rectified) come in much too late and in too 
small numbers to do it; while south of the Forth, where Gaelic 
names are tolerably numerous, especially in Lothian and Ber- 
wickshire, they must have been left by the Picts or the Otadeni, 
who appear to have been in reality the same people, though the 
latter had probably left off tatooing under Roman rule. Manau 
Guotodin, apparently meaning Slamannan, was distinctly 
peopled by the Picts down to comparatively late times; and 
Guotodin, as was recognised by the Welsh Stephens, is clearly 
Otadeni with the Welsh digamma; the incessant use of that 
unsatisfactory element of speech is one of the difficulties of the 
Celtic languages. (In ordinary Gaelic, words beginning with F 
are classed with those beginning with vowels). The well-known 
form Gododin appears to me to show that the names Gadeni and 
Otadeni, which Ptolemy seems to use indifferently for the same 
people, have been originally the same word ; the sound of broad 
A comes very near to that of O. And the form Gadeni suggests 
further what the word was; goddan means shrubbery in modern 
Welsh, and goden is used for trees in the poems; so I infer that 
Godeni, or people of the woods, was what the Britons called the 
inhabitants of Roxburghshire, &. And in this light the name 
is nearly the equivalent of Caledonii, the people of the brown 
wood, (descriptive of the native oak and hazel). The Welsh 


96 Notes on the Catrail. By Miss Russell. 


and Gaelic name of the Coed Celydon shows there were Gael in 
Peebleshire before the Welsh, who did not understand their 
language, The name of the Attacotti, who could only be sub- 
dued by drawing off their men for the Roman Army, was pro- 
bably rather Ota-catti, and meant warriors of the woods. 

The name of Manau or Mannan, and variations of it, occur in 
so many places connected with the Picts, that I have a theory 
that the Picts, and Otadeni alike, must have called themselves 
something like man as their original national name. The word 
man, which pervades so many languages, is not used in the Cel- 
tic, as far as I know, for either the species or the individual, and 
it does seem to have been a proper name in Ireland, Scotland, 
and also in Wales. Captain Thomas’ observation, that the Oree 
or Minnoth in Galloway was formerly called the Manach, has an 
interest in this way besides identifying the Abravannus of the 
Roman geography. The half-dozen names by which the Picts 
are called in early history all mean much the same as Picti, 
coloured or spotted. Their Gaelic name in historical times was 
something like Cruiney, attributed to a mythical ancestor; but 
then it meant colour. Hven the name of Agned, for their great 
stronghold of Edinburgh, Mr Skene suggests is derived from 
‘“‘aoneaw,’’ an obsolete Celtic word for painted or spoted. The 
rock is sometimes gay enough with the rock-wallflower and other 
plants, but I do not suppose the name refers to that. That the 
Picts were still tatooed in Roman times seems certain, but never- 
theless the name of Cathbregion, applied to the people about 
Agned or Edinburgh, suggests another idea about them. It 
seems to be Cathbreacan, and to bean old Celtic form for spotted 
warriors; cateran is really warrior in modern Gaelic. And in 
one of the Welsh poems, a warrior called first Palach, and then 
the Cath Palug, is killed by Cai (Fordun seems to connect this 
legend with Dunbar). So that I imagine the English cad and the 
more honourable Scotch cadie, are degraded Celtic words for a 
warrior. Now ‘“‘breacan’” in the modern Gaelic not only means 
spotted, but is the regular word for tartan ora plaid; and as 
there does not appear any evidence that tartan was worn in Ire- 
land by the Scots; on the contrary, it is very distinctly recorded 
that at the time of Strongbow’s invasion the Irish wore but little 
woollen, and that chiefly of the black or dark colour of the sheep ; 
it is not improbable that tartan both in the Highlands and Low- 
lands is a Pictish inheritance, and that the many-coloured breacan 


Notes on the Catrail. By Miss Russell. 97 


had something to do with all these names meaning colour. The 
word maud for the shepherd’s plaid of uncleaned wool, is even of 
importance to the history of Scotland, for it is obviously the old 
Gaelic maudal or maundal for mantle, only used in poetical Gaelic. 
Plaidie, on the other hand, is the regular Gaelic word for a 
blanket. The shepherd’s plaid in Dumfrieshire is sometimes 
woven of red and white. It is sometimes called the Johnstone 
tartan, and I believe it has as much to do with the Johnstones as 
many of the tartans have to do with the clans, as clans. ‘The 
regimental tartans seem to be the truest representatives of the 
old dress, in so far as they are supposed to mark the men who go 
out to battle from a particular district. The use of the gray 
plaid, as one would have expected, extends into Northumber- 
land; its southern limit, to speak botanically, would be an inter- 
esting subject of enquiry. 

It will be observed, the theory of an original Gaelic population 
in Lothian and Berwickshire (though I do not know that any of 
us in the south of Scotland have ever doubted it) is of great con- 
sequence to the nationality of Scotland, and shows that it is not 
merely a result of the welding of the English wars; for one 
thing, it explains how Scotland came to extend to its present 
limits, for it accounts for the incessant attempts of the Scoto- 
Pictish kings on Lothian and Northumberland. Mr Skene 
remarks upon the extreme persistency, and sometimes unaccount- 
ableness, of these attempts; but he has latterly seen that the 
true explanation is, that the districts in question had been old 
Gaelic territory. See page 135 of the 8rd volume of ‘Celtic 
Scotland,” ‘‘Land and People.” He also mentions the High- 
land tradition to that effect. 

I cannot say much of the remains of the Catrail from personal 
observation: the southern half I do not know, and as to the 
northern part, as far as my experience goes, there is not a great 
deal to be seen. After it enters Selkirkshire, the mouth of 
Rankilburn is one place where lines are marked by the map, 
parallel to the Ettrick; but I can hardly say they are visible. 
The bank does not look as if it had been ploughed of late years. 
But on the west side of the Kttrick the map gives a significant 
name which Gordon has not got—the Ramper Knowe—though 
the rampart is a scarcely perceptible rise in a ploughed field at the 
foot of the steep Gilmanscleuch Law. There is no appearance of 
any line ascending the hill, and it is impossible to see what use 

M 


98 Notes on the Catrail. By Miss Russell. 


it would have been of, as the object must have been to defend 
the road up the open valley; from the head of Kttrick, a good 
moor road goes over Ettrick Pen into Dumfriesshire; the valley 
of the Tima leads towards Lockerbie ; and about two miles above 
the Ramper Knowe, the road into Dumfriesshire by the lochs 
turns off at Tushielaw. This road eventually crosses the short 
length of river connecting the two lochs; and in connection with 
it, I am inclined to make ‘the Herman Law, or Hill of St Ger- 
manus, above Chapelhope, the scene of the missionary saint’s fam- 
ous rout of the invading Picts and Saxons, just twenty years after 
the Romans left Britain. The road through the hills into An- 
nandale supplies the essentially requisite feature for that inter- 
esting story. And the Picts make a difficulty about any southern 
locality. As no one has ever seen the Catrail on the hills be- 
tween Ettrick and Yarrow, I do not suppose it was ever made 
on that high ground. The idea that the Catrail had been a con- 
tinuous work may probably have originated with George Chal- 
mers, who knew quite enough of history to know that the Cum- 
brian frontier must have occurred somewhere near this, but no 
more pretended to any personal knowledge of the works them- 
selves, or the district, than in the case of any other of his Scotch 
antiquities. He spent sixty years of a long life out of Scotland. 
In the valley of the Yarrow the Catrail decidedly re-appears, 
but not of any great size ; it was described to me by a proprietor 
in the valley as being at the Catslack—‘‘and whatever it was 
meant for, part of it is now in use as a road.” This seems to be 
the part on the east side of the Yarrow; but on the other side it 
was lately traced for a mile and half or more, by Professor 
Veitch and Dr. Russell of Yarrow, ascending Minchmoor and 
running north-east. Nearly at the spot where Pont gives the 
name of OCarfood, they detected three forts near each other, each 
with its spring of water. The name might be the Gaelic Car- 
fad, long fort; while fod means earth or soil. The Blackgrain 
Rig, mentioned by Gordon, is marked by the map on this line. 
But I consider the names the real relics of the Cymri on Minch- 
moor. On the moor in the Yarrow valley retaining the name of 
Annan Street, the road into Annandale, was found in 1807 the 
stone with a rude inscription which is read as containing, in the 
epitaph of his two sons, the name of Nudd Hael, or the generous, 
Chief of the Dumnogeni. It is a matter of much local interest 
at least, that Dr. J. A. Smith’s paper, containing this reading of 


Notes on the Catrail. By Miss Russell. 99 


the inscription, must have been printed almost simultaneously 
with the “Four Ancient Books of Wales,’”’ in which Mr Skene 
places the cousins of Rhydderch Hael, of whom Nudd was one, 
in this district, Yarrow being named. The two seem to have 
been entirely independent. The Dumnogeni would be Ptolemy’s 
Scotch Damnonii, and certainly Cymri. Secondly, one of the 
hills behind Yarrow church is actually called the Welshie Law ; 
this might be a family name, but it seems significant here. 
Thirdly, the same thing applies to Wallace’s Trench :--the name 
may be that of the Guardian of Scotland, or anybody else, but it 
is what the Cymri are called throughout Saxon history, or nearly 
so. Ido not know the lower end of Wallace’s Trench, but the 
object of the upper part seems evident enough; to defend, or 
partly intercept, the road coming along the ridge from the east- 
ward, at the point where the old high road crossing Minchmoor 
from the Tweed at Traquair, turns steeply down to the Yarrow. 
It is a long earthen wall, about five feet high in parts, running 
up the hill. Near the top of the ridge isa wide gap or opening, 
defended by a separate piece of wall to the westward ; the upper 
part of the wall, which has been broken down, but not cut away, 
where the track goes over it, stops abruptly at the top of the 
hill; but I do not know that any one would notice who had not 
happened to get into it, that the north side of the ridge here is 
a deep bog. It is a mere suggestion, but it is possible that 
when Gordon says of the Catrail somewhere hereabouts, that it 
“mounts the hill called Henhillhope, and is very distinct for a 
quarter of a mile,” he refers to Wallace’s Trench. All the 
known portions of the Catrail run, roughly, north and south. I 
have no doubt the name of Wanders Knowe, for the top of 
Lewinshope Rig, opposite Wallace’s Trench, records some former 
tradition of the name of Gwenever; she seems remembered as 
the Queen Wanders of Meigle in Perthshire. [Since the above 
was written, I find on inspecting Wallace’s Trench from below, 
that is from the south, that it is considerably shorter and higher 
than I was aware of. It is a very respectable earth work still, 
but there are only two distinct divisions; both the roads along 
the hill must have passed through the gap between the two. I 
find the Minchmoor causeway is said to be a Roman road. | 

The only other bit of earthwork I have ever been able to see 
on Minchmoor is a low wall, perhaps two feet high, at Penman- 
score ‘‘the head of the great wood’”’ where the road from the 


100 Notes on the Catrail. By Miss Russell. 


Tweed by the Peel burn comes up a dry and firm hillside. It is 
at Penmanscore that the king (in the ballad) appoints the Out- 
law Murray to meet him. 

‘A fourth name which may stand for the Britons occurs on the 
south side of the hill here; the Cameron Burn, which I take to 
be ‘‘Cambrian.” I think I detect some faint indications that 
the clan-name may mean Cambrian rather than Crooked Nose; 
the analogy of Galbraith, the British Stranger, for one thing. 

A fifth is recorded at Williamhope, of which the old name was 
Galeswood, that is Waleswood. Sixthly, the conspicuous summit 
now (and in the Act of Parliament of 1681) called the Three 
Brethern Cairn, is marked by Pont about 1620 as the Brethwen 
Hill. This can hardly be a misprint of the longer name, which 
I believe to be an attempt to get a meaning out of an old name 
which was the southern equivalent of Dunbreatan or Dumbar- 
ton. Pont has a Three Brethren Hill, three summits near the 
head of the Black Esk. A beacon on the Brethren Hill would 
communicate at once with High Cheviot and the Dumfrieshire 
hills, besides the nearer ones. To the east of this hill are some 
low earthworks, nearly level with the ground; but further east, 
on the Peat Law, and what is now called the Linglee Hill, I be- 
lieve is one of the most distinct portions of the Catrail, and 
visible to the naked eye. I have always looked for it too far 
west. The Saxons being as near as Old Melrose in the seventh 
century, accounts for the work being stronger and more recent 
here than among the higher hills. I find that Lessedwyn, the 
old name of Lesudden, has long been recognised as meaning 
Edwin’s Court, or something of the kind, in Welsh; while the 
Hildon Hills are called Edwin’s Cliffe in the Saxon Chronicle. 
The original frontier of the Romanized Britons would certainly 
extend to the important Roman station at the Hildons; and 
there is an Arthurshiels to the south-east ; but the dedication to 
St Helena at Lindean, on the Ettrick below Selkirk, and her 
name connected with a well at Melrose, rather give the idea, in 
connection with some interesting observations about the Saxon 
kings elsewhere, that Edwin of Deira had pushed his frontier to 
the Ettrick. 

The Yair Cribs’ Hill, mentioned by Gordon, I find is a con- 
siderable part of the hill, and no doubt the Catrail does go over 
some part of it. The name of Linglee is now only used for the 
farm to the town of Selkirk, while Gordon apparently uses it for 


Notes on the Catrail. By Miss Russell. 101 


the whole slope to the Ettrick, as far as the Tweed, which would 
naturally be the original meaning :—the Long Lee. There is 
now no road, that can be called such, on this hill, to the east of 
the bridle-path from Yair to Broadmeadows, but the Act of 1681 
mentions ‘the high street to the east of the Peat Law” anda 
“oreen rod” there. Gordon implies that the Catrail went by 
the fort on Sunderland Hall ground, of which a few stones still 
remain, at a place where four fields meet. 

A former map of Selkirkshire has confused matters much by 
laying down as the Catrail a double line of old fail-dyke along 
the march of Yair and Sunderland Hall, chiefly, now, on the 
Yair side. It was only after devoting four days toitin different 
seasons, and in fact taking a great deal of trouble about it, that 
I became convinced it was nowhere much larger than an ant hill, 
and had no appearance of ever having been larger; I then 
recollected a story of there having been a strip of plantation 
along the march which was neutral; by no means probable, but 
showing there had been such a strip, and of course fenced. 

On the bank of the Tweed, just east of the march, where the 
Sunderland Hall woods begin, the 6-inch Ordnance map marks 
a small work turning at an angle, which I have never seen. 
But on the north bank of the river I have lately detected what 
must be the Catrail, a long raised bank, as large as a natural 
ridge, which is the foundation of a hedge running straight down 
to the river; there is hardly any haugh or flat ground at this 
point. The Catrail can be traced above the road running in this 
direction. It is certainly not to be seen where the Ordnance 
map brings it down, opposite the Howden Pot Burn. 

I do not see any reason to suppose that either the fragment of 
the Catrail remaining on a steep bank west of the Rink, or the 
fort there, have ever been very different trom what they are 
now, a barbarous imitation of the Roman rampart in the mate- 
rial at hand, loose stones of moderate size, which would be avail- 
able as missiles at close quarters. The foot or so of dry stone 
Roman wall remaining at Castlecary is a neat and solid construc- 
tion still. I remember a woman telling me she had seen a great 
many instruments of torture which came out of it (the Rink fort), 
“‘and they gaed down to the Shirra,” by whom it appeared she 
meant Sir Walter Scott. That he made no catalogue of his 
collection has often been regretted. Mr Hardy sugzests that the 
old name of the farm, Langrink, refers to the great ditch and 


102 Notes on the Catrail. By Miss Russell. 


bank which certainly ran across it till the last century. In the 
sense of boundary, it may be old enough to refer to the national 
frontier. There is no spring in the neighbourhood of the Rink 
fort, or fortified village ; but it only struck me lately, the supply 
of water must have been from the small Mossend loch, drained 
within the last ten or twelve years. A line of rampart can still 
be traced running down from near the entrance towards the loch, 
alongside one of the field dykes. The loch seems to have been part 
of the line of defence; a faint line is or was visible running 
down to it at right angles from the work above Hollinbush. 
This part is like a good sized cart-road cut along the hill for 
thirty or forty yards. North of Hollinbush, two faint lines are 
traceable where the trench has been long ago destroyed by old 
cultivation. Gordon, who begins at the Rink, had evidently not 
seen the part remaining, I believe perfect, on Mossilee; I have 
never succeeded in seeing it either ; in fact the sequestered situ- 
ation of both this and the part on Sunderland Hall hill, may | 
have tended to preserve them; but they seem both well-known, 
as earthen ramparts and ditches. Of the fort at Mossilee I be- 
lieve nothing but the site remains. The name of Wallace’s 
Putting Stane on Meigle hill doubtless indicates a confused tradi- 
tion of the Cymri. Hut-circles of early habitation have been 
found on Mossilee, and interments in stone cists have been dis- 
closed during the recent great extension of the streets of Gala- 
shiels. ' 

I doubt whether the Catrail ever extended into the valley of 
the Gala; the trenches on the top of the steep bank north-west 
of Kilnknowe seem rather those of a fort; and a narrow line 
above the road, now nearly obliterated, stops nearly at the Tor- 
woodlee march, so was probably a fence. If the Catrail ever 
ran up to the fort at the Harrigait Head, above Torwoodlee, it 
must have been obliterated by the road made in 1780—that 
Pennant must have travelled by. The fort is perfect except that 
the ditch has been filled up with the stones of therampart. There 
was a small village just below till within the present century. 
North of Torwoodlee, there is a fort of straight lines at Caitha, 
on the east side of the valley ; and I notice similar lines at Bow. 
At Caitha the road from Edinburgh to Selkirk and the south, 
turns off over the moor; and between the Tweed and Gala there 
are remains of a large fort on the rising-ground of Caddonlee, in 
which the top of a quern of true Italian lava has been found ; 


Notes on the Catrail. By Miss Russell. 103 


and a smaller one at the pass of Laidlawstiel, by which the 
main road went up the Tweed, before the rocks at Thornilee 
were cut through. North of Stow (where there are two forts) 
the forts begin again on the west side of the Gala, with a square 
Roman camp on a steep hill-side, which there is no reason to 
doubt is the Castel Guinion of Arthur’s battle. There are traces 
of the two old churches—that of the Holy Rood as ‘“‘St Ruth.” 
Where Mr Tennyson got his detail of Arthur’s emerald Madonna 
I do know, but I find it is likely to be the old form of the tradi- 
tion about this battle, for the Byzantine school of gem-engravers 
used green stones for sacred subjects. Mr Skene places Urien’s 
battle of Gwenystrad, some sixty years later, at Stow also; 
Guinion being “white” and Gwenystrad ‘‘ white valley.” 
Perhaps Stow is the most likely locality; the Galystem—Galas- 
stun—of the poem would be its early Saxon name. It is inter- 
esting to observe that geala (gaila) is white in Scotch Gaelic ; 
this confirms the identification, and is just such a translation as 
one might expect on a frontier. The name evidently refers to 
the peculiar short light grass of the valley, as unlike the com- 
moner heather, bog, or wood. The district called Goden must 
be the valley of the Tweed, I think. The poem called the Battle 
of Goden is addressed to Arthur in person—whether or not it 
refers to the ‘‘Cat Coed Celidon.”’ There is, or was, a round 
fort high on the hill at Watherston ; and then an imperfect one 
at Plenploth; which is of great interest, for the name can be 
nothing but Plan-ap-Loth, the place of the son of Loth-Llew of 
Lothian himself. Loth sounds like a mispronunciation of Llew, 
but I do not think itis; in the same poem in which the Cath 
Palug figures, there is a personage called Glewlwyd Gavaelvawr, 
who, especially as he is represented parleying defiantly with 
Arthur, can hardly be any one but Llew Lloyd, or Leo the Grey, 
of the Gavel Mawr, or large territory. His name may appear 
in Badlew, Llew’s House, near the source of the Tweed; Kaer- 
liudcoit, above mentioned, would mean the town of Lloyds’ 
Wood. Of his two sons, Medrawd and Gwalchmai, the latter 
has come down as Gofannon (Gawaine) which is probably from 
a resembling Welsh word which might mean “scarred,” ‘Le 
Balafre”’ in fact; it might also mean ‘‘the Smith.” Llew must 
have been many years older than Urien. I do not know of any 
fort at Fountainhall, where several small streams break up the 
hillside ; but there is one on a planted knoll close to the road, 


104 Notes on the Catrail. By Miss Russell. 


further north; and then a circular one nearly on the top of the 
enclosed hill at Haltree ; it was stripped of its characteristic ring 
of loose stones, by the tenant of the farm, ten or fifteen years 
ago; then, on the ridge between the deep valley of the Corsehope 
Burn and that of the Heriot—the upper part of the Gala, before 
it turns into the White Valley—comes the important though © 
indistinct fort belonging to Borthwick Hall. There is a Caitha, 
or Battle, Rig, leading up to it. Stones seem to be wanting in 
thesoil. The late Mr Lawson was interested by finding a water- 
plant growing on this dry hill top; which I suppose indicates a 
rain water reservoir for a length of time. North of the Heriot, 
up which a road leads to the Tweed at Inverleithen, I conclude 
there must have been another fort, from George Chalmers’ ‘“‘ high 
circle of stones’? which subsequent writers seemed to have 
turned into a curcle of high stones and dubbed a Druidical circle. 
There are traces of a fort at the watershed of the Little Gala 
and Fala burns. (Is Fala the Welsh Gwela, pale?) Three or 
four miles further north stands Borthwick or Locherward, at the 
head of the Kast Lothian Tyne, where Kentigern spent eight 
years, no doubt in the earlier part of his life. Fragments of a 
sandstone cross with knotwork were found when the present 
church was built. 

I had come to the conclusion that the Harits’ Dyke in Ber- 
wickshire must have been a branch of the Catrail, connecting 
the valleys of the Leader and Whitadder as a defence against 
the Saxons of Northumbria, before I found that that opinion 
had been long in print; I arrived at it by finding that William 
Rufus regarded the Leader, the frontier of Wedale, as that of 
Cumbria. Gordon found the tradition that the works of the 
Catrail extended to the Firth of Forth. I connect the Harits’ 
Dyke with Llew’s kingdom of Lothian, whether or not he 
owed it so entirely to Arthur as the Welsh accounts state; 
and I suppose it ceased to be a fortification after Edwin’s time. 
That Edwin was actually baptised by the son of Urien and 
nephew of Llew, I am inclined to believe, in the silence of Bede 
on the point; that cautious Saxon must have perfectly under- 
stood the advantage it would give him with the Christian Welsh 
of Lothian; and there are some ecclesiastical indications which 
lead me to think he had not got possession of Lothian at the time. 
In some copies of Nennius, the writer gives his authority for the 
tradition, and the authority of the Abbot of Whithern (for that is 


The Yarrow Inscription. By Miss Russell. 105 


what Nennius seems to mean) is strengthened where Edwin is 
concerned, by his calling the place where he was defeated and 
killed, Meicen; not Hatfield; the eighty thousand acres of marsh 
that formerly existed there, over woods felled by the Romans, 
show that Migen, marsh, was really the Welsh name of Hatfield. 

I imagine the strong country of Scottish Cumbria was event- 
ually conquered by an agreement, tacit or expressed, between the 
Kings of England and Scotland ; the latter must at least have 
remained neutral. The independent Cumbrians were probably 
troublesome neighbours to both. 


The Yarrow Inscription. By Miss RussELu. [Plate I.] 


THE copy of the Yarrow inscription from which the lithograph 
is taken, was made from the photograph of the cast taken by Mr 
Andrew Currie, which is in the Museum of the Society of Anti- 
quaries in Edinburgh. In the photograph it is considerably 
more distinct than in either the cast or the original; this is 
partly from the large straggling letters being brought more to- 
gether before the eye (the stone is six feet long) and partly from 
a well-known tendency of all photographs. The photograph can 
be obtained from Mr Bashford, of Portobello, for about five 
shillings. My reading of the letters does not differ from that 
given by Dr. J. A. Smith, except that I make out a few more; 
but by dividing the letters differently, I think sense, though not 
grammar, may be made of the whole. He cannot find a meaning 
for ‘“‘HIc MEMOR JACETI;” but I read 
HIC MEMORIA CETI- that is—This [is] the Sepulchre of 


LOI FINN Q Fii PRINCI- Catellus and Finn, sons of 
PE I- NVDI the illustrious Nudd, Chief 
DVMNOGENI: HIC JACENT of the Dumnonians. Here 
IN TVMVLO DVO FILII lie in the tomb the two 
LIBERALI sons of Hael. 


Cadell is a well-known Welsh name, which has become a sur- 
name; I do not know whether the name of Cadell son of Nudd 
is recorded elsewhere. Having once made out “ Cetiloi,” it 
appeared probable the next word was a name also; and I 
thought at first it was another Welsh name, Runn; till a close 
inspection, made with a view to the lithograph, showed me that 
the first letters were certainly F and I. Two irregular marks 

N 


106 The Yarrow Inscription. By Miss Russell. 


which follow, I think must have been made by the stone here 
flying off under the chisel, for when the sculptor began the 
joined double N further on, he seems to have used some sort of 
drill instead. I mention this particularly, because the name so 
interrupted is extremely curious and suggestive; Finn is the 
Gaelic form of the Welsh Gwynn, and this is presumably the 
Gwynn ap Nudd who has become altogether mythical in the 
Welsh tales, which contain little or nothing of the Cumbrian 
traditions except the proper names. He must have been con- 
nected with the Welsh conquests to the north of Dumbartonshire, 
in the country which is called Uffern or Avernus in the ancient 
Welsh poems, no doubt from the formidable character of the 
mountains and their inhabitants ; for he is connected with Arawn 
or Angus, who has become, in the tales, king of the under-world ; 
Gwynn ap Nudd is a prominent personage in this; and it is 
curious to find him apparently recorded as a real man. I had 
forgotten the circumstance, but I see it remarked lately, that 
when Professor Daniel Wilson published his ‘Prehistoric 
Annals,” the second sentence only of the inscription having been 
made out, it was supposed it might relate to the well-known 
Rhydderch Hael—Rodarcus Liberalis—instead of to his first 
cousin, Nudd Hael. Another son of Nudd Hael’s, named 
Dryan, is known to have fought in the great battle in the year 
573, near the Moat of Liddel, which established Rhydderch as 
king of Strathclyde or Cumbria. * 

It is possible the first sentence was not exactly intended to be 
altogether without a verb; my impression is, that the sculptor 
may have had some confused idea of getting it in at the end, but 
that the whole was even then so illegible, that he thought it 
better to begin a fresh sentence. The slabisa natural flat stone. 

There is nothing whatever to indicate whether the two brothers 
were killed in battle or not; but one’s impression is, that the 
two standing-stones, somewhat to the north of which (I think) 
the inscribed stone was found, mark the places where they were 
killed. There were formerly something like thirty cairns on the 
moor round them, in one of which an iron spear-head was found 
when the ground was ploughed. The inscribed stone is now 
placed upright between the two standing-stones. 

* St Mungo’s Well near Selkirk is of particular interest in connection 
with this family, and the circumstances connecting Kentigern and 
Rhydderch. It was under Rhydderch Hael’s auspices that Kentigern was 


established at Glasgow. I rather think this dedication always indicates 
a British population.—H. J. M. R. 


The Yarrow Inscription. Additional Remarks. 107 


ADDITIONAL REMARKS. 

After placing the photograph in a variety of lights, I came 
nearly to the same conclusion as Miss Russell, about the letter- 
ing, except that what she considers to be FINN, (and she may 
be right) appeared to me to be NENN. There is a shadowy 
appearance of a large N after the I of the preceding word, and 
both Sir James Simpson, and Dr. Smith (Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. 
vol. Iv. pp. 134, 538-9) adopt this reading. This, however, and 
what follows, is the dimmest part of the inscription. FU is a 
contraction, possibly for the genitive plural, at least it ought to 
be. PRINCIPEI. is either an erroneously formed genitive sin- 
gular, or it is susceptible of division. Under the latter view, 
PRINCIP. may be a contracted word; E may be ET, and I. 
with a period, IMPERATORIS. DVMNOGENT is a genitive 
singular. Out of this we obtain the expanded reading :—‘“ Hic 
[est] Memoria Ceteloi Nennique [vel Finnique] filiorum Principis 
et Imperatoris Nudi Dumnogeni. Hic jacent in tumulo duo filii 
Liberalis,” i.e. Here is the sepulchre of Catelus and Nennius (or 
Finn), sons of the Chief and Commander [the “‘Guledec’’] Nudd, 
the Dumnonian. Here lie in the tomb the two sons of Hael.—I 
think there is here record of two persons only, and not four, and 
that the second section is supplementary. The lettering 
resembles that of the ‘‘Cat-Stane’’ described by Sir James 
Simpson, (Proc. Soc. Antiq. of Scotland, rv., plate v.,) attributed 
to the fourth and fifth century ; and also the Llanerfyl Inscribed 
Stone (Montgomery Shire Collections, xv1, p. 91) of the fifth 
or sixth century, but is ruder than either. St Kentigern, the 
protegee of Rhydderch Hael, uncle of Nudd Hael, died in the 
beginning of the 7th century, (Historians of Scotland, v. Introd. - 
p. uxvir). Was this inscription, within the bounds of his 
diocese and apparently of his age, the handywork of any of his 
disciples, or did he himself inspire the legend ? 

Memoria is not of common occurrence in the sense of sepulchre ; 
but there is an example in Gruter, 894, 2. SERVILIVS 
TROILVS SE VIVO COMPARAVIT MEMORIAM SIBI ET 
‘SVIS. MEMORIAM POSVIT has been found at York on a 
stone coffin, (See Dr. McCaul’s Britanno-Roman Inscriptions, pp. 
98,214,215.) St Augustine de Cura pro Mortuis, c. 4, expressly 
gives Memoria as the equivalent of Monumenta. In the life of St 
Anthony, translated from Athanasius by Evagrius, the saint is 
recorded as having withdrawn to the sepulchres remote from the 


108  Noteson Marine Alge. By E. A. L. Batters. 


town, and one of the brethren shut him up in a tomb (‘in mem- 
oria’’), and there he dwelt alone. Memoria, in this sense, thus 
belongs to a late stage of Roman literature. J1 


Notes on the Marine Alge of Berwick-wpon-Tweed. By 
Epwarp A. L. Batters, B.A., L.L.B., F.LS. 


AurHoves the stretch of coast line between Holy Island and 
Burnmouth is as rich, and possibly richer, in the various forms 
of marine alge than any other portion of our Kastern shores of 
similar extent, possessing as it certainly does one hundred and 
forty-six, and probably many more, out of the three hundred 
and ninety-one ascertained British species, it has not up to the 
present time received from botanists anything like the attention 
it deserves ; indeed for the last twenty years, with the exception 
of a small list by Mrs Gatty in the third volume of the Proceed- 
ings of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, which Mr Hardy has 
kindly furnished me with, it has been almost entirely neglected, 
and even previously to this the literature upon the subject is ex- 
ceedingly meagre. 

The second volume of Dr. Johnston’s ‘‘ Flora of Berwick-upon- 
Tweed” published in 1831, enumerates about eighty species, but 
owing to the author having taken for his text books Lightfoot’s 
Flora Scotica, 1777, and Dawson Turner’s Synopsis of the British 
Fuci, 1802, the nomenclature of which has of late years been en- 
tirely superseded, the identification of the species is rendered 
extremely difficult. Fortunately, however, in the first volume of 
the ‘‘Natural History of the Eastern Borders,” published by the 
same author in 1853, the names have been taken from Harvey’s 
“Manual of British Alge,” and a large number of additional 
species, which had been omitted from the earlier volume, are in- 
cluded. The arrangement too is greatly improved, marine and 
fresh water alge being placed in separate lists, and a few lichens 
which are inserted in the ‘‘ Flora of Berwick”’ under the heading 
Algee having been omitted from the later volume. A few alge 
however mentioned in the ‘‘Flora of Berwick”? have been omit- 
ted, without apparent reason, from the list given in the ‘‘ Natural 
History of the Eastern Borders,” thus Cystoclonium purpurascens 
is inserted in the former work (sub nomine Gigartina purpurascens 
Fl. of Berw., vol. 11., p. 2384), but is omitted from the latter. It 
is howeyer recorded in Mrs Gatty’s list (sub nom, Hypnea pur- 


Notes on Marine Algw. By EH. A. L. Batters. 109 


purascens). Again Callithamnion polyspermum is recorded in the 
earlier volume (sub nom. C. purpurascens, Fl. Berw. vol. 11., p. 
240), but is not mentioned in the later. Johnston and Croall 
however (Nature Printed British Sea Weeds, vol. 11, p. 175) give 
this species as occurring at Berwick, on the authority of the pas- 
sage in the “ Flora of Berwick.’ Almost the same may be said 
of Rhizoclonium riparium (Conferva riparia, Fl. Berw., vol. 1., p. 
254), without doubt these species do occur at Berwick, and pro- 
bably Dr. Johnston omitted them unintentionally from his list i in 
the ‘‘ Natural History of the Eastern Borders.”’ 

All the species mentioned in this latter list, with the exception 
of Mesogloia vermicularis, a species I have never met with, and 
which I believe has not been found for many years, are still to 
be found in the vicinity of Berwick. Mrs Gatty’s list needs no 
comment; all the alge there recorded are still to be met with 
near Berwick. It is not usual, however, to reckon Rhipidophora 
paradoxza amongst what are now usually called marine alge. 

The following is a list of the Alge which have been recently 
found in the neighbourhood of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and which, 
as they are not mentioned in either Dr. Johnston’s or Mrs Gatty’s 
list, I believe to be previously unrecorded in the neighbour- 
hood :— 

1. Laminartra riextoavuis, (Le Joli.) (L. digitata var. stenophylla, 
Harv.)—This species is not uncommon all along the coast from 
Holy Island to Burnmouth. There can be no difficulty in dis- 
tinguishing this species from Laminaria digitata, Lamour., as its 
smooth, almost black, and somewhat compressed stems, may 
be known at a glance from the pale brown, corrugated, cylin- 
drical stems of the latter species. As its name implies its stems 
are much more flexible than those of Laminaria digitata, and 
may often be tied in a knot, while the stems of the latter are 
crisp and easily broken. 

2. LrrosrpHon pustuius, (Harv.)—This species is always par- 
asitical on the stems of Chorda filum, sometimes entirely covering 
them with its hair-like fronds. This plant is plentiful in a long, 
shallow, sandy pool situated about half way between the pier 
and the ‘‘ Greenses.”’ 

3. MyrionEMA sTRANGULANS, (Grev.)—Always parasitical on 
Enteromorpha compressa and other green alge ; this species forms 
dark stains on their fronds which look more like dirt than an 
alga. Not uncommon. 


110 Noteson Marine Alge. By E. A. L. Batters. 


4, ELACHISTA SCUTULATA, (Duby.)—Always parasitical on the 
stems of Himanthalia lorea, forming raised hairy lumps on its 
fronds. Not uncommon on a ledge of rocks lying a little to the 
northward of Dodds’ Well. 

5. ELACHISTA VELUTINA, (fries.)—Parasitical on the thongs of 
Himanthalia lorea, and often found in company with the preceding, 
the two species sometimes intermixed on the same thong. It 
forms light brown patches on the thongs of the Himanthalia, and 
is never so much raised as the preceding species. 

6. Exacuista GREVILLEI, (Arn.)—Parasitical on Cladophora ru- 
pestris. Very rare indeed. I shall not give the exact locality 
where this species is to be found, as there is but one pool near 
Berwick in which it grows. ‘This species, I believe, has been 
found but once since its discovery by Dr. Greville in 1852. My 
specimens are in fine fruit, the first found in Britain. 

7. SPHACELARIA PLUMOSA, (Zyngb.)—Rare. Cast up amongst 
sea refuse behind the pier and elsewhere. Berwick specimens of 
this plant are very small when compared with specimens gathered 
on the west coast of England. 

8. Eorocarrus Fascicutatus, (Harv.)—Rare. Found at the 
Coves, Dodds’ Well, and Burnmouth. 

9. MYRIOTRICHIA FILIFORMIS, (Harv.)—Parasitical on Aspero- 
coceus echinatus in shallow pools between the pier and the 
‘“‘Greenses.” Rare. 

10. PonysrpHonta Byssomss, (Grev.)\—Rare. Cast up among 
sea refuse. In looking through the collection of the late Dr. 
Johnston, which Mrs Barwell Carter was kind enough to show 
me, I noticed a specimen apparently of this species labelled Dasya 
coccinea var. It therefore appears that Dr. Johnston took this 
for a variety of D. coccinea. A moment’s reference to the micros- 
cope however will serve to separate the two plants. The 
main stems of P. byssovdes, as well as the branches, are marked 
with three or four upright lines, the main stems of D. coccinea are 
opaque. If sections of the stems of the two species are made the 
difference is even more apparent, as then the eight internal tubes 
of the Polysiphonia are plainly visible. Polysiphonia byssoides, 
moreover, turns nearly black in drying. 

11. PonysrpHonta PULyINATA, (Spreng.)—Not uncommon on 
algeo and rocks between tide marks all along the coast. 

12. BonNEMAISONIA ASPARAGOIDES, (4g.)—Rare. Cast up a- 
mongst sea refuse during the summer months, often in consider- 


Notes on Marine Alge. By E. A. L. Batters. 111 


able quantity, but very irregular in its appearance. 

13. Lomentarta rosEA, (Zhur.) (Chrysymenia rosea, Harv.)— 
Very rare indeed. My specimen of the species is small, and 
appears to be the variety called by Harvey, Chrysymenca rosea var. 
Orcadensis. I found it growing on an old stem of Laminaria 
digitata to which it was attached by long fibres, with rootlets here 
and there, It is a very beautiful little alga. 

14. Hapatipium PHyLLactipium, (Auts.)—Parasitical on the 
preceding. I have only found one specimen of this species, but 
still I have no doubt that it is not uncommon at Berwick, as it 
ought to occur on the fronds of Chrysymenia clavellosa. 

15. DzLussERIA HYPOGLossUM, (.4g./—Very rare indeed. Cast - 
up during the summer from deep water. I have always found 
this species in company with Bonnemaisonia asparagoides although 
it is rather rarer than that plant. 

16. DELESsERIA RUScIFOLIA, (Lamour.)—Rare, but not so rare 
as the preceding. I have never found this plant growing. It is 
sometimes cast ashore at the ‘‘ Greenses.” 

17. NiToPHYLLUM PUNOTATUM, (Grev.)—Not uncommon. Al- 
ways found floating, though not unfrequently attached to some 
other alga. This is a very variable species; sometimes the 
fronds are almost entire and more than an inch across, at other 
times much and irregularly laciniated, the segments only a few 
lines broad; the margins too are sometimes strongly curled, but 
the thin substance, bright, light pink colour, glossiness when dry, 
and entire absence of veiny lines, render it easy of recognition. 

18. NiropHyititum Bonnematsont, (Grev).—Ratherrare. This, 
like the preceding species, is always found floating. Holy Island 
specimens are much finer than those found at Berwick, although 
it is often thrown ashore in considerable quantity at the latter 
place. The veins which rise from the base of the frond, and 
spread faintly upwards, are a great aid in distinguishing this 
species from JV. punctatum, which otherwise it somewhat resem- 
bles. 

19. CaTEnELLA Opuntia, (Grev.)—Rare, although found in 
considerable quantity when it does occur. This species loves the 
shade, and is to be found growing on the sides of some of the 
caves at Dodds’ Well and elsewhere. It is a small plant often 
not half an inch high, and unless carefully looked for is likely to 
escape observation. 

20. CERAMIUM FLABELLIGERUM, (J. dg.)—Rather rare. Paras- 


112 Notes on Marine Algew. By E. A. L. Batters. 


sitical on the smaller alge, &c., between tide marks all along the 
coast. 

21. CALLITHAMNION PLUMULA, (Lyngb.)—Very rare. Cast up 
from deep water behind the pier usually in single specimens. 
This and Bonnemarsonia asparagoides are two of the species Mrs 
Gatty says (vide ‘‘ British Sea-weeds” Introduction p. xvi.) are 
quite unknown on the north-east coast but of course this is a 
mistake. Mr EH. M. Holmes, F.L.S., has kindly examined my 
specimens of these species, so that there can be no doubt of the 
correctness with which they are named. 

22. CALLITHAMNION FLORIDULUM, (4g.)—Not uncommon all 
along the coast from Berwick to Burnmouth. This species forms 
little, purple, cushion-like patches on the rocks between tide 
marks. 

23. PryssonELLA Dusyt, ( Crowan.)—Parasitical on the stems of 
Laminaria digitata forming thin, purple stains, often of consider- 
able extent, on its stems. Not uncommon. 

24, Bryopsis pLuMOSA, (4g.)—Berwick specimens of this alga 
are very small, never more than an inch long often much less. 
Tt is to be found in the pools near the ‘‘ Narrow Lane” but is 
very rare. 

25. ENTEROMORPHA coRNUCOPIZ, (Hook.)—Parasitical on 
Corallina officinalis between tide marks. Rare. 

26. ENTEROMORPHA ERECTA, (Hook.)—This very pretty species 
does not appear to come nearer to Berwick than Holy Island; it 
is to be found, though rarely, at the latter place in shallow sandy 
pools, and is plentiful at particular spots. In the water it looks 
more like a Cladophora or Conferva than an Enteromorpha. 

27. ENTEROMORPHA RAMULOSA, (Hook.)—Not uncommon near 
Berwick and very plentiful a little to the north of the Needle-eye. 

28. ENTEROMORPHA PERCURSA, (Hook.)—Not uncommon. Often 
mixed with other alge. Found at the Coves and elsewhere. 

29. CLADOPHORA REFRACTA, (Autz.)—Occasionally found at the 
Coves. 

80. CLaDoPHORA LaAwNosA, (Kutz.)—Parasitical on Polyndes 
yotundus. My specimens of this species are very small and poor 
compared with specimens gathered in the south of England. In 
a pool not very far from Dodds’ Well there is a considerable 
quantity of it, elsewhere near Berwick it is very rare. 

31. CuapopHoRA arcTa, (Autz.)—Not uncommon in Berwick 
Bay. 


Notes on Marine Algw. By E. A. L. Batters. 118 


32. ConFERVA MELAGONIUM, (Web. et Mohr.) —This plant is to 
be found in deep pools near the Coves; its long stiff filaments 
which stand straight up in the water like pieces of wire, render 
this species unmistakeable ; it is rather rare. 

33. CoNFERVA ZREA, (Dz/lw.)—Rare. This species is some- 
times to be found in shallow sandy pools near the ‘‘ Greenses.”’ 

34, CALOTHRIX scOPULORUM, (4g.)—Common on the coast near 
Berwick. This plant forms a dark green film on rocks near 
high water mark rendering them very slippery. 

35. CALOTHRIX FASCICULATA, (4g.)—A taller, handsomer, and 
much rarer species than the last; it is not uncommon near ~ 
‘‘ Sharper Head.” 

In addition to the preceding species, the whole of which may 
be found described and figured in any goud manual of the British 
Alge, the following species, hitherto unrecorded on our coasts, 
have been found at Berwick, and my very best thanks are due 
to Mr Holmes, F.L.S., for his kindness in naming my specimens 
and furnishing me with much valuable information concerning 
them. 

86. PHyxuitis Fascia.—Very rare. This species is very like 
Chorda lomentaria, only flat ; it is to be found a little to the north- 
ward of the Needle-eye; it was first found on our coasts by Mr 
Holmes at Elie in Fifeshire, and has, I believe, been found no- 
where else in Britain except at the station above recorded. 

37. PHLGSPORA ToRTILIS.—This plant looks like a very curly 
variety of Dictyosiphon feniculaceus; it has been recorded from 
two or three Scotch and one Durham localities. 

38. MELOBESIA LAMINARIZ.—Not uncommon. Parasitical on 
the stems of Laminaria digitata on which it forms a thin crust ; it 
may be known by its very depressed cystocarps scarcely visible 
above the surface of the pond. 

39. NiToPHYLLUM REPTANS.—Rare. Parasitical on the stems 
of Laminaria digitata, and attached to them by innumerable little 
rootlets ; it was first noticed in this country at Sidmouth by Mr 
Holmes. Berwick, I believe, is the only other locality where it 
has been found in Britain. 

40. THAMNIDION INTERMEDIUM.—Very rare. A species which 
at first sight might be taken for Callithamnion Turneri, but the 
stem is forked, and the fruit corymbose and borne on the lateral 
branches. 


41. Dasya Grppesi1.—Very rare indeed. Not unlike JD. 
oO 


114 Notes on Marine Alge. By E. A. L. Batters. 


coccinea only the main stems are transparent and not opaque as 
in that species. I have only found one specimen of this species, 
it should be carefully looked for. 

Mr Holmes has kindly furnished me with the following list ee 
“ae alge likely to be found at Berwick. 

. DicryosIPHON HIPPUROIDEs. —Always parasitical on Chordarta 
ica a species it closely resembles; it has been found at 
ee and there is no reason why it should not occur at Ber- 
wick. 

2. DicryostPHon MEsocLora.-—A species very like a Mesogloia; 
it has been found at Longniddry and should be looked for where 
streams of sea water flow between rocks. 

3. DicryosIpHoNn HIsPIDUS.—Found at Joppa, &e. 

4. CHORDA TOMENTOSUM.—This species is almost certain to 
occur at Berwick ; I feel quite sure I saw a specimen of it in the 
collection of the late Dr. Johnston. 

5. CopioLum greGcARIuM.—An alga which forms a green film 
on rocks, it has been found in the south of England by Mr 
Holmes. 

6. PHL@sPoRA SUBARTICULATA.—In his ‘Flora of Berwick- 
upon-Tweed”’ Dr. Johnston speaks of having found a variety of 
Dictyosiphon feniculaccus jointed like a Ceramium, I have no 
doubt he refers to this species. 

7. CALLITHAMNION LUxURIANS.—This Callithamnion forms a 
pink fringe on old Zostera stems. 

8. CLADOPHORA FLEXICAULIS.—An alga which always grows on 
Cladophora rupestris, this fact may help to the identification of 
this species, as I believe no other Cladophora grows on a plant of 
the same genus. 

9. PorpHyra LEvcostTicra.—Very like Porphyra laciniata, only 
the fruit is formed in pale coloured patches in the margin and is 
radiate. 

10. PrastoLa MARINA.—Very like a very minute light brown 
Enieromorpha latissima or £. compressa,.but it is only a few lines 
high ; it has been found at Dunoon, Joppa, and elsewhere in 
Scotland. 

Areschong’s ‘‘ Phyceze Scandinavices Marine” and Crouan’s 
“Florule du Finistere,”” may be consulted for other species likely 
to occur at Berwick. . 

In conclusion I should strongly recommend the study of the 
marine alge of the neighbourhood to such members of the Club 


Account of Ancient Urn, éc. By Rev. W. Stobbs. 115 


as are at all inclined to botanical pursuits; in no other branch of 
the natural history of our islands is so favourable an opportunity 
offered to botanists for the discovery of new species and new 
forms of fructification. The study of algology as yet is imper- 
fectly understood, and the satisfaction of adding to the flora of the 
district, and possibly of the country, or to the knowledge of any 
particular science, is greatly in excess of that derived from the 
mere collection of dried specimens of ascertained species of flower- 
ing plants, to which too many of our country botanists restrict 
their efforts. 

The study is not a difficult one, nothing more being required 
than a little perseverance, a good manual of the British alge, 
and a common microscope, and the beauty of the specimens when 
properly set out is far in excess of any collection of flowering 
plants, which it is impossible to preserve in anything nearly ap- 
proaching their pristine beauty and delicacy of colour. 


Some Account of an Ancient Urn and of Gold and Silver 
Ornaments found under a cairn in the parish of Gordon 
about the year 1838, by the late Mr James Hay, and now 
im possession of Mr John Hay, Fewar, Gordon. (Plates 
II and III.) By the Rev. WitL1am Stops, M.A. 


Nearty all the land lying to the north-east of Gordon, 
between that village and the river Eden, was within living 
memory a barren moorland. With a view to its reclamation the 
superior let it in portions to several of the inhabitants of the 
village in the form of feus. To transform so unpromising a 
piece of moor into arable land proved to be no easy task. The 
stones, and even rocks, with which the surface was strewn were 
so numerous as to require the expenditure of incredible labour 
in their removal. Perseverance, however, won the day; and 
what a few years before had been a stretch of heather and 
whins, presented the more pleasing aspect of well fenced fields, 
whose crops testified by their variety and abundance to a high 
degree of cultivation. 

The feu which fell to the lot of the late Mr Hay seems to have 
_ been a more than usually formidable subject; for not. only did it 
possess its full share of stones scattered by the hand of nature, 
but it was encumbered in addition by a large pile of them, erected 


116 Account of Ancient Urn, &c. By Rev. W. Stobbs. 


by the hand of man, and called the Cadger’s Cairn. I have 
ascertained the position of this cairn. It stood on a slight 
‘knowe’ in the north-west corner of the eighth field on the left 
hand side of the road going to Edenside. A bridlepath, no 
longer existing, between Gordon and Mack’s Mill, ran by the 
side of it, and the cairn was about exactly half way in a direct 
line between the two places. Travellers and cadzers made it a 
resting place, hence I suppose, the name. Ihave not been able 
to make out whether the stones composing this cairn were 
arranged in any order, or whether they had a ‘built’ appear- 
ance. Itseems not. At any rate their number must have been 
enormous, for when they came to be driven away they supplied 
more than a hundred cart-loads. 

Imbedded in the soil upon which this cairn had rested, Mr 
Hay in trenching came upon an urn of half-baked clay. It was 
about 16 inches in height, and 10 inches in diameter at the 
mouth. Its surface was profusely ornamented. Unfortunately 
it fell into fragments a few days after its discovery. Plate m1. 
Fig. 1. represents a portion of the lip of the urn, and the largest 
fragment that remains. 

In the same place and at the same time there were also found 
the following :-- 

1. A Gold Ring (Plate m. fig. 1.) The mechanism of this ring 
is curious. First two or three threads of gold wire have been 
twisted into one long strand, then five plies of this strand have 
been twisted into a ring, so that every portion of the ring is of 
the thickness and strength of at least ten wires. The ends of the 
wire are kept in the inside so as to be out of sight, and the sol- 
dering is managed with considerable skill. The ring is in 
beautiful preservation. Dr. Anderson thinks it is fully finer 
in point of workmanship than any specimen they have in the 
Scottish Antiquarian Society’s Museum. 

2. The Hook of aSilver Brooch. (Plate 1. fig.2.) The orna- 
mentation, as will be seen, is extremely tasteful. The chasing 
had been filled with mello, of which some traces may yet be de- 
tected. 

3. A portion of a Silver Bracelet. (Plate 1. fig. 3.) The 
ornamentation of this article has not been done by hand, as in 
the case of the brooch, but by stamping with a comb-like punch. 

4. 5. Two Ingots of Silver. (Plate m. figs. 4. 5.) Weighing 
respectively 13 and 1} oz. 


Account of Ancient Urn, dc. By Rev. W. Stobbs. 117 


6. An Iron Spear-head. This was so eaten with rust that it 
scaled on every handling and finally disappeared. No drawing 
consequently could be given of it. It may be mentioned here 
that all the drawings represent the natural size of the objects. 

The friends of the late Mr Hay maintain that he found the 
urn and the articles in gold and silver just enumerated, in the 
same place, at the same time; and that he brought them home 
on the same evening. They are therefore of the belief that the 
articles in gold and silver were found cnside the urn. In this, 
however, they must be mistaken. The urn and the articles may 
have constituted one find, but they could not constitute one deposit. 
The urn belongs to the bronze age. It is one of the kind used 
at interments to hold food for the dead. The cairn undoubtedly 
’ marked the grave of some one great in his day; and had some 
person conversant with antiquities been present when it was re- 
moved and the urn was come upon, the story of the burial would 
have unfolded itself. The silver articles and probably—but not 
necessarily—the gold ring, belong to the later iron age, to the 
tenth or the eleventh century ; and the presence of the iron spear- 
head lends confirmation to this view. The ingots seem to point 
to a time when coined money was unknown or scarce ; and lead 
us to suppose that we have here a hoard of the precious metals, 
in the only form in which they were then used as a medium of 
exchange. In times of trouble or panic a person possessed of 
treasure would naturally consider a cairn the best place to bestow 
it, affording as it did not only ready means for present conceal- 
ment but a lasting mark to guide to future recovery. Possibly 
this is the explanation of the somewhat singular circumstance, 
that articles such as the urn and the silver ornaments belonging 
to ages so far from each other in point of time, should yet be 
found so near each other in point of place as to induce the person 
who came upon them to believe that they formed but one 
deposit. 

Dr. Joseph Anderson, who has been shown the articles and 
whose remarks upon them are incorporated in the above state- 
ment, says that this ‘“‘find”’ is one of very great interest, and is 
the only example of its kind on the mainland of Scotland. He 
regrets that he was not sooner made acquainted with it, as in 
that case he would have given a description of the articles in his 
recently published third volume on the Antiquities of the Later 
Iron age. 


118 Elsdon Parish Register. By Robert Arkle. 


Plate 1. fig. 2. Is a flint celt in possession of the writer. It 
was found by a young man in the month of February, 1882, 
while trenching a piece of ground, little more than 100 yards 
from the site of the Cadger’s Cairn mentioned above. It is of a 
pale gray colour, roughly chipped, polished at the cutting end. 
It belongs to the middle stone age and is allowed by Dr. Ander- 
son to be a very fine specimen of its kind. 

Witiiam STosss. 


Remarks on the Registers of the Parish of Elsdon. By 
THoMAs ARKLE, Highlaws, Morpeth. 


Tur Elsdon Parish Registers, the only chronicle of a large 
portion of the people of Reedwater since about the year 1670, 
are in general meagre in their details, which consist of little 
more than names and dates, interspersed with a few brief inci- 
dental observations on circumstances thought worthy of a passing 
notice. 

In the records of a district like the Parish of Elsdon, accounts 
of the burial of men slain in personal encounters might have 
been expected; for though the fierceness of border warfare had 
abated, still in the seventeenth century petty feuds were frequent 
in the district, where parties at enmity generally pursued each 
other with the bitterest rancour. However, the only entry of 
this nature is the burial on the 15th of April, 1693, of ‘“‘ Mark 
Potts of High Carrick, who was slain upon y® Mote Hills,” but 
by whom is not stated. Accidents are in a few instances noted, 
but the invidious chroniclers have mostly perpetuated derisive 
appellations, have alluded to personal and mental infirmities, 
have almost treated indigence as a crime, and recorded with un- 
failing assiduity conjugal incontinence, and slips indicating the 
frailty of a few of the ladies of Redesdale, whilst in the whole 
history there has not been found room for the commemoration of 
a single act of disinterestedness, charity, or virtue. 

In 1689, we find that ‘‘ Thomas, y® son of Jo. Potts of Carrick, 
was drowned near Cants Miln Dam hed,” whilst in 1741, ‘James 
and John, sons of William Dunn of Hole Miln,’”’ met with a 
similar fate, but the place of the accident is not recorded. 

In 1688, ‘Bartholomew, son of Wester Will of Landshott,”’ 
was baptized, and from 1686 to 1709 there were buried ‘John 


Elsdon Parish Register. By Robert Arkle. 119 


Hall the bab,” ‘‘ Kilp and Tirleytower of Hadderwick,”’ ‘‘ Short- 
beard of the Stobs,’”? ‘‘Allans Jo. of Garretshields,” ‘‘ Dishes 
Bells Rogerson,” and ‘‘ poor Thomye tunder.”’ 

In 1691, ‘‘ Jane y° Dumb daughter of Gerard Coxon of Ratten- 
raw” was buried, in 1695, ‘‘achild of a weaw*" of Rochester was 
buried at Biriness,”’ and the Registrar adds “‘some say he re- 
ceived alms.” There was also buried in 1699, ‘‘ Andrew Ruther- 
ford of Elsdon very poor,” in 1701, ‘‘a beger under the name of 
Jane Davison,” in 1727, ‘‘Kaster Hymarsh of Elsdon Ideott,” 
whilst 1729 completes the climax of misery by the burial of 
Gerard Coxon of Rattenraw, who had the double misfortune of 
being ‘‘an ideott and very poor.” 

_ At the very commencement of the Register is recorded the 

baptism of ‘‘ Elizabeth the bastard daughter of David Burn of 
Scotland, and Ellender Pott of Durtrees,” and the burial of 
“‘Tsabella the daughter of Edward Reed of Troughend by Ann 
Pott of Potts Durtrees.” The Register contains many similar 
entries, amongst which are the baptisms of ‘‘John y® fatherless 
bastard son of Jane Hall of Otterburn,” and ‘‘ Nicholas the bas- 
tard child of the dumb woman of Rattenraw.” There is also an 
entry of the baptism of ‘‘ Mary the Bastard daughter of Matthew 
Anderson of Yaitsfield”’ and ‘‘ Ellenor Potts of Monkridghall,”’ 
to which the scribe has felt it his duty to add ‘“‘he y® father 
having a wife.” 

In 1681 ‘‘ Jane Carr Widdow, a quaker, was buried at Otter- 
burn,” probably the last interment in that burying ground, which 
was situated behind the present Presbyterian chapel. 

In the older Registers the ages are not given, but in 1687 
Jane Nicholson of ye Raw was buryed, ‘‘ reputed to be near 100 
years.” 

In 1675 ‘‘John Harle of Otterburn alias Lord Harle was 
buryed”’ at Elsdon, and in 1711 the place was honoured by hav- 
ing the remains of ‘Robert the son of Lord Rutherford” 
deposited within its sacred precincts. 

There are numerous records of persons having been buried in 
woollen cloth, in accordance with an act of the legislature,* 
which strongly shews the protectionist notions of the times, in 
which it was passed. Philanthropists had not then conceived 
the noble but illusory idea of uniting all the nations of the earth 
in an universal brotherhood, or had not like ourselves learned 

* Caroli II. Tricesimo, 1678. 


120 Elsdon Parish Register. By Robert Arkle. 


the further important, though mortifying lesson, that many of 
our neighbours would rudely spurn our proferred embraces. 
Highlaws, Morpeth, 5 February, 1883. 


APPENDIX. 


To these pleasingly told notices about the parishioners of 
Elsdon, I may subjoin a few little known particulars, from the 
“‘ Depositions from the Castle of York relating to Offences com- 
mitted in the Northern Counties in the 17th century,” [Surtees 
Society, 1861.,] that afford us a glimpse of some of the relations 
between pastor and people at the period, and the danger to which 
the former was liable from Border freebooters. ‘‘ June 6, 1660, 
Jeremiah Nelson, minister of Ellesden, saith that on May 7th, a 
little before midnight, certain men broke into his house, and 
came with swords and pistolls into the said house, and shott off 
a pistoll, and did come into the lodging parlour, where he and his 
wife lyes, and did threaten him often, that if he would not give 
them his money presently they would kill him, and some of them 
said often, ‘Kill Baal’s priest,’ and they took away a purse and bag 
and money in it.’”’? The old Border peel-tower afforded no secu- 
rity to its inmates. The rector’s servants gave chase to the rob- 
bers, but could not overtake-them. Mr Nelson made another 
deposition on May 6th, 1660. He then says, ‘‘that John Shield, 
Quaker, did disturb him, on the 27th, in the pulpit, and on 
Monday last he did deny the Holy Scriptures contained in the 
Bible to be the word of God.” The Editor adds, at Durham, on 
Dec. 5, 1637, I find Percival Reed, charged with ‘‘abuseinge Mr 
Isaac Marrowe, clerke, parson of Elsden, calling him base priest, 
and stinking castrell, and did push the said Mr Marrowe by the 
beard.” pp. 84-85. J. H. 


12] 


Brief Notes on the Geology of Corbridge, Northumberland. 
By G. A. Lesour, M.A., F.G.S., Professor of Geology in 
the University of Durham College of Physical Science, 
Newcastle-on-Tyne. 


Tur Tyne, where Corbridge stands on its left bank, runs in a 
broad valley bounded on the north by the Blyth-Pont and Tyne 
watershed and on the south by that between Tyne and Derwent. 
The geology of this valley about the Corbridge meridian though 
not specially complicated yet offers several points of interest to 
the student of Glacial deposits and of the Carboniferous series. 

The formations occurring in the immediate neighbourhood will 
now be noticed seriatim, beginning with the newest and highest. 

Attuviat Deposirs: Under this head may be classed the 
material forming the low flat haughs by the river—loam, sand 
and gravel resulting from the regular and occasional overflows 
of the Tyne. Between Corbridge and Hexham these flood 
accumulations are extensively developed on the south or right 
bank, and form the ground chosen for the many market and 
nursery gardens established hereabouts. The terraces, though 
much lower and fewer in number than the remarkably fine ones 
higher up the valley about Haydon Bridge and Bardon Mill, are 
clearly traceable running east and west parallel to the line of 
railway—each serving as a measure of the thalweg of the Tyne 
in ancient times. At this particular spot these old alluvial ter- 
races do not reach very much above the level of still possible 
floods, and may therefore be grouped without impropriety with 
the true recent deposits of the lowest flats. Nevertheless it must 
be noted that whilst the material of the latter is really the allw- 
tum—or matter brought and deposited by the river itseli—the 
higher, more denuded, and consequently less distinct terraces are 
carved, to a great extent, out of the thick sands and gravel to be 
next noticed. 

SANDS AND GRAVELS OF THE Drirt: These are beautifully ex- 
hibited along the railway. Capping the Boulder Clay and rising 
to a considerable height up the southern flank of the Tyne 
valley, they frequently merge, as has already been observed, into 
the true river alluvium below. But whereas the latter consists 
for the most part of such detritus as is derivable from the rocks 
of the district—grits, sandstones, limestones, and basalt—the 
former contain a very large percentage of rounded fragments: 

P 


122 Notes on the Geology of Corbridge. By G. A. Lebour. 


foreign to it—slaty, greywacke, and igneous rocks akin to those 
of Cumberland and Southern Scotland. This distinction between 
the Drift and Alluvial gravels is easily made in writing, but is 
by no means so easily arrived at in the field, since mixed with 
the true alluvium must necessarily and constantly be found 
pebbles fallen from the topographically higher-lying and older 
gravels. 

It has been the custom to call these hill-side gravels and sands 
which fill up the valleys of the Tyne, Derwent, and Wear, some- 
times as far as the 700 feet contour line, the ‘Middle Glacial 
Sands and Gravels.”” They undoubtedly correspond to many 
deposits which in other parts of England are usually so termed, 
but nothing has been better proved by the recent wide-spread 
investigations in British glacial geology than the fact that these 
deposits are not strictly equivalent among themselves. No good 
purpose can therefore be served by adopting a title which in the 
present case would be especially misleading, since nowhere with- 
in the district is there any Upper Boulder Clay. But although 
all that can be said as to the position of these loose beds is that 
they overlie the Boulder Clay or Lower Boulder Clay, their 
Glacial age is tolerably well ascertained, scratched and striated 
stones having from time to time been found in them.* In the 
fine bluff which forms the back-ground to the Rifle Volunteers’ 
targets west of the Corbridge Station the sands and gravels can 
be well studied. There the current-bedding of the sands with 
patches of coal-débris presenting wedge-ended lenticular sections, 
and the unconformable junction with the Boulder Clay beneath, 
are exposed in a steep river cliff of which the face is continually 
changing, owing to constantly recurring falls. The coarser 
gravelly faces of the deposits is met with also on the hills over 
which the footpath from Corbridge to Aydon Castle runs. 

BovtpER Cray: Of this no very remarkable sections need be 
called attention to. It is present over a considerable portion of 
the entire tract under notice, wherever the solid rock does not 
come to the surface, from the high ground about and north of 
the Roman Wall. The valleys occupied by the Erring Burn and 


* The above statements must be taken in a broad sense. There are often 
adventitious beds of sand and gravel inthe Lower Boulder Clay, and also 
beds of clay (probably re-assorted Boulder Clay, but without scratched 
Boulders) in the Drift between Wansbeck and Wear. These, however, 
are in nowise continuous, and cannot for a moment be compared either 
with the sands and gravels under consideration, nor with the so-called 
Middle Glacial Beds of other areas. 


Notes on the Geology of Corbridge. By G. A. Lebour 123 


the River Pont are both filled up by Boulder Clay, sometimes to 
a comparatively great depth. In the Pont Valley the Boulder 
Clay is associated with many adventitious beds of sand and 
gravel such as those before referred to, but these cannot be 
observed 7 sit and are known only through the many borings 
and sinkings about Clarewood and Fenwick, in the neighbour- 
hood of Great Whittington and Matfen. At Grottington on 
the west side of Watling Street near Stagshaw Bank a tilery has 
been worked for some years in which the clay used, though be- 
longing to the Boulder Clay in part is also in part to a certain 
extent a re-assorted deposit. Several other tileries of a similar 
character have at one time or another been established in the 
neighbourhood. 

_ Mutusronz Grir: Two lines meeting at the river about two 
and a half miles to the south east of Corbridge between Styford 
and Bywell—one running with a north easterly curve to Har- 
low Hill, and the other running due west, to the south of Hex- 
ham near Beacon Grange—would separate the Millstone Grit 
from the Carboniferous Limestone or Bernician Series. This 
boundary is somewhat arbitrary, being determined simply for 
convenience by the outcrop of the highest calcareous member of 
the lower set of beds. I have frequently insisted, in various 
papers published during the last ten or twelve years, on the 
fact that in Northumberland the Millstone Grit is devoid of 
any distinctive characteristics by which it can be differentiated 
from the non-calcareous portion of the Bernicians. The valley 
from Stocksfield to Hall Moor is cut through Millstone Grit, and 
rocks of the same age furnish the greater part of the high 
ground rising from beneath the Drift gravels and sands to the 
south of Corbridge. Indeed most of the ground between the 
Tyne and Derwent is here Millstone Grit. 

_Carponirerovs Limestone Serres (Bernictan Rocks): All the 
rest of the solid, as distinguished from the superficial, geology 
of the region under consideration (excepting igneous rocks) be- 
longs to the upper division of this series, that is, to that portion 
of it which in West Yorkshire and Westmoreland would be 
called Yoredale Rocks, and to which, as exhibited in Durham 
and Northumberland, I have, for reasons fully stated elsewhere,* 
and now generally accepted as sufficient by competent authorities, 

*See Transactions of the Mining Institute; for 1876, and also the Geo- 
logical Magazine, Decade 11, vol. tv (1877). 


124 Notes on the Geology of Corbridge. By G. A. Lebour. 


given the name of Upper Bernician. Thin limestones separated 
from each other by thick grits and sandstones, shales, and coals 
are the characteristics of this formation. The conditions under 
which its various members were deposited therefore varied from 
those of land-surfaces of much smaller area and shorter duration 
than those of the later Coal Measure times, to those of sandy 
shelving sea-shores, shallow muddy estuaries, and deeper (but 
not very deep) sea-bottoms abounding in the sea-life of coral 
regions. The wreck of this fauna it preserved to us in the shape of 
beds of calcareous rock almost entirely made up of the hard parts 
of the creatures then living, entire or in fragments, encrinites, 
brachiopod shells (and especially-those belonging to the genus 
Productus), branching compound corals (such as Lithostrotion 
junceum and other species of the same genus), and foraminifera, 
predominating. It is worth noting that the last-named, so often 
regarded as almost the only organic limestone makers, although 
common enough when carefully sought for in the Bernician 
limestones of Northumberland, are yet quite of secondary import- 
ance as rock builders here, when compared with the more bulky 
organisms before alluded to. On the whole, then, the long Ber- 
nician period, represented in some parts of this County by more 
than 8,000 feet of numberless alternations of strata, was evidently 
one of incessant oscillation, land succeeding sea and sea land, 
again and again without intermission. 

Taking (as is most convenient to do) the uppermost bed of 
limestone as the upper limit of the Series within the boundaries 
of the tract described, we have the following easily determined 
Limestones to which we may look for lines subdividing the 
Series in a useful manner. They are in descending order :— 


The Felltop Limestone No 4 Limestone 
No 2 Limestone The Little Limestone 
No 3 Limestone Ths Great Limestone 


Of the above The Felltop, Little, and Great Limestones are 
practically continuous across the County from Alston to the sea. 
The first-mentioned is well seen in the bed of the river at the 
sudden bend half a mile east of Styford Hall.. It is full of 
fossils here, and it is remarkable that these are as a rule 
different from those which characterize the bed at Harlow 
Hill. They agree, however, with the faunula of the same 
horizon at Foxton Hall near Alnmouth, of which I gave 
a description some years ago in these Transactions. Nos 2, 


Notes on the Geology of Corbridge. By G. A. Lebour. 125 


8, and 4 on the other hand are not known to the south 
west of Corbridge, nor do they appear to be known in the 
northernmost extension of this part of the Series. They are, in 
fact, local beds of more or less lenticular shape, indicating areas 
of comparatively deep sea, probably occupying arms of the sea or 
straits some twenty or thirty miles in width, and separating 
stretches of low-lying land (probably islands) of which the traces 
are preserved to us in some of the thin seams of coal—seldom 
thick enough to be worked but none the less interesting to geo- 
logists—that occur about this horizon. What the exact area of 
these successive straits (successive in time only) may have been 
we have no evidence to tell, but that between Tyne and Wans- 
beck (or perhaps Coquet) in the time which elapsed between the 
deposition of the Little Limestone and Felltop there was, at three 
distinct periods and occupying identical portions of what is now 
Northumberland, a coral sea of no great width is abundantly 
proved. That this narrow sea ran east and west, and that its 
deepest portion was somewhere between Belsay and Stamford- 
ham is all but certain. 

These three intercalated beds of Limestone are thus of great 
interest, and can nowhere be better examined than in the neigh- 
bourhood of Corbridge. All the lime quarries between the 
Roman Wall and the Tyne and east of the town, (except those at 
Halton Shields and between Harlow Hill and the Southern 
Whittledean Reservoir) are opened in one or other of these beds, 
in which and in the shales accompanying which, it may be men- 
tioned in passing, most of the common fossils of the Yoredale 
Rocks may be found. 

Coinciding with the intercalation of these Limestones is a very 
important thickening of the whole set of beds between the Fell- 
top and the Little Limestone, a thickening accompanied or chiefly 
caused by a great developement of the sandy and gritty members 
of the Series rather than by an increase in the thickness of the 
shales. Thus, as I have elsewhere shown,* whereas the entire 
thickness of the strata between the Felltop and Little Lime- 
stones is only 350 feet (with no limestones) in the Alston district, 
it is 1450 feet in the country between Corbridge and Belsay 
(with three thick limestones), and whereas in the former region 
the total thickness of the sandstones is nearly equal to that of the 
shales, the shales in the latter form scarcely one fourth of the 

* Transactions Mining Institute, vol. xxiv, p. 73 (1875). 


126 Notes on the Geology of Corbridge. By G. A. Lebour. 


entire mass. Another point to be noticed is this, viz.: that the 
three intercalated limestones occur towards the upper part of this 
group of beds, nearer to the Felltop than to the Little Limestone, 
there being as much as 1250 feet (out of the 1450) of sandstones 
and grits with scarcely any shale between the lowest of the 
intercalated limestones, No 4, and the Little Limestone. These 
sandstones and grits occupy the whole of the sloping ground 
north of Corbridge between the town and Stagshaw Bank, and 
are especially well seen at Inghoe, a little village standing 
on the summit of a bold escarpment about four miles north of 
the Roman Wall, and very well seen from thence. To these 
grits, which are often very coarse, the name of Inghoe Grits has 
been given.* 

The Little Limestone, a bed well-known but not very often 
exposed in Northumberland, has been largely quarried at Halton 
Shields. ‘The quarries here are interesting as they are opened 
in an abnormal thickening of the limestone which is here jam- 
med between two nearly parallel N.W. and S8.EK. faults. Asa 
result of this ‘‘squeeze” the stone is much broken up, in places, 
into a regular breccia, and the interstices between the fragments 
are filled with Carbonate of Lime by which the whole has been 
re-cemented. Some very fine specimens of Calcite in large nail- 
head crystals are frequently found in nests, lining cavities in this 
crushed Limestone. 

A small colliery is worked at Halton Shields close to the 
quarry just mentioned, and another, scarcely larger, at Stagshaw 
Bank between the Military road and Grottington. These are 
’ established to work the coal known as the Little Limestone coal, 
a seam which occurs beneath that Limestone and, under various 
names, has been worked near its outcrop across the whole 
county. It is the same coal as that at Acomb, Blenkinsopp, 
Clarewood, and Boghall. 

Other thin and seldom worked seams occur near to and below 
each of the three intercalated Limestones. 

At Bewclay on the Watling Street the fine and bold range of 
the Great Limestone isa prominent feature in the landscape, the 
outcrop of the stone, owing to the denudation off its dip-slope 
of the overlying thick shale, beyond of unusual breadth. Very 
good specimens of Asphaltum can be obtained in small pockets 
in this limestone here. 

* Loc jam cit. p 75. 


_ Restoration of Jedburgh Abbey. By Jas. Watson. 127 


Ieanzous Rocks: Under this head a small basaltic dyke must 
be mentioned. It belongs to the N.E. and S.W. Series* and can 
only be observed in a very weathered and decomposed condition 
close to the Watling Street in the bank of a small burn running 
to Little Whittington. 

Two other parallel dykes belonging to the same Series} can 
be seen in the Bingfield Burn a mile or two further north, but 
beyond the limits adopted in drawing up these notes. 

Veins: A vein of lead ore, probably the north-easternmost 
extension of the well-known Fallowfield vein, has been worked 
on a small scale at Grottington. 

Fauuts: Besides the two already noticed as crushing the 
Little Limestone at Halton Shields, attention must be called to the 
great Stublick Dyke or fault which runs in an east and west 
direction south of the Tyne, passing by Dipton Hall and the 
Linnels wood. Here the Millstone Grit on the north is brought 
down by the fault to the level of the Felltop Limestone to the 
south on the flanks of the Devil’s-water glen. ‘The effect of the 
Stublick is, however, greater than this, To it is due the south- 
ern dip of all the beds between Stagshaw Bank and Corbridge 
and thence to the western boundary of the County. The general 
dip of the strata in Northumberland is S8.E. to EH. as exhib- 
ited to the E. and N.E. of Corbridge. In this neighbourhood, 
therefore, is to be found the key to one of the most marked and 
important changes in the lie of the beds in the County. 


Restoration of Jedburgh Abbey. By JAMES WATSON, 
Author of “Jedburgh Abbey, Historical and Descriptive,” 
&e. 


Tue purpose of this paper is to record somewhat in detail the 
alterations and improvements ‘made by the present Marquis of 
Lothian on the Abbey Church of Jedburgh ; and to give a brief 
architectural description of that noble fabric. It seems desir- 
able, however, that this should be preceded by some reference to 
the history of the Abbey up to the time of the recent restoration, 
and this shall be done as concisely as possible. 

The monastery was founded as a priory for the Canons 


* See Lebour’s ‘Outlines of the Geology of Northumberland,” p. 75. 
+ I notice that they are marked as one dyke running N.W. and §.E. in 
the recently published one-inch map of the Geological Survey. 


128 Restoration of Jedburgh Abbey. By Jas. Watson. 


Regular about 1118, and was changed into an Abbey near the 
close of the reign of its founder, David I. Like all the large 
religious houses, Jedburgh Abbey was richly endowed; and 
several of its superiors were men of considerable influence in the 
State. One of the most memorable days in its annals was that in 
October, 1285, when Alexander III. was married at its high © 
altar to Jolande, daughter of the Count de Dreux, in presence of 
the principal nobility of France and Scotland ; and when, as the 
old Chroniclers tell us, the rejoicings were suddenly brought to a 
close, by the appearance of a spectre at the royal banquet which 
took place afterwards. During the long war that followed on 
the disputed succession to the throne after the sad death of this 
beloved monarch, the monastery passed through many vicissi- 
tudes; it was pillaged and burned several times, and the 
effects of the flames may still be seen on various parts 
of the ruins. The first of these calamitous visitations occurred a 
little before 1300, in which year the conventual buildings were 
uninhabitable; and the Canons were compelled to seek shelter 
elsewhere until their own home was again made fit for their recep- 
tion. The town was laid in ruins in 1410, and again in 1416 by 
the English under Sir Robert Umfraville; as also in 1464 by the 
Earl of Warwick; and it is all but certain that the Abbey must 
have suffered at one or other of these times, as a restoration of 
several portions seems to have taken place shortly afterwards. 
In 1523, after a whole day’s cannonading by an English force 
6000 strong under the Earl of Surrey, it had to capitulate, and 
was committed to the flames; in 1544 it was again burned by 
Lord Evers; and lastly in 1545 by the Earl of Hertford. 
From these latter injuries the Abbey never recovered ; and it 
appears that instead of attempting to restore the whole of the 
church after this, a portion under the tower was fitted up, intended 
no doubt to serve only as a temporary place of worship. But 
events of a different character followed all too quickly for the 
Roman Catholics; the tide of the Reformation swept over the 
land, and in 1559, when the monasteries throughout the country 
were suppressed, Jedburgh Abbey was still greatly in ruins. 
It was in the church under the tower where David Panter, 
Bishop of Ross, was consecrated with much solemnity in 1553— 
the last event of splendour and dignity witnessed by the pap- 
ists; and it was at the door of the same church where Paul 
Methven—the first ‘‘ Reformed” minister of Jedburgh—stood 


Restoration of Jedburgh Abbey. By Jas. Watson. 129 


bare-footed and bare-headed, arrayed in sackcloth, in expiation 
of a serious charge of immorality of which he had been found 
guilty. In February, 1574-5, this church having fallen into a 
ruinous state, through the neglect of the Abbot commendator, 
the Privy Council, at the request of the Town Council and com- 
munity of the burgh, authorised the taking down of the timber of 
the refectory for its repair. ‘This continued to be. the only 
place of worship for nearly a century longer; but between 1668 
and 1671 the west end of the nave was converted into ‘ane 
spacious church” by the Episcopalians—Episcopacy having in 
turn succeeded Presbyterianism—and the old church was dis 
carded. The rude masonry still seen under the tower is a por- 
tion of the old church. The new church extended to the fifth 
pillar from the west end, and included north and south aisles. 
Besides the principal entrance at the west, there were two door- 
ways on the north, and one on the south by which the minister 
entered. The ten commandments and the creed were painted 
high up on the east gable, and texts of scripture above the pillars 
on the basement story. There were no galleries. In 1792-93 
the church underwent a great alteration by which its appearance 
both externally and internally was sadly changed. It was the 
work of the Presbyterians this time. The groined roofs of the 
side aisles were taken down. ‘The south aisle was removed alto- 
gether, and the wall brought forward to the pillars. The lower 
windows rose to near the top of the arches; and windows were 
also inserted in the arches of the triforium. The north aisle wall 
was also taken down and rebuilt. Instead of the two door-ways 
as formerly on the north, there was only one after the altera- 
tions, with two windows at each side, 3 feet wide by 5 feet 
high, and five smaller ones of the same plain character higher 
up the wall. The pulpit was placed on the south side between 
the second and third pillars, and in front of it were two galleries, 
the lower one being under the arches of the basement story, and 
the upper one—or cock loft as it was called—in the triforium. 
Similar galleries were erected on the same levels at the east and 
west gables. During these alterations the pillars were cut into 
so as to afford supports to the beams of the galleries; portions of 
the richly foliated capitals were ruthlessly knocked away, and 
mouldings literally smashed; the great west window was filled 
with slate, the walls and pillars were plastered, and nothing 
whatever was done to preserve the character of the beautiful old 
Q 


130 Restoration of Jedburgh Abbey. By Jas. Watson. 


edifice. ‘The roof was flat and under the clerestory. Worship 
continued to be held in this place till April, 1875, and might 
have been much longer but for the liberality of the Marquis of 
Lothian who built a handsome new church for the parish in ex- 
cambion of the old one with a view to having this excresence 
removed. The arrangement for this was made by the late Lord 
Lothian, and fulfilled in a highly generous spirit by the present 
Marquis. 

Lord Lothian being fully alive to the importance of the work 
connected with the removal of the old church from the Abbey, 
and the future preservation of the venerable ruins, very wisely 
determined tc have it done under the superintendence of a skilled 
architect, and for this purpose he procured the services of Mr 
Robert Rowland Anderson, Edinburgh, a gentleman who 
deservedly occupies a high position in the profession. The 
taking down of the modern masonry brought to light many curi- 
ous and valuable specimens of the art of the carver, and of 
moulded stones formed hundreds of years ago by the hands of 
cunning workmen, but which by the vandals of the end of the 
18th century were looked upon as only so much rubble, and used 
by them as such. The interest attached to their discovery was 
something akin to what a geologist would have experienced in 
disinterring a like number of fossils from some ancient forma- 
tions ; each specimen having a character peculiarly its own, and 
the period to which it belonged being quite easily ascertained. 
The comparative anatomist could with no greater certainty piece 
together the bones of an extinct animal than could these 
stones be assigned to their respective places in the ancient 
building. Many of them exhibited the chevron, the cable, dog- 
tooth, star, nail-head, and other ornaments, all belonging to the 
Transition Norman, and which, there could be little doubt, 
formed part of the doorway that was taken down when a portion 
of the south aisle was removed in 1792. Then there were bases, 
capitals, at least one piscina; groin ribs, and various other 
mouldings, all of an early date. These have been preserved 
within the precincts of the Abbey. A number of Scottish 
copper coins belonging to the reign of Mary Queen of Scots, 
Charles I., and Charles II. were also come upon by the workmen, 
and were claimed by the Crown as treasure trove. It was unfor- 
tunately found necessary for the protection of the nave to place a 
series of tie-beams across at the clerestory, which ‘greatly mar 


Restoration of Jedburgh Abbey. By Jas. Watson. 131 


the fine effect of the interior. Tho pillars and arches were 
scraped so as to free them from the plaster and paint that had 
disfigured them for nearly a century. No attempt was made to 
renew the capitals and arch mouldings that had been knocked 
away inside the old church, but in both of the side aisles the 
recently discovered groin ribs were replaced as far as practicable. 
The north wall was partially restored so as to indicate its original 
character ; and the portion of the south wall that was wanting 
was rebuilt. Not a few of the pillars of the clerestory were 
renewed; nearly the whole of the corbelled eave course on the 
north was restored; and to prevent water percolating down 
through the masonry, the wall-heads were covered with Caith- 
_ ness pavement. The wall-heads throughout the other parts of 
the building were also carefully cleaned and covered with cement. 
The slates were taken out of the west window, and its appear- 
ance was further altered by the removal of a mullion and 
transom which formed no part of the original design. The 
mullion branched away at the top, and formed two pointed 
lights; and the transom, which had rudely formed cusps, 
crossed half way up. A small window with a trefoil arch was 
for the same reason removed from above that on the north side 
of the west doorway. 

On clearing away the accumulation of earth under the flooring 
of the church, the workmen came upon large quantities of 
human bones all of which had been previously disturbed; and 
holes were dug in the adjoining grounds where they were care- 
fully deposited. One of the skulls picked up attracted some 
attention as it bore the mark of what seemed to have been a 
wound caused by a sabre—the result doubtless of some dint given 
in the rough days of Border warfare—but the wound not being a 
fatal one had healed up before death gave the final stroke. They 
also came upon a regularly built vault of stone with arched roof 
in the north aisle containing two coffins—one of lead, the other 
of oak—and as all remembrance of the existence of such had 
been forgotten, many conjectures were made as to who were its 
occupants. The mystery was, however, cleared up. Thomas 
Philip Ainslie of Over Wells, in the parish of Jedburgh, having 
died at Newcastle on the 18th of May, 1837, application was 
made to the Kirk Session for permission to have his remains 
laid ‘in the vault within the church,” granted by the heritors 
to his father. The Kirk Session regretted that permission could 


132 Restoration of Jedburgh Abbey. By Jas. Watson. 


not be granted : 1st—because the vault was originally formed to 
hold only the remains of ‘“‘ the late Mr Ainslie and his wife, both 
of whom were interred there which filled up the whole space ; 
and, 2nd, ‘‘because the place in which the vault is situated, 
which was formerly a passage, now forms part of the place of 
public worship, having been some time ago taken in and seated.” 

An important piece of work executed at the same time was a 
fac simile of what is known as the cloister doorway, an admirable 
example of Transition Norman. There are few, if any, who will 
disagree with the dictum of the late Sir Gilbert G. Scott, that 
this and the great western doorway are two of the most exquisite 
gems of architectural art in this island. This being the case, 
Lord Lothian did a good service (whatever may be the opinion 
of some critics as to the propriety of adding new work to old) in 
causing a copy to be made at this time, as such would have been 
impossible a few years later in consequence of the rapidity with 
which the old work is decaying. The mouldings generally are 
bold and beautiful, and the delicately wrought foliated capitals 
are protected by a circular abacus. In the arch the first order 
inside the label mould is entirely composed of the chevron orna- 
ment, while the second is covered with representations of human 
and other figures, grotesque animals, and foliage, alternately 
arranged. There is a representation of David slaying the bear ; 
of Samson tearing asunder the jaws of the lion ; and nondescript 
animals with human heads and bodies like birds, the tails ter- 
minating with foliage, as is common in work of the period. The 
third order consists of a pointed bowtell; and the fourth is a 
kind of zigzag moulding decorated with branchlets and leaves. 
The new doorway has been put up in the south wall of the nave, 
to the west of the old one. But there were other matters that 
claimed serious attention. The tower was found to be in a very 
unsafe condition, and something required to de done for its pre- 
servation. The north piers and part of the wall above belong to 
the early part of the 12th century, while the south piers and the 
greater portion of the tower itself belong to the latter half of the 
15th. It was in the old work where the danger lay. The danger 
was not a thing of yesterday, for as early as 1636 one of the 
‘‘ pryme pillars” was reported to be in a dangerous state; and 
that for its repair it would cost a thousand marks, and “ thrie 
scoir singill tries, threttie double tries, two hundreth daills to be 
scaffolding and centtries.” The frailty of this ‘ pryme pillar” 


Restoration of Jedburgh Abbey. By Jas. Watson. 133 


had not a little to do with the resolution to leave the church 
under the tower for that at the west end of the nave; and for 
the same reason it was found necessary at a later date not to re- 
move the whole of the old walls. Lord Lothian at one time 
seriously considered the propriety of renewing the north piers so 
as to give the tower a further lease of stability, but ultimately 
the idea was departed from, and means were taken to preserve it 
as far as possible in its present state. A brick buttress was 
thrown up against the north-west pier which bulged out consider- 
ably, and large wooden beams were placed against the north-east 
pier—doubtless the ‘‘pryme pillar” already alluded to—which 
is almost wholly encased in modern masonry. To lighten the 
‘top of the north wall a belfry was taken down, but this was not 
to be regretted as it was not in keeping with the general design. 
The belfry consisted of three distinct parts, namely, a central 
octagonal tower, twenty feet high, with an open bell cot on each 
side. The octagonal part was clearly of first Transition char- 
acter, of the same date as the pointed part of the chancel, and 
therefore at least two hundred years older than the tower on 
which it stood. We think it probable that this was one of the 
turrets of the eastern gable (its measurements were such as to 
support the idea) and that it was erected on the tower shortly 
after 1545 for the use of the church under it. The kirk clock 
was in the centre turret, and bells were suspended in the bell 
cots until 1771 when they were removed to the town steeple then 
recently built. Originally the clock had occupied a position 
lower down on the north wall of the tower, where the mark of 
the dial is still seen at the centre window, or opening, and the 
Abbey bells had evidently been hung in the upper story. To 
ensure the safety of the foundations, concrete was laid round 
those of all the pillars; and to add to the appearance of the 
north transept a large quantity of earth—the accumulation of 
centuries—was cleared from its base. No cost was spared to 
improve the amenity of the Abbey, and with this view the 
manse, which was close by, and several other houses, were taken 
down. The whole work, as may well be imagined, was one of 
great labour and much expense; but the result has been such 
as to make Jedburgh Abbey one of the most beautiful ecclesias- 
tical ruins in Scotland, and for this the Marquis of Lothian 
deserves the gratitude—as he will no doubt receive—of all lovers 
of architectural art. 


134 Restoration of Jedburgh Abbey. By Jas. Watson. 


Jedburgh Abbey does not exhibit that richness of detail so 
characteristic of Melrose and other buildings of the later periods, 
but it possesses a grandeur in its simplicity that few can equal, and 
that certainly none can surpass. At the foundation of the mon- 
astery the church, it would seem, consisted only of a choir of two 
bays on each side, with side aisles, and probably an apse towards 
the east ; two transepts, and a tower. Some of the old work still 
remains, and is a fair specimen of the period. One thing worth 
noting is the arrangement of the lower arches, which spring 
from the sides of the round pillars instead of from capitals like 
the zigzag moulded arches above, suggesting the idea that this 
may have been the result of an after thought. Something 
similar is to be seen in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, and 
also in Romsey, Hampshire. 

The nave, which is an exquisite example of Transition Nor- 
man, is the grand feature in the Abbey. Itis 180 feet in length, 
and 50 feet from the ground to the wall-head, the composition of 
the various parts being light and graceful. There are nine bays 
in all. The basement story consists of clustered pillars which 
support deeply moulded pointed arches; in the triforium are 
semicircular arches subdivided by pointed ones, the latter being 
supported by slender shafts; while the clerestory is a detached 
arcade of thirty-six arches, all pointed. In the lower story the 
pointed bowtell is the chief moulding ; all the capitals are more 
or less foliated; and the abaci, with only one exception, are 
square ; in the clerestory the mouldings are round, the capitals 
plain, and the abaci have lost their square edges. The west 
front is a very good composition of the same period, but has 
suffered considerably by the slow tooth of time, and the still 
more cruel hand of men. The doorway is deeply recessed, and 
the enriched mouldings of the semicircular arch are principally 
the chevron, the chain, and the fish bone. Thesides are greatly 
injured, and seem to have been fired; the shafts that formerly 
supported the capitals, which still remain, have disappeared ; 
and much of the ornamentation has been obliterated. Sufficient, 
however, remains to show how very elaborate the carving must 
have been. On each side of the doorway is a round headed 
window, nine feet two inches in height, and two feet five inches 
in width ; while in the centre of the gable is another window, 
also with a semicircular arch eighteen feet ten inches high by 
five feet eight inches wide. At the sides of this window there is 


Restoration of Jedburgh Abbey. By Jas. Watson. 135 


an attached arcade of pointed arches, but nearly all the support- 
ing shafts are gone. At the top isa beautiful St Catherine’s 
wheel of a later date. The north aisle of the nave had been 
lighted by windows similar to those at the sides of the west 
doorway; while the south aisle had dormer windows. As dor- 
mers are understood not to have been known until about the 
middle of the 14th century, this would suggest that the present 
was not the original south wall, but one built probably about the 
time of the restoration of the conventual buildings, alluded to at 
the beginning of this paper. There is evidently a break in the 
masonry near the old cloister doorway which would go so far in 
support of this supposition. Some writers have held that the 
_clerestory of the nave and the pointed part of the chancel belong 
to the Karly English style of architecture, but this opinion has 
been arrived at without taking the details sufficiently into 
account. The pointed part of the chancel seems to be the 
nearest approach to it, the windows and buttresses partaking 
largely of the character ; but the capitals are undoubtedly Transi- 
tion Norman, and the abacus is square, which, according to 
Rickman—no mean authority—is the best mark. The stilted 
arch, never a very graceful nor pleasing feature, is seen here, 
It is greatly to be regretted that this part of the building is so 
much dilapidated, the whole of the eastern gable and portions of 
the side walls being gone. 

The north transept, part of the south chapel of the choir, and 
nearly the whole of the tower, belong to the Decorated period. 
The transept, which appears to be the earliest, is supported with 
shelving buttresses, and has three windows, two in the west wall 
and one facing north. The former have plain chamfered jambs, 
and are divided by one mullion each, with a quatrefoil at the top; — 
and the great north window, which measures twenty-eight feet 
in height, and over nine feet and a half in breadth, has moulded 
jambs, and is divided by three mullions, with somewhat flowing 
tracery. A window similar in design, but much smaller in 
dimensions, is seen in Melrose Abbey, in the chapel, fifth from 
the tower on the south side of the nave. The only difference in 
the tracery is that at the top of the lower lights of the Melrose 
window there are double cusps, while in Jedburgh they are 
single. We incline to think that the Jedburgh window is the 
earliest of the two. The tower is of massive proportions, nearly 

‘ninety feet high, and gives an imposing effect to the whole 


136 Restoration of Jedburgh Abbey. By Jas. Watson. 


edifice. The little chapel south of the choir is interesting as 
showing a curious combination of the Decorated style with the 
Karly Norman. The groined roof is partly of the one style and 
partly of the other, and is the result of partial restoration. 

Perhaps it may be well to correct an error which has been 
prevalent, to the effect that this chapel was formerly used as the 
Jedburgh Grammar School, and that in it Thomson, author of 
‘‘The Seasons,’”’ and other celebrated individuals, received the 
rudiments of their education. There can be no doubt whatever 
that the school was in close proximity to the chapel, either inside 
or immediately outside of the Abbey, as we learn from a report 
anent the condition of the crown arch of the tower which fell 
in 1743, that the arch was ruinous and dangerous “ especially 
the south-east part thereof which lies next to the Grammar 
School,” whereby the said school was in the greatest danger. 
But several entries in local records in reference to the repairing, 
&c., of the school previous to this date are such as to make it abso- 
lutely certain that the current tradition is incorrect. The school is 
spoken of as having chimneys, and as being thatched with broom, 
conditions that could hardly apply to this chapel. The school 
was removed in 1751. 

We remember a number of years ago pointing out to the Rev. 
Canon Greenwell, of Durham, a curiously carved stone built in 
as a lintel above the south chapel, which he at once pronounced 
to be part of an Anglo-Saxon cross belonging to the 9th century. 
The late Marquis of Lothian was communicated with on the sub- 
ject, and his Lordship caused it to be taken out so that it might 
be seen to better advantage. The carving represents a tree, the 
branches of which form circles, and in these are two birds and 
several nondescript animals; three of them are shown as eating 
the fruit of the tree, and one gnawing a branch. Two of the 
animals of a dragon-like form are imperfect in consequence of 
the stone having been broken towards the top. This stone, 
along with two others, apparently of the same period, that were 
built into the bell cots at the top of the tower, are figured in 
Stuart’s ‘“‘ Sculptured Stones of Scotland.” In this work Mr 
Stuart says—‘‘At the church of Norham, which Egred built, 
there were many crosses of Anglo-Saxon character. The cross 
at Jedburgh seems undoubtedly to be of the same period, and 
must be classed with similar remains found at Abercorn, Norham, 
Coldingham, Lindisfarne, Jarrow, and Hexham, all sites of 


Seals and Arms of Jedburgh. By A. C. Mounsey. 137 


Saxon foundation.” The three stones are now preserved in the 
north transept. Another stone which has proved of some interest 
to antiquarians is built in as a lintel at the foot of the north- 
west turret stair. It is of Roman origin, and the inscription 
begins with the well-known ‘“‘I.0.M.”—Jupiter Optimus Max- 
imus. The following contracted words can easily be made out, 
“CAEHSA.” “SEVER.” ‘‘TRIB.”, but the inscription as a whole 
has never been deciphered. The probability is that this may 
have been a tablet erected at the side of the Watling Street or 
Roman Road, which crosses the district within two miles of Jed- 
burgh. An illustration of this stone is given in the 1st volume 
of Jeffrey’s ‘‘ History of Roxburghshire.” 

_ Special reference might also have been made to the masons’ 
marks, and to the double roof marks on the Abbey—the latter 
subject presenting much more difficulty of solution than would 
at first sight appear-—but as this paper has already reached a 
greater length than was originally intended, we will not at present 
venture on them. 


The Seals and the Arms of the Royal Burgh of Jedburgh. 
By A. C. Mounsey, Jedburgh. 


On the 18th of March, 1680, the Town Council of Jedburgh 
met to consider certain difficulties that had arisen in connection 
with the Armorial bearings of the burgh. The minute of that 
meeting recites that the only seal made use of by the council, 
either in sealing of evidents or of burgess tickets ‘‘for this thirty 
years by gane,” that is, from 1650 to 1680, had borne the uni- 
corn for the town’s arms; that the unicorn being a part of the 
king’s arms, the town could not warrantably assume nor further 
use it; that the burgh’s arms had never been matriculated 
according to Act of Parliament; and that the old seal ‘‘ which 
has at first been made use of,” that is, the original seal of the 
burgh, was unfit to be made use of again. For these reasons 
the council recommended the magistrates ‘‘to write in or speak 
with” the Lord Lyon for getting the burgh’s arms matriculated, 
and to intimate to him that “they shall hereafter bear for their 
arms a man on horseback, with steel cap and jack, and a Jed- 
burgh Staff in his hand,” the motto to be supplied by the Lord 


Lyon, who was at that time Sir Alexander Erskine of Cambo. 
R 


138 Seals and Arms of Jedburgh. By A. C. Mounsey. 


The minute adds that Provost Ainslie “has produced the twa 
old seals.”’. 

The new arms referred to in the minute were accordingly 
granted to the burgh, and they are matriculated and thus 
blazoned in the Lion’s Register of Arms:--“‘ The Royall Burgh 
of Jedburgh gives for Ensignes Armoriall Gules on a horse 
Saliant argent furnished azure a Chevalier armed at all points 
grasping in his right hand a Kynde of Launce (called the Jed- 
burgh Staff) proper. The motto in ane Escroll Strenué et 
prospere.”’ 

After receiving the above new arms in 1680, the Town Council, 
therefore, had in their possession four different seals of the 
burgh, namely, the seal that had been last used, the new seal, 
and the ‘‘ twa old seals.” 

The number of seals known to have been used by the Pach 
is also four. They are:— 

1. An oval seal bearing the Virgin sitting in a chair opposite 
another figure also on a chair. Legend, S. communitatis de 
Jeddeworthe. 

2. A seal bearing the Virgin and Child. Legend, Sigzllum 
commune de Jedburgh. This seal is figured in Jeffrey’s History of 
Roxburghshire. 

8. A seal bearing on a shield an unicorn passant. Legend, 
S. communitatis de Jedburgh. Figured in Jeffrey’s History. 

4. A seal bearing an armed Knight at full gallop. Legend, 
Sigillum burgi de Jedburgh. Figured in Jeffrey’s History. 

Now, of these four seals, Nos 1 and 2 are evidently the oldest. 
They are pre-Reformation seals, and they are no doubt the ‘‘twa 
old seals’ produced by Provost Ainslie at the Council board in 
1680. Of these two, again, No 1, on which the name of the 
burgh is spelt Jeddeworthe, seems clearly to be the more ancient ; 
it is the seal which ‘‘at first has been made use of,”’ the original 
seal of the burgh. 

Of the other two seals, No 3, bearing the unicorn, succeeded 
that with the Virgin and Child, and was used from 1650, the 
second year of the Commonwealth, to 1680, the thiipeoeadd 
year of the reign of Charles II. This statement is corroborated 
by the fact that the Weavers’ Seal of Cause, subscribed by Pro- 
vost Kirkton in 1625 and now in Jedburgh Museum, is sealed 
with the Virgin and Child, while the Ratification of it in 1671 
bears the unicorn. No 4, with the chevalier and ‘‘a kind of 


Forts, Camps, etc. in Roxburghshire, By J. Geikie. 139 


lance called the Jedburgh Staff,” has been in use since 1680, 
and it is the only arms that the burgh is entitled to bear. 

In his History of Roxburghshire, Mr Jeffrey asserts that when 
the community of Jedburgh swore fealty to Edward I. in 1296, 
the seal attached to the declaration had for device an unicorn 
tripping argent ringed maned and horned. This assertion is made 
without authority and, as has been seen, without due investiga- 
tion. There cannot possibly be any authority for the colour 
(azure) at that early period. 

The weapon called by the Jedburgh Magistrates in 1680 
a Jedburgh Staff, was defined by the Lord Lion as a Hynde of 
Launce, and styled by John Major (De Gestis Scotorum, v. 3.) 
‘baculum ferratum Jedwardie, and was well known and was long 
used not only by the Jedburgh men but also over all the Scottish 
Lowlands, and it is in many old writings sharply distinguished 
from the axe and the halberd. It was used, as Major tells us, 
by the Borderers under Bruce at Bannockburn, and it was a re- 
cognised military weapon so late as 1643. (Spalding’s Memorialls 
of the Trubles in Scotland, II. 270, Spald. Club. ed.). 


List of Hill Forts, Intrenched Camps, etc. in Roxburghshire 
on the Scotch side of the Cheviots. By JAMES GEIKIE, 
LL.D., F.B.S., F.G.S., Murchison Professor of Geology and 
Mineralogy in the University of Edinburgh. 


In transmitting this valuable paper as a contribution to an 
attempt to classify and enumerate the Border Camps, and 
analogous remains of ancient peoples, Dr. Geikie makes a few 
preliminary observations, in his accompanying letter, which may 
serve to introduce the subject. ‘‘As you are interested in the 
prehistoric remains of the Cheviots, I enclose a list of the various 
Camps, Forts, Intrenchments, Standing Stones, and Tumuli, I 
came across upon the Scotch side while engaged in doing the 
Geology. I am not aware whether as full a list has been made 
before. It is worth noting that remains of camps and forts are 
much more abundant about the head waters of the Beaumont 
than elsewhere in the Cheviots;—I speak, of course, of the 
Scotch side. In that same neighbourhood, traces of ancient 
cultivation are abundant, and the same is the case in the district 
about Hownam. West of the Kale, camps are few and far 


140 Forts, Camps, etc. in Roxburghshire. By J. Geikie. 


between. But the numerous intrenched positions in that valley, 
and in those of its upper tributaries, and the still more remark- 
able abundance of such remains about the head waters of the 
Bowmont, give one the impression of a pretty well populated 
district—one, however, in which the inhabitants seem to have 
lived in fear of their neighbours of the lower countries.” 


LIST OF HILL FORTS, ETC. 


Morebattle Hill, top of, (717 feet). Camp 500 or 600 feet long by 250 feet 
broad. On same hill, about 300 yards N.W. of last, a Camp not so 
well preserved, 240 ft. across. Traces of double intrenchment. 

Linton Hill, above Burnfoot farm-house, 8.W. of Yetholm Loch, many 
tumuli once existed ; now mostly destroyed. Mr Purvesof Burnfoot 
(since dead) told me, he had ploughed several down, and found 
nothing of any importance—“ nothing,” said he “ but a wheen rub- 
bishy pots of earthenware.” Isaw fragments lying about. It was 
of the usual unglazed character. 

Valley of Kale Water. Ruinous tumulus at Priest’s Crown, near Blink- 
bonny, 1 mile east of Eckford. 

Do. Cessford Burn. ‘“ Hobbie Kerr’s Cave;” hollowed out in Conglo- 
merate. 

_ Kale Water: Hilla little south of Grubbet Mill: small circular camp 
about 90 ft. across. 

Do.: Hownam Law. Supposed Roman Camp. 

Do.: Kersmoor Head about one mile S.E. of Hownam Law: Tumuli. 

Do.: Hownam Rings. Hill-top 1 mile east of Hownam: Intrenched 
camp or fort. Three rings (intrenchments) face the west, and two 
the east. About 100 yards or less due south of this strong camp is 
a line of Standing Stones called ‘“‘The Eleven Shearers.” The line 
runs nearly west and east, but a little north of west and south of 
east. Many of the hill-slopes of this neighbourhood show lazy-beds: 
or traces of ancient cultivation. 

Do.: Chatto Craig (1024 ft. high). Circular hill-fort or encampment: 
double intrenchment. Inner ring measures 160 ft. by 100. Two 
miles south of Hownam 

Do.: Thoulieston Hill (1027 ft.) due west, 1 mile or less from Hownam 
Camp, rudely square, 250 ft. across ; with mound in centre: perhaps 
Roman? Some 400 yards S. is a circular, or rudely square fort or 
camp measuring about 125 feet across. 

Do.: Shank End: 1 mile N.E. of Towford: small circular camp, 
about 120 feet by 100. 

Do.: Woden Law (1380 ft.) Camp: form of, accomodated to the confor- 
mation of the ground. Six intrenchments face §.H.; only one over- 
looks the steep-hill slope towards the Kale. Probably Roman. 

Do.: Large Roman Camp at Pennymuir. 

Do.: Gaisty Law, head of Gaisty Burn; curious irregular hollows and 
ridges. Perhaps remains of old British Town. 


Do. 


Forts, Camps, etc.in Roxburghshire. By J. Geikie. 141 


: Bughtrig: Capehope Burn: Moat Knowe. 

[A fuller description of the Moat Hill is contained in another com, 
munication, as follows :—] 

I find I have noted the extreme length (from north to south) of the 
Moat Hill fortification as 166 yards—its breadth being 100 yards. A 
spiral or circular pathway led up to the top of the hill, which has 
been protected by upright slabs of porphyrite—and a similar wall 
evidently circled round the top of the hill. The slabs have been 
taken from the hillock itseli—the top of which would doubtless be 
somewhat levelled by the process. The top of the hill within the 
fortification showed a number of crossing and intercrossing ridges, 
which were I suppose foundations—and suggested to me that the 
whole hill-top formed a kind of fortified dwelling for one or two 
“small families,” with separate walled apartments. In the Outer 
Hebrides I have seen similar arrangements in some of the more 
primitive districts; where to utilize space, one wall served as wall 
for two separate abodes. I have seen the same in Iceland. The 
distance between the Moat Hill and the circular encampment along- 
side is about 100 feet. This camp is 150 feet in diameter. One 
could not help fancying that this circular camp may have been 
intended as a place for keeping cattle over night. 


Yett Burn: Huntfold Hill (1087 ft.) Very fine circular camp or hill-fort. 


De: : 


Do.: 


On the north side facing the hill-slope above are four intrenchments ; 
while only three overlook the Yett burn. The inner camp measures 
150 ft. across. From the centre of the inner camp to the outer 
intrenchment is 320 ft.; and 170 feet from same centre to the outer 
ring on the south side. 

Head of Burn, north of Callaw Hope, Callaw Cairn, 1662 ft.: A 
tumulus. 

Hut Knowe, 3ds of a mile N.W. of Hunthold Hill, on hill between 
Yett Burn and Mainhope Burn: double intrenched circular fort, 250 
ft. by 200. 


Heatherhope Burn: North Side: Blackbrough Hill: (1300 ft.); a circular 


Do. 


camp or fort, measuring 300 ft. by 200 ft. 

: South side: Little Rough Law: circular camp measuring 200 ft. by 
160 ft. About two-thirds of a mile above Heatherhope Shepherd’s 
house, another camp measuring 200 ft. by 200 ft. 


Bowmont Water: Upper tributaries of : 


Calroust Burn: in Crook Cleuch, two small circular camps, a little 
over 30 yards apart, measuring each about 100 ft. across. 

Calroust Burn: The Castles; fine camp with double intrenchment, 
measuring 550 ft. by 250 ft. to 300 ft. An intrenchment curves 
from the north of the camp down to the edge of a steep cliff of por- 
phyrite which faces the Burn. Some 500 yds. 8.E. of the Castles, 
a straight intrenchment runs across the hill-top between Calroust 
Burn and Alder Burn. _ 

Windygate Hill on Border line (2034 ft.): Tumulus: another lying 
N.E. on same line at height of 1860 ft. 


142 Forts, Camps, etc. im Roxburghshire. By J. Geikie. 


Between Calroust Burn, (near where it joins the Bowmont) and the 

« Bowmont, a small circular camp on hill at 750 ft. level: measures 

150 by 120 ft. 

Kelsocleuch Burn: west side; S.W. of Kelsocleuch shepherd’s house 
about 400 yards, circular camp, 150ft.across. East side of the same 
burn: on Hayhope Knowe a circular camp measuring 400 ft. by 200 
ft. N.W. of last, 250 yards or so, another circular camp, 150 ft. by 
120 ft. N.H. of last about 400 yards on north side of the hill-road, a 
circular camp or fort with traces of three rings; measures 300 ft. by 
250 feet. About 200 yards N.W. of last, an intrenchment runs 
from the hill-top north-east down the hill-slope to Kingseat Burn— 
a distance of 500 yards or so. North-west by west of Kelsocleugh 
shepherd’s house, 500 or 600 yards, is a small circular camp (120 ft. 
by 100 ft.) and traces of a smaller one abutting upon it; both form- 
ing part of one and the same defence. West of this encampment, 
100 yards or so, is a long intrenchment that undulates towards 
north—running along the hill-slope until it reaches some springs, 
after which it follows the water-course down the hill-slope to 
Outer Souter Cleuch. This intrenchment is rather more than half 
a mile in length. ; 

Kingseat Burn: on Fundhope Rig are traces of a small circular 
camp. At feet of the Dry Slack occurs a circular camp measuring 
150 feet across. Farther down the burn, at about 200 yards above 
the mouth of Cheviot Burn, an intrenchment runs up the hill to the 
north, and keeps along the hill face, until it reaches the Cheviot 
Burn. Near the north end of the intrenchment, and upon the line 
of the latter, is asmall circular camp, rather faintly marked, about 
60 feet or soindiameter. On the hill-slope (north) behind Cocklaw 
foot is a circular camp, 200 ft. by 120 ft.; on the hill-top (Bonnie 
Laws) isatumulus. Between Bonnie Laws and Park Law (at about 
850 ft.) is a small circular camp about 100 ft. or so across. Upon 
Park Law is a fine double intrenched camp, measuring 300 ft. by 
200 ft. 

Sourhope Burn (Bowmont Water): Kip Knowe. Circular camp with 
triple intrenchment facing the hill-slope above ; and a single intrench- 
ment facing the steep slope towards the burn. The inner ring is 
some 200 ft. across. Upon the hill-top to the west, about 500 or 600 
yards,atumulus. There is another still further west on Hot Hill 
close beside the hill-path. 


—— Mow-Law, opposite Belford, (Bowmont Water). Ring round the 
hill-top—not a camp, apparently. On the slope below the hill lies a 
circular intrenchment called the Peel, 130 feet or so in diameter. 

Atton Burn (Bowmont Water): Near the head of the burn, Kip Knowe, 
small circular camp, 150 ft. by 120 ft. 

Curr Burn (Bowmont Waiter), south side of, The Shank: nearly opposite 
shepherd’s house, a camp, 350 ft. by 180ft. It has a doubleintrench- 
ment on the side facing N.W., i.e. looking right down the valley. On 


Forts, Camps, etc. in Roxburghshire. By J. Geikie. 143 


Wildgoose Hill (1097 ft.) between Curr Burn and Halter Burn, is a 

camp measuring 350 ft. by 180 ft. 

Halter Burn (Bowmont Water). On hill-slope above Burnhead (east side 

of valley) a camp, with traces of double intrenchment: 250 ft. by 120. 

Castle Law (Bowmont Water). Venchen Hill near Yetholm: a circular 
camp, with triple intrenchments on S.W. side ; only asingle intrench- 
ment on the opposite side, 300 ft. by 250 ft. or thereabout. 

Jed Water and Tributaries: 

Arks, 500 yards north of shepherd’s house: circular camp 200 ft. by 
120 ft. Ina plantation west of the camp is a tumulus. 

Hyndlee Hill (1000 ft.), 1 mile [3 miles] S.W. of Southdean Manse; 
circular camp with double intrenchment, 300 ft. by 250. 

Southdean Rig, 2 miles 8.E. of Southdean; small circular camp in a 
plantation. 

Southdean Hill: camp or fort, 320 ft. by 150 ft. 

Doorport Hill, near Chesters, Southdean. Fine double intrenched 
camp ; inner ring measures 240 feet across ; outer ring, 350 ft. 

Tinnis Hill: above Patonhaugh in Jed Water, camp or fort, 220 ft. 
by 120 ft. or so. 

Hog Hill, east of Edgerston Burn, a Tumulus. 

Stotfield Hill, same neighbourhood, a Tumulus. 

Kip Knowe, near Falla, a Tumulus. 

Howden, near Jedburgh : traces of a circular camp. 

Lanton Moor near Jedburgh: circular fort or camp: 120 feet in 
diameter. Same moor east of Timpendean aes at corner of a 
plantation, remains of a camp. 

Head Waters of the Oxnam: 

Cunzierton Hill: (1100 ft.): circular camp or fort, 450 ft. by 260 ft. 
A small intrenchment outside of main intrenchment on §.W. side. 

On Watling Street: East of Trestle Cairn, some Standing Stones: 
one mile north of Roman Camp at Pennymuir. 

North of Trestle Cairn: Standing Stones. Tumulus on each side of 
Street nearly a mile north of these last stones. 

Jock’s Hill, The Law: near Swinside: Remains of an oval camp or 
fort: 500 ft. by 350 ft. 

Between Oxnam Water and Jed Water: Several tumuli N. and N.E. of 


Crailinghall on edge of Cessford Moor. Tumulus near N.E. corner 
of Whitton Loch. 


Between Jed Water and Rule Water: west of Mervin’s Law a tumulus, near 
footpath leading across moor. 
Near Ashtrees, head of Woodfield Burn, about a dozen tumuli within a 
a radius of 300 yards or so. 
Bowshot Hill: remains of a camp, apparently oval; about 360 feet by 
220 feet. 
Faw Hill, east of Bowshot Hill; circular fort, 200 ft. across. 
Westerhouses, near Abbotsrule ; oval camp called Iron Castle: 350 feet 
by 230 feet. 
Bonchester Hill, Rule Water. Largest hill fort in the district: has appar- 


144 Forts, Camps, etc. in Roxburghshire. By J. Geikie. 


ently been dug into, and otherwise tampered with. Measures some 300 

yards by 240 yards or so. Traces of several intrenchments, which run 

into each other here and there. JAMES GEIKIE. | 
_ OBSERVATIONS. 

The outlying districts on the Borders have hitherto been 
regarded as utterly barren of interest, but are actually worthy 
of the Club’s deepest attention, the country especially between 
Kale Water and the boundary line being crowded with memorials 
of the primitive inhabitants, where to the uninstructed eye, in 
summer time, there is little else visible than rough grass and 
boulders, brown patches of heath and green brackens. We owe 
it to Professor Geikie’s fortunate forethought that they are hid- 
den no longer. 

I may remark that Mr Purves’s overturn at Linton Burnfoot, 
previously and hereafter referred to, was not quite so unproduc- 
tive of information as was supposed: a very fine highly polished 
flint celt, and a peculiarly shaped stone-axe of mountain limestone, 
ground all over—both Neolithic—having been preserved. They 
are figured in the Club’s ‘“‘Proceedings,” vol. vir. Plate vim. fig. 
8. and Plate rx. fig. 3., and described at pp. 544, 545. Thomas 
Pringle, the poet, in delineating the scenery of his boyhood, 
thus alludes to the tumuli on the summit of Blaiklaw or Blake- 
law in that neighbourhood : 

“ And, tinged with that departing sun, 

To Fancy’s eye arises dun 

Lone Blaiklaw, on whose trenchéd brow, 

Yet unprofaned by ruthless plough, 

The shaggy gorse and brown heath wave, 

O’erjmany a nameless warrior’s grave.”’ 

Poetical Works, p. 124. 

All traces of these are now obliterated. Equally unsuccessful 
would be the search after five or six upright stones, forming a 
circle, once existing on the farm of Frogden, which were 
designated ‘‘ The Tryst ”—from their being a rendezvous where 
predatory hordes projecting an incursion into Northumberland 
were wont to assemble. (New Stat. Acct. Rox. p. 152.). The 
_ Rey. Dr. Leishman, Linton, communicates the following partic- 
ulars about these vanished antiquities. ‘‘It is to be feared that 
all traces have been effaced. Except the crowns of the Linton 
and Graden Hills, every acre of the parish that is not mere bog 
has been latterly under the plough. The 25-inch Ordnance 
Survey marked about fourteen tumuli as then to be seen, all of 


Forts, Camps, etc. in Roxburghshire. By J. Geikie. 145 


them on two farms lying on the southern slopes of Linton Hill. 
Such of them as now remain have probably been disturbed. 
The late Mr Purves, Burnfoot, often told me that in the earlier 
years of his tenancy, he had many of them broken up, and found 
in them ancient pottery and bones. But when these remains 
were exposed, they went to pieces. 

‘The Tryst Stones have long disappeared. I remember one 
old man who had seen them, but I did not know of this till after 
his’death. From what I have been able to gather, it appears 
that the circle stood about 300 yards east of the curious hollow 
which the Statistical Account compares toacockpit. The field in 
which the stones were is still called the Five-stone field; and a 
parish road, about 200 yards off, the Five-stone road; but I am 
told that just at this point, the present road leaves the line of 
the old track, which ran close to the circle and pit. Ihave often 
wondered what the history of this hollow has been. It seems to 
have been artificial, though its perfectly regular form has been 
lost of late years, by the making of a sloping track through its 
edge to cart off stones that lay at the bottom.” 

Several instances of urns and other finds in the Hownam dis- 
trict have come to my notice, but they are reserved, as well as 
much curious matter obtained recently, for a subsequent year. 
The list at present given will, it is to be hoped, aid further 
research. 

To Sir Walter Elliot, I owe some reminiscences of camps, &c. 
in the Southdean and Hobkirk districts. Sir Walter says: 
‘Within the memory of persons of middle age, there was a 
somewhat remarkable fort, or tumulus on the farm of Turn- 
pikehead, close to the N.E. of Southdean Church, now in the 
occupation of Mr Telfer, whose father took the place when it was 
moorland and ploughed up the whole. The old name of the 
farm was ‘Round-about,’ from the circular ditches surrounding 
the spot.” Subsequently, Sir Walter states, ‘‘I have got some 
further particulars about ‘The Round-about,’ from my keeper’s 
wife, a daughter of old Andrew Telfer, the late farmer. She 
remembers it quite perfect in what is now the field opposite the 
New Church, but then an open heath covered with heather, in 
which stood the Round-about, a circular enclosure 25 to 30 yards 
in diameter, surrounded by a high earthen mound, outside of 
which was a deep ditch, and beyond it a second earthen mound 
not so high as the inner one. It wasa favourite playing place of 

s 


146 Forts, Camps, etc. in Roxburghshire. By J. Geikie. 


the children, who used to run or slide down the outside of the 
inner circumvallation to the bottom of the ditch, and then ascend 
the opposite mound. It was levelled by her father, who ploughed 
up the moor, and made it arable. It cost him no small labour, 
and in the process many small manufactured stones, such as 
whorls, &c. were obtained, and quantities of flints, many of 
which old Andrew used for his old gun. The floor was hard as 
if beaten down with clay, and on the west side was a large 
earthen ridge as for an approach, extending more than 100 
yards, and the top had a line of stunted rowan-trees, the only 
trees about. For years afterwards pieces of flint were picked up 
when singling turnips or during other agricultural work. None 
are now forthcoming, although I told William Telfer, the present 
tenant, some years ago to preserve any for me. His sister—my 
informant—gave me a couple of spindle whorls, some years ago, 
which I still have. I cannot help thinking that this must have 
been a remarkable work. Faint traces of the circle are still dis- 
cernible all round the Camp. 

‘‘There was also another old site behind the gamekeeper’s 
house in the village of Chesters, traces of which, the gamekeeper 
says, can still be seen. It goes by the name of the Kilhow. 
About four years ago, an earthen ware urn was dug up in a field 
behind the school-house, now in the farm of Mr Mein of the 
Broom, which was unfortunately broken to bits by the labourer’s 
spade. I imagine Chesters to have been a place of note in early 
times. 

‘‘The remains at Bonchester Hill, two or three miles west of 
the village of Chesters appear to be the site of an old Celtic town. 
The two double ditches on the south side are still very perfect, 
and there are still indications of the old entrance on the S.E. side 
quite traceable. Three quarters of a mile south of Bonchester 
Hill is a quadrilateral camp at the base of Wolfelee Hill, nearly 
opposite my house, but a little farther south, three sides of 
which are tolerably perfect, with a gateway or entrance on two 
of the sides. This I take to be Roman, and may have been 
raised to act against the British town on the hill.” 

The summary in the Statistical Account of the parish of Hob- 
kirk completes, what can at present be said about this part of 
our limits. ‘‘ On Bonchester Hill, there are remains of a citadel, 
with numerous encampments, both round and square; and in 
some places modern circumvallations may be observed inter-. 


Forts, Camps, etc.in Roxburghshire. By J. Geikie. 147 


secting the more ancient. The situation is commanding, and 
seems to have been regarded as a place of strength and conven- 
ience.* Hand mill-stones, arrow-heads, and other implements 
of former times, have been found in the vicinity. On Rubbers- 
law, at Wauchope, and in several other places, there are like- 
wise vestiges of encampments or fortifications. In digging, 
some time ago, at Langraw, a quantity of ashes and partly con- 
sumed bones were exposed within a circular area about 18 feet 
diameter. On these being removed, four holes drilled in the dent 
or sandstone shale were discovered, in which posts had been 
secured by small stones crammed in from above. Whether 
these posts had supported a canopy or a funeral pile, or what 
had been the purpose of the erection, we are unable to deter- 
mine.” [A hut circle with posts to support the roof, having the 
domestic fire in the centre, in which bones deprived of their 
marrow, had been burned.?] Several urns have been dug up 
in different situations. Two cairns have been removed within 
the memory of the present generation ; one on the east side of 
Rubberslaw, the other at Fodderlee, near to a place where tradi- 
tion says a battle had been fought.’’} 


Several of the weapons and implements disclosed by modern 
cultivation in the Southdean and neighbouring district have 
been preserved in the Jedburgh Museum, Jeffrey, ‘‘Hist. of 
Roxburghshire,”’ 1. plate 2, has some poor figures of certain of 
them. Nos. 1 and 2, socketed and single-looped bronze celts 
were from Southdean Law; 5 is a bronze knife or razor, dis- 
covered near Southdean; 6, an “axe of stone,”’ more correctly a 
polished stone-celt, was found at Chesters. 7 is a heavy axe- 
hammer of stone from Howden Moor, Jedburgh. 4 is an iron- 
spear head from Westerhouses near Abbotrule; and 8 is a 
supposed hilt of a Roman sword from near Abbotrule. Mr 
James Watson has obliged me with rubbings of such as he met 
with in the Museum at Jedburgh. There are four bronze celts 
from Southdean, all different in type, and well worth figuring. 
They are remarkable for their small size, as if they had been 
wielded by pigmies. I give the following notes of them, 
although they cannot be accurately described without drawings 
or from actual inspection. 


* The writer’s derivation of Bonchester from Bona Castra is amusing. 
t New Stat. Acct. of Roxburghshire, pp. 212-3, 


148 Forts, Camps, ete. in Roxburghshire. By J. Geikie. 


BRONZE. 

1. Socketed celt, single looped, rugose longitudinally ribbed and otherwise 
ornamented ; 4inches long; 13 inch wide at the butt; 12 across the broad 
cutting edge. Southdean. 

2. Flat celt; except a stop-ridge above the blade: 4} inches long: 1 inch 
across the butt : 14 atthe stop-ridge ; and 2 across the cutting-edge, South- 
dean Law. 

3. Flanged-celt, with groove for the handle; not ornamented; 6 inches 
long; $ inch across the butt, 2 inches at the broad end; length to the stop- 
ridge, 3 inches. Southdean. 

4, Flanged-celt, rugose with small longitudinal ridges, and other ornas 
mental work ; 51 inches long ; # across the butt; 23 across the broad end; 
23 inches to the stop ridge. Southdean. 

5. A bronze knife or razor, 45 inches long; # inch at widest; perforated 
near the broadest end; gradually tapering to a blunt apex. Southdean Law. 
Jeffrey’s fig. 5. 

FLINT AND STONE. 

1. A very fine example, regularly tapering, and shaped like a chisel, of a 
white flint celt, beautifully although roughly chipped; ground at the broad 
end; 74 inches long; 14 inch at the butt; 2 inches at the broad end. 
Southdean. 

2. Broadish stone celt, said to be of greenstone, but possibly of indurated 
green-slate, polished all over, 5 inches long; 13 inch at the butt; nearly 24 
across the broad end. Southdean, Jeffrey’s fig. 6. from Chesters, 

3. Part of a stone-axe, if axe it be, as it is more like an adze or hoe, of a 
peculiar shape; 6 inches long; 1 inch at the butt; 53 across the broad end. 
Southdean. TRON. 

1. Iron spear-head from Abbotrule ; 6} inches long ; greatest breadth of 
the blade 1} inch. 

In May, 1883, a stone axe or celt, was turned up by the plough on the 
farm of Cunzierton, on the Oxnam, which is thus described: ‘‘The stone 
which is of a lightish colour and very hard, has taken on a beautiful polish, 
and the implement seems as fresh as if newly formed. It measures a little 
over 6 inches in length, about 3 inches broad at the face, and tapers away to 
a point at the other end. Itis thinner than most of the axes found in the 
district, being not more than 3 inch at the thickest part. Itis in the posses- 
sion of Mr Stavert.’’ It is of aventurine quartz. 

Our friends the Hawick Archzologists have mapped the 
British, Roman, and Saxon antiquities in their circuit. They 
cluster around that town, especially studding the vicinity of the 
Teviot, and one of its lesser southern tributaries, and also the 
Slitrig; but appear to be few in number on the Borthwick 
Water. The map is I believe the production of our learned 
member, Dr. J. A. H. Murray, and is unpublished. We still 
require to know about the camps of Liddesdale, and those around 
Melrose before Roxburghshire can be said to be fully surveyed 
archeeologically. James Harpy. 


149 


On Lepidoptera in Roxburghshire. By ADAM ELLIOT, 
Samieston, Jedburgh. 


THE various districts of the county of Roxburgh will require 
to be more fully investigated by Entomologists before an account 
of its Lepidopterous insects can be written, bearing a near 
approximation to the number of species occurring throughout its 
area. It must be remembered that the character of the seasons 
has a very direct effect on the numerical decrease or preservation 
of species. Of this influence we have a recent and very obvious 
example, the winter of 1881-2 being mild and open, the summer 
following has been generally one of the most barren in Macro- 
lepidoptera that has occurred for many years, and the two 
immediately preceding seasons being very productive, following 
hard winters with much snow, the results produced by the 
weather are particularly marked; this effect may probably 
also be observed in other orders of insects, such as the Coleop- 
tera, and so a course of years is necessary in order to note the 
insects which are recurrent in their appearance. 

A pretty large number of species have been recorded, but as 
yet the numerically extensive Sub-division of the Heterocera— 
the Micro-lepidoptera—has received comparatively little atten- 
tion. The Lepidoptera that I shall endeavour to note, I have 
observed principally in the south-eastern division of the county, 
either as imagoes, or reared from larve obtained there; some of 
them, however, to the westward, or taken by others. 

I shall first note some of the species belonging to the first 
order of Lepidoptera—the Rhopalocera—and shall append a list 
of the components of both orders—the Rhopalocera and the 
Heterocera—which I know to occur in these districts. 

Of the first order, the Rhopalocera, I am able to record twenty 
one species only. Of these the Pieride comprise five species, 
the Satyridz six, the Vanesside four, the Argynnide two, and 
the Lyceenide four. Many of these are common and generally 
distributed; several very local, and one species, Colias Edusa, 
recurrent and extremely uncertain in appearance, although I 
have seen it both in the eastern and western districts. Of the 
local species, Satyrus Semele, in both districts, frequents dry 
rocky banks and stony places on the sides of the hills, to which 
it is confined. Hrebia Blandina haunts from about Minto west- 
wards. I have seen a specimen some miles further west, which, 


150 Lepidoptera in Roxburghshire. By Adam Elliot. 


however, appears to be about its limit of occurrence in this direc- 
tion. Canonympha Davus is found in some particular spots of the 
Border hills, and Argynnis Aglaia has also there its peculiar 
resorts. Uelhitea Artemis has been taken in abundance near 
Minto, and it occurs also seven or eight miles south-westward. 
I have captured Lycena Alsus and Artaxerxes in the valley of the 
Slitrig in the western district, and in the eastern they have been 
found in the Oxnam valley. The species mentioned are the 
more notable representatives of the order Rhopalocera in these 
districts. 

In the second order, Heterocera, and in its first group, the 
Sphingidz, the genus Jno with its three species is represented 
only so far as I know by Statices, a pretty but small species to be 
met with in the western district, and I have there taken it in 
considerable numbers in bright sunshine. I have not heard of 
any species of Zygena having been seen, but Pilipendule, being 
a generally distributed species, will probably yet be recorded. 
The larvee of Smerinthus Populi are common on every species of 
Salix and Populus, showing much variation in colour and mark- 
ing. I have taken it from Salix alba almost white in hue, and a 
very marked var. occurs on Populus nigra, each segment excepting 
the first, second, and twelfth, having a purplish blotch just above 
the spiracles, and I have this year kept a few pupz from these 
from which I expect to observe whether or not the imago will 
shew any variation from the usual type, these variations not 
being at present perfectly accounted for. The well known 
Acherontia Atropos appears occasionally in early summer, and 
again in autumn ; the June specimens have probably hybernated, 
or are from late autumn larve, and just emerged from the pupa 
state in time for the potato plants. Sphinx Convolvuli is another 
splendid insect, and being a recurrent species is not so frequently 
met with, but has been secured both in the eastern and western 
districts, and I have a large specimen obtained at Glenburnhall 
near Jedburgh in the end of August, 1881. The two rare species 
of the Sphingidee, Deilephila Galii and Cherocampa Celerro have 
both occurred ; one specimen of the latter I have from the western 
district, and also Porcellus. Macroglossa Stellatarum and Bomby- 
liformis are very uncertain in appearance. The larve of Trochi- 
lium Bembeciforme are common in stems of Salix alba, the imagoes 
not so often seen. 

The first family of the group of Bombyces, the Epialide, is 


Lepidoptera im Roxburghshire. By Adam Elliot. 151 


represented by all the known species; Velleda and Sylvinus being 
especially abundant in some particular years. Of the Notodon- 
tidee, Harpyia Vinula is generally distributed but scarce; Woto- 
donta Dromedarius and Ziczac moderately common, the larvee of 
the former on birch, and of the latter on Salix Caprea; of Leio- 
campa Dictwa on poplar, and Dictaeoides on birch, the latter a 
scarce species, but in two localities I have gathered the larvae, and 
bred the imagoes. Lophopteryx Camelina on oak and Saha 
Caprea, is a rather common and generally distributed species, 
the imagoes showing considerable variation. Pygera Bucephala 
with its gregarious larve, which occurs so abundantly in some 
places, is not common in Roxburghshire. Of the Lsparide we 
have Dasychira Fascelina and Demas Coryli: the latter I have bred 
from larve on sallow and sloe, and although a scarce insect, it 
seems to be generally distributed. The common species of the 
Lithoside—Nudaria Mundana—is generally abundant. In the 
Chelonids, Huthemonia Russula has been taken in the western 
district. Nemeophila Plantaginis, which I found in two different 
localities, is a very local insect; and when it does occur is con- 
fined to a few acres of moorland, and not even then visible every 
season. Bombyx Quercus, var. Callune does not appear to be ~ 
very general in its distribution: in this district I have only found 
it on moorland in the higher parts of the Oxnam valley, and 
have bred a fine series of specimens from larve taken there, 
which I reared exclusively on hawthorn and poplar. The ima- 
goes from these are remarkably large, the female measuring 34 
inches across the expanded wings. Saturnia Carpini, the soli- 
tary representative of the Saturnide, is found on every moor- 
land: it seems specially subject to the attacks of parasitic Dip- 
tera and Ichneumonide, and from this cause is decreasing in 
some localities. 

In the large group of the Noctuz, the pretty species, Thyatura 
Batis occurs, but not commonly, and the same may be said of 
Acronycta Ingustrt. In the autumn of 1880 I took two specimens 
of Nonagria Lutosa, the best species we have of the Leucanide. 
Iuperina Testacea may be frequently seen flying swiftly over the 
hill-sides at dusk in August. amestra Furva, easily confounded 
with vars. of closely allied species, is occasionally to be met with, 
and Celena Haworthi in the higher mountain localities. I took 
several specimens of Caradrina Blanda in the summer of 1881, 
being the best species we have of the Caradrinide. In the Noc- 


152 Lepidoptera in Roxburghshire. By Adam Elliot. 


tuides we have Triphana Lanthina, and Fimbria. We also have 
Subsequa, the best species of the genus, and of which Mr C. G. 
Barrett, the well known Lepidopterist, says: ‘‘the Roxburgh- 
shire specimens have very much darker fore-wings than any I 
have before seen. They contrast handsomely with Suffolk speci- 
mens.” We have also Noctua Glareosa, Triangulum, and Conflua, 
and in the Orthoside, Orthosia Suspecta, Upsilon, Loto and Maci- 
lenta; Anchochelis Litura and Orrhodia Vaccinii and Spadicea. 
Lethea Subtusa is the best and only species of the Cosmide I can 
record. In the Hadenidew, which is pretty fully represented, we 
have Epunda Lutulenta, and Viminalis, and a very beautiful var. of 
the former species, of which Mr Barrett says he has hitherto seen 
similar specimens from Aberdeenshire only. Aplecta occulta is 
very uncertain in appearance, but was moderately common, both 
in the lower and moorland localities in July and August of 1880, 
and the same year I was fortunate in taking a fine specimen of 
Hadena Rectilinea. In the Heliothide,. Anarta Myrtilli is moder- 
ately common on nearly every moorland in the district, and there 
revelling in the hottest sunshine of June and July. In the 
Plusidee, the two fine species of Plusia Festuce and Bractea occur, 
both, however, rare in this locality. 

In the next group of the Heterocera, the Geometrina, a large 
number of species are present, and several that I have taken in 
the eastern district, have not hitherto I think been recorded for 
Roxburghshire. In the family of Ennomide, Ellopia Fasciaria 
may be found in some of the woods of old Scotch firs in July ; 
Ennomos Tiharia and Himera Pennaria in the lower and more 
sheltered localities. In the Amphidaside, Amphidasis Betularia 
is of occasional occurrence. We have several species of Boar- 
mide, Cleora Lichenaria, Boarmia Repandata and Rhomboidaria, 
being all moderately common. Venusia Cambrica, one of the best 
species of the Acidalide, I have taken in some of the fir woods 
where Pyrus Aucuparia grows. The specimens are generally 
squatted on the trunks of fir, and sometimes keep very close to 
the bark, and are easily secured. Acidalia aversata is common 
enough, but shows considerable variation in the specimens. I 
have reared its larveo from the egg upon Veronica officinalis. Sco- 
diona Belgiaria occurs on moorland, and Aspilates Strigillaria in 
one locality only so far as I know, and is there not too plentiful. 
Hybernia Aurantiaria is rather more frequent than Defoliaria, and 
the former has not, I think, hitherto been recorded so far north. 


Lepidoptera in Roxburghshire. By Adam Elliot. 153 


In the Larentidze we have Cheimatobia Boreata, and the genus Opo- 
rabia is represented by all its three known species, the two rarest 
being Autumnaria and Filigrammaria. The affinities of these two 
species being at present the subject of investigation, I have sent 
to Mr Buckler a number of Oporabia larvee for that purpose. 
Larentia Salicata flies over the hill-sides in the higher localities 
at dusk, and Cesiata is in great abundance in some of the fir 
woods, where the food plant of its larvae, Vaccinium Myrtillus, is 
found. Among the Hupithecie, we have Subfulvata general but 
scarce; Pygmeata on marshy ground in the higher localities ; 
Indigata along the borders of fir woods; Absynthiata, Exiguata 
and Rectangulata, all moderately common. Thera Firmata in 
some years is very abundant. The common species, Hypsipetes 
Elviata, shows more remarkable varieties, the most notable having 
the fascia white, which is a very uncommon form, and of which 
Mr Barrett says, ‘‘it is quite the loveliest var. of Hypsipetes Hlu- 
tata that I ever saw: the white fascia is quite a new form of 
variation to me in this most variable species.” Melanippe Tris- 
tata is moderately common on hilly heath ground in especial 
localities, and Coremia Munitata in like situations; Anticlea Deris 
vata in the more sheltered localities; and Coremia Ferrugata, not 
commonly, however, in the fir woods. Scotosia Dubitata occurs 
sometimes in autumn, but is very uncertain in appearance. The 
genus Cidaria is almost fully represented in species, the two of 
rarest occurrence being perhaps Corylata, and Piceata the dark 
variety of Suffumata which is to be found in most of the Scotch 
fir woods. CorylataI have taken in the imago state, and have 
also bred it from September larvee on Salix Caprea, which is not 
generally accepted as its food plant. Chesvas Spartiata is common 
about broom in autumn. 

Of the large sub-division of the Heterocera, the Micro-lepi- 
doptera, I have taken about 80 species, but expect still to add 
largely to the local list in this numerically extensive section. 

In the first group of Micro-lepidoptera, the Pyralidina, we 
have in the Pyralideze, Botys Fuscalis and Pionea Forficalis occur- 
ring rather sparingly. Scopula Luteals, more esteemed by collec- 
tors in the south than here, is rather common. Simethis Pariana 
appears on flowers of ragwort, but not commonly. Inthe Cram- 
bidze we have a number of species, all more or less common, 
Crambus Pratellus, Tristellus, and Culmellus being plentiful on 
every grassy hillside during their time of appearance. 

T 


154 Lepidoptera in Roxburghshire. By Adam Elliot. 


In the group of the Tortricina, Amphysa Gerningiana occurs on 
moorland in the upper part of the Kale valley, and also Tortriz 
Viburnana, commonly. Tortrix Forsterana, in some of the Scotch 
fir woods, drops to the ground, when beating the trunks for 
them, like a small piece of loose bark falling. When on the 
ground they remain motionless, and so may easily be passed un- 
noticed. Catroptria Cana is a scarce species. Halonota Trige- 
minana and Brunnichiana are moderately common, and the same 
may be said of the two species of Anchylopera—Myrtillana and 
Unguicella. Bactra Lanceolana is very plentiful. Peronea Mac- 
cana is a good and scarce species; the only two specimens of it 
I have seen were taken when sugaring for Noctuz in autumn. 
Pamplusia Monticolana occurs on moorland, and I have taken it on 
one of the highest summits of the western Cheviots. IMizodia 
Schulziana is a scarce species. In the lower localities the pretty 
species, Argyrolepia Cnicana seems local and of rare, occurrence 
and for which Stainton mentions one English locality. Xantho- 
setia Hamana is of more general distribution. 

In the numerically extensive group of the Tineinz, we have 
Tinea Semifulvella, very rich in colouring, and among Scotch firs ~ 
I have seen Jncurvaria Masculella in abundance flying in the sun- 
shine. Plutella Dalella,a good species, is found sometimes on 
trunks of Scotch fir, and on moorland, and in the month of 
January I took a hybernated specimen when turning a stone- 
heap at a high elevation. Depressaria Nervosa is a scarce species. 
Pleurota Bicostella occurs sparingly on most of the grassy hills ; 
Gracilaria Swederella principally in fir woods. On the trunks of: 
fir trees, can be picked up, Elachista Apicipunctella, a minute 
species requiring careful search. 

In the group of the Pterophorina I can only as yet record the 
two species, Platypilus Bertrami and Pterophorus Microdactylus. 
Alucita Polydactyla I have not yet taken, but being a common 
insect it may yet be added to the local list of Micro-lepidoptera. 


LIST OF SPECIES. 
SUB-KINGDOM, ARTICULATA. 


CLASS, INSECTA. 
ORDER, LEPIDOPTERA. 


Sub- ne I. RHOPALOCERA. Pieris Brassicee, L. 
PapILIONID#. Rape, L. 
nae Fam. Prerr2, Napi, L. 
Colias Edusa, F. Anthocharis Cardamines, L. 


Lepidoptera in Roxburghshire. By Adam Elliot. 155 


Fam. Saryripz#. 
Satyrus Semele, L. 
Janira, L. 
Hyperanthus, L. 
Erebia Blandina, F. 
Coenonympha Davus, L. 
Pampilus, L. 

Fam, VANESSID&. 
Vanessa Cardui, L. 

Atalanta, L. 

To, L. 

Urtice, L. 

Fam. ARGYNNID#. 
Argynnis Aglaia, L. 
Melitzwa Artemis, S.V. 

Fam. Lycanipz, 
Polyommatus Phileas, L. 
Lycena Alsus, 8.V. 

Alexis, S.V. 

Artaxerxes, F. Sp? 


Sub-Order I]. HETEROCERA. 


Group, Sphingina, 
Fam. ZYG@NIDz. 
Ino Statices, L. 


Fam. SpHINGIDz. 
Smerinthus Populi, L. 
Acherontia Atropos, L. 
Sphinx Convolvuli, L. 
Deilephila Galii, 8. V. 
Cherocampa Celerio, L. 

Porcellus, L. 
Macroglossa Stellatarum, L. 


Bombyliformis, 0. 


Fam. SrEsipz. 
Trochilium Bembeciforme, H. 


Group, Bombyces. 


Fam. HEpPiaLipz. 
Epialus Hectus, L. 
Lupulinus, L. 
Humuli, L. 
Velleda, H. 
Sylvinus, L. 
Fam Re ee 
Harpyia Furcula, L. 
oil Vinula, L. 
Notodonta Dromedarius, L. 
Ziczac, L. 
Leiocampa Dictza, L. 
Diczoides, E. 
Lophopteryx Camelina, L. 
Diloba Czruleocephala, L. 
Clostera Reclusa, 8. V. 
Pygera Bucephala, L, 


Fam. Liparip#. 
Dasychira Fascelina, L. 
Demas Coryli, L. 

Orgyia Antiqua, L. 


Fam. Lirxosipz. 
Nudaria Mundana, L. 
Fam. CHELONIDZ. 
Euthemonia Russula, L. 
Arctia Caia, L. 
Nemeophila Plantaginis, L. 
Spilosoma Fuliginosa, L. 
Menthastri, S.V. 
Fam. Bompycip2. 
Bombyx Rubi, L. 
Quercus, L. 
Var. Callune. 


Fam. SatuRNiDm. 
Saturnia Carpini, S.V. 
Fam. DREPANULID®. 
Cilix Spinula, 8.V. 


Group, Noctue. 
Fam. CyMAToPHORIDA. 
Thyatira Batis, L. 


Fam. Bompycoiwz. 
Acronycta Psi, L. 
Ligustri, S.V. 
Rumicis, L. 
Fam. Levcanipa, 
Leucania Conigera, S.V. 
Lithargyria, E. 
Comma, L. 
Impura, H. 
Pallens, L. 
Nonagria Fulva, H. 
Lutosa, H. 


Fam. APAMID&. 
Hydrecia Nictitans, L. 
Micacea, E. 
Xylophasia Rurea, F. 
Lithoxylea, S.V. 
Polyodon, L. 
Charzeas Graminis, L. 
Luperina Testacea, S.V. 
Mamestra Furva, 8. V. 
Brassice, L. 
Apamea Basilinea, 8.V. 
Gemina, H. 
Oculea, F. 
Miana‘Strigilis, L. 
Fasciuncula, Hw. 
Celzena Haworthii, C. 


Fam. CaRADRINIDZ, 
Caradrina Blanda, H. 
Cubicularis, S.V, 


156 Lepidoptera in Roxburghshire. By Adam Elliot. 


Fam. Nocrvuipz. 
Rusina Tenebrosa, H. 
Agrotis Saucia, H. 
Segetum, 8.V. 
Exclamationis, L. 
Porphyrea, S.V. 
Tripheena [anthina, S.V. 
Fimbria, L. 
Subsequa, S.V. 
Orbona, F. 
Pronuba, L. 
Noctua Glareosa, E. 
Augur, F. 
Plecta, L. 
C-Nigrum, L. 
Triangulum, Hf. 
Brunnea, S.V. 
Festiva, S.V. 
Confiua, T. Sp? 
Rubi, View. 
Baja, 8.V. 
Umbrosa, H. 
Xanthographa, 8.V. 
Fam. OrRTHOSIDA. 
Trachea Piniperda, Panz. 
Teeniocampa Gothica, L. 


Rubricosa, 8. V. 
Instabilis, S.V. 


Stabilis, S.V. 
Munda, 8.V. 
Orthosia Suspecta, H. 
Upsilon, 8.V. 
Lota, L. 
Macilenta, H. 
Anchocelis Lunosa, Hw. 
Litura, L. 
Orrhodia Vaccinii, L. 
Spadicea, G. 
Scopelosoma Satellitia, L. 
Xanthia Cerago, 8.V. 
Selago, H. 
Ferruginea, 8. V. 
Fam. Cosm1pz. 
Tethea Subtusa, S.V. 


Fam. HapENIDA. 
Hecatera Serena, 8. V. 
Polia Chi, L. 

Var. Olivacea. 

Epunda Lutulenta, 8.V. 

Viminalis, F. 
Miselia Oxyacanthe, L. 
Dichonia Aprilina, L. 
Phlogophora Meticulosa, L. 
Fuplexia Lucipara, L. 
Aplecta Herbida, S.V. 

Occulta, L. 

Nebulosa, Hf, 


Hadena Adusta, E. 
Protea, 8. V. 
Dentina, 8.V. 
Chenopodii, 8.V. 
Oleracea, L. 
Pisi, L. 
Thalassina, Bk. 
Rectilinea,E. 


Fam. XYLINIDA. 
Calocampa Vetusta, H. 
Exoleta, L. 
Cucullia Umbratice, L. 


Fam. HELioTHipa, 
Anarta Myrtilli, L. 

Fam. Piusipa. 
Habrostala Urtice, H. 
Plusia Chrysitis, L. 

Bractea, S.V. 
Festuce, L. 
Tota, L. 

V- aurum, G. 
Gamma, L. 


Fam. GONOPTERIDA, 
Gonoptera Libatrix, L. 


Fam. AMPHIPYRID. 
Amphipyra Tragoponis, L. 
Neenia Typica, L. 

Mania Maura, L. 
Fam. EvucLipipa. 
Euclidia Mi. L. 
Glyphica, L. 


Group, Geometrina. 
Fam. ENNOMID2. 

Rumia Crategata, L. 
Metrocampa Margaritata, L. 
Ellopia Fasciaria, L. 
Selenia Illunaria, H. 
Odontopera Bidentata, L. 
Crocallis Elinguaria, L. 


_ Ennomos Tiliaria, Bk. 


Himera Pennaria,. L. 


Fam. AMPHIDASIDE. 
Phigalia Pilosaria, S.V. 
Amphidasis Betularia, L. 


Fam. BoaRMIDa&. 
Cleora Lichenaria, Hf. 
Boarmia Repandata, L. 

Rhomboidaria, 8. V. 

Fam. ACIDALIDA. 
Venusia Cambrica, C. 
Acidalia aversata, L. 

Fam. CABERIDA. 
Cabera Pusaria, L. 

Fam. Macaripa. 


Lepidoptera in Roxburghshire. 


Macaria Liturata, L. 
Halia Wavaria, L. 


Fam. Fiponip #, 
Strenia Clathrata, L. 
Scodiona Belgaria, H. 
Fidonia Atomaria, L. 
Piniaria, L. 
Aspilates Strigillaria, H. 
Fam. ZERENID A. 
Abraxas Grossulariata, L. 
Ulmata, F. 
Lomaspilis Marginata, L. 
Fam. Hypernip&. 
Hybernia Rupicapraria, 8.V. 
Leucophearia, 8.V. 
Aurantiaria, H. 
Progemmaria, H. 
s Defoliaria, L. 
Anisopteryx Alscularia, S.V. 


Fam. LARENnTIDA. 
Cheimatobia Brumata, L. 
Boreata, H. 
Oporabia Dilutata, S.V. 
Autumnaria, G.Sp ? 


Filigrammaria, H.S. 


Larentia Didymata, L. 
Multistrigaria, H. 
Ceesiata, S.V. 
Salicata, H. 
Pectinitaria, Fuess. 
Emmelesia Alchemillata, L. 
Decolorata, H. 
EKupethecia Subfulvata, Hw, 
Pygmeata H. 
Satyrata, H. 
Castigata, H. 
Indigata, H. 
Nanata, H. 
Vulgata, Hw. 
Absynthiata, L. 
_Tenuiata, H. 
Exiguata, H. 
Rectangulata, L. 
Thera Juniperata, L. 
Variata, S.V. 
Firmata, H. 
Hypsipetes Hlutata, H. 
Melanippe Tristata, L. 
Montanata, S.V. 
Fluctuata, L. 
Anticlea Derivata, S.V. 
Coremia Munitata, H. 
Ferrugata, L. 
Camptogramma Bilineata, L. 
Scotosia Dubitata, L. 
Cidaria Psittacata, S.V. 


Cidaria Miata, L. 
Corylata, Thnb. 
Russata, 8. V. 
Immanata, Hw 
Suffumata, S.V. 
Var. Piceata. 
Prunata, L. 
Testata, L. 
Populata, S.V. 
Fulvata, Frst. 
Pyraliata, S.V. 

Fam. Evsoiipa. 

Eubolia Mensuraria, S.V. 

Plumbaria, F. 
Anaitis Plagiata, L. 
Chesias Spartiata, Fuess. 
Fam. Sionipm&. 
Odezia Cheerophyllata, L. 


SUB-DIVISION, 


MICRO-LEPIDOPTERA. 


Group, Pyralidina. 

Section 1. Dzurtorpzs. 
Fam. Hyprenip&. 
Hypena Proboscidalis, L. 


Section 2. Pyratirss. 
Fam. ENNYCHIDE. 
Herbula Cespitalis, 8. V. 


Fam. HypRrocaMpPip&. 
Hydrocampa Nymphzata, L. 
Fam. Botypa. 
Botys Fuscalis, Lt. 
Pionea Forficalis, L. 
Scopula Lutealis, H. 
Olivalis, 8. V. 
Ferrugalis, H. 
Stenopteryx Hybridalis, H. 


Fam. CHOREUTIDA. 
Simaethis Pariana, L. 
Group, Crambites. 
Fam. Evuporeipé. 
Kudorea Pyralella. 
Crategella, H. 
Fam. CRAMBIDE. 
Crambus Pratellus, Clk. Db. 
Hortuellus, H. 
Culmellus. L. 
Tristellus, S.V. 
Group, Tortricina. 
Fam. Torrricipz. 
Amphisa Gerningiana, S.V. 
Tortrix Icterana, Frol. 
Viburnana, S.V. 
Viridana, L. 
Forsterana, F, 


By Adam Elliot. 157 


158 Lepidoptera in Roxburghshire. By Adam Elliot. 


Fam. PLicatZ#. 
Lozotenia Musculana, H. 
Spilonota Suffusana, Kollar. 
Catoptria Cana 
Halonota Bimaculana, Dny. 

Trigeminana, Ss. 

Scutulana, S.V. 


Brunnichiana, 8. V. 


Dicrorampha Petiverella, L. 
Politana. 
Coccyx Hyrciniana, T. 


Fam. ANCHYLOPERIDZ#. 


Anchylopera Myrtillana, T. 
Unguicella, L. 
Bactra Lanceolana, H. 
Argyrotoza Conwayana, F. 
Fam. PERoNIDz. 
Cheimataphila Mixtana, H. 
Peronea Maccana, T. 
Variegana, 8.V. 
Ferrugana, S8.V. 
Teras Caudana, F. ; 
Fam. SticmMonoTipm. 
Pamplusia Monticolana, D. 
Fam. ONEPHASIDZ. 
Sciaphila Subjectana, G. 
Virgaureana, T. 
Fam. SERICORIDZ, 
Mixodia Schulziana, F. 
Fam. Lozoprripz#. 
Argyrolepia Cnicana, Db. 
Eupeecilia Angustana, H. 
Ciliella, H. 
Xanthosetia Hamana, L. 


Group, Tineina, 
Fam. Exapatipz&. 
Chimabacche Fagella, W.V. 


Fam. TInEIpD&. 


Ochsenheimeria Biscutella, Z. 


Cloacella, Hw. 

Semifulvella, Hw. 
Incurvaria Musculella, F. 
Nemophora Schwarziella, Z. 


Fam. MicropreryGipa. 
Micropteryx Subpurpurella, Hw. 


Fam. HyrponoMEvTIDzA. 
Swammerdamia Apicella, Dnv. 
Fam. PLUTELLIDA. 
Plutella Dalella, Stn. 
Cerostoma Vitella, L 


Fam. GELECHIDA. 
Depressaria Assimilella, T. 
Arenella, W.V. 
Applana, F. 
Nervosa, Hw. 
Gelechia Ericetella H 
Terrella, W.V. 
Pleurota Bicostella, L. 


Fam. CGicorpHoripa&. 
CEcophora Pseudospretella, Stn. 
Endrosis Fenestrella, S. 

Fam. ARGYRESTHIDZ, 
Argyresthia Nitidella, F. 

Fam. GRACILARIIDA. 

Gracilaria Swederella, Thnbg. 
Hlongella, L. 
Tringipennella, Z. 

Fam. CoLEoPHORIDA. 
Coleophora Albicosta, Hw. 

Fam. Evacuistipz&. 
Chauliodus Cherophyllellus, Goeze 
Elachista Apicipunctella, Stn. 

Cygnipennella, H. 
Fam. LirHocoLLetTipz, 
Lithocolletis Spinolella,-D. 
Pomifoliella, Z. 


Group Pterophorina. 
Pterophorus Bertrami, Réssler. 


Tinea Rusticella, H. 


Ochrodactylus, Z? H.S P 
Tapetzella, L. 


Microdactylus, H. 


Norse :—Since making out the above list I have in addition another 
species of Eupethecia and nine more of Micro-lepidoptera taken this 
season, which might form part of a supplementary list at a future 
time.—A. E. 


159 


Rooks and Rookeries. By JAMES SMAIL, Kirkcaldy. 


“He buildeth his nest with a watchful skill, 
And biddeth his mate well fare, 

And tendeth the wants of his younglings all 
With a parent’s tend’rest care ; 

And bravely he breasts the blasts of life, 
Howe’er so rough they blow; 

H’en many a man full much may learn 
From the homely old corn crow.” 

Tue Crow tribe are widely diffused over the world ; and in the 
Border counties we have five distinct species: the Raven, Car- 
rion Crow or Blackneb, Hooded Crow, Rook or Whiteneb, and 
Jackdaw. 

‘The only Border haunt of the raven known to the writer is 
Henhole, a very deep corrie, with here and there perpendicular 
cliffs, on the north side of the Great Cheviot, and down which 
flows the highest branch of Colledge Water, there always ink- 
black from the inflow of water from the mossy land which for 
many square miles covers the somewhat flat top of that high 
mountain. Any one visiting Henhole is certain to see the 
ravens which nest there; for at a great elevation they may be 
seen slowly wheeling in wide circles; and they invariably draw 
attention by uttering their deep croaking call. They are very 
shy wild birds, though when tame they are amusingly familiar. 
Forty years ago there was a tame raven at the High Street 
brewery, Jedburgh, which among other accomplishments could 
‘so fairly imitate the trumpet-call made daily by the guard of the 
Chevy Chase coach as it bowled along the street, that not unfre- 
quently people rushed out-of-doors thinking the coach was 
passing, but only to find master Ralph had been indulging in a 
little private trumpeting. The raven, though a very powerful 
and in emergencies a very bold bird, is, especially in a wild 
state, very harmless. It seldom molests a sickly lamb; and we 
know of no instance in which it has been known to attack a 
sickly sheep. The same cannot be said of several of the lesser 
of the corvine birds. 

Carrion crows are at the present time very numerous in the 
Cheviot Hills; and to this may be attributed to a very consider- 
able extent the falling-off in the numbers of blackgame and 
grouse in the district. On some of the western Cheviots where 
thirty five years ago blackcock shooting yielded excellent sport, 


160 Rooks and Rookeries. By James Smail. 


for many years past it has been exceedingly poor. Wandering 
over those hills of late years, which I have repeatedly done in 
the shooting season, I have often observed that carrion crows 
were almost always in sight, flying in pairs. On some of the 
higher fells in Upper Liddlesdale I have seen as many as five 
pairs at one time all carefully hunting every foot of ground. 
Hooded crows are comparatively scarce in the eastern Borders ; 
but they are moderately numerous about the sea-margins, as are 
also both carrion crows and rooks—the latter especially in winter. 
Rooks are widely spread over many lands, and, as we shall 
show, they abound in vast numbers in the Borders. They are 
our most wary and intelligent birds; and considering the vast- 
ness of their number it is somewhat wonderful how few compar- 
atively fall a prey to guns, traps, and other deadly engines set 
against them. They are also more bold and clever than 
the lively and cunning Jackdaw. Many who have not carefully 
watched the ways of both think otherwise ; but having for a long 
course of years been an observer of the habits of those birds, 
both wild and tame, I have to state that I have found the rook 
superior both in intelligence and general courage; and in a tame 
state it confides more in man than the Jackdaw, and shows 
besides so many peculiar traits that at times it actually seems to 
possess humour. The tame rook is particularly fond of any hard 
shining portable article—a penny-piece, for instance; and all 
such things, after hammering them a little with his bill, he in- 
variably hides. After pushing a penny as far out of sight as he 
possibly can under some cover, he immediately begins to walk 
sentry at the spot—head and tail cocked up in a ludicrous 
fashion ; and performs a strutting march with all the pomp and 
gravity pertaining to a drill instructor of a Highland regiment ~ 
of the line. For his size there is no braver bird than the rook ; 
and there is no bird of equal size for which he shows fear. He 
faces the kestrel hawk, and often fights with it. I once watched 
a fight between a rook and kestrel for fully half-an-hour, and 
when I left they were still fighting. This was on the Dunion 
moor near Jedburgh. The birds fought for perhaps a couple of 
minutes at a time; then the hawk flew off some twenty yards or 
so; and in less than a minute the rook invariably mounted from 
the ground, and looked for the hawk, which it no sooner saw 
than it darted down on it, and renewed the fight. However I 
have in the nesting season seen the missel thrush drive off the 


Rooks and Rookeries. By James Smail. 161 


kestrel ; and on the other hand I have seen the robin drive off 
the missel thrush when that large bird came near his nest. 

We have no birds so gregarious as rooks; and though in their 
assemblies at times in vast numbers in the air they do not in 
their movements show the fine lines and curves made by the 
plover tribe when congregated on the wing, it is still very inter- 
esting to watch their movements ; the observer will notice that 
when at avery great elevation they appear to fly round in an 
almost stationary circle, the circle in reality slowly but gradually 
moves in one direction, until all the birds disappear. ‘<A 
wedding of crows” is the old term applied to such gatherings. 
Judging by their movements and cries the birds seem to be 
greatly excited when so assembled. It is a common thing to 
prognosticate a change of weather when rooks are seen wheeling 
in those air flights; and it is also usually prognosticated that a 
change of weather is at hand when they are seen sitting closely 
together on lea or stubble fields, and all utterly silent. On 
many occasions after seeing such assemblages, I have carefully 
watched for weather changes; and with a few exceptions un- 
worthy of note, any changes in the weather were of so ordinary 
a nature as to call for no special remark. Rooks in vast. num- 
bers live constantly with us; and they can store no food, and are 
always within a comparatively short distance of their nightly 
shelter ; so that whatever fore-sight they may possess as to com- 
ing changes of weather, it can be of little or no practical advan- 
tage to them. It is different with the migrant birds. They 
shift north or south as the seasons change. In an extra early 
spring or winter those birds shift their abode before the usual 
time. They sometimes derive benefit from this, and occasionally 
are injured by it. Swallows, for instance, often suffer greatly 
by coming to us too early in the spring, when the flies on which 

they feed are not numerously on the wing. 

It may be mentioned, however, that some observers have 
noticed that when rooks that visit the sea shore in the morning 
for feeding purposes do not fly inland shortly after feeding, but 
remain by the shore for nearly all the day, it generally is rough 
weather inland, however calm it may be by the sea. But the 
great bulk of the rooks in the eastern Border counties live too 
far inland for seaside visiting. Their movements either in flocks 
or singly when seeking after food are easily understood ; but the 
course of many of their other movements is quite beyond the 

U 


162 Rooks and Rookeries. By James Smail. 


observer’s comprehension. In the High Street of Kirkcaldy, for 
instance, during three or four days in the autumn of the years 
1880-1 and 2 I noticed, at first with some surprise, that rooks sat 
in the mornings and afternoons in such numbers on the roof of the 
George Hotel, which is in the High Street of the town, that they 
covered nearly the whole slates; and with the exception of a few 
which sat on the next building, they did not, so far I could make 
out, assemble or rest in large numbers on any other house in 
the town. Numbers of people when they notice rooks shooting 
down the wind to their nests or sheltering wood, predict change 
of weather; whereas it is the only very speedy way by which 
they can reach the desired haven from a very high altitude. It 
isa very quick graceful movement. The rook may be two 
hundred feet above its nest; and with a view of reaching it by 
the quickest mode, it dives suddenly and with great velocity 
in three or four angled breaks, and reaches its abode in two or 
three seconds. 

If the spring is early, rooks begin to build their nests about the 
close of February and beginning of March ; and notwithstanding 
what is popularly believed to the contrary, they do as much in 
the way of laying the foundations of their airy dwellings on any 
good fresh day at that time as on the first Sunday of March. 
The old birds in a large rookery mostly take up their old nests 
with little or no molestation from their brethren, but matters are 
very different when strange rooks and those rooks that were 
fledglings in the previous year attempt to take up house. Those 
unfortunates have for at least a month to endure the hazard of a 
bitter war, for the fighting over nest-sites is really furious; and 
to watch the excited birds doing battle over a small sprinkling of 
foundation-sticks is often amusing. When the opposing birds 
are busy fighting over a half-built nest, it often occurs that some 
observing rooks dart on the unfinished structure and in a few 
moments carry off the whole material to their own nests. Again, 
over a single nest-hold a dozen rooks may be seen hotly fighting 
and screaming, sending nest-sticks and small clouds of feathers 
into the air, bringing one in mind of a brawl among a few ter- 
magants, when caps and hair are seen flying on the wind. For 
several years there was a solitary rook nest on a tree in the 
grounds of Ednam House, Kelso; and I have seen as many as 
eight rooks fighting over it when it was being built. There 
were other places as good for nesting on the same tree, but jeal- 


Rooks and Rookeries. By James Smail. 163 


ousy and love of strife seemed to blind the birds, for no nest was 
ever built on it but the one. When whaling vessels reach the Gulf- 
stream the weary frost-bitten sailors at once find their troubles 
cease and their wounds begin to heal in the genial climate ; so, 
whenever the rook lays her first egg in the hitherto hotly dis- 
puted nest, all is peace; and from that day till her young are 
fledged and afield not even arude caw is given over her head. 
This shows an instinct strongly akin to reason, and an idea of 
fairplay. . 

The faith that in the breeding season rooks have in man is 
truly wonderful. They build their nests on the trees that sur- 
round his dwelling, and often on trees so low that the nests could 
be reached by a ten feet pole. They also build in clumps of 
trees and small woods in towns and cities ; and of late years there 
has been a great increase in town and village nests, and also in the 
nests built near mansions and farm houses in the country. This 
may be accounted for in two ways; first by the increase of the 
birds ; and second, because the rooks find from experience that 
they are less molested and shot down in such places than when 
they nest in the ordinary large rookeries, where the slaughter of 
the innocents is generally done on a wholesale scale, by 
climbers and shooters. 

Rooks are both early and late birds. I have frequently heard 
them, when flying overhead, so early in the dawn in spring and 
summer that they could not be seen ; and every one has seen and 
heard the long strings of clangourous rooks flying homeward in 
the dull grey of night fall; and even behind the main flight, 
laggards and keen grub-hunters keep flying homeward in ones 
and twos for a considerable time after the main body is settled 
for the night; but none of those single late-returning birds 
lift up the voice. They approach and enter the rookery in 
dead silence, as if ashamed of their hours. 

In the nesting season many rooks lose their voice. You see 
them apparently crowing, but no sound is produced. I cannot 
account for this. One of my tame rooks entirely lost its voice 
one spring. He often tried to crow, but could not. I noticed 
that the point of his tongue at this time looked dry and it had a 
sort of dead-brown colour. I have often observed that a num- 
ber of parent rooks have a peculiar cry when approaching the 
nest with food for the younglings. They produce a nearly con- 
tinuous fond shrill and pleasing sound, something like a long 


164 Rooks and Rookeries By James Smail. 


continued roo-roo-roo, uttered in a high pitch; and I have 
also noticed that the nestlings when they hear this, and they 
know a mother’s voice as well as does a child, begin to flutter 
and cackle, well knowing doubtless that food and caresses are in 
store for them. After leaving the nest the young are fed by 
their parents for a short time, and they fly in company for a few 
‘months. 

The male rook is an inch longer than the female; but the 
plumage of both is the same. 

The young do not get a scabrous beak (whiteneb) till very late 
in the autumn; and sometimes it is spring before the change 
takes place. I have seen a tame rook nearly fifteen months old 
before the beak was changed in colour. 

In wild upland districts where there are no trees it is not un- 
common for a large flock of rooks to roost for the night on the 
ground, among rough bent-grass and heather, which yield them 
excellent shelter; and as the fox, like his friends of the dog 
race, does not partake of rook, they sit without molestation ; and 
when dawn comes they will no doubt find breakfast at hand ; for 
I do not think they would roost in such places were it not in the 
prospect of food to be had in the dawn. Very wild windy 
weather may also sometimes cause them to take up a ground abode 
for a night now and again. The late Mr John Elliot, Primrose- 
hill, told the writer that on a summer night in crossing a high 
spur on the Lammermoors he and a friend rode into a large flock 
of rooks that were roosting among the heather. He was greatly 
surprised, as so doubtless would be the birds, which all flew off 
in silence, barring the flapping and fluttering made by their 
wings as they hurriedly made off. Rooks if disturbed during 
the night make no vocal sound whatever. In this they are unlike 
their congeners the jackdaws, which now so numerously lodge and 
hunt with rooks, and which give voice at any hour of the night if 
disturbed. From the rookery in Galashiels it is quite a common 
thing to hear a great midnight clamour, all done by the jackdaws. 
This is specially noticeable in bright moonlight nights, when the 
male and young flying rooks and jackdaws can be seen roosting on 
the branches. Having quietly watched them on many such 
nights, I am of opinion that the frequent cacklings and flutterings 
are caused by a few of the more restless jackdaws; and when 
one or two give voice, in a second of time the whole daw tribe 
seem to join in the concert, while the annoyed rooks solemnly 


Rooks and Rookeries. By James Smail. 165 


look on and bear and sufferin silence. Jackdaws are wilder and 
more easily frightened than rooks, as I have already said; and 
a proof of this is that when a gun is fired in the direction of a 
high flight of rooks and jackdaws (for the latter always accomp- 
any the rooks) the daws from their wild and sudden side darts 
show that they are much more alarmed than the rooks, which 
swerve comparatively little on hearing the shot; and yet the 
rooks are nearer any shot so fired than the daws, which in all 
such assemblages fly above the rooks. 

It is only of comparatively recent years that jackdaws have in 
considerable numbers taken up their abode and hunt with the 
rooks. The cause of this is, I think, the want of what may be 
called normal nesting places for the jackdaws. I have no hesi- 
tation in saying that jackdaws are ten times as numerous now 
as they were forty years ago; whereas the places in which they 
naturally prefer to nest have not increased in number, hence 
they are driven into new localities and new kinds of nesting 
places. The favourite nesting places of the jackdaw are fissures 
of cliffs and scaurs, ruins of abbeys and castles. ‘These have not 
increased in number ; so the young birds have had in a sense to 
emigrate; and some have taken to the woods where they nest 
‘with the rooks, either in the holes of trees or in open nests built 
in the dark centre of the upper branches of the spruce fir; and 
large numbers have found their way to Galashiels, where, in 
that busy town, they eagerly pursue their calling, which seems 
to be the closing up of every other chimney with a nest. At 
Springwood Park, a few jackdaws build in some rabbit holes 
in a steep bank. 

Every colony of rooks has itsown hunting ground. The birds 
do not of course confine themselves to an exact boundary line, 
or quarrel as some bipeds do over march fences. A few miles 
of take-and-give now and again, or doing a little hunting on what 
might be called neutral or other ground, counts as nothing ; but 
as a rule they keep pretty much the same ground year after year, 
just as anumber of the small birds to our knowledge do. In the 
mid-summer and winter months when all the ordinary rookeries 
are forsaken, and the birds from these brigade and lodge together 
in vast multitudes in the large and sheltering woods called 
winter rookeries, such as Sunderland Hall, Mellerstain, and 
Longnewton, the birds from the forsaken rookeries, daily return 
and feed on their old territory. 


166 Rooks and Rookeries By James Smail. 


At first peep of dawn a column of rooks may be seen leaving 
the winter rookery and sailing away in one direction for the 
familiar feeding ground in the district of their at present for- 
saken rookery, to which they pay an occasional passing visit; 
and in which they have afriendly gossip over the old nests ; and 
about the same time other large flights leave the winter quarters 

‘and sail off in different directions with similar ends in view. 
Sometimes when visiting the old nests in autumn a little repair- 
ing is done; and I have known cases where entirely new nests 
have been built in autumn. They do not fight to any extent 
worthy of notice over the nests in autumn; but they do much 
cawing and capering, and show much excitement. The storms 
of winter, however, generally wreck nearly all the exposed nests. 
Where a cluster of some five or six nests is fixed in a many- 
branched fork of a strong tree the winter weather generally does 
it no harm. 

The trees of nearly all the very large rookeries are of Scotch 
fir. Of the hardwood trees in rookeries the rooks prefer the ash 
for nesting purposes; but there are some pretty extensive rook- 
eries in which almost all the trees are of varied hardwood. The 
large rookery destroyed some years ago at Carolside, Berwick- 
shire, was almost entirely of hardwood. The greatest number of 
rook nests I ever saw on one tree was 46, on an ash tree in the 
town of Galashiels, in 1878. Give the moderate number of four 
young birds as the product of each nest, and we have 184 birds 
reared on one tree; and adding the number of parent birds the 
tree would give rest to 276 rooks nightly. 

With a view of ascertaining the number, size, age, &c. of 
rookeries in the counties of Northumberland, Roxburgh, Ber- 
wick, Selkirk, and Peebles, I sent out, in 1877, a circular in 
which I asked for information on those points; and the circular 
also asked for information as to the food of rooks ; and for infor- 
mation about wood pigeons and heronries in those counties. 
Two hundred circulars were sent out, many of them to members 
of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, and the rest to landlords 
and farmers and gamekeepers, the latter a class who generally 
know much of birds and their ways. The returns received are 
numerous; and many of my correspondents have kindly taken 
much trouble and have shown much care in getting up and send- 
ing correct information ; and I heartily thank all who have sent 
in the returns, from which what follows is largely drawn. 


Rooks and Rookeries. By James Smail. 167 


The first query in the circular was: ‘“ Name the rookeries you 
know to exist in each of these counties. State also whether the 
rookeries are large or otherwise.”’ It should be noted that the 
words “large” or ‘‘small”’ placed against the rookeries in the 
lists are on the whole suggestive only, as what one writer might 
think large another might consider small. To have supplied the 
size by measurement would have been difficult; and would‘ 
besides have entailed an amount of other work which I could not 
have asked anyone to perform. Although I have got lists from 
correspondents all over the counties named, it should be borne in 
mind that none of the respective county lists may be perfect ; 
indeed, they can scarcely be so, for although the attempt was 
made to have them correct, I have found returns from different 
individuals which in some places do not tally, and which it would 
have been very difficult to rectify unless by personal inspection 


on the spot. 
LIST OF ROOKERIES. 
BERWICKSHIRE. 


Dunglass, partly in Berwickshire, 
partly in East Lothian, large. | 

Paxton, in policy of Paxton House, 
large. 
Milne Graden, in policy of M. 
Graden House, moderate size. 
Blackadder, at Blackadder House, 
large. 

Ayton, at Ayton Castle, large. 

Peelwalls, Peelwalls House, small. 

Mordington, Mordington House, 
moderate size. 

Sanson Seal, Sanson Seal House, 
small. 

Longridge, Longridge House, [N. 
Durham], moderate size. 

Templehall, Coldingham, small. 

Horneliff, at Horncliff Mains, [N. 
Durham], moderate size. 

Ladykirk, moderate size. 

Houndwood House, old, moderate 
size. 

Longformacus, moderate size. 

Marshall Meadows, small. 

Blanerne, considerable. 

Duns Castle (‘‘Peelies”), small. 

Mellerstain, large. 

Chapel on Leader, begun 28 years 
ago, very large; and greatly in- 


creased because of the neigh- 
bouring Carolside rookery hav- 
ing been destroyed. 

Whitehall, large. 

Marchmont, moderate size. 

Charter Hall, considerable. 

Kimmerghame, small. 

Cumledge, small. 

Kelloe, small. 

Hirsel, 

Hume Castle, very small. 

Todrig, very small. 

Langton, small. 

Nisbet, small. 

Ninewells, small. 

Hutton Hall, small. 

Edgernhope, near Lauder, 50 years 
of age, large. 

Allanbank, near Lauder, very 
small. 

Cauldshiel, forty to fifty nests, 10 
years of age. 

Spottiswoode, large. 

Mertoun, 

Eecles, medium. 

Hecles Newtoun, very small. 

Bartlehill, very small. 

Stoneridge, medium. 


There are besides scattered over this county a considerable 
number of small clusters of trees on which rooks build and these 
are not taken notice of in the above list. ‘ 


168 


ROOKERIES 
Mr John Archibald, Cockburn, 


wrote that he in the breeding 
season, kept down the number 
of rooks largely at Duns Casile, 
by sending men along the sides 
of the rookery after dark with 
fowling peices which they fired. 
A large number of the birds fled 


Rooks and Rookeries. By James Smail. 


DESTROYED. 
Ninewells was formerly a large 


rookery, but was _ totally 
destroyed many years ago; 
but of late years rooks have 
begun to build on the tall trees 


‘near the mansion. Rooks 


almost never return to a for- 
saken rookery. 


altogether. Carlside rookery was destroyed 
Birkhillside, by cutting down the in 1870 by having the nests torn 
trees. down in the breeding season, 


Part of Marchmont, by cutting 
down the trees, and burning wood from dawn to sunset 
fires in the rookery. during several weeks. 


ROOKERIES IN WHICH ROOKS RESIDE IN WINTER. 


and having guns fired in the 


Dunglass. Edgerhope, near Lauder. 
Duns Castle, near Milburn. Spottiswoode. 
Mellerstain. Milne Graden. 
Marchmont. 


NORTHUMBERLAND. 


Major Fair, Over Wells, who knows all Roxburghshire and 
nearly all Northumberland, has sent me in a list of sixty two 
rookeries for the two counties; and I shall give those for this 
county in the order in which he has put them :— 


Carham, Tweedside, very large. Ellingham, very large. 
Catcleugh, Reed Water, small. Eslington, large. 
Cottonshopeburnfoot, do. medium Shawdon, large. 
Callaly, large. Felton, large. 


GLENDALE AND EAST OF WOOLER. 


Kirknewton (2), large. Kyloe, very large. 

Yeavering, large. Paston, large. 

Akeld, medium. Trickley Wood, very large. 
Akeld Steads, large. Doddington, small. 

Humbleton (2), medium. Lilburn, once large, but now 
Lanton, small. greatly reduced by the nests 
Sandyhouse, small. having been pulled down. 
Milfield hill, small. Roddam, large. 

Ford, large. Earle, small. 


Etal, large. 
End of Major Fair’s list. 


and Cornhill; and another 
small one near the Hanging 
Braes, name unknown. 

Ilderton Haugh, 100 nests, lately 
established. 

Hedgeley, small. 

South Middleton, very small. 

Red Hall. 

White Hall. 

Little Benton, large. 


Flotterton, on Coquet. 

Morwick. 

Widdrington, large. 

Hauxley, moderate. 

Cheswick, small. 

Hanging Braes, fair size. 

Lowlynn, Beal, very large. 

There are also two small rook- 
eries, names unknown, on the 
roadside between Kirknewton 


© 


Rooks and Rookeries. By James Smail. 169 


Low Gosforth, large. 

High Gosforth, large. 

Killingworth, near Long Benton, 
10 years of age, small. 

Backworth, small. 


Blackden (Blagdon?) large. 

Prestwick, near Ponteland, small. 

Millburn Hall, near Ponteland, 
large. 


The following five rookeries are in the parish of Stamfordham : 


Stamfordham, 150 nests. 
Fenwick, new, 50 nests. 
Cheeseburn Grange, small. 


Blackheddon, very small. 
Matfen, old large. 


The next five rookeries are within three miles of Stamfordham: 


Millburn, old. 
Huntlaw, small. 
Longside, old. 


Harlow Hill, new. 
Dissington North, old. 


The following rookeries down to Beaufront are from 4 to 8 


miles from Stamfordham : 


Rudchester, new, small trees. 
High Seat, old. 

Clarewood, new. 

Shildon. 

Higham Dykes, old, large. 
Newton Hall, old. 

Carr Hill, old. 

Aydon Castle, old. 
Ponteland, old, very small. 
Hallington, new. 

Old Deanham, old. 
Shaftoe Nest. 

Dalton Hill. 

Ripplington. 

Kirkley. 

Bowridge (?) 

Old Den, recent. 


Kirklands, old. 

Penny Hill near Whalton. 

Stagshaw Close House. 

Stagshawbank, small. 

Beaufront. 

Hesleyside, large, age about 40 
years. 

Chipchase, medium. 

Nunwick, large, age about 80 
years. 

Wester Hall, small, age about 80 
years. 

Walwick, small, age about 80 
years. 

Chesters, large, age about 30 years. 

Fallowfield, small. 


The following rookeries down to Twizel are within the district, 
taking Belford as the boundary to the north, Chillingham to the 


west, and Alnwick to the south : 


Adderston, old, large. 
Anunstead. 

Bamburgh Grove. 
Beadnell Hall, old, large. 
Belford Hall, old, large. 
Budle House. 

Burton. 

Charlton Hall, old, large. 
Chillingham, old, large 
Charlton North. 

Craster Towers, old, iarge. 
Doxford. 

Elford, old, large. 
Ellingham, old, large. 
Eglingham. 

Embleton. 

Falloden, old, large. 
Howick, old, large. 


Lucker. 

Denwick. 

Ditchburn, West. 
Newton-by-the-Sea. 
Pasture Hill. 

Preston Tower, old, large. 
Rock, old, large. 
Shoreston, new. 

Swinhoe. 

Tuggal Hall, old, large. 
Bell’s Hill. 

Twizel, old, large. 

Felton Park, large. 
Longhirst, small. 
Lorghorsley Tower, small. 
Whitton Tower, Rothbury, small. 
Lesbury House, small, 
Swarland Garden, small. 


Vv 


170 Rooks and Rookerves. 


Hartburn Vicarage, small. 

Troughend, Redesdale, very old, 
small. 

Carrick, Redesdale, very old, 
small. 

Otterburn, large. 

Shaftoe, age over 100 years, large. 

Coatwalls, small. 

Low Burradon. 

Spitalford, near Embleton. 

Learmouth, small. 

Thornington, small. 

Newton, ten years ago there was 
only one rookery here, now 


By James Smail. 


there are three. (3.) 

Mitford. 

Lilburn Grange Farm, small. 

Cresswell. 

Downham. 

Mindrum. 

Shotton, small. 

Haggerstone, five to six hundred 
nests. 

Hulne Park, five to six hundred 
nests. 

Middleton Hall. 

Lee Hall, small. 


Several correspondents who have sent in schedules, state that 
besides the rookeries named there are scattered over the country 
a large number of very small clusters of trees bearing afew rook 


nests. 


ROOKERIES DESTROYED. 


Formerly there were rookeries in 
Coquetdale at Biddleston, Har- 
bottle, and Burradon. The pro- 
prietors had them destroyed, be- 
cause they considered rooks de- 
structive to game. 

Togston, where the rooks were in- 
tentionally molested till they 
left. ~~ 

Barras Bridge rookery caused by 
the extension of Newcastle, and 
the trees dying out. 

West Bitchfield, trees cut down. 

Belsay. 


Dalton Hillhead, trees cut down. 

Bavington, fires made under roost- 
ing trees. : 

Chipchase and Walwick partly 
destroyed by cutting down of 
trees. . 

Gallowhillrookery, parish of Bolam. 
was destroyed by the trees being 
cut down. 

At Biddleston a pretty large rook- 
ery was destroyed by shooting 
the birds and having the nests 
pulled down. 


ROOKERIES IN WHICH ROOKS RESIDE IN WINTER: 


Trickley Wood. Hulne Park. 

Callaly. Hesleyside. 

Shawdon. Dissington. 

Felton. Nunwick. 

Morwick. Chillingham, but few in number. 

Carham. At Crawley they sit on the hill in 

Kyloe. thousands at night, and only re- 

Millburn Hall. sort to the rookery at Shawdon 

Blagdon. during heavy storms. 
ROXBURGHSHIRE. 

Stirches. Craik. 

Whitehaugh. Todshawhaugh. 

Martins House, age fully 50 years. Borthwickbrae. 

Highchesters. Borthwick Walls. 

Chisholm. Caerlanrig. 

Borthwickmains. Brieryhill, age 4 years. 

Falnash (2). Binks, age 4 years. 

Skelfhill. Wilton Lodge, age 2 years. 

Dod. Minto, old. 


Stobs. 


Menslaws. 


Rooks and Rookeries. By James Smail. 171 


None of the above are large and a number of them are very small. 


Riddell. Woodside, about 80 nests, age about 
Linthill. 10 years. 
Clerklands, small. Sprouston, small. 
North Sinton, small. Haddon, small. 
Longnewton, very large. Mackside (or Doorpool) on Rule 
Lanton. Water, very large. 
Harestanes. Wells on Rule, large. 
Ancrum, large. Westerhouses, small. 
Mounthooly, small. Stotfield on Jed Water, medium. 
Crailing, medium. Edgerston on Jed Water, large. 
Heiton Mill (2), small. Rennieston on Oxnam Water, small, 
Springwood Park, large. Bloodylaws do. do. 
Pinnaclehill, medium. Fala Stell do. do. 
Broomlands, small. Littledeanlees do. do. 
The}following are on Kale Water : 
Marlfield, very/large. Grahamslaw. 
Gateshaw, small. Boughtrig (2), small. 
Clifton Park, large. Chatto, small. 
Grange. Whitton, small. 
Hownammains, medium. Hindhope, very small. 
Grubbet. 
Sharplaw near {Hownam ;Kirk, 
medium, 
The following are on the Bowmont Water : 
Clifton, small. Belford, there-was once a heronry 
Cherrytrees, small. here but it is said the rooks drove 
Yetholm, small. off the herons. . 
Lochside, small. Calroust, age 90 years. 
Attonburn, age about 35 years, 
medium. 


There are besides some small clusters of trees in Bowmont 
Water on which a few rooks build. 
In Liddesdale there are rookeries at 


Saughtree, old, small. Flatt, age 10 years, small. 
Thorlieshope, old, small. 


The following are pretty widely dispersed in the County: 


Cessford, small. Firth, small. 

Ednam (several), small, old. St. Leonards, age 50 years, small. 
EKdenhall, medium. Upper Blainslie, small. 

Ednam House, very small. New Blainslie, age about 10 years, 
Hendersyde Park, large, old. small. 

Chesters. Drygrange at Leaderfoot, medium. 
Holydean, small. Langshaw, small. 

Raperlaw, small. Craigsfordmains. 


Correspondents have notified that numerous very small clumps 
of trees on which a few rooks build exist in the county ; and of 
course these are not given in the foregoing list of rookeries. 
There are however two small rookeries near to Maxton on the 
Kelso railway line, which might be put in the list had their 
names been obtainable. 


172 Rooks and Rookeries. 


By James Smail. f 


ROOKERIES DESTROYED. 


A large rookery was destroyed by 
the late Mr Douglas at Cavers. 
The birds were shot and the 
nests torn down. A small rook- 
ery near Wolfelee House was dis- 
troyed ina similar manner many 
years ago. One rookery des- 
troyed at Arks, by keepmg up 
night fires. Rookeries at Floors 
and Roxburgh, destroyed by 
pulling down the nests. The 
Hallrule rookery was similarly 
destroyed. 

In the early part of the century, 
and for generations before that, 
there was a large rookery near 
Jedburgh called the Auld Wood : 
but I am unable to state why or 
how the rooks left that fine shel- 
tering wood. It was of fine 
massive old Scots fir; andit was 
nearly all blown down ina storm 


forty six years ago. 

Itis somewhat surprising that 
there are so few nests in Jed 
Forest, where shelter and protec- 
tion is so abundant. 

Upwards of sixty years ago, a large 
rookery was destroyed at Mon- 
teviot. Firing'guns and shooting 
down birds produced little effect; 
but a band of boys was at last 
employed for a short time in the 
nesting season with bows and 
arrows. The latter were long 
and of peeled wood, and were 
shot up among the nests, which 
so terrified the rooks that they 
have never built a nest at Mon- 
teviot since. A thin stick held 
toward even a tame rook or 
Jackdaw, or indeed almost any 
bird, causes great excitement 
and terror. 


ROOKERIES IN WHICH ROOKS RESIDE IN WINTER. 


Mackside. Stobs. 
Longnewton. Wells. 
Stirches. Ancrum. 
Clifton Park. Marlfield. 
SELKIRKSHIRE. 


Galashiels, in the town, once 
pretty large, but from ‘the 
growth of the town many of the 
nest-trees have had to be cut 
down. In some gardens nests 
are built about fifteen feet from 
the ground, on slender poplars. 

Fairnalee, small. 


Netherbarns, very small. 
Tushielaw, small. 
Newburgh, small. 
Kershope, small. 

Tinnis, small. 

Holylee, medium. 
SunderlandHall, very large. 


The rookeries in this county are pretty old and birds are in- 
creasing rapidly. Sunderland Hall rookery is of well-grown 


Scots fir. 


ROOKERIES DESTROYED. 
Newhall rookery, Caddon Water, destroyed by cutting down the trees. 
ROOKERIES IN WHICH ROOKS RESIDE IN WINTER. 


Sunderland Hall. 
Tushielaw. 


Tinnis. 


PEEBLESHIRE. 


Castle Craig, very large. 

Barns, near Peebles, medium. 

Castle hill, Manor Water. 

Dawick (Posso) small. 

Kailzie, large, age 100 years. 

Portmore (3) small, all of recent 
date. 

Traquair, medium, age upwards 


of 100 years. 
Hallmanor, small. 
Harehope, small. 
Shielgreen, small. 
Boreland, small. 
Rachan. 
Mossfennan. 
Killbucho. 


Rooks and Rookeries. By James Smail. 173 


ROOKERIES DESTROYED. 


Lyne rookery, by cutting down the from this crossed over to Port- 
trees. more, and settled in a wood there; 
Stobo rookery, by shooting, and by and as the late respected proprie- 
ulling down nests. tor did not wish to have them in 
Darnhall, by shooting and pulling that wood he had them driven off, 
down nests. and they then settled in the pre- 
A small rookery at Dawick was cut sent rookery, where they still 
down. ‘‘Itis said that the herons remain ; but five year ago some 
drove the rooks from this wood.”’ left and took up a new abode on 
Darnhall rookery was destroyed the estate. 


several years ago. The rooks 


ROOKERIES IN WHICH ROOKS, RESIDE IN WINTER : 


Castle Craig. Barns. 
Kailzie. 


Mr Ainslie, Stobo, reports that ‘‘ thousands of rooks reside in 
the Stobo woods all the winter.” © « 
The foregoing lists show that over and above pretty numerous 
small clusters of trees on which rooks nest, there are 
ROOKERIES : 
In Berwickshire, 39. 
», Northumberland 147. 
», Roxburghshire 88. 
», Selkirkshire 9. 
», Peebleshire 16. 


Total rookeries in the five counties, 299. 
The winter rookeries are :— 
In Berwickshire, 6. 
,, Northumberland, 14 
», Roxburghshire, 9 
», Selkirkshire, 
3 


», Peebleshire, 


3 


Total winter rookeries, 35. 

I feel all but certain that some errors have been made in re- 
gard to the number reported to me of winter rookeries. From 
observations I have made regarding the habits of rooks, I make 
out that they, in numerous instances, fly long distances to their 
respective winter residences, which are few; and it is (in my 
opinion) probable that some ordinary breeding rookeries have 
been reported as winter habitations, because of the rooks being 
often seen visiting these inthe winter months. Jackdaws, I may 


mention, are reported of by several correspondents as roosting 
and. nesting numerously in the winter rookeries. 


174 Rooks and Rookeries By James Smail. 


The rookeries reported as having been destroyed are :— 
In Berwickshire, 4, 
», Northumberland, 12. 
,, Roxburghshire, 6. 


,», Selkirkshire, 1. 
,, Peeblesshire, 5. 
Total 28. 


Area of-—Berwickshire in square miles, 464. 
—Northumberland, i 1952. 


—Roxburghshire, re 670. 
—Selkirkshire, B= 260. 
—Peebleshire, . 356, 


Total square miles, 3702. 

From want of dates it is impossible to say what the increase 
has of late years been in the number of rookeries, for as will be 
observed, the dates given are few in regard to either the com- 
mencement or the destruction of the same. 

There has, however, within the last thirty years been beyond 
all doubt a vast increase in the number of rooks. The nests in 
many rookeries have to my own knowledge been more than 
doubled in number ; first by the increase of nests on the indivi- 
dual trees, and next by taking in of new adjoining trees for nest- 
ing purposes. 

The following query was sent out: ‘‘Do you consider rooks are 
much more numerous now than twenty five years ago?’ In the 
returns received from Northumberland only six correspondents 
reply in the negative. From Berwickshire, there is one “no”; 
-and Mr Macpherson, Mellerstain, states that he thinks “ the 
rooks here rather decreased of late years.’ From the counties 
of Selkirk and Peebles there is not one statement to the effect 
that they have not increased. For Roxburghshire, two gentle- 
men in Upper Teviotdale report that they have decreased, and 
one in Lower Roxburghshire gives a similar report for his own 
neighbourhood; and two simply answer “no” to the query. A 
number of gentlemen did not reply to the query, giving as a rea- 
son that they had not given attention to the matter. 

The replies in the affirmative as to the increase of rooks are 
as ten to one compared with those in the negative ; and many of 
those who write stating that the increase is very large complain 


Rooks and Rookeries. By James Smail. 175 


of the extra damage done since those birds became so numerous, 
to farm produce and the eggs and young of game birds ; but of 
this more hereafter. 

Query No 6 in the schedule sent out was as follows: ‘‘ What 
kind of food do rooks eat? State particularly whether in your 
neighbourhood you know them to eat bulbs of turnips or clover ; 
and whether you know of their preying on the eggs or the young 
of partridges, pheasants, or other birds. State also whether you 
have known them to injure young lambs.” 

I have received such copious replies to this; and nearly all of 
them made from personal observation by the writers, that a small 
volume could be filled by them. I must of necessity abridge 
largely. At same time I shall state facts sufficient to show be- 
yond all question the kinds of food on which rooks chiefly live, 
and also the different sorts of food on which they occasionally 
feed at certain seasons of the year, and in certain states of the 
weather. 

Gesner writes of the rook as a corn-eating bird; and Mr 
‘Knapp in his delightful work the Journal of a Naturalist speaks 
of it as a grub or worm devouring bird, and most writers con- 
sider it a bird that partakes of both grain and grubs. 

My opinion, formed from observations extending over a long 
number of years, with excellent opportunities for watching their 
ways, is that rooks are omnivorous, but that they prefer as food 
before all grain or vegetable matter, grubs of all kinds, and slugs 
and earth worms. Wire worms, spiders, and all the beetle tribe, 
together with their larvee and eggs are ever being hunted after 
by those birds. When grain is in plenty in the fields it is 
almost never touched provided a supply of the grubs indicated 
are to be had; and in summer and autumn grubs as a rule are 
always to be had in fair abundance, unless in places where rooks 
are sO very numerous as to prove a pest. Observing husband- 
men have long known that rooks do a vast amount of good by 
hunting up and devouring the many kinds of grubs that infest 
the land and destroy its produce; but they are, of course, also 
aware that where the birds are excessively numerous they prey 
at times heavily on the valuable produce of the land. They 
must of necessity eat; and when in such large numbers they 
find the supply of their favourite food short, they will in such 
circumstances prey on anything edible. In the cold dry early 
Spring weather they prey to some extent on grain when it is 


176 Rooks and Rookeries By James Smail. 


being sown ; and farmers occasionally express a good humoured. 
wish that some neighbour would begin to ‘“ sow first and feed 
the crows.” After grain is in the seed bed it is seldom preyed 
on by rooks; and when they are seen feeding in thick black 
clusters on parts of newly-sown or sprouted corn fields, it is 
almost always grubs they are assembled to devour; and almost 
any farmer can testify that the spots on which he may have seen 
rooks thus clustered after the grain has been sown for a time bear 
as good a cropas the other parts of thefield. Indeed in an immoder- 
ately dry season when from want of surface moisture earth worms 
remain underground and slugs and grubs are scarcely procurable 
even in small numbers, they do not attack to an extent worthy 
of notice either grain recently sown or grain in the ear. But 
in severe winters and in early spring they do much damage in 
stackyards here and there. In autumn they peculate now and 
then from the stooks, but very moderately. I have shot rooks 
on several occasions when feeding in stubble fields where grain 
was abundant, and when opened I seldom found more than afew 
grains in the stomach, and I as often found none; but there 
was genererally present a considerable mash of beetles, small 
earth worms, hoglice, and larve of various insects. 

Rooks are a pest in the potato field when the crop is young. 
They then, especially in.dry summers, dig up the seed-tubers 
and thereby do much damage ; and on that account a crow-herd 
is often necessary. Many people, however, mistakenly think 
that rooks dig up the seed potatoes in order to eat them. They 
seldom eat any part of them; but they carry them off and split 
them up, to feed on the numerous grubs that are generally found 
sticking in and around the partly decayed tubers. 

They are much more destructive in the turnip field; and 
indeed in the north of Roxburghshire and in Lower Selkirkshire 
the damage they do to the turnip crop is a matter of very grave 
importance. ALI over the country they have always more or less 
been in the habit of pulling up considerable quantities of turnips 
in the early stage of their existence on the prowl for grubs; but 
it is only of late years that they have taken to feed largely on 
the bulbs of turnips—this in winter and the early spring. I 
have seen one heap of turnips, of perhaps ten tons, brought 
in from the field to the farm yard, more bulbs broken and 
partly eaten than there were whole bulbs; and this was done 
entirely by rooks. On the same farm in the severe winter of 


Rooks wnd Rookeries. By James Smail. 177 


1880-1, the rooks actually fed from the boxes along with the 
sheep (hoggets) on cut turnips. From the farms of Nether- 
barns, Rink, Fairnalee, Meigle, Caddonlee, Newhall, Kiln- 
knowe, and Hollybush, all in Lower Selkirkshire, and in all 
several thousands of acres in extent, I have reports from the re- 
spective tenants, all of whom state that they have lost consider- 
ably from the damage done by rooks to their turnips in winter 
and spring. They eat green-top yellows, but are fonder of 
swedes. They dig into the bulbs and make pear-shaped holes; 
and when these fill with water and freeze, the bulbs go down 
whenever a thaw sets in. 

They also take up clover in several districts; and do here and 
there much damage to that plant; but their end in uprooting it 
seems to be more to secure grubs than to eat the plant. They 
do eat of the plant however. 

The rook has also other eating proclivities which makes it any- 
thing but a favourite with gamekeepers and numerous sports- 
men; for over and above eating of what has already been 
noticed, and of carrion, it annually destroys for its maw large 
quantities of the eggs of pheasants and partridges and of barn- 
yard hens that “lay away.” Eggs itis most severe on in dry cold 
weather, when grubs are scarce ; and the egg-season of pheasants 
and partridges is the season when rooks have young, a time that 
in a droughty spring presses hard on their industry; hence 
their readiness to go a-nesting when grubs are few. I know of 
several rookeries near game preserves; where, the keepers have 
told me repeately, more than half of the game birds were able to 
bring up broods from the second laying only, the first having been 
entirely gobbled by the rooks. They generally carry the contents 
of the eggs in their bill-sack or pouch to their young. 

Rooks are also birds of prey; but in this position they are 
somewhat cowardly, as they only prey on almost featherless 
younglings. They kill in this state the progeny of pheasants, 
partridges, and a few of the young of such birds as the black- 
bird and thrush. They also, but seldom, kill small leverets and 
very young rabbits. They also occasionally attack and injure 
weakly lambs; but I do not know personally of a case in which 
they have killed alamb. What I have above stated as to the 
food on which rooks live is from information which was in my 
possession, either furnished by friends or from my own observa- 
tions, before I perused the returns received in the schedule already 

W 


178 Rooks and Rookeries. By James Smail. 


referred to. Before giving some extracts from these returns I 
may state shortly a few reasons why I think rooks have of late 
years somewhat changed in regard to the food on which they 
live. There are several not unlikely causes why they have got 
keener of eggs and quarry; and the taste for quarry, which 
was shown at a much earlier date than the taste for young 
birds, may have led to the slaughter of the innocents. About 
fifty years ago most of the cultivated land of the Borders was, 
broadly speaking, in a natural state, for the manures used were 
of a kind likely to tend to increasing, rather than otherwise, 
the number of worms, grubs, and insects on which rooks natur- 
ally feed. Now, however, from the almost universal use of lime 
and other quickening manures and stimulants, not a third of the 
number of grubs and earthworms and slugs are in the soil that 
- there was then, maugre the increased fatness of the land. Asa 
proof of this, let any one examine the furrows when they are 
being made in a field upon which lime has been somewhat recently 
laid, and the same in an adjoining field where no lime has been 
applied. The preponderance of animal life in the shape of earth 
worms, &c. in the unlimed field will be found to be great. The 
fact is that lime kills to a large extent both wormlings and the 
larveo of numerous insects on which rooks feed. Indeed most of 
the older husbandmen can testify that in some fields where grubs 
were occasionally little short of a plague before the quickening 
artificial manures were applied, earth worms and grubs are now 
but little known. Now, rooks are beyond dispute increased im- 
mensely in numbers of late years, especially since the gun tax 
was put in force; and, as above shown, there is a falling off in 
their natural food, hence, they have taken to devouring on a 
pretty extensive scale very valuable farm produce, and, like some 
less honest bipeds, to ‘trespass in search of game, for they 
are omnivorous.” It should, however, be remembered in 
their favour that they are so constituted that they require a por- 
tion of animal food—worms or otherwise—to maintain proper 
health. They therefore by instinct hunt up the needful. 

In moderate numbers rooks, in my opinion, would be, as they 
once were, very useful birds, the friends of the husbandman, and 
very little of an enemy to the sportsman ; and something should 
be done to have their number reduced, otherwise the depreda- 
tions described will be multiplied, and the country at large will 
suffer loss. I have shown the different methods by which 


Rooks and Rookeries. By James Smail. 179 


rookeries have been destroyed or curtailed; and those in a posi- 
tion to lessen the damage done by rooks would by largely lessen- 
ing their number benefit both farmers and sportsmen, as well as 
the general public. 

The following extract from the First Parliament xxvi of May, 
1424, cap. 19, James I of Scotland, was kindly sent me by Sir 
George Scott Douglas. 


First Parliament, xxvi of May, 1424, Cap. 19, James I of Scotland. 
Of bigging of Ruikes in trees. 

“For thy that men considderis that Ruikes biggand in Kirk Zairdes, 
Orchardes, or Trees, dois greate shaith upon Cornes: It is ordained that 
they that sik Trees perteinis to, lette them to big, and suffer on na wise 
that their Birdes flie away. And quhair it be tainted that they big, 
and the Birdes be flowin, and the nest be funden in the Trees at 
Beltane the tres sal be foirfaulted to the King (bot gif they be redeemed 
fra him, throw them that they first perteined to) and hewin downe, and 
five schillings to the Kingis unlaw.” 


I now annex some quotations from the returns received in 
answer to the query as to the food of rooks, as put in the 
schedule sent out. 

BERWICKSHIRE. 
Mr R. Logan, Birkenside: 
*¢ Hat grain, worms, potatoes. Being now much overstocked, rooks have 


taken to other than their legitimate food, such as clover roots, and turnip 
bulbs.” 


Mr G. Muirhead, Paxton: 

“¢ Hividently omnivorous in this district. One caught lately here in a trap 
set at a call-duck’s nest. It had eaten five of the eggs before the trap was 
set, and when caught the culprit was in the act of breakfasting on the re- 
maining eggs in the nest.”’ 

Mr James Macpherson, keeper, Mellerstain : 

** Feed on bulbs of turnips largely in winter. Don’t think they eat clover. 
Have sufficient proof that they take eggs of pheasants and partridges and also 
young birds, having killed them in the act.” 

Mr A. Campbell Swinton of Kimmerghame : 

“ Hat bulbs of turnips and eggs of pheasant and partridge.” 


Mr A. Hutton, keeper, Carolside : 
‘“‘ Very destructive on eggs of game.”’ 
Mr P. Scott, keeper, Thirlstane Castle : 


“ Hat eggs of game birds, and bulbs of turnips. Once saw a company of 
rooks fly at and kill a full grown blackbird.” 


Mr J. Ferguson, Dunse: 


‘“* Hat chiefly worms and larve, and in the season corn and young potatoes.”’ 


180 Rooks and Rookeries. By James Smail. 


Mr G. McDougal, Blyth, Lammermoors : 

“Feed on worms, grub, &c. when at hand, after that, corn in the hard 
state and barley when sprouting, then potatoes and turnip bulbs lastly. In 
winter do a great deal of damage to turnips and young clover. Take eggs of 
other birds if exposed. Have known them kill very young hares, and take 
the eyes out of weakly lambs before they were dead; but they wont attack 
strong lambs.”’ 

Mr A. M. Caverhill, Crichness, Lammermoor : 

Writes that they are destructive to oat and barley stacks in frosty weather, 
and also to clover and eggs and occasionally the young of game birds, and 
‘“ they do pick out an eye of a lamb occasionally.”’ 


NORTHUMBERLAND. 
Mr M. H. Dand, Hauxley Cottage: 


‘‘T believe them to be omnivorous. Do not know that they really injure 
clover.”’ 

Mr A. H. Evans, Scremerston Vicarage : 

‘‘ Kat larvee, worms, and grubs of all sorts. Have never known them eat 
bulbs of turnips or clover. 

The late Mr R. Hodgson-Huntley of Carham Hall : 

‘Bat grubs, corn, turnips, potatoes, beans, and also undoubtedly destroy 
eggs of partridges and pheasants and the youg birds. They are often caught 
here in traps set for vermin and baited with eggs, rabbits’ intestines, &c. 

Mr T. Elliott, keeper, Lilburn Tower : 

‘¢T have frequently shot rooks carrying off eggs of game birds and young 
tame pheasants. Hundreds of pheasant ,and partridge eggs are annually 
destroyed here by rooks. They-.also eat turnipsin hard weather. They have 
carried off both young chickens and young ducks from the chicken yard. 
They are more ravenous in dry weather when little grub, &c. can be found 
for their young.”’ 

Mr E. Bold, Long Benton, Newcastle : 

“Hat grubs, snails, and worms. Never saw them destroy root crops. In 
dry weather seen them pull up potato sets to get grubs.’’ 

Rev. J. F. Bigge, Stamfordham Vicarage : 

‘They principally live on worms, wireworms, grubs. Talking to a farmer 
one day, he said ‘: see how the crows are eating the barley ” (on the stooks). I 
said ‘‘oh no,’? and having my gun I immediately shot two in his presence, 
and cut up their crops. There wasnot one grain of barley present but a 
large quantity of grubs, &c. I do not think they touch turnips or clover. I 
know they eat duck eggs.” Mr Bigge’s friend, 

Mr Ridley writes as follows : 

“‘ Kat grubs, corn, potatoes, turnips, carrion. Do not eat clover. Prey on 
eges of all kinds. Thishas only been observed of late years—10 or 15 years.” 

Rev. F. R. Simpson, North Sunderland Vicarage : 

“ Their chief and choicest food is insects when they can get them. They 
are innocent of turnips or clover in this neighbourhood, and also of eggs or 
young of game or other birds. They are never on turnip fields, and if on 


Rooks and Rookeries. By James Smail. 181 


new grass or clover, feed not on the clover but on the grubs to be found on 
the roots of the plants. They dig up potatoes in dry summer months.”’ 

Mr Thomas Arkle, Highlaws, Morpeth : 

“ Hats grubs when attainable, otherwise corn, also bulbs of turnips, and 
rarely eggs.” 

Rev. A. Proctor, Alwinton Vicarage, Morpeth: 

‘¢ Rookery of Biddleston destroyed because of the destruction of pheasant 
eggs.” 

Mr C. Rea of Doddington, Wooler : 

“Hat chiefly worms, grubs, &c. In hard weather will eat turnips and 
clover. Do not prey on eggs of game.” 

Mr J. Craster, Craster Tower : 

“‘ Hat generally worms, grub, and corn. Eat potatoes, and eggs of game 
birds and plovers.” 

Mr OC. F. J. Thompson, Kirknewton House, Wooler: 

“Live on corn and grub. Shepherd told me the other day that they eat 
nearly as many turnips as the sheep—this in hard weather. Eat eggs of all 
kinds, also young birds. Sometimes tear out sheep’s eyes before they are 
quite dead. They are now worse than the carrion crow for attacking sheep.’’ 

Rev. W. I. Meggison, South Charlton Vicarage, Chathill : 

‘“‘ Tn autumn and early winter months they feed chiefly on grain: in spring 
on worms and grubs. In breeding time on flesh, and will carry off eggs, 
chickens, ducks, game, and newly-dropped lambs. Destructive on potatoes 
and turnips, but the latter always a grub at the root and were of no value. 
They tear up young clover to get at the larve.” 

Mr J. Ellison, Hulne Park, Alnwick: 

‘¢ Insects, worms, slugs, grain, turnips. Also eggs and young pheasants in 
dry weather.’’ 

Mr J. Lovat, keeper, Keilder Castle : 

‘‘Tn hard weather eat bulbs of turnips and clover. Game eggs, very much 
more so in dry seasons. Do not know that they injure young birds or lambs.”’ 


ROXBURGHSHIRE. 
Major Fair, Over Wells, Jedburgh : 


“All my information tends to convict rooks as destructive to game, both 
eggs and young birds. The claims of their own young demand of them to 
seize anything that can pass muster as food. There is no surer bait for a rook 
than anegg. They also in hard or dry weather are destructive to turnips, 
dabbing holes in the bulb ; and they are very destructive to barley on a bare 
knowe. I think they eat roots of clover ; and they pull up young turnips in 
search of wire worm.”’ 

Mr T. Morrison, keeper, Sprouston, Kelso : 

“Kat turnips, and eggs and young of game birds: also young hares and 
rabbits. I once saw a hare at the side of a field driving off two hooded crows, 
as I thought, and I got within range and shot the birds which turned out to 
be rooks. I then found two small leverets sitting in a hole made by a horse’s 
foot. ‘This was a case of the old hare defending her young against the rooks.”’ 


182 Rooks and Rookeries. By James Smail. 
Mr John Elliot, Flatt, Liddesdale : 


“ Do not know that rooks eat turnips here or clover, or prey on eggs or 
raw game.” 

Sir Walter Elliot of Wolflee : 

‘* Mainly insectivorous. About eight years ago my tenant, Mr Wilson, 
Cleughhead, sowed a field with barley close to his house. The rooks settled 
on the field in great numbers, and he begged my keeper to shoot them. He 
accordingly killed two, and he and Mr Wilson opened their crops on the spot. 
One grain was found in one and three in the other, but both were crammed 
full of grubs.’’ 

The late Professor Elliot, Goldielands, Hawick : 

“ The main food of the rooks is grubs of various kinds, and occasionally 
corn and potatoes. They never touch turnips unless forced by famine; but 
they pull up the young turnips to get at the maggots at the roots. Here they 
do much more good than harm.”’ 

Mr T. Elliot Boog, Timpendean, Jedburgh : 

“Kat turnips undoubtedly. Have known them to destroy game eggs of all 
kinds, but particularly black game, ina dry season. "When there is not much 
food on the low lands they take to the hills and moors.”’ 

Dr. F. Douglas, Woodside, Kelso : 

‘Their food consists chiefly of grubs, but they will eat bulbs.of turnips. 
They make no habit of preying on birds’ eggs or young birds.”’ 

Mr T. Elliot, Hindhope, Jedburgh : 

“Turnips and clover. Prey very strong on game eggs; and they lift 
young ducks.”’ 

The late W. Grieve, Skelfhill, Hawick : 

“ Hat eggs, carrion, corn, potatoes. From an agricultural or pastoral point 
of view I think rooks of the greatest service in moderate numbers; but the 
fewer the better from a game point of view.’’ 

Mr John Simson, Oxnam Row, Jedburgh : 

‘Principally grub and worms. Eggs and young of game. Turnips in 
winter.” 

Mr John Clay, Kerchesters, Kelso, writes 

much the same as Mr Simson; and adds that rooks ‘sometimes injure 
young lambs.” 

Mr James Wood, keeper, Floors Castle : 


‘“‘ Grain and animal food; bulbs of turnips and eggs and young of game 
and other birds.”’ 


Mr J. S. Dudgeon, Longnewton Place : 

‘‘ Grub of all kinds preferred to all other food. Vegetable food only taken 
when there is a scarcity ofinsect matter. I believe they do much more good 
than harm to farmers.”’ 

Mr E. Kerr, keeper, Springwood Park: 

“ T have seen them kill leverets and young rabbits, and destroy eggs of 
game birds, and carry off the young.”’ 


Rooks and Rookeries. By James Smaiu. 183 
Mr Henry Elliot, Greenriver : 


“Grub and grain. Ina snowstorm, turnips. No clover.” 


Dr. J. Robson Scott, Belford, Yetholm : 


“Feed chiefly on worms and slugs, and eat every kind of currion, Eat 
corn, especially barley after it is sprung, and also fond of potatoes in the 
same state; turnips in winter, but not clover.” 


SELKIRKSHIRE. 


Mr Adam Brydon, Netherbarns; Mr Walter Elliot, Hollybush ; 
Mr John Riddell, Rink; Mr William Lyal, Caddonlee ; Mr Robt. 
Hall, Kilknowe ; 

All report that rooks are most destructive to turnips, and they are losers to 
a very considerable extent whenever a keen frost sets in, because then the 
birds in countless numbers attack the bulbs, and eat or destroy them. Mr 
Elliot adds: ‘‘1 am of opinion that rooks in moderate numbers do more good 
than harm; but of late years they have got so numerous that the injury they 
do to farmers is incalculable. Grubs are their natural food, but the country 
being so much overstocked the birds eat every thing they can get. I have 
also seen them lift eggs and fly off with them; and they pick out the eyes 
now and then of weakly lambs. They work very long hours.” 

The late Mr James Kerss, keeper, Bowhill : 

* Rooks will feed on all kinds of grain, but only on bulbs of turnips in 
very hard weather. They pull up clover only in autumn, to get at grubs. 
They eat eggs of game.”’ 

The late Major Plummer of Sunderland Hall: 

‘¢ They eat the bulbs of turnips. I have seen quantities of undigested tur- 
nips under the treesin our rookery They also eat eggs, but I do not think 
they trouble young birds or lambs. After the destruction of the rookery at 
Traquair, the neighbouring farmers complained that the crops were much 
injured by slugs, &c.” | 

_ PEEBLESSHIRE. 

Mr W. L. Black of Kailzie, Peebles: 

“The rook will eat almost anything, but their natural food is grubs, 
worms, and such like. When the young are in the nest they appear to be fed 
on eggs when they can be found, which the parent birds carry to them in 
their throats. ‘The rook appears to carry the egg to a distance and then suck 
it, as I have seldom seen the shells near the nests, and never under the trees 
in the rookery. They do some injury to turnips clover, and potatoes.’’ 

Mr Colin J. Mackenzie of Portmore : 

‘¢ Besides the ordinary food of rooks, such as worms, grub, &c., I have seen 
them greedily picking the bulbs of turnips; and only to-day I watched a 
number of them hammering away at some of my own turnips. I have from 
personal observation known them eat the eggs of pheasants, partridges, and 

grouse.”’ 

Mr James Potts, Kingsmeadows, Peebles : 

“They destroy a deal of bulbs of turnips. They have taken only weakly 
young pheasants of my rearing; but they take lots of eggs.”’ 


184 Ancient Celtic Ecclesiastical Bell. By J. A. Smith 


Mr John Clark, keeper, Traquair : 

‘“‘ Carnivorous food, and worms, grubs, eggs of game birds. Have known 
them molest weakly lambs ” 

Mr James Ingram, West Dawick, Peebles: 

“Grain, potatoes, turnip bulbs, and eggs.” 


Mr W. Ainslie, Stobo Mill: 


‘They feed on all kind of agricultural produce. They also prey on eggs 
and the young of partridge and pheasant.”’ 

Mr William Riddell, Howford : 

‘¢ Principally worms, grubs, &c.; but as soon as grain begins to ripen they 
are down upon it, and can destroy a large quantity ina few hours Clover I 
do not think they taste, but turnips they eat greedily. They take eggs and 
will pick out the eyes of a weakly lamb.”’ 


I have quoted pretty largely from the returns on the subject 
of the food of rooks; and I do not require to add any remarks 
on the statements made, further than this (and it is almost un- 
necessary ), that the returns are from observers who on the whole 
have had the best opportunities of watching the ‘‘ ways that are 
strange’’ of the wary and clever and hardworking rook. I beg 
to offer my sincere thanks to those who have so kindly furnished 
me with data for this paper; and I have also received many 
valuable hints from the Club’s worthy Secretary, Mr Hardy. 


Notice of an Ancient Celtic Ecclesiastical Bell, now ipre- 
served im the Museum, Kelso. By JOHN ALEXANDER 
SmitH, M.D., Sec. Soc. Ant. Scot., &e. 


TarovuceH the courtesy of the officials of ‘‘ The Tweedside Phy- 
sical and Antiquarian Society” and Dr. Charles Douglas of 
Kelso, I have now the pleasure of exhibiting from their Museum, 
at Kelso, this ancient ecclesiastical bell. Many years ago I had 
seen the bell in the Museum, and intended from time to time to 
try to get it for exhibition to the Society; as it seemed to me 
never to have attracted the attention thatit really deserved, and 
it may be said that it has never been described until now. 

The bell has been formed of a plate of iron about 25 inches in 
length by 14 inches in breadth at its extremities, and vsths of 
an inch in thickness, which has been bent or folded on itself in 
the middle, a semicircular or rounded portion being cut on op- 
posite sides of the plate, where it is folded; so as to allow its 
edges to be turned inwards and overlap each other, and thus 


Ancient Celtic Ecclesiastical Bell. By J. A. Smith 185 


form a somewhat square-sided figure, becoming gradually wider 
towards its open extremity. The over-lapping sides of the bell 
have then been joined together on each side by three large flat- 
headed nails, well riveted inside the bell. A rounded handle of 
thinner iron plate, with its edges curved upwards so as to form 
a deep groove above, and bent into a flat curved outline, had 
then been strongly fixed in the line of the greatest diameter of 
the top of the bell; its extremities piercing to the inside, where 
they have been strongly riveted, and still project considerably 
inside the top of the bell. The bell had then apparently been 
dipped into melted bronze so as to cover its whole surface, as 
portions of the bronze coating still remain on most parts of the 
bell, both outside and inside; and traces of it are seen also on 
the flat tops of the large headed nails onitssides. Nothing now 
remains to show how the tongue or clapper of the bell had been 
originally fixed; probably it may have been fastened in some 
way to the ends of the handle projecting inside the top of the 
bell. 


=— = = 
SSS 
SSS 


‘| Ve 
i i i ‘ i 
mA i i 


=> SS 


Ba 


a i) ae) 
“ i 


a i i as 
lk 


Ny oe » 


__ 


Hh 


tt 
li 


’ 


2 ‘a ee 
SA 
Hl) 


i ie i i 


= —= 
SS SS 
SSS SS 


LESS 


<= 


Ancient Celtic Ecclesiastical Bell now in the Museum, Kelso ; 
(13 inches in height). 
x 


186 Ancient Celtic Ecclesiastical Bell. By J. A. Smith. 


The bell measures 11 inches in height, not including the 
handle. It is 6} inches in length along the top by 3 inches in 
breadth across, and gradually widens to 8 inches in the greater 
diameter of its open mouth; by 63 inches across, or in breadth. 
The handle is 2 inches in height from the top of the bell, and 42 
inches in length by 1 inch across in breadth, and the bell now 
weighs 13 lbs. 8 ounces avoirdupois. The whole bell is ina 
wonderfully perfect state of preservation, being broken a little 
only at the corner of the plate at one of its sides; although it has 
now lost the greater part of its original bronze coating, at least, 
on the outer surface. The bell is well shown in the annexed 
careful drawing. When the bell is struck it still gives forth a 
very musical sound, more so than one would expect from its 
appearance. 

With the permission of the officials of the Museum, and at my 
request, Mr W. Ivison Macadam has been good enough to make 
the following careful analysis, both of the iron plate and the 
bronze coating of the bell :— 


AnatyTioaL Laporatory, SurcEons’ Hatt, 
Epinsureu, 14th April, 1882. 


Analysis of an old Square-sided Bell, received from Dr. John 
Alexander Smith, Edinburgh. 


Bronze taken Bronze taken|Bronze form- 
‘from outside] from inside | ing Handle 


of Bell. of Bell. of Bell. 
Copper, . : : : 82-719 82°675 82°71 
Min, :: : : : : 16-001 16°047 16-036 
Ferric oxide, : ‘ :  0°764 0°850 0-717 
Insoluble siliceous matter, . 0516 0-428  0°476 
100-000 100-000 100-000 


The ferric oxide is most probably derived from the inner framework of 
the bell. 

The bell consists of an iron plate bent into shape, and riveted with iron 
bolts. The surface of this framework has afterwards been coated with 
bronze of the above composition. 

I have made a series of experiments, and find that iron plates may 
very readily be coated with bronze. The iron plate is first cleaned 
thoroughly dried, slightly heated, care being taken to prevent the oxida- 


Ancient Celtic Ecclesiastical Bell. By J. A. Smith. 187 


tion of the iron by overheating, and then dipped into the molten bronze. 
By this means the surface of the iron is covered with a coating of metal 
and protected from the weather. 

In the case of this Bell the molten bronze has been poured into the in- 
side of the bell, and the rapid cooling of the alloy due to the absorption 
of heat by the cold iron has caused the work to be done in a most irre- 
eular and crude fashion. The handle of the bell has been fixed on after 
the bronzing process was completed, the rivet ends being free from 
bronze. 

A small portion of the iron framework of the bell was also analysed, 
and gave the following percentage results :— 


Tron, c 5 E E 98°846 
Copper, . 3 ; : : 0-412 
Tin, 7 f : : 0°079 
Insoluble siliceous matter, § ; 0°663 

100:000 


The copper and tin are due to small portions of the protecting surface 

too minute to be separated. 
W. Ivison Macapam, F.G.S., F.1.C. 
Lecturer on Chemistry, and Analytical Chemist. 

Dr. Charles Douglas, at my request, most kindly made a search 
among the records of the Museum, to try and learn something 
of the history of this bell. He tells me there is an entry about 
it in an old MS. book belonging to the Museum, as follows :— 
“Old Metal Instrument, use unknown, from James Douglas, Esq., 
Banker, Kelso, Secretary to Society,” and over this entry there 
has been subsequently written in pencil ‘a bell.” Mr James 
Douglas is long since dead, and there is no date given; but the 
handwriting, Dr. Douglas says, he believes to be that of another 
brother of his, who has now been some thirty years in Australia. 
Dr. Douglas, in making inquiries for me in various quarters, 
learned, however, from Mr J. B. Kerr, of the Commercial Bank, 
Kelso, now the Secretary of the Tweedside Society, that the bell 
did not belong originally to Kelso, but was really brought from 
the neighbouring parish of Ednam in Berwickshire. Mr Kerr, 
when a boy, had been educated there under the tuition of Mr 
John Gibson Smith, the parish schoolmaster, with whom he was 
boarded, now upwards of thirty years ago. He remembers the 
bell being in Mr Smith’s possession at Kdnam, and believes that 
it was brought to Mr Smith as a curiosity, of unknown use, by 
one of the schoolboys, it having probably been found at that 
time, somewhere in the immediate neighbourhood. He has no 
remembrance, however, of the exact locality from which it came, 


188 Ancient Celtic Ecclesiastical Bell. By J. A. Smith. 


and as Mr Smith, the teacher, emigrated to New Zealand many 
years ago, and it is doubtful if he is still alive, no more detailed 
information can apparently be got at present about the discovery 
of the bell. From Mr Smith, however, through Mr James 
Douglas, the bell was fortunately presented to the Museum at 
Kelso, where it is still carefully preserved. 

It belongs to the class of bells carried and rung by the hand, 
and from its character and shape, to the earliest type of these— 
the quadrangular-shaped bells in use by the early Celtic Church, 
previous at all events to the twelfth century—as from that time 
of Papal progress in Scotland until the present day church bells 
have all been made, or rather cast, in a circular form. Professor 
Daniel Wilson, LL.D. (on December 25, 1851), brought before 
the Society a paper on “‘ Primitive Scottish Bells,” giving notes 
of the Bell of Strowan and other Ecclesiastical Bells of Scotland. 
He there simply includes in his enumeration the name of the 
Kelso Bell, if I mistake not, on my authority, as being preserved 
in the local Museum of that town (Proc. Soc. Antig. Scot., vol. i. 
p- 18), and in his Prehistoric Annals of Scotland (1851), describes 
various Scottish Kcclesiastical Bells. Dr. Joseph Anderson has 
also recently given a most interesting and detailed account of all 
the other square-sided bells of the early Celtic Church known in 
Scotland, in his valuable work, Scotland in Early Christian Times, 
vol. i. (Edinburgh, 1881) of his Rhind Lecture Series. 

It is of the greatest interest to discover that this old Celtic bell 
had been found in the parish of Ednam, which Mr Cosmo Innes 
cites as the example, to show the rise or creation of a Scottish 
parish, in his interesting volume of Sketches of Harly Scottish 
History (Edinburgh, 1861). Mr Innes afterwards refers in 
detail to this parish of Ednam, as ‘‘marking the very birth of 
our Parochial institutions,’’ in his introduction to Part I. of the 
Facsimiles of National Manuscripts of Scotland, published by the 
Government, where indeed copies of ‘‘ Thor the Long’s Charter 
of Ednam,”’ &c., are given in facsimile, and fully detailed. 

From the interest attached to the still earlier Scottish or Celtic 
Church, to which I believe this bell really belonged, I may be 
pardoned quoting some explanatory sentences from Mr W. F. 
Skene’s important work, Celtie Scotland (Kdinburgh, 1877), 
vol. ii. 

Mr Skene says: ‘‘It is to the Columban church, established 
in Northumbria by King Oswald in 635, that we must look for 


Ancient Celtic Ecclesiastical Bell. By J. A. Smith. 189 


the permanent conversion of the Angles who occupied the eastern 
districts between the Tweed and the Forth, and for the found- 
ation of churches, or rather Columban monasteries among them”’ 

» 199). 

1 ae was the first of the Columban bishops, and founded the 
monastery of Old Melrose on the Tweed, and Saint Cuthbert be- 
came a monk of this monastery shortly after the death of Aidan, 
in 651. 

‘Tn the year 664 the Columban church in Northumbria was 
brought to an end by the adverse decision of the Council of 
Whitby, and Bishop Colman left the country with those of his 
Scottish clerics who would not conform to Rome. LEata, the 
abbot, however, and his provost, Cudbercht (Cuthbert), gave in 
their adhesion to the Roman party, and, at Bishop Colman’s sug- 
gestion, the monastery of Lindisfarne was placed under Eata’s 
charge, who thus became abbot both of Mailros and Lindisfarne. 
To the latter monastery Hata transferred Cudbercht, ‘ there to 
teach the rules of monastic perfection, with the authority of a 
superior, and to illustrate it by becoming an example of virtue’ 
(p. 209). 

‘‘The causes which combined to bring the old Celtic church to 
an end may be classed under two heads—internal decay and 
external change. Under the first head the chief cause was the 
encroachment of the secular element upon the ecclesiastic, and the 
gradual absorption of the latter by the former.” ‘The external 
change produced in the church was the result of the policy 
adopted towards it by the kings of the race of Queen Margaret.” 
“It mainly consisted, first, in placing the church on a territorial 
in place of a tribal basis, and substituting the parochial system 
and a diocesan episcopacy for the old tribal churches with their 
monastic jurisdiction and functional episcopacy ; secondly, of in- 
troducing the religious orders of the Church of Rome, and 
founding great monasteries as centres of counter-influence to the 
native church ; and, thirdly, in absorbing the Culdees, now the 
only clerical element left in the Celtic Church, into the Roman 
system, by converting them from secular into regular canons, 
and merging them in the latter order” (p. 366). 

‘Edgar, the eldest son of Queen Margaret, had no sooner 
made good his right to the throne* by English assistance, than 


*1097—1107 a.p. 


190 Ancient Celtic Ecclesiastical Bell. By J. A. Smith. 


we find him refounding the monastery of Coldingham, which had 
‘been destroyed by the Danes.” ‘We find in another charter 
the establishment of a parish church clearly presented to us, as 
well as the process by which it was accomplished. In this docu- 
ment Thor informs his lord, Earl David, that King Edgar had 
given him Ednaham, now Ednam, in Berwickshire, waste; that 
he had inhabited it, and built from the foundation the church 
which King Kdgar caused to be dedicated to St. Cuthbert, and 
had endowed it with one plough, and he prays his son to confirm 
the donation he had made of the church to St. Cuthbert and the 
monks of Durham.+ Here we have, in fact, the formation of a 
manor with its parish church, and in a subsequent document it 
is termed the mother church of Ednam. Edgar appears to have 
made no attempt to introduce a parochial church north of the 
Forth, or even to fill up the vacancy in the see of St. Andrews; 
but on his death, when the territory which formed his kingdom, 
with its heterogeneous population, was divided between his two 
brothers,—the districts north of the Forth and Clyde, with 
Lothian as far as the Lammermoors, falling under his will, to 
Alexander, as king, and the districts of the Cumbrian Britons, 
with the rest of Lothian, to David, as earl,—the policy which 
had been inaugurated by their Saxon mother, Queen Margaret, 
of assimilating the native church to that of England, was at once 
resumed by both” (p. 368). 


These extracts will help to show us how tendency to change 
originated in the old Scottish church, and this characteristic, 
square-sided, Celtic bell, would seem, therefore, in the absence 
of old ecclesiastical remains of any other kind in the immediate 
district round Ednam, to be the only relic now existing, to take 
us back, not only to the days of Thor the Long, but to the older 
time, when an early Celtic church existed there, founded long 
before, it may have been, by: St. Cuthbert himself, in this his 
own missionary district of the Tweed and its tributary streams. 


This Celtic bell is also especially interesting as being appar- 
ently the only example of its kind and class now known to exist 
in all the southern districts of Scotland, and therefore all that 
now-a-days seems to remain of any of these ancient ecclesiastical 
establishments. 


Tt National MS., parti. p. 8. 


Ancient Celtic Ecclesiastical Bell. By J. A: Smith. 191 


[This article has been reprinted by permission from the “ Proceedings 
of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland,” vol. xv1., 1861-62, with Dr 
Smith’s sanction. I had forgotten, when corresponding with Dr Smith, 
that there is another notice of this bell, with a different account of where 
it was found, in the ‘‘ Catalogue of Antiquities, etc., exhibited in the 
Museum of the Archeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 
July 1856,” p. 33. LIextract whatis said of it. ‘An Ancient Bell of iron, 
dipped in brass, with which the entire surface was probably coated. Its 
dimensions are almost the same as the Birnie bell; the form and propor- 
tions are identical with those of the Clog-rinny, or bell of St Ninian, (of 
which a representation is given). This supplies an accurate notion of the 
fashion of these early Christian relics. The example exhibited was found 
at Hume Castle, near Kelso. Its previous history has not been ascer- 
tained.— The Tweedside Antiquarian Society, Kelso.”” The Church of Home, 
once a manorial church, and dedicated to St Nicholas, and at least as old 
as the reign of Malcolm IV, when it was conferred by Earl Gospatrie on 
the Monastery at Kelso, may, if this statement is to be depended on, 
prefer a stronger claim to the ownership of this bellthan Ednam. Itwas 
certainly the belief in 1856 that the bell ‘‘was found at Hume Castle.” 
The parishes of Home and Ednam are adjacent. Mr Smith (who is still 
alive) having antiquarian tastes, may have acquired it from the finder, 
who sent it to him by a boy.—J. H.]| 


192 » 


On a Bronze Spear-head found on Bowsden Moor, North- 
umberland. 

In November, 1882, when a drainer was cutting a drain on 
Bowsden Moor, the property of Sir John Marj since Bart., of 
Lees, the spade, at a depth of 30 inches 
below the surface, struck on a bronze spear- 
head, which except a fracture from the 
Spade, was extracted entire and proved 
to be a very fine example of the vari- 
ety of that ancient weapon, with lunate 
or crescent-shaped openings, one on each 
side of the midrib containing the socket. 
The spear-head is a little more than 17 
inches long. The butt-end is 1% inches 
across; the breadth diminishes to 14 about 
the setting on of the blade; at 6 inches in 
length below the oval forming the lunate 
openings, it is 3 inches across: (this oval is 
2 inches across and three inches long) ; about //'))) 
10 inches it is 2} inches across; and then |i)/i7 || 
gradually tapers to an obtuse apex. A little} 
above 2 inches from the socket there is a Y 
small rivet-hole, with a corresponding one ~ 
opposite for the fixing on of the staff. The 
socket appears to be hollow from the butt- 
end to the apex. The openings in the blade 
are regarded either as ‘‘ ornamental, or else 
as intended to diminish the weight of the 
weapon.” ‘The midrib on each side, and 
the margins of the openings are ridged. 

Sir John Marjoribanks,towhom theClub {ly Ml 
owes the knowledge of this discovery, sent Bowsden Moor 3 Z 
the spear-head for exhibition at one of the Club’s meetings ; and 
also a full-sized drawing. For an electro of their wood-cut (not 
yet published) of this interesting spear-head, the Club is under 
obligation to the Council of the Society of Antiquaries of Scot- 
land. Itis } the size of the original. It strongly resembles a 
specimen 194 inches long, found at Winmarleigh near Garstang, 
Lancashire, figuredin Dr. Evans’s ‘‘ Ancient Bronze Implements 
of Great Britain,” p. 335, No. 419. 


Bronze Spear-head found on Bowsden Moor. 193 


Bowsden Moor, in the parish of Lowick, is about 3 miles from 
Duddo. Antiquities of a still earlier date than the bronze period, 
—for bronze spear-heads rarely or never occur in barrows*,— 
have been disclosed near Bowsden. ‘‘In the year 1800, as some 
workmen were levelling a barrow, about a quarter of a mile 
north from Bowsden, they found two urns inverted upon broad 
flags, and containing bones which appeared to have been par- 
tially burnt. Previous to this, another funeral urn was turned 
up by the plough at Bowsden Hollins.’’+ 

In Northumberland, bronze spear-heads have been met with 
in a variety of localities. About 1726, a very remarkable dis- 
covery of this kind happened while a mason was engaged in 
clearing the earth from a rock in Hulne Park, about a mile to 
the N.W. of Alnwick, in order to win stones, when he came upon 
20 bronze sword blades, and 16 spear heads, lying close to the 
top of the rock, about half a yard from the surface. A foot 
lower he found 42 socketed celts.{ ‘‘The spear-heads had a 
socket for the insertion of a wooden pole; some were long and 
narrow, with a small wing or flange on each side; but in others 
the flange was wider and cut through or eyed.”§ A very fine 
example with entire blade, about 15 inches long, as well as a 
smaller one of the same type, about 8 inches, and one with lu- 
nate openings in the blade (Evans’s figure 419) were found with 
two bronze swords in a bog at Thrunton, near Whittingham, 
Northumberland, about 1847. Of this last ‘‘the surface of the 
blade is ornamented by being worked into steps or terraces, and 
the socket by bands of parallel lines.”’|| An example of a variety 
with loops at the base of the blade, and two small openings, was 
found at Elford, Northumberland, and is in the collection of 
Canon Greenwell, F.R.S. (Evans, p. 326. fig. 405). <A variety, 
with two small slits in the lower part of the blade, was found 
(broken) with a rapier-shaped blade at Corbridge, (Ib. 333.) 
In a spear-head shown in Hvans’s fig. 417, the two oval orifices 
in the blade are placed the one somewhat below the other. This 


* Greenwell’s British Barrows, p. 45. 
+ Mackenzie’s Hist. of Northumberland, i., p. 381. 
{ Hutchinson’s Northumberland, ii., p. 244 ; Mackenzie’s Northumber 
land, i., p. 484; Richardson’s Table Book, i., p. 364. 
§ Tate’s Hist. of Alnwick, i., p, 14. 
|| Evans, Bronze Implements, pp. 314, 315. 


194 Local Documents. By Charles Watson. 


specimen is in Canon Greenwell’s collection, and was found at 
Blakehope, among the Cheviot hills (Ib. pp. 334-5). Canon 
Greenwell regards bronze spear-heads as belonging to an 
advanced period of the time of Bronze.* J. H. 


* British Barrows, p. 49. 


Local Documents. By CHARLES Watson, F.S.A. Scot. 


1. Dunse. 

28. Decem: 1650. I do hereby order and require the Governor of the 
Gaurrison of Dunse to take care that the lands of the Petitionr be equally 
and indifferently assessed, and that no more be taken from her than her ° 
pporion comes to and is paid by othors of like rent and estate. 

O. CROMWELL. 

[This is an original, but the lady’s name, for whose benefit it was issued, 
is not preserved. | 

2. Heuch, North Berwick. 
REX. 

Johnne Law Messinger we greit you weill Forsamekill as it is understand 
unto us that Marioun Hepburne spous to Robert Home in Heuch hes inter- 
comwin with Robert Hume hir sone quha is or rebale and fugitive fra or lawis 
for the tressonabill assisting and pairttaking with Francis sumtyme Erle 
Bothuile in suppryseing of or palice of halyruidhouse upon ye xxvii day of 
December last bipast. It is thairfoir or will and we comand you to put 
or uther lies [letters] in execution chairgeing ye said Marioun and all uyeirs 
qt sumevir personis pteining to ye foirsaid Robert home in heuche to void and 
red thaime selfis furth of the tour and fortalice yairof wtin the space and 
under the panes contenit in or utheris lies of ye dait the fyfteine of December. 
And that thae transport with them na gudes nor geir. In respect the samin 
appertanis to or lovitt St Vitor [servitor]the young Laird of Polwart as lauch- 
full donator to the escheit of the said Robert homein heuche. Attour It is or will 
and we comand you to deliver ye said tour and fortalice to or said Sr Vitor 
the young Laird of Polwart to be keipit and usit be him his Srvitor in his 
name at his awin will and plesr. And this ye faili not to do as ye will 
ansr unto us upon the execution of yor office Keipand this prts for yor warand 
Subseryvit wt ot hand at halyrud house ye* day of Januar 1591. 

JAMES R. 

[Robert Home in Heuch, to whom Marion Hepburne was espoused, was a 
natural son of Alexander Hume of Heuch, near North Berwick, to whom his 
father, who died 26th Aug. 1563, had granted seisinin his lifetime. Patrick 
Home younger of Polwarth, as legitimate heir, wished to eject him, but the 
Council interposed and reinstated him. (Register of Privy Council, I., pp. 
245-6.) In consequence of the traitorous conduct of Robert Home, junr., as 
referred to in the writ now printed, the Polwart family acquired possession 


* Note, the day of the month is blank. 


Local Documents. By Charles Watson. 195 


of the estate, and on Aug. 21st, 1592, Patrick Home de Polwart was served 
heir of Alexander Home de Heuch, the brother of his grandfather, in the 
superiority of the demesne lands of Heuch extending to 23} husbandlands, 
etc. Ing. Retornat. Haddington, No. 424—Case of Lieut. Alex. Home, 
p. 5.-—J. H.] 

8. The two following letters were addressed to Wm, Hay, Esq. 


of Drummelzier. 
ils 

Sir, I can not perswade myself That you can be Ignorant of the Duty of a 
subject when He or those that may depend upon him are called out according 
to Law for the King’s service, nor of the powers The King and parliament 
Have Invested those with whom It Has pleased His Majestie to intrust at 
this conjuncture, yet I cannot but observe that notwithstanding of a legall 
Intimation both you yourself and those that depend upon you Have failed to 
Appear as in Duty and obedience to the Laws you are bound to Doe and I 
cannot answer the Trust Reposed in me if I Do not take notice of it. I 
Desyre you may send me by the bearer a true accompt of what Arms and 
Horses you have in your possession and prevent my taking a Course that 
may not be so aggreeable as I could wish, 

IT am Sir 
Your most humble servant 


Redbraes Castle, POLWARTH. 
Saturday the 17th Sept. 
1715. 


2. 

Sir, I expected to have heard from you last night as you promised, and 
that you would have sent you* six months cess of the town of Dunse for hig 
Maties services; And now I send you this Express to putt you in mynd to 
doe it once this night. Otherwise I must be excused to levy it ina way that 
will not be very agreeaele either to you or me, I am, Sir 

Yor most humble Servant 


WILL: MACKI ; 
Kelso 23d Octor. NTOSH 


1715. 

[‘‘ Will. Mackintosh,’’ was Brigadier Mackintosh of the rebel army, who 
had entered Dunse on Thursday, Oct. 20th, 1715, where he proclaimed the 
pretender James VIII, and after having collected the public revenue, set 
out for Kelso on the Saturday, where he arrived the same night. | 
4.- Epitaph upon the decease of the Right Honole. Sir John Hume of 

Rentoun, Knight, Lord Justice Clerk. 
Here rests the Beam of Renton’s place 
A brannch of Humes that high renowned race 
Whose wise endowments and his fyne deport 
Advanced his seat amongst the sagest 
Adorned the Senate and with 
He gained respect besyde his births renown 
In all his life proved loyall to his prince 


,* Thig is evidently a clerical error, 


196 Local Documents. By Charles Watson. 


And dy’d a Judge of the pretorian Bench 
Yea like the Swan whose last song is ye best 
With praying voice he went to joyfull rest 
They of his Loynes his land and revenues have 
Heaven hath his croft and Coldingham his grave 
By Mr ANDREW BANNATIN 
Minister of Coldingham. 
5. List of the Heritors of the Shire of Berwick who attended or sent 
their servants to attend the Rendevous on Fogo Moore on Tuesday 


the 17th of March 1696 Conform to ane Act of His Mas Council. 

The Lord Polwarth a servant ; My Lord Mersingtone a servant ; My Lord 
Corsrig a servant ; Lantone a servant; Swintone a servant; Jeriswood a 
servant ; Ninewells a minor a servant; Hiltone a minor a servant; Sir Pat. 
Home of Brownsbank a servant: Whytefeild a servant ; Harnslaw a servant ; 
Edringtone a minor a servant; Kettleshile; Auchenhay (?) ; Whitsome hilla 
servant; Sclatehouse ; John Brown portioner in Whitsome ; Abraham Home, 
portioner in Home. 

These were generally well mounted and armed wt sword and pistol. 

Fairnyside sw. and pist.; Craw of Netherbyres sw. ; Alexr Smith for his 
father Mr Pat. Smith Minister in Twedmouth for Hillend sw.; Spence of 
Spencemains sw. and pist.; James Purves of Purveshaugh sw. and pist. ; 
John Dullop portioner in Flemingtone sw. : John Dicksone of Heirlaw sw. ; 
John Ramsay of Nunlands sw. ; Rot Cossar of Waster Kennetsyde heads a 
small heritor stout arms; Jo. Craw for the air of James Tait portioner in 
Cockburnspath sw.; James Redpeth of Angellraw sw.; Purvishall sw. ; 
John Stevensone of Plowiand sw. ; Alexr Dicksone of Stonefalds sw. ; James 
Innerwick portioner in Whitsome sw.; John Allan portioner in Whitsome 
sw. and pist. ; Rot Home portioner in Hutton sw. ; Ja. Nisbet portioner ther 
sw.; Thomas Cox portioner ther stout arms; Geo Friskin portioner ther 
stout arms: Mr Will. Cranstone portioner in Huntlywood sw.; Rot Speid 
for Slighshouses a minor sw.; John Home of Hutton Hall sw. ;- John 
Crystisone portioner in Hutton sw.; Mr Arch. Sibbald portioner in Paxtone 
sw.; Jo. Purves for John Keil portioner in Earlston, wtout arms; John 
Wilsone portioner in Leitholm sw.; Mr Rot Rule of Peelwalls a servant 
wtout arms; Geo. Brown for Mark Pringle portioner in Nenthorn wtout 
arms; Pat. Home of Bastleriga servant wt sw. and pist.; Schelfeild a ser- 
vant wt sw. and pist.; Pat. Home of Foulshotlaw sw. and pist.; James 
Craws in Burnhouses a servant wtout.arms he himselfe is past date; Gilbert 
Elliot of Brintaburn sw. ; Will. Bell portioner in Spotiswood sw. ; Marjory 
Banks of Dedrigs sw. and pist.; Jo. Dods portioner of Spotiswood sw. ; 
Greenknow a minor a servant sw.; John .Holyburtine portioner in Cold- 
stream sw.; John Parks portioner in Horndenasw.; Geo. Bell port. ther 
sw.; Will. Richysone port. ther sw.; Rot Bog portioner in Nethercraw 
sw. ; Pat. Trotter of Kidcleugh sw. ; John Home portioner of Whitsome new- 
tone sw.; Geo Anderson portioner in Chirnsyde wtout arms; Mr Jo. King 
of Bogangreen a servant wtout arms; Wedderly a servant sw. 

Mr Pa. Craw of Heughead excused himselfe as being to attend the Heritors 
of Midlothian. 


Ornithological Notes. By Robert Gray. 197 


This list taken up day and place forsd by me. 

GEO. HOME. 
6. Cranshaws. 

I Mr Archibald Borthwick Minr of the Gospell at Greenlaw hereby enacts 
myself as Cautioner for Mr John Campbell Minr of the Gospell at Cranshaws 
that shall obtempore and obey any sentence that the Shiriff prpall of 
Berwickshire or his Deputs shall pronounce in the action of removing pur- 
shued at the instance of David Denham of Cranshaws agt the st Mr Camp- 
bell. And I the st Mr Campbell obliges me to relieve my sd cautioner of all 
skaith that he may sustain through becoming cautioner for me in manner 
above writen In Witness qt of these prts are subscribed by us and writen 
by me the said Mr Campbell at Greenlaw the ten day of Aprile Jm vii and 
seven years [1707] before these witnesses Mr David Brown Minister of the 
Gospell and Mr Alexr Cockburn brother gudeman* to the Laird of Reyslaw. 

A. BORTHWICK 
Jo- CAMPBELL 
Davin Brown witness 
ALEXR CocKBURN witness 

[John Campbell, A.M, laureated at the University of Fdinburgh, 28th 
June, 1697, became chaplain to Sir John Swinton of that ilk; was licensed 
by the Presbytery of Chirnside 4th Nov., 1701; called to Cranshaws 8th 
Nov., 1705; ordained assistant and successor 28th March, 1706; died 16th 
Jan., 1759, in his 84th year and 53d of his ministry. He married 12th June 
1707, Elizabeth Craig, in the parish of North Berwick, by whom he had a 
family.—Rev. Hew Scott's Fasti, etc.] 


*[? | german. 


Ornithological Notes. By Ropert GRAY, F.R.S.E. 


Honry Buzzarp (Buteo apivorus)—A female bird of this 
species was shot at Colinsburgh, Fifeshire, on 16th June, 1881, 
and was skinned and stuffed by Mr Hope, George Street, Edin- 
burgh, in whose hands I saw it. 

Hossy (falco Subbuteo).—A most beautiful male was found 
dead near Belford, on 24th September, 1881. It was sent to Mr 
Small, Edinburgh, for preservation, and I had an opportunity of 
examining it shortly after it was received. 

Great GREY SHRIKE (Lanius excubitor).—Various examples of 
this species, killed in Hast Lothian and Berwickshire, have come 
under my observation during the past year. They were all dis- 
tinguished by the double white spot upon the wing. It would 
be well, however, for members of the Club to scrutinize carefully 
any specimens of Grey Shrike which they may have an oppor- 


198 Ornithological Notes. By Robert Gray. 


tunity of seeing recorded from either county, as it is not unlikely 
some of them may prove to be a nearly allied species—Pallas’ 
Shrike (Zanius mayor) which has several times occurred in Scot- 
land. <A description of this species by Mr H. Seebohm has been 
given in the ‘‘ Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society” for 
Session 1882-83. 

GRASSHOPPER WARBLER (Salicaria locustella).—A few pairs of 
this bird breed near the shore at Longniddry, Haddingtonshire, 
every year. The species has also been observed nesting for 
several seasons past on the estate of Morton hall near Edinburgh, 
by Mr William Evans, a Fellow of the Royal Physical Society, 
who has paid much attention to the Ornithology of the Lothians. 

~Goxprince (Carduelis elegans).—Although the Goldfinch has 
during the last thirty years become very scarce in the counties 
of Edinburgh and Haddington, I am glad to be able to report 
that small flocks still make their appearance in the neighbour- 
- hood of Edinburgh. Their best known haunt is on the slopes of 
Arthur’s Seat facing Duddingston. I watched a flock on 26th 
October last feeding on the seeds of Senecio viscosus, large quanti- 
ties of which grow on the slopes, 

TuRNSTONE (Strepsilas interpres).—T wo specimens were shot at 
Aberlady, Haddingtonshire, early in September 1882, and were 
sent to Mr Hope, taxidermist, Edinburgh, for preservation. 
They were in full summer plumage and beautifully marked. 

Heyerian Goose (Anser Egyptiacus).—A specimen, remarkable 
for its small size, was shot at Elie in Fifeshire in March 1881, 
and forwarded to Mr Small in whose hands I saw it. 

Bewior’s Swan (Cygnus Bewickii).—Two swans of this species 
—a male and a female—were shot on Shaws Loch near Selkirk 
by Dr. Anderson of Shaws on or about the 1st December, 1882. 
The birds were sent to Mr Small who sexed them, and who in- 
forms me that Dr. Anderson wrote to him to say there were five 
altogether in the flock but three of the birds escaped. 

SHOVELLER (Anas clypeata).—This beautiful duck continues, up 
to the present time, to breed in considerable numbers in Fifeshire 
where it was discovered nesting three years ago by Mr A.C. 
Stark, a Fellow of the Royal Physical Society and an excellent 
observer. 

Printart (Anas acuta).—A female Pintail was shot at Yester, 
Haddingtonshire, on 21st December, 1882, and was sent to Mr 
Small who informs me that about the same time he got another 


Ornithological Notes. By Robert Gray. 199 


—also a female—but failed to learn the precise locality where it 
was killed. A third--a male bird—was shot at Queensferry in 
February, 1882, and preserved by Mr Hope who kindly shewed 
me the specimen. 

Poowarp or Dun Birp (Fuligula ferina). 

Turrep Duck (f£. Cristata).—These two ducks breed in some 
numbers on a loch in Fifeshire and appear to be increasing every 
year. During the past season there were from fifteen to twenty 
pairs of each, and several nests were carefully examined leaving 
no doubt whatever as to the identity of both species. The pre- 
cise locality is for obvious reasons withheld. 

Common GuittEemot (Uria troile).—I examined two Guillemots 
in full summer plumage which were shot in the Firth of Forth 
on Ist February, 1882. A Razorbill- shot at the same time was 
in the winter plumage. I had met with similar cases before. 

Brack Gurttemor ( Uria grylle).—A. few pairs still linger in the 
vicinity of the Isle of May in the Firth of Forth, where an occa- 
sional nest may yet be taken. It is, however, doubtful whether, 
notwithstanding the protection afforded to the sea birds, the 
species will maintain its hold in this locality. 

Littitz Aux (Mergulus alle).—A Little Auk was found alive in 
the water of Leith at Gorgie near Edinburgh, on 9th April, 
1883, and sent to Mr Small for preservation. 

Lirtre Guri (Larus minutus).—A young bird, apparently a 
few months old, was shot at North Berwick on 7th December, 
1882, and is now I believe in the collection of Dr. Crombie of 
that place. I have records of the occurrence of Little Gulls in 
other parts of Scotland which lead me to infer that flocks had 
arrived in the north west two months earlier and had probably 
found their way eastward through the Pentland Firth to the 
coast of Caithness from which they would by easy stages travel 
southwards, lingering no doubt for a time in the intervening 
estuaries. Their first appearance was, I find on referring to my 
note books, at the island of Lewis in the month of October—two 
roughly skinned specimens with the flesh adhering to the skins 
and wingbones having been sent to Mr Hope by a resident 
keeper, along with an Iceland Gull (Larus Icelandicus), shewing 
the two species had come together, as they are known to do in 
other quarters where flocks of Arctic Gulls arrive at irregular 
intervals. 


200 Effects of Lightning at Chapelhill. By Jas. Hardy 


Guavcous Gurt (Laurus glaucus).—A young bird, sex not 
noted, was shot at Kyemouth on 19th December, 1882, and was 
sent in the flesh to Mr Small for preservation. 

Burron’s Sxua (Lestris Buffonir).—A beautiful male bird of 
this species was shot by Mr Broadwood at Dunbar in June, 1881, 
and sent in to Mr Small to be preserved. It screamed on being 
struck by the shot—a circumstance I had before remarked in con- 
nection with the occurrence of the bird elsewhere. 


Edinburgh, July, 1883. 


On the Effects of Lightning in Smelting and Altering Gravel 
at Chapelhill, Cockburnspath, 10th July, 1882. By JAMES 
HARDY. 


A thunder-storm on the 10th July, 1882, at Chapelhill, Cock- 
burnspath, was attended by circumstances almost unprecedented 
in such electrical discharges. About half-past ten a.m. prelim- 
inary to a loud sharp peal of thunder, the lightning struck about 
three feet square of the gravel in front of the farm-house, smelted 
a portion of it into lava-like slags, and converted other portions 
into black vesicular light-weighted cinders, without amalgamat- 
ing them into masses. It lifted many of these, at the same time, 
and drove them forward to the base of the front-wall of the 
house, and transported the smaller pellets, as if impelled by a 
gust of wind, and scattered them for several yards over a grassy 
plot round the east corner of the dwelling. The gravelis a com- 
pact fine-grained greywacke, with some flinty slate, which is a 
constituent of veins, and bits of porphyrite. In the slag state 
the substance is nearly homogeneous, with the exception of some 
white streaks that appear to be quartz. In one instance a bird’s 
eye speck of quartz remains unaltered, set in a thoroughly fused 
combination. When fractured most of the fragments glitter, 
and have become iridescent. Vein-stones, although vitrified ex- 
ternally, are less, or scarcely perceptibly changed internally: 
these have had a surplus of siliceous matter in their composition. 
Some portions might be called a voleanic ash ; others show that 
greywacke, if melted under pressure, or other peculiar conditions, 
might become a dark-coloured trap, or might even assume the 
colour and aspect of hematite. Concretions of red hematite, 
when found in the fields, are popularly called ‘ thunder-bolts ;” 


Measurements of Trees. By F. Russell. 201 


a name and idea possibly derived from some previous observa- 
tion of the effects of lightning, when it has struck a soil impreg- 
nated with iron and fused it. The development of this high- 
colouring shows that greywacke or ancient porphyries in being 
converted in a heated state into red sandstones, would require 
very little additional oxide of iron to redden them. The fluxing 
material was probably the felspar in the greywacke which was 
discharged, leaving the alumina and quartz in the vesicular ex- 
amples. Quartz by itself evidently requires a still higher temper- 
ature to smelt it. The thunder-storm, which lasted a consider- 
able time, was accompanied with torrents of rain, and a heavy 
fall of hail-stones. A mass of these hail-stones, 23 feet long, 18 
inches broad, and 6 inches in thickness, which had slidden from 
the roof, being covered up to protect it, remained entire in a 
consolidated state next day. This was reported in the news- 
papers as the remnant of a shower of ice. 

Some of the specimens of the smelted stones I picked up my- 
self; the rest were contributed by Mr John Wilson, Chapelhill. 

On mentioning the subject to Professor Geikie, he re-called to 
recollection other similar phenomena, which I had almost for- 
gotten. Humboldt found two square feet of rock on the summit 
of Toluco vitrified by lightning; and Saussure saw the same 
thing on the top of Mont Blanc. In elevated sandy districts 
vitreous tubes, or fulgorites, are occasionally formed by light- 
ning, ‘‘ which melts the sand to a considerable depth, so as to 
form tubes, commonly sinuous, with solid and smooth walls in- 
ternally, and rough on the outside”? (Edin. New Phil. Jl.ii., pp. 
199, 200). Darwin gives an account of the ‘ lightning-tubes,” 
which he found intersecting the sand-dunes near Maldonado at 
at the mouth of the La Plata. In 1828, MM. Beudant, Hachette, 
and Savart, with a Charles’s battery succeeded in the formation 
of artificial lightning-tubes. 


Notes of the Measurements of a few of the larger Trees at 
Edgerston House taken in January, 1883. By FRANCIs 
RUSSELL, Esq., Sheriff-Substitute of Roxburgshire. 

It was only lately that I had an opportunity to take the mea- 
surements of some of the Trees at Edgerston, and I now enclose a 
statement of these for the information of the members of our 
Club. The point of measurement was about 4 feet from the 
ground. 

Z 


202 Arrwals, ée., of Birds. By John Aitchison. 


it. in 
OAKS) (1. 14e seeenens (1) 10 5 
(2) 9 9 
(3) 8 6 
ft. in. 
ASHES 3 A escenittes (1) 13 8 
yn aa erg 
(3) 12 6 
(4) 11 0 
(5) 10 10 
fis ia. 
Puane TreEs. (Acer pseudo-platanus)....(1) 13 6 
(2) 12 8 
(3) 11 3 
(4) 10 6 
Lme....Low spreading (1) on a mound: with numerous ft. in. 
large protuberances or knots on the trunk. 19 0 
(2) Tall and shapely. it 0 
ft.) “as 
Em...Spreading low and knotted. 18 6 


The large Lime tree (19 ft.) stands on a mound; the ground 
having been apparently artificially lowered from the level on 
which it had been planted. The forester told me he had tried to 
count the rings in a large Ash (which had been blown down, I 
think) and was able to make out as he thought about 300 rings ; 
but he admitted that he could not count them with certainty. 


Arrivals, Departures, and Occurrence of Birds near Bel- 
ford, 1881-2. By JoHn AITCHISON. 


Ir has been deemed expedient to defer the Record of Migra- 
tion, &c. of Birds on the Borders to next Part of the Club’s Pro- 
ceedings. Meantime the subsequent careful observations by Mr 
John Aitchison, Belford, may fittingly occupy its place, as they 
comprise a variety of particulars that could not have been incor- 
porated in a general summary. Mr Aitchison’s merit asa pains- 
taking ornithologist, and writer on his favourite study, are 
generally acknowledged in his native county. It is but justice 
that he should speak for himself. J. H. 

; Belford, Northumberland, Jan. 1883. 

(Dear Sir) 

In the remarkably mild and open winter of 1881-2 there was 
very little worth noting in the bird world about here; and no large migra- 
tory flocks of ducks, geese, swans, &c., such as we often see about Fenham 
and other parts of the Northumberland coast, were observed during the whole 
of last winter. The weather during the months of January and February 


Arrivals, &c., of Birds. By John Aitchison. 203 ' 


was unusually mild, or even warm, and several of our native birds commenced 
to breed in the first month of the year. On the 16th January a nest of the 
Missel Thrush was found on the bare branch of a young ash tree in a planta- 
tion on the west side of Middleton, and bordering close to the moors. It was 
nearly completed, and on the 20th it contained two eggs. On the 24th Jan- 
uary a Blackbird’s nest was found at Howick, containing four eggs pretty 
wellincubated. In the rookery here (Belford) the Rooks were very busy 
nest-building by the end of January; and many of them were sitting on eggs 
by the middle of February, and numbers of young rooks were observed hop- 
ping about on the branches, and others were able to fly about by the beginning 
of April. Woodpigeons and Starlings were equally forward in beginning 
nesting operations. I observed Starlings were paired early in January, and 
on the 12th I saw a pair examining into an unused chimney of the Work- 
house here, evidently seeking for nesting accommodation. It was not, now- 
ever, until the 30th that I saw them carrying materials, and knew that they 
had then begun nest building. In speaking of the Starling I may remark 
that this species has increased immensely in this district during the last sum- 
mer. In autumn large flocks were to be seen flying about the fields, and the 
numbers that visited Middleton Hall in the evenings were something prodigi- 
ous. The flocks continued to arrive from all parts of the district almost in- 
cessantly for the space of an hour and a half or two hours, and although it is 
impossible to give anything like an approximate opinion of their numbers, I 
believe I am quite under the mark in saying that there could not be less than 
from 100,000 to 150,000 birds collected there at one time. Their number 

were simply immense; and people who have lived all their lives in the neigh- 
bourhood, and others who came from a distance to see them, declared they 
never saw anything like it in their lives before. They roosted upon the 
laurel shrubs on each side of the carriage drive and round about Middleton 
Hall; and were clustered together on the branches as close as eggs in a box. 
It was a fine sight to see these birds arrive in the evenings, as with a sweep- 
ing circular flight, and in the strictest order the sucessive flocks settled upon 
the trees, keeping up all the time a loud chattering noise which could be 
heard for a considerable distance off, and which somewhat resembled the 
whistling of a gentle gale of wind. 


Many of our spring migrants put in a somewhat early appearance this year. 
I observed four Wheatears on the 20th March, and several others a few days 
afterwards in a ploughed field at Belford Moor. They were all males, and I 
saw a male and female on March 20th, flitting along on a stone wall by the 
road side a little on the west side of Belford. This was the first female I had 
seen this year. A few Pied Wagtails remained here all last winter; but 7 
noticed that their numbers were considerably augmented in March, and by 
the end of that month they had become common. Except when the winters 
are severe, there is always a “ sprinkling’”’ of the Pied Wagtail to be found 
about here. The Chiff-chaff I observed on March 30th. There were three 
of them by the side of a low hedge on the road to the station, and my atten- 
tion was first directed towards them by their well known and peculiar note. 
On April 5 saw both Whin-chat and Stone-chat on Belford Moor for first 
time this year, though it is probable they had arrived some days before 


204 Arrivals, &c., of Birds. By John Aitchison. 


that time. Willow Wren, April 10, a few individuals. Garden Warbler, 
April 15, Black-cap Warbler, April 20, a male heard singing in a hedge and 
seen to fly across the field. A pair of Redstarts seen on April 20. This 
species is not very plentiful here. Two Greater Whitethroats seen May Ist; 
they were plentiful in a week afterwards. Lesser Whitethroat, first saw 
several individuals on May 6, and also on May 8. Heard a Sedge Warbler 
singing late at night on April 22 and again on April 25, after which it sang 
nearly every night for a fortnight and then became silent. Grasshopper 
Warbler first seen on May 6th. Sand Martins made their appearance on 
April 3, Chimney Swallows on April 8, and House Martins on following 
day April9. By the 15th both Swallows and House Martins were plentiful. 
The Sand Martin is never abundant in this neighbourhood. Chimney Swal- 
lows and House Martins were abundant here all summer, but not so numerous 
as they were during the summer of 1879. They left us in a body on Septem- 
ber 28th ; a pair last seen on October 7. Swifts, a pair, seen May 7; seven 
or eight individuals seen near Belford, May 10, and last seen August 21st, 
previous to which day they had been seen flying about in considerable flocks. 
On September 12, 14, and 20 observed small flocks of Wheatears going south. 
Greater Whitethroat last seen (three individuals) on September 20. Wood- 
cocks have been observed here all summer. ‘Two pairs bred in Detchant 
Wood by Belford, and another pair is recorded to have been bred in the 
Duke’s Park at Alnwick. This species has been fairly plentiful here this 
autumn, but not abundant. Saw several flocks in October, but they were 
somewhat scarce up to near the end of November, when their numbers con- 
siderably increased, and a good many were shot. Wild Ducks (Mallards and 
Wigeons) were very abundant about Fenham and Wern Slakes during 
November and December last; and seaside shooters made some good captures 
during the time of the snowstorm. They were also plentiful at Spindlestone 
Call (Cauld), Swinhoe Lake, and other sheets of water inland in the district. 
In the month of December, while the snowstorm lasted, several somewhat 
rare birds were shot on the coast between Bamburgh and Holy Island. On 
December 6th a Kingfisher was shot at Ross Low—a rather scarce bird now 
and one becoming yearly more scarce in this district. December 11, an im- 
mature specimen of Blackthroated Diver was shot at Wern Slakes by Mr John 
Turnbull, Belford. December 12 an example of the Water Rail was captured 
alive by Mr Burn, on his farm at Glorprum. It was an adult specimen and 
died soon after being taken. A Pintail Duck was shot at Fenham in the 
early part of December, but I do not know the exact date. On December 
21st a specimen of the Waxwing was shot on Ross Links, by Nichol Weather- 
ston, of Bamburgh, and is in possession of Mr Jas. McDougal of that place. 
Very few specimens of the Waxwing have been observed about here this win- 
ter. Mr John Turnbull, Belford, shot on December 26th a somewhat large 
example of the Common Cormorant near Wern Mills. It measured 3ft. 2in. 
length, and 4ft. 9in. from tip to tip of wings, and weighed 7; Ibs. Large 
numbers of Plovers, Curlews, and Lapwings were seen about the seaside, and 
large numbers of Starlings were observed feeding on the salt grass about Fen- 
ham, during the time of the storm. Some of our summer migrants would 
seem to have remained with us all last winter. The note of the Cuckoo, as 
you are aware, was frequently reported in the papers as having been heard in 


Notes on Beil and Stenton. 205 


various parts of the country long before the usual time for the arrival of this 
bird; and I am told that the notes of the Corncrake was distinctly heard at 
Chatton, Howick, and Longhoughton in the month of January last year; I 
did not hear it myself until the 15th of April, which I regard as a very early 
date. The note of the Cuckoo I did not hear until the 5th of May, about its 
usual time ; and heard it last on the 25th June. On April 3rd I observed three 
Yellow Wagtails in a meadow below Belford Station ; I also saw several ex- 
amples of the Grey Wagtail by the side of a burn near the Station on the 
same day. ‘The Goatsucker I observed had returned to Belford and Chatton 
Moors by May 15th, on which day three examples were flushed from amongst 
the ferns. A fine specimen of the Hoopoe was shot at Beadnell on the 28th 
of August. During the first and second weeks of December a number of 
Snow Buntings visited the garden in company with Sparrows, Chaffinches, 
and others. They came regularly every day as long as the snow lasted, but 
disappeared as soon as fresh weather arrived. A small flock of Bullfinches 
also came regularly to the garden, and remained for about a fortnight feed- 
ing on the seeds of nettles, &c., outside the garden wall after the snow had 
gone. A Rough-legged Buzzard was observed in the vicinity of Ross Links 
for several days during the first week of December. It had probably been 
attracted by the number of ducks and other birds. A great many Geese— 
Grey-lags and Ware Geese—were observed about Fenham in the recent 
storm. Many were shot, along with several specimens of the Wild Swan and 
Bewick’s Swan. Teals were scarce, and I have only heard of a few being 
taken. Little Grebes were plentiful ; and several Little Auks were seen 
about on the water. One was found as far inland as Chatton, where it was 
shot. 

I omitted when speaking of the Rook to mention a somewhat curious fact 
of the late breeding of a pair of these birds, and which, perhaps, is worth 
recording in your Club’s Proceedings. During the early part of last October 
a pair of rooks were observed building, or repairing their nest, ona tree near 
the garden of Longhirst Hall, Northumberland, and in a short time after 
were observed patiently sitting on what were no doubt eggs. About the middle 
of November they were seen daily feeding their brood, and the latter had just 
emerged from the nest on to the branches when the snow-storm cume on in 
December. The parents, however, continued to feed their young ones with 
unremitting attention, and it is believed they succeeded in bringing them 
through the storm. JOHN AITCHISON. 


Notes on Biel and Stenton. 
[Supplementary to Vol. 1x., pp. 430-439. ] 


Some little mistakes and omissions having occurred in the Re- 
port of the Meeting at Biel and Stenton, I have been favoured 
with supplementary notes on the subject from Miss Nisbet 
Hamilton, to which I have added others supplied by the Rev. 
George Marjoribanks. The occasional sketches of County man- 


206 Notes on Biel and Stenton. 


sions and families given in the ‘‘ Proceedings” having attracted 
the attention of topographers, it is most desirable that, whatever 
may be their deficiencies otherwise, they may be reliable. 

The following statements are from the communications of Miss 
Nisset HaAmIttTon. 

QurEN Exnizaseta’s Prarts, p. 431. 

The necklace which has always gone by the name of ‘“‘ Queen 
Elizabeth’s Pearls,” is supposed to have been a gift from Queen 
Elizabeth, when on a visit to the Lord Treasurer Burghley, either 
to Abigail Cave, who was nearly related to the Cecils, or to her 
second husband, William, first Baron Sherard of Leitrim, who 
was brought up in the Cecil Family as page to Lady Burghley : 
—The Descent of the Biel Family from the Caves and Sherards 
is as follows :—Roger Cave of Stanford, co. Northampton, six- 
teenth in descent from Jordan de Cave, a Norman baron who 
came over with the Conqueror, married Margaret, daughter of 
Richard Cecil, and sister of the celebrated Lord Treasurer Burgh- 
ley. Their third son, Cecil, married Anne, daughter and heir of 
Anthony Bennet of Greenwich, and left two daughters, of whom 
the elder, Abigail, married first, Sir Thomas Tresham of New- 
ton, co. Northampton, and secondly, William Sherard of Staple- 
ford, co. Leicester, created Baron Sherard of Leitrim in 1627.— 
The. Sherards were descended from the Family of Sherard, 
which was powerful at the time of the Conquest in the counties 
of Chester and Lancaster. The first Lord Sherard was succeeded 
by his eldest son, Bennet, second Lord Sherard, who married 
Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Sir Robert Christopher, Knt. of 
Alford, co. Lincoln. Their son Bennet was created Earl of Har- 
borough, and their second daughter Lucy, who succeeded to her 
mother’s property, became the second wife of John, second Duke 
of Rutland. The eldest surviving son of this marriage, General 
Lord Robert Manners of Alford and Bloxholme, co. Lincoln, 
succeeded to his mother’s estates, and married Mary Digges of 
Roehampton, co. Surrey. Lord Robert left two sons and two 
daughters, all of whom died unmarried with the exception of the 
elder daughter, Mary, who became the wife of William Hamil- 
ton Nisbet of Belhaven and Dirleton, my great grandfather. 

Wittram Pirt’s Gorp Cain, p. 431. 

T have always understood that the hair contained in the locket 
was cut off, after Mr Pitt’s death, by his friend the Right Hon. 
William Dundas, Lord Clerk Register, (my great uncle). The 


Notes on Biel and Stenton. 207 


chain belonged to Mr Pitt, and the watch to which it was attached, 
was, I believe, presented by Mr Dundas to Mr Pitt’s University. 
ATHENIAN CHAIR, p. 404. 

The Athenian Chair on the upper terrace at Biel is not one of 
the Elgin Marbles, but was bought by my great grandfather, Mr 
Hamilton Nisbet, during his visit to Greece in the early part of 
this century. 

Witu14m Hamittron Nisset, Esq., p. 489. 

William Hamilton Nisbet of Belhaven and Dirleton, was born 
in 1747 and died in 1822. [These dates could not be ascertained 
at the time of visit. | 


MonvuMENT oF THE Ricut Hon. R. C. Nisper Hamriton 
AT STENTON, p. 439. 

TI am able froma sketch written in “Life and Work” for 
1880, by the Rzey. Gzorcze Marsoripanxs, to preserve in our 
pages, the following description of the Iona Cross, erected in 
memory of the late eet Hon. R. C. Nisbet Hamilton, in Stenton 
Churchyard. 

This form of the Cross, so unique a specimen of which we have in this 
parish, is distinctly national, being generally called that of Iona, and is fre- 
quently found amongst the old sculptured stones of Scotland. Its front faces 
the east. Taking first, therefore, a front view of the structure, it will be 
observed that in the centre of the circular head there appears the sacred 
monogram, formed of the two first letters, in Greek, of the name Christ, the 
circle itself being symbolical of eternity. If we now look from the circular 
head of the cross, it will be observed that on each of the four arms there are 
emblematic figures, these being symbolical of one or other of the writers of 
the Gospels. On the left arm is the Winged Man, emblematic of St Mat- 
thew, who treats chiefly of the Human Nature of Christ. On the right arm, 
looking toward the cross, is the Winged Lion, emblematic of the Resurrec- 
tion, of which the lion was in early times accepted as the symbol, and assigned 
to St. Mark, because he dwells in his Gospel on the Resurrection. On the 
lower limb we find the Winged Bull, emblematic of the Passion of Christ, 
and the symbol of St. Luke, who dwells on the Atonement and Priesthood of 
our Lord, which is fitly set forth by the Ox, the beast of sacrifice. At the 
top we have the Kagle, emblematic of St. John, because he dwells specially 
on the Divine Nature of Christ, thereby soaring higher, as it were, than any 
of the other sacred writers. On the shaft, and between these evangelistic 
symbols and the thorns encircling the sacred monogram, there is lacing orna- 
mental work, somewhat modified from old examples. The back of the cross 
shows on the centre of the head the sacred dove, symbol of the Holy Ghost 
and emblem of purity, descending surrounded by winged cherubs ; while at 
the bottom of the shaft are three fishes, placed triangularly, and denoting 
baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity. The four limbs or arms have 
groups formed of grapes or ears of wheat, emblematic of the Sacrament of 


208 Notes on Biel and Stenton. 


the Eucharist. On the shaft, and between the arms and centre, there is, as 
on the front, though of a different type, ornamental interlacing work from 
old crosses. The north side of the cross presents, in combination with inter. 
lacing ornaments, the lily of the Annunciation with the rose; and on the 
other side, similarly combined, are palm leaves—emblematic of the Christian’s 
victory, and pomegranates—suggestive of hope in the Resurrection. On the 
base, in letters copied from an old cross of the middle of the fourteenth cen- 
tury, is the following inscription :— 

Rozert A. Dunpas C. Nispet Hamitron. Born Feb. 9, A.D. 1804. Died 
June 9, A.D. 1877. 


“ Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth : Yea, saith the 
Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.” 


“ Grant them, Lord, eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon them.” 


The memorial was executed by Messrs. Macdonald, Field, and 
Co., Aberdeen, in Peterhead (red) granite, from full-sized 
models and drawings of every ornament and figure, furnished 
by Mr William Steell, under the superintendence of his distin- 
guished father, Sir John Steell. I may add, in conclusion, that 
filial affection lent its aid to this beautiful work of art, in the 
way of suggesting symbols forthe memorial. For aconsiderable 
time Miss Nisbet Hamilton was engaged in making a careful 
study of the sculptured stones of Scotland, the fruits of which 
are embodied in this splendid memorial of an honoured parent. 


Oxtp Barrismat Font, Frytat, etc., p. 434. 

Mr Marjoribanks writes, 6th August, 1883, ‘‘We have now 
got restored to the old church (standing near where originally it 
must have been in Roman Catholic times) the Baptismal Font of 
the old church. There is also placed on the ruins of the old 
church the finial stone into which the shaft of the Cross had fitted 
when the building was entire. This stone was built into an old 
wall in the village, and always puzzled me. When the Club 
visited Biel two years ago, Canon Greenwell was told off to look 
at the stone, and he at once told us what it was. It is an inter- 
esting looking stone—the cross appearing roughly on its four 
sides.”’ 

The two stones on the apex of the Rood Well, I understand, 
still retain the position they occupied when the Club visited Sten- 
ton. jigs 


209 


Reports on the Effects of the Great Storm of Wind, 14th 
October, 1881, on Trees and Animals. 


Ir seemed desirable that some record should be preserved of 
the disastrous influences of the gale of October 14th, 1881, that 
uprooted such numbers of trees in the plantations in the Border 
districts, and in other ways spread disaster and ruin both on land 
and sea. I have only as yet mentioned the subject to a few 
members and correspondents, knowing that space could not this 
season be afforded for numerous returns. Without further pre- 
face I present the following instalments. Jia EL. 


BERWICKSHIRE. 
Tae Wind Storm or THE 141TH Oct., 1881, IN THE Hast of BERWICKSHIRE. 


‘ The most furious tempest of wind resembling more a tropical typhoon 
or tornado, than an ordinary gale broke over Berwickshire on the 14th 
October, 1881, and was accompanied by deplorable loss of life at sea: as 
well as irreparable damage done to the woods in the county. At break- 
fast, 8°30 a.m., the barometer was observed to have dropped to 28°5 at an 
elevation of 380 ft. above sea level. So low was the reading, that at first 
it was considered there was something wrong with the instrument (a 
Fitzroy’s Barometer). The morning was fine with a clear sky, which at 
7 a.m. showed High Cheviot (31 miles due south) with first snow of 
the autumn covering not only the summit, but also the ridge of the hill, 
for a third of its altitude. A severe gale seemed imminent from the 
barometric conditions, although complete stillness prevailed outside. As 
I had occasion to be out on duty, I watched the weather with suspicion. 
About eleven o’clock the northern horizon began to be obscured from east 
to west and coming storm seemed certain. As the cloud travelled from 
N. to S. as mid-day approached, its colour was blue gray, hanging omin- 
ously in curtain like folds of threatening aspect, discharging sheet light- 
ning ; accompanied with a peculiar rushing rumbling sound. As I have 
previously stated there was an unnatural stillness, preceeding the out- 

‘burst of the storm. Turning my horse’s head I galloped home, and just 
in time, for when within a hundred yards of the gate, the wind blowing 
at first from every direction, broke on the top of a clump of trees close to 
me, twisted them around as with a whirlwind, and withina few minutes, 
eight of these trees were prostrate. Some were broken clean over twenty 
feet from the ground. large Ash trees were torn up, with tons of soil 
attached to their roots. Beeches and Elms of great age, and size, by the 
roadsides, fell obstructing all passage till the afternoon of the following 
day. Several houses were wrecked by the falling trees, the inmates hav- 
ing had to seek shelter elsewhere. Horses in fields were greatly alarmed, 
galloping wildly to some men repairing the fence, stopping and evidently 
wishing to be removed to shelter. A spaniel accompaning me was so 
alarmed, that on reaching home, she buried herself under a pile of straw 
in one of the stalls in the stable, and was not again visible until the 

Al 


210 Reports on the Great Storm of October, 1881. 


afternoon of the following day. Pigeons flew to their dovecots as before 
a thunder storm, and no living animal was visible, when the storm was 
at its height. The windows were so obscured by vapour and dirt from 
the outside, that it was only by partially raising a sash on the south side, 
that I could get a view of the ruin, that was going on outside. Slates, 
cans, and tiles were flying from the houses ; and the half of the roof of a 
neighbouring church was lifted entire the slates adhering to the wood, 
carried through the air and deposited in a neighbouring garden; in its 
course carrying away a turret, composed of stones weighing 1 cwt. each. 
The noise was deafening, the roar of the wind, the plash of the rain, hail, 
and snow furiously driven against the north side of the house. Alto- 
gether for three hours, while the storm was at its height, no one living 
recollects of its equal. Nervous women went to bed, could take no food, 
and were helpless all that day. Then news arrived of the disasters to the 
Eyemouth fishing fleet, which at the time were discredited ; but now we 
know, how far short of the truth was known, and how much more disas- 
trous the calamity proved. These have already been -described in the 
newspapers, but the damage on land has yet been very imperfectly des- 
scribed. No one can have the least idea of the destruction, in this dis- 
trict, without inspecting the trees, as they now cumber the ground, 
obstructing all passage: and it will take a very long time, before order 
can again be restored. During the height of the gale, a funeral proceed- 
ing from Huttonhall Barns to this place had a very perilous journey. 
Trees were falling in every direction; large branches obstructing the 
road, and the wind almost overturning the hearse. Some persons in the 
company, were obliged to go on before, and clear the obstructions on the 
road. At one period progress was entirely arrested by the falling trees, 
but by making a detour into a private approach the procession was en- 
abled to extricate itself. At Marchmont, Dunse Castle, Manderston, 
Wedderburn, and Broomhouse, the injury to the woods, will never be re- 
covered from. Considering the velocity of the wind said to be 70lbs to the 
square foot, it seems remarkable that buildings withstood its violence. 
In the fine woodlands at Whitehall, Ninewells, Blanerne, and Mains, 
close to my residence, the injury to the trees is irreparable. Avenues of 
large beeches meeting overhead are completely prostrate. Large spaces 
were cut through exposed parts of thicker woods, by the destroying wind. 
In a wood at Craigswalls there is a space of 20 acres, with not one tree left 
standing, all blown down, one on the top of the other. At Whitehall a 
similar gap is made, where the largest Oaks, Beeches, Ashes, and Elms 
are torn up by the roots, leaving nothing standing, destroying one of the 
most picturesque glades in the south of Scotland. Magnificent Spanish 
Chestnuts, some of them 13 feet in circumference four feet from the 
ground, are overthrown. Seven of the group remain, six of the best were 
prostrate. The Scotch Firs in front of the house, remarkable for their 
gnarled boughs, and picturesque outline, are very much destroyed, large 
branches having been torn off. Silver Firs, a hundred feet high in the 
avenue, are torn up by the roots, greatly disfiguring the approach. 
While Ashes, of great size, are snapped through, above the ground; in 


Reports on the Great Storm of October, 1881. 211 


some instances reduced to matchwood, as if a bomb shell had burst inthe 
centre of the tree. Large Oaks are in the same state, proving the irresist- 
able force of the tempest. 

T have endeavoured to describe the suddenness of the advent of the 
storm. The accurate information is given by the Barometer ; which fell 1 
inch during Thursday night the 13th inst., and within an hour of the ad- 
vent of the storm began to quickly rise—the mercury rising 1} inches 
before 11 p.m. on Friday the 14th. 

No such destructive gale has occurred in this district in the memory of 
man, although in 1856, Ist of February, I recollect a terrible S.W. gale 
which obstructed the roads with trees. At the worst of the present 
storm, the wind was due N., which can be easily seen from the trees all 


lying north and south. CHARLES STUART, M.D. Edin. 
Hillside Cottage, Chirnside, N.B., 
Berwickshire. 


Marcumont Hovst, BERWICKSHIRE. 


Tris estate is in latitude 55° 43’ 30” and longitude 2° 25’ 20”, and about 
20 miles from the sea. The inclination of the ground is from north-west 
to south-east and the plantations range from an elevation of 400 feet to 
900 feet above the sea, chiefly in belts running east and west, and the 
extraordinary gale of the 14th October, 1881, blowing as it did from the 
north committed serious havoc amongst the trees all over the property. 

The gale commenced about 11°45 a.m. from the north-west, and con- 
tinued about 10 minutes, when there was a lull of 15 minutes, after which 
it veered round to the north, and blew with terrific violence for the space 
of two hours, cutting its way through the trees, uprooting most, and 
snapping others at various heights from one foot to thirty feet above the 
ground, some of the trunks, at the last mentioned height, being 30 inches 
in diameter, and some of the branches of the Oaks were crushed to the 
earth as if an enormous weight had fallen upon them. This was particu- 
larly noticed, no doubt brought about by the Oaks rooting deeper and their 
being better able to stand the wind pressure, while the toughness of vas- 
cular or fibrous substance enabled them to hold out until their limbs were 
severed at the joints, and hung in half dismembered masses round their 
trunks. All the trees being in full leaf the wind had the greater effect. 
To describe the violence of the gale is impossible—a man could not stand 
against it. A flock of Cheviot ewes in the Policy seemed endowed with 
wonderful instinct, for previous to the gale they were observed to pack 
themselves in a corner clear of trees, and as far from the direction of the 
wind as they could get. When it ceased, they again spread themselves 
over the pasture. 

Numerically the Spruce Fir suffered most, Scots Fir next, then Larch, 
Silver Fir, Beech, Ash, Elm, Lime, Poplar, Chestnut, and Oak. A large 
proportion of the Beech here, is above 200 years old, past maturity, and 
the roots and trunks much decayed. 

To state the number of trees blown down by the gale can be of little 
interest unless a minimum size of trees is given and strictly adhered to, 


212 Reports on the Great Storm of October, 1881. 


but it may be stated that about 15,000 trees of a wseful size, were blown 
down on the property generally on the 14th of October, 1881. But little 
damage was done by the gales of the 16th, 22nd and 27th of November, 
and of the 13th February last, they all blowing from the west. 

PETER LONEY, Land-steward. 


NORTHUMBERLAND. 


West Srreet, BELForpD, Feb. 6th, 1882. 

In accordance with a promise I made to you some time ago, I now endeay- 
our to send you a few rough notes on the effects of the great storm on’ the 
14th of October last—at least so far as it affected this immediate district— 
which I have collected from the agents and managers of the estates men- 
tioned therein. 

The morning of the 14th of October was calm and mild, a slight wind and 
drizzling rain blowing from the south. Between ten and eleven o’clock it 
faired up, and the wind shifted round to the west. Black, heavy, thundery- 
looking clouds soon after made their appearance ; the wind began to rise and 
a heavy downpour of rain seemed] imminent. No rain came however, and 
the wind again shifted into a southerly direction, gradually shifting its posi- 
tion and increasing in violence as it veered round to S.E., H., N.E., and N., 
and by one o'clock had risen to a perfect hurricane, carrying almost every- 
thing moveable before it. It attained its greatest violence at about from one 
to half-past one o’clock, during which time almost the entire destruction to 
plantations, &c. occurred. In Belford comparatively little damage was done 
to houses or other buildings; and the gardens of Belford Hall, being well 
sheltered from the north and east, suffered very little indeed. The principal 
destruction occurred amongst the trees in the Park and in other plantations 
on the estate. Mr Miller, agent to Major Clark, informs me that “in the 
Policy Grounds, exposed to the north and north-east, more than 100 old hard 
wood trees were all uprooted within the space of a few acres (10 or 12 acres) ; 
besides from 200 to 800 smaller trees, principally Firs, in the various other 
plantations on the estate.” The two large Hornbeams, mentioned by you 
in the Club’s Proceedings for 1880, have, I believe, escaped uninjured, also 
the ‘“‘grand American Elm,’’ but one of the Holm-oaks (Quercus Ilex) has 
been broken in two near the top, the other escaped without suffering much 
harm. In his letter to me Mr Miller remarks ‘one striking feature of the 
storm here was that its utmost and dangerous violence did not last more than 
a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, but so extreme was it during that 
time that it seemed to make roads in the thickly planted Policy Grounds, 
carrying all before it, whilst close at hand, and equally exposed parts, 
suffered no damage, and in sheltered places nothing very unusual was felt.’’ 
He adds ‘several large Elms, both English and Scotch, were blown down ; 
but the largest trees down are Chestnuts and Beech.’? Mr Drummond of 
Middleton bears the same kind of testimony to the eccentric course of the 
storm ; he says it appeared to travel in detached columns, and to move by 
leaps and bounds; sometimes striking a space of from 20 to 40 feet wide, 
along which it would travel for 40 to 200 yards, then rise up and leave every- 
thing untouched fora considerable distance, then sweep down again and 
make another ‘‘path,’”’ and so on throughout its entire course. The course 


Reports on the Great Storm of October, 1881. 213 


taken of these columns might have been distinctly traced in the various 
plantations in the district. In Detchant Wood, and other plantations on 
Middleton estate, spaces of from 20 to 40 feet wide and from 50 to 100 yards 
in length, scarcely a tree is left standing, whilst on each side of those spaces 
scarcely any traces of the stormisvisible. Mr Drummond thinks that he is 
under the mark in stating that fully 1,000 trees have been blown down in the 
different plantations on Middleton estate. Fifty five Silver Firs perished in 
Detchant Wood, but the principal destruction was amongst the Larches, 
Oaks, and Beech. The ornamental ‘‘Noblesse,’’ in front of Middleton Hall, 
was partly uprooted, but having again been righted, and secured with ropes, 
and its roots re-covered with soil, it is hoped that it will not have sustained 
any permanent injury. This tree was planted nineteen years ago, and is 
33 feetin height. A Silver Fir planted in Detchant Wood by the hands of 
the late Mr Selby, over 60 years ago, has been completely torn up, and is the 
only one in that part of the wood which has succumbed to the storm. It is 
somewhat singular the wind should have been most destructive in large 
plantations, and that the largest and best trees should have suffered most ; yet 
from all the reports I have received such appears tobe the case. The planta~ 
tions on T'wizell House estate have suffered very severely, and many fine 
trees have been uprooted. Mr W. Robinson, gamekeeper to Mr Antrobus, 
says, ‘‘ To the best of my calculation, without actually counting them, the 
number of trees blown down on the 14th of October on this estate was about 
8,000; but the park has not suffered to the same extent as some other planta- 
tions on the estate. The wind broke in at the opening at the- Lodge, and 
levelled down about two acres of mixed timber on the south side of the carri- 
age drive, leaving only a tree standing here and there. Amongst the fallen 
trees were some remarkably fine Larches, some of them containing 70 and 80 
feet of timber each. One fine Silver Fir, I measured, contained 150 feet, an- 
other about the same size, which stood close to the coach drive, had its top 
blown off and is otherwise disfigured. Another fine Silver Fir which stood 
at the bottom of the lawn, and measured 9 ft. 8 in, in circumference 5 feet 
from the base, was entirely uprooted and in its fall broke a fine Maple to 
pieces. The North Wood has suffered most, there being between six and 
seven acres at the north side completely levelled, with only here and there a 
straggling tree left standing. The principal trees down are Larch, Scotch 
Pine, and Hardwood; there being many good Larches amongst the number 
containing 60 and 70 feet of timber, besides some fine Spanish Chestnuts.’’ 
Mr Robinson remarks that ‘‘ the wind appears to have confined itself to a 
narrow strip of about 100 yards wide up the north side of the wood to near 
the middle, where it made a breach through some 100 yards in length and 40 
yards in width, reaching a square of young Larches, which it passed over 
untouched, then came down on the next square, where the trees are of the 
same kind as on the north side, levelled about an acre of them, then missed a 
part, and coming down again at the top of the wood, made another breach 
across levelling some hundreds of Spruce and Silver Firs in its destructive 
course.”” At Warenton Law, near Bell’s Hill, a clear breach was made right 
through the plantation, some 40 yards wide and about 250 yards in length, 
so that from a distance the wood has the appearance of having been divided 


214 Fruits of the Blackthorn. By James Hardy 


by a railway. At Lucker, Mr Robson had 12 Apple Trees uprooted in his 
orchard, most of which were heavily laden with fruit at the time. The 
storm caught Earl Percy’s foxhounds at Middleton, and it was with great 
difficulty that the huntsmen and riders succeeded in reaching places of safety. 
Flocks of Wood Pigeons, Rooks, and small birds crouched by the sides of the 
hedges or wherever a little shelter could be obtained, and might have been 
knocked down by scores by any one with a stick. Nota bird was left on 
the Farne Islands, and old men, who have lived all their lives in the vicinity, 
declare that they never saw the Farne Islands totally covered with salt spray 
till that day, and that during the storm not a single patch of black rock was 
to be seen, the force of the wind carrying the spray far above the highest 
pinnacles of the Islands. The birds crowded the shore in thousands seeking 
shelter behind the sand banks and hedges; the links and fields about Bam- 
burgh and opposite Holy Island were covered with them, and many were no 
doubt carried far inland. On the day after the storma Guillemot (Uria troile) 
was found on Craggy Hall farm, about a mile west of Belford, which had no 
doubt been carried there by the force of the wind. It was disabled in one 
wing, but. fought fiercely with the shepherd’s dog for its life when discovered. 
JOHN AITCHISON. 


On some extraordinary abnormal Fruits of the Blackthorn, 
from the Banks of Heriot Water, above the Pease Milt, 
and not far from the Pease Bridge, Berwickshire. By 
JAMES HARDY. 

[Plate IV.] 

THE specimens exhibited are from two very large clumps of 
Blackthorn growing on dry slopes near the Heriot Water. The 
bushes are old, and have reached their acme of growth, and pos- 
sibly have been injured by recent rigorous winters, for they 
have a scanty crop of foliage, and are still very black, while 
other clumps near or surrounding them are full-foliaged, verdant 
and healthy, but without these remarkable productions. They 
were first noticed on May 16th, but have increased greatly in 
size since, and from their pale green and russet tints are noticeable 
at a considerable distance as something uncommon. They stand 
(being abortive fruits) on the branches and twigs, in clusters of 
from 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, upto 10 or 12. Their shapes are oval, 
elliptic-oval, oboval, or pyriform ; and they are flat or turgid; 
sometimes curved andamorphous. Some of them are not unlike 
the kernels of almonds. Some are sessile, but most are stalked. 
They are rugose, pale yellowish green on one side, tinted with 
red on the rest of the surface, with a dull lustre; those ap- 
proaching to sloes are rounder, and shining, and of a deeper 


Exanyples of the Wood-Ant. By Jas. Hardy. 215 


green. The largest is 14 inch long, by more than 3 an inch 
broad. Several of the flatter examples have a suture or seam 
down one edge, as if they were metamorphosed leaves (as mor- 
phologically they are) folded in the middle, and combined at the 
margins. When opened they appear like pods, and a consider- 
able number have two (not one, as might have been expected 
from sloes having mostly one stone) abortive seeds attached at 
the end nearest the stalk. Their taste is very bitter, and being 
kept they smell strongly of prussic acid. 

A curling up of the leaf occurs in the blackthorn, tinted with 
the pale-green and red tints on these monster sloes, as if minor 
imitations of them, which is occasioned by colonies of leaf mites 
‘(Phytopti.) The sloe bushes came prematurely into blossom this 
season, but I saw none similarly affected to these two clumps. 
Before summer these mock-fruits had dried up and become black. 

Mr Charles Watson, Dunse, writes me, of date 19th June, 
1882 :— 


In looking over a supplement to Johnson’s Gardeners’ Dictionary which 
has lately been published, I came npon an article on ‘Bladder Plums’ 
with an illustration which is exactly similar to the sloes you had at Hadding- 
ton the other day. The article proceeds thus :—‘ When the other parts of 
the flower have fallen off the ovary turns yellowish and commences to swell 

-at rather a rapid rate finally assuming the form of distorted plums... 

but instead of being plump and fleshy, they are merely hollow bags filled 
with air. This distorted growth is caused by a fungus which after a few 
weeks develops as a greenish mould on the surface, the bladder then blackens 
and shrivels and speedily decays.’ 

There is a reference to the Gardeners’ Chronicle for 1872, p.p. 940, for 
fuller information. 


The illustration is from a painting by Miss Dickinson. 


On Examples of the Wood-Ant (Formica rufa, L.) from 
Yardhope Woodfoot, Northumberland, with notice of 
Formica umbrata, Vyl. By James Harpy. 


Mr M. Arxtz, Carrick in Redesdale, of date July 17th, 1882, 
forwarded a number of the females and neuters of this remark- 
able Ant—‘‘ the Pismire”’—which we have not on the Scottish 
side—from the great colony at Yardhope Woodfoot, in the wilds 
behind Harbottle, which was observed some years since by his 
grandfather, Mr Thomas Arkle, Highlaws, at whose instance 
the specimens were sent. 


216 Examples of the Wood-Ant. By Jas. Hardy. 


Mr Bold says ‘‘it is not abundant in the vicinity of Newcastle ; 
more plentiful in the woods at Gibside, Dilston, and Shotley 
Bridge, and in immense numbers by the side of the Devil’s 
water above Dilston; sea-coast near Whitley, and in plenty 
in Bothal woods.” At Bothal, on the day when the Tyne- 
side Club met at Bothal, ‘‘ the ants were seen streaming up one 
side of a large tree, and down the other. Those coming down 
were each laden with a small green caterpillar.”’ 

Mr Arkle has also sent some fragments of their nests, which 
in this instance had been a congeries of twigs of birch and oak, 
catkins, leaf-buds, and dwarf acorns of oak or birch; foliage 
and broken stalks of ferns; portions of ling-heather, and a twig 
of Polytrichum. 

Mr Smith says:—‘‘ This species is popularly known as the 
Wood-Ant, from the circumstance of its forming the heaped-up 
nests of leaves, sticks, and similar materials, usually in woods, 
but colonies are frequently met with in other situations; indeed 
it sometimes takes possession of the decaying trunk of a tree, 
and has been observed in a wall built of turf; but woods are its 
common habitat.”’ (Cat. Hymenopt. Ins. Brit. Mus. Part. vi. p. 3.) 
Latreille says that in France, it very commonly occurs in woods, 
where it makes nests raised in the shape of a sugar-loaf or of a 
dome, from two to three feet high, composed of a mixture of 
leaves, straws, little twigs of different plants, of earth, of sand, 
&c. When these habitations are disturbed there proceeds from 
them a strong acid vapour. It is usually from this species that 
chemists extract formic acid. In Sweden it collects the resin of the 
junipers which are of frequent occurrence in that country ; and the 
inhabitants gather from the nests this substance, which they are 
in use to burn as a disinfectant, its odour also being not un- 
pleasant. 

The Kidland shepherds are well aware of this colony. One 
of them told me that he once placed an obstruction in one of the 
numerous well-worn tracks, along which they filed going and 
returning from and to their nests, when an extreme state of com- 
motion ensued, of which he had not time to see the close. 

I formerly recorded the larger Yellow Ant (Formica umbrata) 
as a Northumbrian species. Its stations were under stones on the 
Sneer Hill, and in Langleyford vale, also on the Watch Law. 


Presentation to Mr Hardy. By F. Douglas. 217 


More lately my attention has been directed to a large colony 
formed by this species near the base of the green hill slopes of Kid- 
land, in the form of clusters of piled up heaps of fine clay, crowded 
over a grassy bank facing to the Alwen river, near the foot of Alri- 
hope Burn, Milkhope. There is a smaller collection of similar hil- 
locks on the steep verdant bank below Kidland-lee, and in White- 
burnhope. I observed another above Heatherhope, and a small 
one at the base of the black moor with ‘‘ glitter’? edges on Chatto 
ground, below Bughtrig in Roxburghshire, both among short 
grass. The shepherds take a manifest interest in the settlements 
of the ‘‘ pissemores,”” and after years’ absence will inquire into 
the welfare of the little wise creatures that amused them, or 
stung them, as the case might be, when in the happy days of 
youth they reclined on these beautiful hill-sides above the mar- 
gins of the glittering streams. 


Presentation to Mr Hardy. 


It may be remembered that at the public meeting of the Club 
held at Grant’s House on the 29th June, 1881, a Testimonial was 
presented to Mr James Hardy, its indefatigable and accomplished. 
Secretary. In noticing the Proceedings of the day in the Report 
of the Meeting, page 450, vol. 9, itis simply stated that ‘‘The 
President called on Dr. Francis Douglas to present Mr Hardy 
with a Testimonial of respect from the Members of the Club.” 
With characteristic modesty Mr Hardy omitted to notice the 
observations which accompanied the presentation, and the 
amount which had been subscribed for the Testimonial. A few 
details may not be unworthy of record in the pages of our Trans- 
actions, regarding the origin of the proposal and the success 


which attended its promulgation amongst the Members of the 
Club. 


It was at the Gilsland Meeting, in September, 1880, that 
a suggestion was made and adopted by several influential mem- 
bers, that our talented Secretary should be presented by the Club 
with some Testimonial to show its high consideration of his 
long and gratuitous services as Secretary, as also of the zeal and 
ability he has displayed in the laborious Kditorship of the Pro- 
ceedings of the Club. 

A circular embodying these sentiments was sent to every 
member, and was heartily and cordially responded to by one 


Bl 


‘ 


218 Meteorological Observations. By P. Loney. 


hundred and forty members. The subscription was limited to 
one pound ; no one contributed less than ten shillings, and the 
aggregate amount received was upwards of £126. Mr Hardy 
was consulted as to the form which he would like the Testi- 
monial to take. He selected a microscope to assist in the prose- 
cution of some of his favourite studies, and expressed a desire 
that the balance should be given in money to enable him to 
arrange and bind his very voluminous collection of books, pamph- 
lets, and manuscripts. A Microscope by Hartnach of Paris was 
ordered, together with Polariscope, Camera lucida, and Micro- 


meter. A silver plate on the case contained the following inscrip- ' 
tion :— 


‘Presented to James Hardy, Esq., Oldcambus, together with a purse of 
above 100 sovereigns by 122 Members of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club 
at its Jubilee Meeting in testimony of their appreciation of his long and able 
services as Secretary and Editor of the Proceedings of the Club, and of the 
high respect in which he is held for his many scientific attainments and valu- 
able contributions in various departments of Natural History and Archeology, 
during a period of above 40 years. 


Grant’s House, 29 June, 1881.’’ 


It ought to be mentioned that the plate was prepared two 
months previous to the meeting, and that during that interval a 
number of additional subscriptious were received. 


F. DOUGLAS. 


MARCHMONT. 


Meteorological Observations taken at Marchmont in 1882. 


Tue following readings are taken from standard instruments, 


which are regularly tested, and in accordance with the Scottish 
Meteorological Society’s regulations :— 


Rainfall 1582. 219 


Lat. 55° 43’ 30’ ; Long. 2° 25’ 20”. Elevation, 500’ above the sea. 


RarnFALy. . 2 a € ‘5 f ial 

Monta. aa Greatest | 3] ‘9 Hoel § |g 
tall meh Sere ee ee — | 3 

‘a’. | 24hours. [2°] F 133/33] 4 | & 

ee oF| 8 HEA) & | 
Ee ec ON, | ee an ae leet 

Depth | Date 2 ° Q 9 

January ...... 1:54) -45) 2 | 18] 74) 51 | 28] 57 | 20 
February ...| 1:91] °45 /13&28} 12 | 80|/ 55 | 28 | 69 | 20 
March......... 1:84 55 1 20 | 129] 59 | 28 84 | 20 
April ...... 4-49| 1-18 | 13 | 19 | 1921/1 58] 27 | 94 | 18 
Wh epee 2°52 | 1:25 7 12 | 260|| 68 | 31 | 113 | 21 
QUME. co ohadcess 3°89 75 9 20 | 209) 73 | 36 | 120 | 29 
lies 355. 03c0e2 3°96 89 | 6 24 | 2299/1 75 | 42 | 126 | 31 
AMGUSt «2.5. 296i) 87 |22 || 16 | 22581 |-42-) iat) |) 33 
September...| 2°40 52 | 27 19 | 147] 67 | 35 | 105 | 24 
October ...... 515] 1:08 | 19 | 26 | 97] 66 | 29 | 87 | 20 


November ...| 3°41} -40|} 3 | 23] 75i| 51 | 26| 63 | 15 
December ...| 5°20} 1°84 HW e2OR esl O20 | Ol e5snl——4 


Totals...|39°57 224 11692 


PETER LONEY. 


Rain Fall at Glanton Pyke, Northwmberland, in 1882 
communicated by Frepk. J. W. Cottinewoon, Esq.; and 
at Stamfordham, Northumberland, communicated by 
Rey. J. F. BIGGE. 


GLANTON PYKE. STAMFORDHAM. 

Inches. Inches, 

January .. 4 LAP ae amary 3 mA, 0294 
February .. au 72'S Hebruary, »s.; Ones 
March ae .. 1.82’0| March 32 oh Fee 
April AS, .. 8.620] April y ey Ge 
May bes .. 8.8170] May ae ikon tee 
June a u. 98.6875) June ey Ro eee 
July rs .. 2.63°5| July be rts 
August 1 .. 8.500] August ae pape le 
September .. .. 1.630] September .. sete eer 
October a .. 98.85’5| October ey MES Oil 
November .. .. 8.80’75| November .. fe (B23 
December .. .. 8.2770| December .. o. 4h50 
Total so 33.04’0 Total aed 31.58 


Rain Gauge—Diameter of Funnel,| Rain Guage—Diameter of Funnel; 
8in. ; height of Top above ground,|5in ; height of Top above ground, 
4ft. 34in.; above sea level, 517ft. | Lft.; above sea level, 400ft. 


220 


Donations to the Berwickshire Naturalists Club, from 
Scientific Societies, Hachanges, &e., 1882-3. 


Batu. Proceedingsof the Bath Natural History and Antiquarian 
Field Club, Vol. v., Nos. 1. and 1r., 1882-3. 8vo. The Club. 
Betrast. Annual Report and Proceedings of the Belfast Natur- 

alists’ Field Club, 1880-81, Ser. m, Vol. 1, Parts 1 and 1, 8vo. 
The Club. 
Boston, U.S.A. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural 
History, Vol. xx., Part tv.; Vol. xx1., Parts 1., 0, Hi, 1880- 
1882, 8vo. The Society. 
Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History, 
Vol. 1., No. rv. New Hydroids from Chesapeake Bay. By 
Samuel F. Clarke, Ph.D.; Vol. u1., No.1v., Archipolypoda, a 
Subordinal Type of Spined Myriapods from the Carboniferous 
Formation. By Samuel H. Scudder, 1882, 4to. [No. m1. not 
received. | The Society. 
Bremen. Abhandlungen herausgegeben vom Naturwissenschaft- 
lichen Vereine -zu Bremen, vir. Band, 1. Heft., 1883, 8vo. 
The Society. 
Buckuurst Hitz, Essex. Transactions of the Essex Field Club, 
Vol. 1., Part 6; Vol 11., Part 1., 1882-83, 8vo. The Club. 
Carpirr. Report and Transactions of the Cardiff Naturalists’ 
Society, Vol. x1v., 1883, 8vo. The Society. 
EprnsureH. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 
Sessions 1878-79, 1879-80, 1880-1, and 1881-2, 8vo, Vols. x. 


and XI. The Society. 
— Transactions and Proceedings of the Botanical 
Society, Vol. xrv., Part 11., 1880, 8vo. The Society. 
———— Transactions of the Edinburgh Geological Society, 
Vol. rv., Part 1, 1882, 8vo. The Society. 
——— Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 
1881-82, Vol. rv., N.S., 4to. The Society. 
———— Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society, Sessions 
1881-82, Vol. vir., Part 1., 8vo. The Society. 
HssEx, Sate, U.S.A. Bulletin of the Essex Institute, Vol. xm, 
1882, 8vo. The Institute. 
-Guascow. Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Glas- 
gow, Vol v., Part 1., 1880-81, 8vo. The Society. 


—— Proceedings of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, 
1881-82, Vol. xu1., No. 2., 8vo. The Society. 


Donations from Scientific Societies, éc., 1882-3. 221 


Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow, 
Vol. vir., Part 1., 1880-81, 1881-82, 1883, 8vo. The Society. 
Hawick. Transactions of the Hawick Archeological Society, 
1881-82, 4to. The Society. 
Lezps. The Annual Report of Leeds Philosophical and Literary 
Society for 1881-82, 8vo. TheSociety. 
Transactions of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union, 
1880, 1881, Parts 5 and 6, 8vo. The Union. 
Lonpon. Journal of the Authropological Institute of Great 
Britain and Ireland, Vol. x1., No. 1v.; Vol. x1r., Nos. 1,, 11, 
m1., Iv.; Vol. xmt., No.1., 1882-3. The Institute. 
Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, Vol. viz., 
_ Nos. 5, 6, 7; Vol. vit., No. 1. (with Annual Report), 1882-3, 


8vo. The Association. 
Proceedings of the Society of Psychical Research, 

Vol. 1., Parts 1m. and 111., 1883, 8vo. The Society. 
Norwicu. ‘Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ 

Society, 1881-2, Vol. 111., Part 11., 8vo. The Society. 
Pertu. Proceedings of the Perthshire Society of Natural 

Science, Vol. 1., Part 11., 1881-2, 4to. The Society. 


PrymovutH. Annual Report and Transactions of the Plymouth 
Institution and Cornwall Natural History, Vol. vutt., Part 1., 
1881-2, 8vo. The Institution. 

Wasuineron, U.S.A. Annual Report of the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution for the year 1880. Washington, 1881, 8vo. 

The Smithsonian Institution. 
List of Foreign Correspondents of the Smithsonian 
Institution to January 1882. Washington, 1882, 8vo. bed. 

WetsHpoot. Collections, Historical and Archeological, relating 
to Montgomeryshire and its Borders, Vol. xv, Parts 1. and 
m.; Vol. xv1,, Part 1. London, 1882-3, 8vo. 

The Powysland Club. 


222 


List of New Members for 1882. 


LIST OF NEW MEMBERS FOR 1882. 


ApmiTtED OctosER 111TH, 1882. 


Alexander Bowie, Canonbie, Dumfriesshire. 
William Edward H. Kelso, 3 Northumberland Street, Edinburgh. 
Lieut.-Col. Alexander Murray Brown, Longformacus House, Dunse. 
Rev. Robert Nimmo Smith, First Charge, Haddinyton. 
The Most Hon. the Marquess of Lothian, K.T., Newbattle Abbey, Dal- 
keith, Mid-Lothian. 
Johan Waiker Logan, Avenue, Berwick. 
Robert Stephenson, Chapel, Dunse. 
Rev. W. D. Herald, B.D., Dunse. 
Robert Roberton, Ladyrig, Roxburgh. 
John 8S. Bertram, Cranshaws, Dunse. 
William Gunn, Dunse. 
Rey. Arthur Gordon, Greenlaw. 
James Parker Simpson, Alnwick. 


Andrew Ker, St. Boswells. 
Dr. Allan Wilson, Alnwick. 


The Right Hon. the Harl of Home, Hirsel, Coldstream. 
Rey. Robert Stewart, Jedburgh. 

George Bulman, Corbridge-on-Tyne. 

David Dippie Dixon, Rothbury. 

John Turnbull, Httrick View, Selkirk. 

Adam Cochrane, junr., Fernieknowe, Galashiels. 

Rev. William Robertson, Sprouston, Kelso. 

Alexander R. Brown, Rowantree Butts, Galashiels. 


ERRATA. 


—— 


45, line 1 from the top, for Jerdan, read Jerdon. 


76, 
93, 


99 


95, 


96, 


” 


29 


31 
29 
37 
36 


14 
32 

9 
26 


20 
385 
10 
27 
11 
20 
16 


for peretissimo, read peritissimo. 
for Lleminwy, read Lleminawg. 
for there, read thence. 
for goden, read godeu; also on 
page 103, twice. 
for Minnoth, read Minnoch. 
for 1780, read 1750. 
Insert not after I do. 
Insert a dash instead of a hyphen, between 
“Loth” and “ Llew.” 
for Derisvata, read Derivata. 
for Edgernhope, read Edgerhope. 
for Carlside, read Carolside. 
for repeately, read repeatedly. 
for shaith, read skaith. 
for youg, read young. 
for Gospatrie, read Gospatric. 


223 


General Statement. 


Tue IncomME AND EXPENDITURE have been :— 


LyCoME. 

Ee eas 

Arrears received .. te 30 18 0 

Entrance Fees ave ca Loewe 0 

Subscriptions ak Ra 89°30 

138 0 O 

Balance due Treasurer .. 518 $3 
—_———- £143 18 

EXPENDITURE. 

Balance due Treasurer from last account 4 5 9 

Gibb and Hay for ce tase fon ek LOUNG 

Printing 80 6 3 

Expenses at ile tires ae ig LO 19, 0 

Postages and Carriages at 80 19°49 

Berwick Salmon Company cas Sh Sa 
—£143 18 

4o iGo 

22 DEG 1887 
y Sa \ Ses < 
mn? 3 bs Su, i 


a wz gX 


ty me Eos, hy 
RAL Hi So A 


3 


Berwickshire Naturalists Club. 


NBER? 


(ZINN NXE I INNO) P| EN Baie 
pa "Pp 2 ne 


VAs TUR CEB aN Ko 


PNIEL 


eaves, 1 


te 


Be a aie = 
neni if nas UME NA 


UST aerap ie cua seon fo men cdacie ieee bald aro ese RAED RR 


GOLD RING AND SILVER ORNAMENTS, ETS FOUND AT GORDON. 


erwickshire Naturahsts Club. 


Plate IL. 


nekshire Naturalists Club. 


& 
ee ce 


ig 


tok, 


IMPLEMENT FOUND AT GORDON. 


FRAGMENT OF URN AND FLINT 


Berwickshire Naturalists Club. Plate, IV. 


| MONSTROSITIES OF THE SLOE, 
| NEAR PEASE BRIDGE, MAY, 1882. 


Miss MR. Dickinson, pinxt Gibb aay Lithts Aberdeen. 


aN 
a 


*; 


a6 


Vee wea 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE BERWICKSHIRE NATURA- 
LISTS’ CLUB, Vou. x., No. 11. 


CONTENTS. PAGE. 
Anniversary Address, by G. P. Hughes, Esq. .. sa) 220 
Report of Meetings, by James Hardy Be .. 242 
Obituary Notices, by the Same ae ane si |) 286 
William Stevenson, by Professor Duns, D.D. .. Lar e289 
Dr. Robson Scott, by F. Douglas, M.D. nh .. 299 
Mungo Park, by H. S. Anderson, M.D. Ans .. 800 
Urn at Manderston, by John Turnbull, W.S. .. .. 804 
' Urn near Luffness, by James Hardy . : .« »a06 
Black Dyke and British Camps, by Trane Tait 307 
Lower Carboniferous Entomostraca, by T.R.Jones, F.R. S. &e. 313 
Hail-Storm near Jedburgh, by J. Scott Dudgeon se) a26 
Herons and Border Heronries, by James Smail a 5 880 
Cygnus Bewickii, by Thomas Anderson, M.D. .. a ed 
Injury to Firs by a Snow Storm, by M. T. Culley, Esq. .. 338 
Fungi from Roxburgh, by Rev. D. Paul, M.D. ae Ss) 
Ednam Hospital, by James Hardy .. .. 9840 
Incised Rocks at Morwick, by James ar Aad Miss S. 

Dand .. 3438 
Flint Implements in a Coguatdale by D. D. Tren a eaT 
Marine Algze of Berwick-upon-Tweed, by E. A. L. 

Batters, M.A., LL.B., F.L.S. 7 a 840 
Carex divisa in Holy Talend by Rev. James arquhm son, 

M.A. na ee OD 
Titlark feeding youn Gupleon, by Tan ames Siac: NORE ts 
Dagger found at Rothbury, by D. D. Dixon .. EE Ts, 
Effects of Sturm, 14th Oct., 1881, on Plantations 5 358 
On a Spoon at Mousin; and Notice of Mousin, by J. Hardy 368 
On the Cross at Orobshiatl: by the Same , ot) *866 
On a Flint Scraper from Gullane Links, by the See by EO) 
Names of the Farne Islands, etc., by the late R. Carr- 

Ellison, Esq. .. Peels £16) 
Notes on Beiteh and other Goins: by cee Russell Rann 70s 
Ornithological Notes, by George Bolam Sg SBR 4 
Notes on Yarrow, by James Hardy .. oNage 


Meteorological Notices ; Donations and Exchanges - List 
of New Members. General Statement: Errata. Mead car iy) 


5 4 es » 4. 4, 
— = 3 Fi) F . a) OR 
s ee. ; aoe 1b 
f “ * i i 5, * ; ? 
f =n 
; Ne } ~ a es 
2 - te $ 2 =e) 
ie E * ¥ \ i i i ae BS y 
ve} RN 
= f = H eae = 
- é r s 1 i Me 8 te 
a aa | ‘ = be y 
ae ALA & = =m 
: F i f 4 fas ee 
1 te : " 2 1 i 
. 
Ke 
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; 2409 BS A 4 
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— ee = : A = 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF THE 


BERWICKSHIRE NATURALISTS’ CLUB. 


Address delivered to the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, at 
Berwick, October 10th, 1883. By GerorGE PRINGLE 
HuGuHeEs, Esq., of Middleton Hall. 


GENTLEMEN, 


My first duty, as President of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ 
Club, is to tender my thanks to the late President, the Rev. 
James Farquharson, and to our distinguished friend, Sir 
Walter Elliot, for proposing and seconding, and to the mem- 
bers for electing me to that office, for the season we are to- 
day bringing to a close. Some years ago you very kindly 
named me for the post, but the numerous affairs of a private 
nature, which at that time claimed my attention, induced 
me to decline, with reluctance, an honour which I have this 
year accepted with much pleasure. 

When, however, I call to remembrance the able men who 
have preceded me in this office—men who have been distin- 
guished in one or more departments of science, I must make 
one earnest appeal to your kind indulgence ere I enter upon 
the subject of my address. 

The British Association, the Scientific Parliament of the 
year, and the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club had their 
origin in the summer of 1831, the latter having the prece- 
dence by a very few days. The Association, which that 
year held its meeting at York, has from the first been as- 
sisted, at its annual Congress of 7 days, and on the Com- 

B.N.C.—VOL, X. NO. IL. * cl 


226 Annwersary Address. 


mittees receiving grants of money, by men of eminence in 
nearly every phase of science. Its yearly reports furnish a 
chronicle of the march of scientific discovery. 

With a much smaller number of members, and a limited 
field for exploration, the original work of the Berwickshire 
Naturalists’ Club reflects credit, from its first formation, on 
the active and educated naturalists who have at all times 
leavened its body. Johnston, Selby, Jardine, Tate, and 
Baird have left works which have taken a place among the 
standard Natural History literature of the age. Others, 
equally distinguished, have become eminent in the general 
field of scientific investigation ; and some are yet among us 
whose labour and success as explorers entitle them to rank 
among the leading pioneers into the yet unexhausted recesses 
of British Cryptogamic and Entomological life. Without 
trespassing on the privilege of two of our botanists to fur- 
nish us with the particulars of two important discoveries, I 
may observe that at the Holy Island meeting of this year, a 
meeting deserving to be remembered for the brilliant variety 
of the flora culled from tlie spring tide margin of its sandy 
beach, one member was fortunate in collecting specimens of 
the Cakile rugosa, hitherto unregistered in any work on 
British Botany. .The Carew divisa, a plant seldom hitherto 
collected north of the Yorkshire coast was culled by another 
from the sandy flat to the N.W. of the Island. 

In the report prepared by our learned and obliging Secre- 
tary, Mr Hardy, you are likely to get a thorough detail of 
the Holy Island and other meetings of the year. I regret 
to say that climatic influences, caused the field work of our 
Club this season, to be more than usually limited, but zeal- 
ous members have gone over the ground intended for the 
meetings and have made fair botanical quests. Never in 
my remembrance has florescence been more gorgeous, or 
longer sustained, than the past summer, and the herbarium 
of the botanist must be replenished with a choice collection 
of fresh rarities. 

The intended meeting at Wooler, not unlike that at Aber- 
lady, was a blank. From early morning rain descended 


Anniversary Address. 227 


with more or less intensity. Fortunately its range was 
general, and no member of the Club came to the place of 
meeting that day. Our Secretary, who with laudable zeal 
had made the necessary arrangements for the meeting while 
I was at Southport, and Messrs Wilson and Weddell of Ber- 
wick, who had come to Wooler a day before, gave me the 
pleasure of their society. To them 1 read a short paper, 
on the Geological features of the Glendale Valley, which I 
had had an opportunity of introducing to the notice of the 
Geological section of the British Association. I subjoin its 
‘outlines. Ist the Primary System of the Cheviots, probably 
elevated several thousands of feet above their present height 
and: gradually reduced by atmospheric and glacial action. 
2nd, The Carboniferous formation to the east, resulting from 
an exuberant vegetation and tropical climate, which in the 
course of thousands of years had been submerged and ele- 
vated hy volcanic influences operating during immense 
periods, when the sea may have laved the base of the 
Cheviots. By degrees the climate became of an arctic tem- 
perature, “darkness was upon the face of the deep,” and 
the mountain range deeply laden by snow and ice discharged 
its surplus burden, with masses of rock and debris, into the 
lower valleys, which may have been grooved and deepened 
by the immense pressure from above. The abrading effect 
of this glacial era would leave few traces of the sea upon the 
mountain base. Then was formed those beds of boulder clay, 
gravel, and sand occupying the vale of Glendale, which the 
industry of man, in recent times, has clothed with rich 
meadows and cultivated crops. A more benign temperature 
in post tertiary times, after thawing the ice had left the vale 
an inland lake which ultimately drained off by the weakest or 
or lowest point of the inclosing banks ; after which a swamp 
and jungle forest would occupy the rich alluvium, until the 
increase of man reduced the wilderness to a fruitful field. 
Dispersed, in more or less abundance by the agency of mov- 
ing or floating ice, we find in our days, or on the surface 
erratic blocks of primary rocks pertaining to formations 
hundreds of miles distant. Even from the Labrador coast, or 


228 Annwersary Address. 


possibly from the rocks of the central Atlantic axis—ac- 
cording to Professor Hull a vast mountain range—we have 
imbedded in our diluvium on the British Isles blocks of 
stone or rock pertaining to none of the known formations of 
these Islands. The Boulder Committees of the British 
Association, and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, have in- 
spected and registered most of the rare or important boulders 
on the surface of Great Britain; but in the course of deep 
cuttings, and even agricultural work, erratic blocks are often 
disentombed. It is the duty of every member of a scientific 
society to inspect and report to the secretary of his club, or 
a member of a boulder committee, the particulars of such a 
discovery. Otherwise, the means by which large blocks of 
stone may be broken down, or buried out of sight, are so 
numerous, that we have good reason to fear the complete 
obliteration of this valuable evidence of a glacial period. 

The day after our intended meeting at Wooler Mr Hardy 
and I had the opportunity of driving to Tiptoe, and of in- 
specting that part of the valley where volcanic upheaval 
had effected a cleavage of- the sandstone rock, and had in- 
vited the escape of the waters of the Glendale Lake. At 
Tiptoe these sandstones are of the finest texture and much 
laminated. When in that vicinity we also observed that a 
series of interesting objects, natural and historical, at Etal, 
would furnish the Club with subjects for a spring or 
autumn meeting, which could be undertaken from the large 
and comfortable hotel at Cornhill. 

At the south-east corner of the Glendale Lake, where its 
waters seem to have shallowed to a point, there is to be 
found a deposit of moss and marl, separated by a boulder 
clay ridge from the Coldgate Water. From this deposit my 
father, some 50 years ago, removed three well preserved 
antlers of the Red Deer (Cervus elephus). One of these, set 
up at Middleton Hall, has 23 points, and according to the 
opinion of our best authorities, including the Earl of Malmes- 
bury, it is the most perfect specimen, taking age, size, and 
preservation into account, to be found of the species in 
Great Britain. Indeed, if we remember that half its num- 


Annwersary Address. 229 


ber of points constitutes a royal stag of the present day, these 
antlers indicate the superior developement which an unen- 
closed forest in those early days enabled its wild denizens 
to attain. 

Near the same situation was found a single horn of the 
Bos Urus, which is one of the few remains of that aboriginal 
ox found east of Linton Moss and north of Yorkshire ; 
where in the valley of the Humber it and the Mammoth 
have been frequently found. The Rev. John Storer, in his 
valuable work on the Wild Cattle of Great Britain, recently 
. published. describes a visit he had paid to Middleton Hall 
in 1874, during a lengthened tour I was then making. He 
says, “Between Chillingham and Wooler we drove to Middle- 
ton Hall at the end of the old Caledonian Forest, where lies 
the extensive Bog or Moss of Cresswell. We were shown 
some of the remains preserved at Middleton Hall, but I 
much regret that in consequence of Mr Hughes’s absence 
from home, nor subsequently at Wooler, could I discover 
whether the remains of the Bos have ever been found there ; 
but my informants thought not. It is much to be desired 
that this bog, and perhaps Robin Hood’s Bog in Chillingham 
Park, should he more carefully examined ; and Lord Tanker- 
ville informs me that in the case of Cresswell Moss this has 
been thought of. Probably the remains of the Bos primi- 
genvus lie buried there ; and not only his: perhaps those of 
his descendants—the intermediate link between him and 
the Chillingham bull—might be also found. The reliquiz 
of the wild beasts that ranged the forest at the same time 
having been exhumed, those of the ancient Caledonian wild 
bull may yet be discovered, and the great probability is that, 
as in the case of the red deer, they would indicate that the 
Caledonian bull of those days was, though inferior in size to 
the ancient Urus, a larger animal than the present Chilling- 
ham ox, yet of the same type as both of them.” 

I very much regret that a voyage to Australia and Amer- 
ica denied me an interview with Mr Storer, and the pleasure 
I should have felt in stating to him that a horn had been 
found of an aboriginal type. Uncertain whether I had in 


230 - Anmversary Address. 


it a true Urus horn, I took it to the British Association 
Meeting at Southport, and had the satisfaction of hearing 
from one of the best authorities of the day, Professor Boyd 
Dawkins, that it represents the Bos Urus, many centuries 
ago the king beast of the Great Caledonian Forest, having 
its eastern termination at or near Chillingham. 

The White Cattle in that fine old park are according to 
our leading authorities, including Professor Riitimeyer, who 
judged them solely by their “osteological characteristics,” 
the direct descendants of the Bos primigenius. I may ob- 
serve that a few weeks ago I had a section made into the 
Cresswell pit, and intend the work to go on, hoping to dis- 
entomb other remains than those already obtained, and of a 
greater variety of species. So far no bones have been found, 
but the workmen have cut through a thick deposit of Alder, 
Hazel, and Oak.* The shells, which are of the usual fresh 
water species found in marl, I exhibit a few samples of. A 
compost formed by the mixture of marl, moss, and a little 
quick lime has been found beneficial in fertilising the porous 
gravel of the adjoining fields. 

This year, as on former occasions, I represented our Club 
at the meeting of the British Association held at Southport. 
In sympathy with the purely mathematical leaning of the 
able President of the year, Professor Cayley, and the prac- 
tical disposition. of most of the associates from the manutac- 
turing towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire, the work in the 
mathematical and mechanical sections may be expected to 
engross a preponderating share of this year’s report, and to 
be deserving of the study of the lovers of abstract science. 

There having been few if ary discoveries of importance 
to report, the Section of Geography might consider itself 
fortunate in having had a President well known as a Physi- 
- eal Geographer, and one whose range of travel enabled him 
to impart a general interest to communications on any part 
of the globe. The topographical survey of India, to which 

* Subsequently to writing the above we have found 2 vertebre of the ox 


and the rib of a stag, if I mistake not, 6 feet from the surface of the for- 
mation. 


Anniversary Address. 231 


Lieut.-Colonel Godwin Austen was at one time attached, has 
furnished the Royal Geographical and the Geological Socie- 
ties with some of their most valuable members. 

The Geological Section was presided over by Professor W. 
C. Williamson, a veteran and enthusiastic worker among the 
Yorkshire formations. In his youth he had had “almost daily 
intercourse with William Smith, the father of English 
Geology,” and the latter part of his life has been devoted to 
Paleontology, especially that of the vegetation of the Car- 
boniferous Age. By request, his opening address was de- 
‘voted to that subject. Professor Hull propounded a bold 
theory regarding the distribution of limestone from an ele- 
vated volcanic formation in Mid-Atlantic. Principal Daw- 
son, of Montreal, gave an interesting account and shewed 
several specimens of the Hozdén Canadense found in the 
limestone strata, the second of the Laurentian series of rocks 
of Canada, and supposed to be the first indications of animal 
life, and occuring in coral like masses in the thick bedded 
serpentine of the St. Lawrence. A number of large blocks 
of the Laurentian limestone are to be laid before the British 
Association next year, when the strongest microscoves are 
to be used for the solution of this interesting question. 

In my capacity as Delegate from this Club I took an 
active part in a meeting of Delegates from various local 
scientific clubs and societies, who had referred to them a list 
of new rules drawn out by the committee of scientific local 
societies at the instance of the General Committee of the 
Association. It appears by their report 

- “That the numbers of local clubs have latterly very greatly in- 
creased, and comprising upwards of 170 societies for natural his- 
tory and antiquarian study, the number of Delegates from each 
club to the Congress had been reduced from two to one. Also 
that the Delegate appointed by his Club transmit to the Secretary 
on the first day of meeting of the Congress a copy of his Clubs 
proceedings, and furnish other information regarding his Society 
or Club.’’* 


If appointed the Delegate would be a temporary member of 


* Report of Committee to British Association. 


232 Anniversary Address. 


the General Committee and his club or society would be 
classed as a Corresponding Society of the British Associa- 
tion, and its papers would be registered in an index attached 
to the Annual Report. The Delegates would hold meetings 
of their own under a chairman of scientific standing, when 
the general interests and work of their respective Clubs could 
be considered and compared. These revised rules have since 
our meeting been referred back to the Council, and have 
probably become standing rules of the Association. I trust 
that the members of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, as 
well as other local Clubs throughout the island, may see the 
importance of these arrangements, as furthering the interests 
of science, by systematising and registering the work of the 
corresponding Clubs, in one of the most important volumes 
of scientific transactions published for each year. 

I suggest that when they have received the sanction of 
the General Committee of the Association a copy of the 
rules be attached to the first following Transactions of our 
Club for the convenience of our future delegates. I 
attended the last meeting of the General Committee of the 
Congress, and was much gratified at the cordial invitation 
which Sir Charles Tupper and Principal Dawson brought to 
us from the Canadian Government, to hold the Congress of 
1884 at Montreal ; promising to defray a large share of the 
travelling expenses of each attending member. I had regis- 
tered my name several months ago, and I am glad to say that 
500 other names had been received for the meeting of 1884. 

Apropos of the meetings of scientific societies it would be 
remiss to overlook the Fisheries Exhibition, which, for some 
months past, has been held in London. The magni- 
tude of the arrangements and conveniences, and the cosmo- 
politan interest shown by foreign nations and our colonies, 
place this clearly in the first position among international 
exhibitions of the kind. The important question affecting 
the provision of wholesome and cheap food for an increasing 
population has naturally directed the attention of those in- 
terested in the welfare of this and other nations to the vast 
area of the ocean and its hidden wealth, In and around 


Annwersary Address. 233 


our own British Isles are to be found rivers, lakes, and a 
coast line already stocked with the most edible species of 
fish, and only requiring the application of scientific guidance 
to further the breeding and growth of kinds most valued as 
articles of food or domestic economy. Numerous useful 
appliances, originating at home or abroad, have contributed 
to enlighten our fishing population, and to foster a love for 
an avocation fraught with danger and demanding a more 
than ordinary share of hardihood and skill. Regard has 
likewise been taken for the deplorable loss of life at sea, 
which has occasionally denuded whole villages of their 
male population, leaving hundreds of widows and fatherless 
children upon the charity of the benevolent. A long and 
carefully prepared essay by H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh, 
read by his brother the Prince of Wales, before the Fishery 
Commissioners, and several representatives from foreign 
powers, furnished numerous statistics, more especially with 
regard to our fishing population, and advocated that search- 
ing inquiry should be instituted into the particulars of every 
accident to fishermen at sea. 

It must be a yearly subject of interest to our Club to 
watch the success of those great industries the Salmon and 
Herring Fishings. The natural history of the former fish 
and its congeners has been well studied by Tweedside 
naturalists and sportsmen, who have, I believe, solved to 
their satisfaction most of the difficulties and uncertainties, 
at one time attached to the genus. Quoting from a para- 
graph in the Newcastle Jowrnal of the 15th September, the 
last of the Tweed net fishing, I find that 
‘Since the commencement of February the catches have been 
satisfactory in numbers. Salmon were scarcer than they were 
last year, but grilse and trout have been rather more plentiful, 
though less numerous than two years ago. The remarkable fea- 
ture of the season was the early appearance of grilse, and their 
continuance to a longer period than usual. Two salmon of 
45lbs each were the heaviest fish taken this season. At one 
catch on the sands near to Goswick 600 fish were taken. A re- 
flecting light has been tried on the Tweed, which has proved 
somewhat successful in attracting fish near to the side.” , 

D 


234 Anniversary Address. 


‘Fortunately the.salmon disease disappeared from the river 
earlier this year, and did not commit such havoc as in the pre- 
vious season. Consequently many more marketable fish were 
got, and fewer had to be killed or returned to the river. The 
general condition of the fish has been excellent and the supply 
to London double of last year.” 

Anthropology, or the study of man, as we are sparingly 
furnished with traces of his unwritten history and method 
of life, although enveloped in mystery and obscurity will 
always attract a share of our investigations. One of our 
members, whose acquaintance I had the honour of forming 
when I was very young, has published a large and hand- 
somely illustrated volume, the result of many years devoted 
to the examination of sepulchral mounds in the north-east 
of England. The uncultivated moorlands, and numerous 
camps and fortlets, which impart to North Northumberland 
a share of its pristine characteristics, 4nd have preserved 
from destruction the tombs and mortuary relies of bygone 
ages, furnished Mr Greenwell with a productive field for ex- 
ploration. Traceable on the wide moors many tumuli are 
yet unexamined, though I believe the remains have usually 
decomposed by the influence of peat moss and vegetable life. 
At one of the Club’s meetings of this year we had an inter- 
esting paper and photographs of several flint implements 
found at Farnham near Rothbury. Though the ages of 
stone, bronze, and iron occasionally overlap each other, these 
implements can be classed stratigraphically, paleeontologic- 
ally, and archzeologically, more espec ally when found im- 
bedded with the bones of the Urus or Reindeer of the 
Quaternary period, or underlying the pine tree deeply 
covered by moss in a Scandinavian peat bog. In “De 
Natura Rerum ” Lucretius says 

‘‘ Arma antiqua, manus, ungues, dentesque fuerunt,”’ 
‘‘ Et lapides, et item sylvarum fragmina rami: ” 

‘‘ Posterius ferri vis est, serisque reperta, 

‘Sed prior seris erat, quam ferri cognitus usus.”’ 

‘“Flints,” writes Professor Joly of Toulouse, ‘are found 
scattered over the surface of the soil, or buried in its depths; in 
the heart of gloomy caves, or beneath the ruins of the most. 


Anniversary Address. 235 


ancient monuments; some rudely shaped, others finely polished 
and fashioned into forms similar to those of axes, knives, and 
tools of every kind. These flints were employed in certain sacred 
rites by the Egyptians, the Romans. and perhaps the Scandi- 
navians. In every part of the world these flints have been 
found and at great depth, and even under the ruins of Nineveh 
and Babylon, and along with the bones of extinct species, in 
undisturbed strata.” 

The skulls of Neanderthal and Engis and jaw bones found 
in French caves of the Paleolithic age, bear strong testi- 
- mony to man’s antiquity and mode of life in that part of 
Europe. 

Sir John Lubbock, an original author on Anthropology, 
observes, that early historians and poets indicated a Bronze 
age prior to that of Iron, which at the dawn of history was 
coming into use. This compound of copper and tin was 
used by the inhabitants of the Swiss lake villages, first made 
known to us by Keller. 

“‘ Along the shallow edges of the Swiss lakes flourished once 

upon a time many populous villages built on platforms, supported 
by piles, exactly as many Malayan villages are now, and from 
the remains of these we have dredged up arms, bones of animals, 
pottery and ornaments, grain, and stuff used for wear.”’ 
Prior to the bronze was the stone age, divided into the 
Paleolithic or early stone age, when weapons and imple- 
ments were unpolished, and the Neolithic with more perfect 
forms often polished. It is supposed by Boyd Dawkins 
that two distinct races of men, at that time, inhabited 
Europe, one allied in habit to the modern Esquimaux, and 
ignorant of pottery. I heard Dr Latham, the other day, ex- 
pressing a similar opinion, and that the Celtic race over- 
spread all Central Hurope and Great Britain, except that the 
Sclavonic race occupied the country on either side of the 
Lower Danube; and that previous to the Celts a race of 
short, round, and curly headed men had been thinly scattered 
over the British Isles. Few traces of the latter have been 
found, but they had probably followed quickly upon the 
Glacial epoch, and their habit of life would probably approx- 
imate to that of the Esquimaux. 


236 Annwersary Address. 


This is a topic I shall not at present occupy you with. I 
may, however, observe that an Urn and a drinking vessel 
have very recently been found on the farm of North Dodd- 
ington, a lithograph of which may some time find a place in 
the Club’s Proceedings. 

The approaching issue of the Northumberland and Rox- 
burgh Ordnance Maps will facilitate the study of Geology 
in the field of this Club’s work. In future the facts there 
stated may be relied upon, and fresh observations should be 
attempted. 

It may be considered by the Club whether a Committee 
should be formed to make Meteorological experimen and 
observations and to send in a report. 

Apart from Geology, Mineralogy has been little cultivated 
by members of our Club, and as a matter of commercial im- 
portance the propriety of so doing might be thought of by a 
section of our members. 

A list of Mineral Wells should be registered ; also any in- 
dications of mineral veins. 

I am also reminded by our Secretary that the lists of 
Coleoptera and Lepidoptera which have appeared in the 
Club’s Proceedings, should be systematized. 

Hemiptera have been partially catalogued ; Hymenoptera 
have been merely touched upon ; Diptera have been scarcely 
studied at all; in a few orders scarcely a species has been 
registered. 

To give an idea of the rapid march of scientific discovery 
Dr Ginther estimates the number of species described up to 
1831 at 70,000, at the present day at near 350,000. It is 
estimated by Mr Waterhouse that 12,000 species of insects 
are contained in our museums which have received no de- 
scription, and that probably less than one half of existing 
insects have been collected. 

It has been with reason thought, that little or no dredging 
having been done in the neighbourhood of Holy Island and 
the estuary of the Tweed, and with the great improvements 
that have latterly occurred in dredging, that the lists of 
Mollusca, Crustacea, Annelides, and Zoophytes generally 


Anniversary Address. 237 


might be added to. Attention might be especially called to 
the coast of Holy Island as likely to produce new forms of 
Algze and Molluses on the calcareous and carboniferous 
formations. It has been suggested by myself that a sub- 
scription list might be attempted to defray the expense of a 
dredge, and the expense attending one or more yearly ex- 
cursions from the estuary of the Tweed. Likewise that a 
microscope of moderate power and a few dissecting instru- 
ments might be obtained, and if possible find safe custody 
at the Museum. With such appliances the Berwick meeting 
_ of our Club might become a day of much interest and in- 
struction, not only in’ dredging, but in dissecting, and 
microscopically studying the sub-marine life of the North- 
umberland and Berwickshire coast. 

It is pleasing to learn that a series of tables for the pro- 
secution of Zoophytology by dissection are to be established 
at Torquay, on a similar principle to those so successfully 
organised by Dr. Doran at Naples some years ago, and which 
several of our Professors of Natnral History, by the leave of 
of the British Association, have studied at. 

It is with much regret that I find space does not admit 
of a retrospect of a few of the salient discoveries, or of 
hypothetical speculations advanced by some of our leading 
Biologists. “ For from the time that nations had assumed 
a status as civilized, we find men of distinguished power 
differentiating themselves from the crowd, and seeking to 
connect natural phenomena with their physical principles. 
In the interchange of commercial relations between ancient 
Greece and the nations of the East, bringing with it wealth, 
refinement, and information, we may trace some of the in- 
fluences which fostered the sciences.*” 

Struggling for a plan of creation we find that Lucretius 
and Democritus invented the Atomic Theory, which has for 
ages afforded speculation to a long chain of natural philo- 
sophers, until the question has latterly received its nearest 
solution in the laboratories of our chemists and physiolo- 


* Professor Tyndall. 


238 Annwersary Address. 


gists. We can only judge of atoms and molecules by the re- 
sult of chemical combinations, or by their effect as atmos- 
pheric components. They are invisible, and no microscope 
is likely to reveal their form to the eye. In the list of 
elementary bodies an atom of Hydrogen is taken as No. 1 
or the lightest, and gold is one of the heaviest being 196 
times the weight of Hydrogen. Thorium which is 233-9 times 
heavier than Hydrogen is the most dense. These atoms in 
various combinations enter into nature organic and inor- 
ganic; the most simple and the most complex structure 
differing only in the manner and proportion in which these 
elements are combined and arranged. 

Can inorganic combinations, then, of themselves work out 
the problem of a living organism? Can a fermenting vege- 
table organism produce animal life? These are questions 
which the great Des Cartés in the first case and Professor 
Tyndall in the latter think they have satisfactorily solved. 


Des Cartés had a bias towards deductive reasoning—his 
contemporary Bacon to induction. 


‘‘TDes Cartés was the first to reduce, in a manner eminently 
capable of bearing the test of mental presentation, vital 
phenomena to purely mechanical principles. Through fear or 
love Des Cartés was a good churchman ; he accordingly rejected 
the notions of an atom, because it was absurd to suppose that 
the Creator if he so pleased, could not divide an atom ; he putsin 
the place of the atoms small round splinters and light particles 
out of which he builds the organism. He sketches with marvel- 
lous physical insight a machine, with water for its motive power, 
which shall illustrate vital actions. He has made clear to his 
mind that such a machine would be competent to carry on the 
processes of digestion, nutrition, growth, and respiration, and the 
beating of the heart. Had Des Cartés been acquainted with the 
steam engine, he would have taken it, instead of a fall of water, 
as his motive power, and shown the perfect analogy which exists 
between the oxidation of the food in the body and the coal in 
the furnace.*” 

It is difficult to conceive how an able thinker such as Des 


* Prof. Tyndall’s Address to British Association. 


Anniversary Address. 239 


Cartés could entertain the idea that mental problems are to 
be worked out by machinery. 

Professor Clerk Maxwell, a schoolfellow of my own, and a 

thinker of whom Scotland may well be proud, while she in 
common with the University of Cambridge and philosophy 
generally must lament his early death, delivered a very able 
lecture at Bradford in 1873. He then propounded the 
theory, 
‘that atoms are prepared materials, which, formed by the skill 
of the Highest, produce by their subsequent interaction all the 
' phenomena of the material world. Natural causes are at work, 
which tend to modify, if they do not at length destroy, all the 
arrangements and dimensions of the earth, and the whole solar 
system. But though in the course of ages catastrophes have 
occurred, and may yet occur, in the heavens; though ancient 
systems may be dissolved, and new systems evolved out of their 
ruins, the molecules out of which these systems are built—the 
foundation stones of the material universe—-remain unbroken 
and unworn.” 

These are words which impart to the study of natural 
phenomena a sublimity calculated to foster an appreciative 
regard for the works of a Creative Intelligence. 


The doctrine of Evolution or Progressive Developement, 
propounded a century ago by Lamarck, and which has lately 
had its most able exponent in Charles Darwin, has to a cer- 
tain degree revolutionised the study of organic nature, and 
has suggested to, and by its novelty encouraged, our younger 
naturalists to devote much of their time and speculation to 
Embryology, and specific affinities. 


In recapitulating his great work on “The Origin of 
Species” Darwin observes, 
‘“‘ Organs in arudimentary condition plainly show that an early 
progenitor had the organ in a fully developed state; and this in 
some instances necessarily implies an enormous amount of modi- 
fication in the descendants. Throughout whole classes various 
structures are formed on the same pattern, and at an embrionic 
age the species closely resemble each other. Therefore I cannot 
doubt that the theory of descent with modification embraces all 
the members of the same class. I believe that animals have de- 


240 Annwersary Address. 


scended from at most only four or five progenitors, and plants 
from an equal or less number. 

‘Analogy would lead me one step further, namely to the be- 
lief that all animals and plants have descended from some one 
prototype. But analogy may bea deceitful guide. Nevertheless 
all living things have much in common, in their chemical com- 
position, their germinal vescicles, their cellular structure, and 
their laws of growth and reproduction. Therefore I should infer 
from analogy that probably all the organic beings which have 
lived on this earth have descended from some one primordial 
form into which life was first breathed by the Creator.” 


This bold conclusion would fly in the face ot Revelation, 
tradition, and the consciousness of our moral being. The 
theory is one eminently ingenious and pleasing to the vanity 
of man. 

But the postulates on which the argument is founded are 
too numerous and too vast, in their demands of time and 
circumstance, to shake our faith, in the revealed word of 
God, in its reference to that most important of his works, 
the intelligence and moral being of man. Influenced his 
mind and moral condition undoubtedly is by circumstances, 
but I cannot conceive by what process of evolution man 
could be elevated from the irrational creation, except by the 
direct intervention of his Creator. The intellect of man, 
besides, has been so constituted that the idea of a God is in- 
nate, and nearly identical with the consciousness of his exist- 
ence. “ There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the 
Almighty giveth him understanding.” 


While, however, we disagree with the deductions of Dar- 
win, he must be allowed the credit of having added mightily 
to scientific information. Too many, even of our ablest 
philosophers, allowed themselves to be drawn into a belief in 
his doctrines, but I think I already observe a re-action. 
Theories, like those of Darwin, however plausible they may 
at first appear, are likely to end in disappointment, as their 
truth can never be proved. 


Our safer course is to rest our belief on the miraculous 
interposition of an all wise God at man’s creation, gifting 


Anniversary Address. 241 


him with faculties of the mind capable of appreciating the 
works of Providence, in a world furnished and prepared 
for his use and culture. 

Sir William Hamilton, my instructor in metaphysics, was 
careful to inculcate the principle, that mind and matter were 
distinct and that there is little harmony between them. I 
believe, nevertheless, that matter may be a means whereby 
the mind may educate itself, and that in the great field of 
creation there is ample subject for admiration and study, 
without indulging in speculation far beyond any possibility 

of proof. 

Let the student of nature investigate the operation of 
those laws which govern creation, and some knowledge of 
these cannot but lead up to the adoration of its Legislator 
and Guide. 

“THESE WAIT ALL UPON THEE: THAT THOU MAYEST GIVE 
THEM THEIR MEAT IN DUESEASON. THAT THOU GIVEST THEM 
THEY GATHER : THOU OPENEST THY HAND THEY ARE FILLED 
WITH GOOD. THOU HIDEST THY FACE THEY ARE TROUBLED : 
THOU TAKEST AWAY THEIR BREATH THEY DIE, AND RETURN 
TO THEIR DUST. THOU SENDEST FORTH THY SPIRIT THEY 
ARE CREATED, AND THOU RENEWEST THE FACE OF THE EARTH, 
THE GLORY OF THE LORD SHALL ENDURE FOR EVER: THE 
LORD SHALL REJOICE IN HIS works.” (Psaum CIV.) 


Bee 


242 


Report of the Meetings of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ 
Club for the Year 1883. By JAMES Harpy. 


In the Report of this year’s operations in the field, I shall for 
the most part confine myself to the actual occurences of each day, 
reserving more detailed information otherwise collected for sepa- 
rate notice. 

The weather, a very important item in the success of meetings, 
has been, like the season itself, very variable on the Club’s days. 
We had two brilliant days—Kelso and Eccles, and Holy Island ; 
—a day that threatened a continuous rain in the morning, and 
yet cleared up to be one of the finest days of the year—Yarrow 
meeting ;—a day that gave us a forenoon of propitious skies, 
nearly drowned us at mid-day, and then broke up into a lovely 
afternoon and evening—Aberlady ;—and finally a day of almost 
uninterruped rain and tempest— Wooler and Cheviot. None of 
our meetings, however, have been in vain ; something advantage- 
ous can be extracted from them all. 

EDNAM, ECCLES, CROSSHALL, LEITHOLM, ANTON’S HILL, AND 
BIRGHAM, FROM KELSO. 

At the first meeting for 1883, on Wednesday, May 30th, the 
weather was very favourable, and there was a large attendance 
of members and guests at breakfast at the Queen’s Head Hotel, 
Kelso. About half-past ten the company set out on their day’s 
excursion in brakes and private conveyances. On the way to 
Ednam, the site of the ancient hospital of St Leonard’s of 
Ednam, latterly called ‘‘the Spittle,” was pointed out, while 
Myrrhis odorata, one of the plants common to gardens connected 
with such an institution, was seen growing in so great abund- 
ance as amply to identify the existence of the hospital with this 
particular spot. The monument to the poet Thomson was not 
visited. In the right hand hedge-row by the wayside, still 
nearer to Ednam, Mr Brotherston finds young plants of the 
small-leaved maple, and scattered examples of the rare moss 
Leucodon sciurordes. 

Halting at Ednam, the party were permitted to approach the 
gigantic wych-elm in the brewery garden; one of the largest 
trees of the kind in Roxburghshire. According to the measure- 
ments taken, the girth is 20 feet 3 inches above the ground ; and 
18 feet 6 inches at 2 feet from the ground; and at the insertion 
of the boughs it appeared to be considerably broader. One of 


Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 243 


the limbs was mutilated by the great October gale, 1881. These 
dimensions do not quite correspond with the estimate in Dr. 
Johnston’s ‘Flora of the Eastern Border,” p. 177. ‘It is 
nearly 60 feet in height, and the branches spread over a space 
23 yards in circumference. The trunk is sculptured with ridges 
like a cork-tree, and is ornamented with some admirable tufts of 
Polyporus squamosus.”’ 

The bulk of the village consists of two rows of slated houses, 
with gardens in front, decorated with flowers. Common rue 
(Ruta graveolens) was noticed in two of them. The manse is sur- 
rounded with young trees and shrubs. A line of old ashes en- 
circles a portion of the churchyard. Cleanliness and order were 
prevalent. Mr Pringle, the schoolmaster, officiated as guide. 
A visit was paid to the churchyard, where the burial ground of 
the ancient family of Edmonston was commented on, as well as 
others, and some of the inscriptions on the older tombstones were 
transcribed. The church is small, but neat and commodious. 
Here was shown the old Session book kept in the time of the 
Rev. Thomas Thomson, the father of the author of the 
‘Seasons,’ etc., who was minister here; also a miniature por- 
trait of the poet, consigned by the Earl of Buchan to the custody 
of the winister of Ednam for the time being, to be handed down 
as an heir-loom. The house where the poet was born was then 
indicated to the members; who next proceeded to Mr Burn’s 
home-stead to see the old residence of the Edmonstons, once 
proprietors of the largest proportion of the parish, which is now 
converted into a barn and thrashing-mill, and previous to that 
used as the farm-house. It has been an oblong of no great 
architectural pretensions, but of much capacity, as it could at 
once accommodate 150 guests with beds. Beneath a portion of 
the barn-yard, foundations of several old buildings were come 
upon, when the house was adapted to its present purposes; and 
a staircase was discovered. This was conjectured at the time to 
be some monastic edifice, but there is a greater likelihood that 
it was the remnants of the old ‘‘ bastel-house,” which was 
“strongly holden”? when won, 24th July, 1544, by the English 
under ‘“‘ Sir Bryan Laytton and Henry Ewry,”’ when they also 
burnt Ednam village. There was no other ecclesiastical estab- 
lishment than the church, served by a vicar from Culdingham, 
which stood near the present one, in the south-eastern corner of 
the churchyard. The officiating priest would occupy the toft 


244 Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 


with houses granted by David I to the monks of Coldingham. 
When the Edmonstuns, about 1630, had parted with their Mid- 
Lothian property and came here to reside permanently, they 
would probably employ the materials of the dismantled fortress 
for their new erections. 

About a quarter of a mile to the north-west of the village is a 
considerable hillock, called at present ‘‘The Mount,” the sum- 
mit of which is fenced by an earthen wall enclosing a plantation. 
At the northern end is a ponderous undressed flag of sandstone, 
some inches thick, and about 8 feet square, laid against a tree ; 
and near it is the sepulchral cavity whence it has been raised. 
The present inhabitants have forgotten its history; but it 
appears to be alluded to in the old “Statistical Account” of 
1794, vol. x1., p. 307. ‘There is,” says the Rev. David Dick- 
son, ‘‘a small rising ground, west from the village, called the 
Picts Knowe ; out of which some years ago, were dug three stone 
coffins, with an urn in one of them. The Knowe is since en- 
closed and planted with trees.”” The interments it will thus be 
seen belong to the pre-historic era. There is a considerable ex- 
panse of flat ground surrounding the hillock, extending to the 
Eden. Not far off sheltered by trees is Newton Lees. The fair 
mansion of Newton Don stands out in the distance in the midst 
of woods. . 

Cultivated fields lie close up to the village. The wheat-crop 
is much infested with grip-grass, (Galiwm aparine), whose seeds 
are a nuisance to the miller; corn-poppies were also prevalent. 
Convolvulus arvensis grows at the bottom of one of the hedge- 
rows. 

The house in which Lyte, the hymnologist, was born, is 
detached from the village, by the side of the public road, near 
the old toll-house. There is a small rookery in the vicinity. 

The drive from this pretty village to Eccles opens up a succes- 
sion of interesting views, but it is only places and objects in the 
line of the Club’s researches that I am called on to mention. 
By glancing in Armstrong’s Map of Berwickshire, 1771, at 
the route taken, it is evident that several places theu extant are 
now obsolete, and as some of these occur in historical documents, 
it is useful to have them pointed out. This I shall do as we 
proceed. 

Nearly mid-way Harpertoun was passed, and as a few observa- 
tions were made there, this appears to be a fitting opportunity 


Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 245 


for preserving them. At the roots of old willow trees at the pond 
for the thrashing-mill, Mr Andrew Brotherston gathered Leskea 
polycarpa, & moss not on our lists, but also got elsewhere in the 
district by other members. ‘There are no primroses or cowslips 
in the strips of wood here, nor did I observe any on the banks 
of the Tweed parallel to the course of our returning drive. In 
the wood that bounds the farm on the north, and separates it 
from Harlaw, there is a considerable patch of Pyrola minor and 
a good deal of Lustera ovata. Tortula levipila is sprinkled over 
some of the older trees. Wild gooseberries, strawberries, red 
currants, and geans grow among the underwood. The only 
-shell-slug visible is Helix nemoralis. The marshy soil near the 
ditches is full of the runs of Arvicola glareola, the Bank Vole; 
and the certainty of this being the species was ascertained by 
one being detected at an opening in its burrow. Wild ducks 
and teals breed in the ditches, and the remainder of the old lake 
which is almost drained away. Magpies are numerous, no fewer 
than sixteen having been seen on one occasion. Lapwings fre- 
quent some of the fields; jackdaws build in the trees near the 
house; and there are a few starlings. The red-start is a sum- 
mer visitant; and willow-wrens are numerous. Thrushes and 
wrens are much diminished in number. Yellow-hammers are 
very plentiful all over this district. Large collections of wood- 
pigeons harbour in the woods, and spread out over the fields to 
eat the clover, especially in November. 


In 1771 Harpertoun did not occupy its present position, but 
stood not far from Harlaw loch, near the N.W. end of the farm. 
This was the place of which the Dawsons were occupants. James 
Dawson, senior, tenant here, died about the close of the year 
1696, and being an elder in Kdnam, the session cast their eyes 
on his son, James, to supply his place; and there is an entry in 
the Session book of date January 13th, 1697, to this effect. 


“The Session considering that their wants an elder in Harpertoun 
through the deceise of James Dauson who was elder their and being 
satisfied with James Dauson his son anent his qualifications appoint the 
minister to dwell wt him in order to be an elder and reporte.” Feb. 7. 
‘The minister reports that he did speake with James Dauson and with 
difficulty prevailed with him, the Session ordaines the minister to serve 
his edict the next Lord’s day.” Feb. 29. ‘‘ The Session considering that 
James Dauson’s edict was served the last Lord’s day, caused the beddall 
to call thrice at the church door if any had ought to object to come in 
and they should be heard, none compeared, the Session appoints the 


246 Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 


minister to proceed to his ordination the next Lord’s day.” Mar. 14. 
“ James Dauson was ordained and admitted to be an elder and received 
by the Session.” 

The interest to posterity of this reference to these worthy men 
is that they were the ancestors of Mr William Dawson of Graden, 
who introduced the modern turnip husbandry into Roxburgh- 
shire, and was otherwise a man of strong character and ability. 
He was born at Harpertoun, but at what period I have not 
ascertained. 

Somewhere to the S.E. of the modern farm-house, on the south 
side of the road, a place called ‘ Girthridge hall’”’ is placed in 
1771, now unknown, except as the name of a field. 


On the boundary line of Roxburghshire and Berwickshire, not 
far from the public road, stood more than a century since (but 
swept away now) a farm-place called Bangos, or Bangyswalls, 
which the minister and session of Kdnam once made an effort to 
annex to their parish, as well as to Roxburghshire. The fol- 
lowing notices of the affair appear in the old Session Book of 
Ednam. 

Jan. 27, 1691. ‘The minister informs the Session that the tenant in 
Bangoswalls with the rest of the indwellers there refused to be examined 
notwithstanding their being several times desired toattend. The Session 
considering the affaire appoints the beddall to cite Rot Aitchison tenant 
forsd to appear before the Session.” March 16. ‘Robert Aitchison being 
cited and called thrice compeared not is ordered to be cited pro secundo. 
March 27th. ‘ The beddall having omited to cite Rot Atchison the Ses- 
sion continues yt appoyntt.” Apr. 14. ‘Robert Aitchison being cited 
and called compeared and with bim Mr William Hog his master and he 
being interrogat why he did not submit to the ordinance of Jesus Christ 
in this paroch seeing it is knowen that formerly it was a parte of this 
paroch and the inhabitants there were admitted to all Church priviledges 
in this paroch. Whereupon the said Mr William Hog answered (in name 
of his tenant) and said that he denyed the steed of Bangas walls to be 
any pairt of the paroch of Hdnem and earnestly desired that the Session 
would be pleased to referr it to the Presbetry and he wouid there give in 
sufficient reasons why the forsd steed should not be a pairt of this paroch. 
The Session considering the affaire judges it fite that it should be referred 
to the Presbetery for determination.” 


The general aspect of the country is a succession of flat spaces 
and rolling ridges, running east and west. Several of the farm 
houses are perched on the highest part of the ridges. On one of 
these peaks—Kingsrig on Bartlebill farm—there are said to be 
some artificial mounds. Kingsrig, I see, was a farm place in 
1817, but is now a led-farm. 


Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 247 


Eccles village lies in a flat expanse, well screened with trees 
on the south side. Eccles consists principally of a row of cot- 
tage houses, with flower gardens in front of several of them, on 
the north side of the public road; and a shorter row at the west 
end on the south side, the rest of the space on that side being an 
orchard. At the east end on the north side is the farm house, 
and the hinds’ cottages; and on the other side of the road the 
capacious manse. There is also here the Free Church and its 
manse, near the road passing south towards Kccles Newtown, 
and Birgham. Near the foot of the bank is the public school 
and schoolhouse. In front, near the churchyard wall, is a decaying 
‘ stump of what has once been a very large tree, 8 yards in girth, 
with six steps of sandstone placed against it, perhaps as leaping- 
on-stones for those who used to ride double to the church. This 
stump is cut at the level of the churchyard wall, to prevent children 
—who will climb—from being injured should they fall. It is 
said that this was one of a row of fine ash trees, that stood for- 
merly within the circuit of the churchyard, and that about 1770, 
Sir John Paterson, the owner of Eccles, whose memory still 
haunts the village as an encroacher on public rights, defrauded 
the heritors out of the space between those trees and the new 
churchyard wall. This stump is the only remnant of the true 
boundary. 


Mr Melville, the schoolmaster, shewed the Club, the church 
and churchyard, the old hand bell for ringing before and warn- 
ing to funerals, and the old Session book. Mr Melville was so 
kind as to examine this book to ascertain its contents, and he pre- 
sents this summary :— 


“« The book goes only as far back as 1720. The great majority of the 
cases refer to breaches of the seventh commandment. Among other 
cases I find in 1723 some persons brought before the Prebytery for mak- 
ing penny weddings. Then there are cases of rebuking for scandalizing, 
swearing, or drunkeness. Two or three times the Session complain of 
bad coppers being put into the plate. I find also that those who re- 
fused to be married in church were to be fined 2/6 for the poor. One 
of the beadles was rebuked for giving tokens to some persons whom 
he did not know. There are of course plenty of cases of sitting six times 
on the stool of repentance. Some farmers would not do this, and they 
were allowed on payment of something to the poor, to keep their own 
seats. In a difficult case of discipline, the minister read the whole pro- 
cess before the congregation, and then proposed waiting a little to see 
‘what Divine Providence may cast up.’—I find collections made for the 
church all over the world—Lithuania, North America, Saxony, New 


248 Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 


York. Also collections for the Society for Propagating Christian Know- 
ledge 1721—and for harbours at Eyemouth, St Andrews, and Banff.” 

The churchyard is large but crowded to excess, and to relieve 
it the old grave yard at Birgham, where there once was a chapel, 
has again been opened. Eccles church is a heavy piece of 
architecture, modelled on St Cuthbert’s Chapel of Ease, Edin- 
burgh. The minister, the Rev. Adam Murray, for: whom it 
was built in 1774, boasts of it as ‘‘the best and handsomest 
country church in Berwickshire.” It can accommodate 1000 
people. Painted of a dark colour, the interior is gloomy and de- 
pressing. The seats in the gallery are allotted among the heri- 
tors, and marked with their initials; those belonging to Kccles 
House still carrying the 8. J. P. of Sir John Paterson. The 
church steeple is a local land-mark. There are numerous inter- 
esting tombstones in the churchyard, from which I copied most 
of the inscriptions. One of these, a through, is to the memory 
of the progenitors of Dr Johnston, the earliest name inscribed on 
the stone, being ‘‘ William Johnston, Tenant of Ednam in 
Ednam Mains, who died November 3d, 1699, aged 50 years.” 
The stone has recently been renovated. 

This was the first occasion of the Club having visited Eccles, 
but to several of its founders it was endeared as a family home. 
The three Bairds were born here, in a manse afterwards burnt 
down, and subsequently rebuilt on the present ample scale;—Johu, 
born 17th February, 1799, Andrew, born !6th November, 1800, 
and William, born 11th January, 1803. Dr. R. D. Thomson, born 
1811, another early and eminent member, was the son of the 
Rev. Dr. James Thomson, minister here; and he wrote for his 
father the latest Statistical Account, besides contributing to our 
knowledge of its Natural History in a variety of aspects. 

The two old vaults behind the mansion house are now, with a 
portion of the eastern wall of the house, the only relics of the 
buildings of the Cistercian Nunnery; so thoroughly had they 
been wrecked in the Border raid of Sir Bryan Laton, 27th Sep- 
tember, 1544. An excavated sandstone, like a spout or drain, 
with a corresponding arched stone above it, used in an outhouse, 
appears to have been part of the piscina of the original church 
The font, still in good preservation, is placed in the garden ;—a 
bowl of fine-grained sandstone, perforated at the bottom and 
smoothed on the outside; 2 feet 8 inches in diameter. An ash 
tree, deriving its sustenance from the churchyard, has anchored 


Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 249 


itself on the top of one of the cellars, and intertwined its roots 
with the stones and lime of the fabric, but it has rent one of 
the arches, a not unfrequent result of cherishing such parasites. 
The mansion-house is old, of three stories height, plain but with 
much accommodation. To the rear of the house is a square 
orchard, with very high and thick walls and a pond in the 
centre ; in the S.E. corner is a very large plane-tree (Acer pseudo- 
platanus), which is 14 feet at 2 feet from the ground, and 18 feet 
at 4 feet. The spread of the branches is 78 feet. It forks, and 
the secondary stems after the first great branch is given off, con- 
tinue of remarkable thickness. It has been eased by lopping 
off some of the weighty branches. This is one of the row of 
trees already spoken of as having lined the public road near the 
churchyard. Here again Sir John Paterson had cheated the 
heritors out of this tree, and a slice of the road side also. The 
orchard wall is considerably advanced beyond the boundary of 
the churchyard, and narrows the road inconveniently. It is re- 
ported that he made the heritors tipsy, and meantime had staked 
off the plan, to which in their muddled condition they readily 
assented. Sir John was a racing man, and the extensive and 
commodious stables attached to the mansion were built by him, 
with money. which he had won by playing at cards with the Duke 
of Roxburghe. There is avery fine umbrageous lime-tree before 
the house. It measures 12 feet circumference at 2 feet from the 
ground; and 114 feet at 6 feet. The spread of the branches is 
74 feet in diameter. There are some fairly grown oaks and 
ashes in the grounds. There is a stout short-stemmed oak of 
somewhat remarkable growth behind the western lodge, which 
at 2 feet above the ground girths 11 feet 4 inches. A fine view 
of the Cheviots is obtained from the grass park to the south of 
the policy. There isarookery in the woods. A long established 
sandstone quarry is situated in a field to the east. 


The members were hospitably entertained at Eccles House by 
Mr and Mrs Dove. The family portraits were viewed, and the 
bronze spear-head discovered at Bowsden, engraved in last year’s 
“Proceedings,” was exhibited by Mr Hood, factor to Sir John 
Marjoribanks. 

In January, 1867, a gold coin of Nero, with ‘““SALVS” on 
the reverse, was found near Eccles. In October, 1883, a heavy 
polished stone-celt, of about 9 inches long by 3 across, of white 
indurated sandstone with some red streaks, was ploughed - ina 

F 


250 Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 


field at Mersington in the parish. Both are in the collection of 
the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. 


The route was now taken to Crosshall pillar, which stands off 
the main road, but on a road parallel to it, in a field called Dead- 
rigs, which was also the original name of Crosshall farm. After 
passing the Eccles farm cottages, we turned up by a lane 
environed with bushy hedges unpruned. Scrog apples are 
mixed with the thorns; and an overgrowth of wild roses, with 
a sprinkling of sweet briar, grew on the unoccupied spaces next 
the hedges. After a couple of fields’ breadth a cross road is _ 
struck which conducts to the pillar. A large patch of garden straw- . 
berry flourishes on the ditch back, perhaps indicative of the site 
of the garden of old Deadrigs. The sandstone obelisk with the 
Soulis insignia on the shield, and the adjuncts on its four sides 
of two crosses and a sword ; and the effigy of a naked man, with 
his feet and knees turned inwards, and his hands applied to his 
breast, attended by a deer-hound with pricked up ears and 
long sweeping tail, is fixed in a quadrate block of sandstone, in 
front of the cottage houses, and although unprotected is in won- — 
derful preservation. A considerable correspondence that passed 
between some Berwickshire gentlemen, desirous of protecting 
the historical antiquities of the county, and a previous owner, 
was read, and it was the general opinion that it would be con- 
duciveto the security of the obelisk if it were enclosed by a railing, 
which needs not be so very expensive, as was estimated to them. 
A separate notice will embody the contents of the papers then 
produced. From near the pillar, Stainrig was in view, and the 
top part of Duns Castle in the remote distance; opposite to it is 
Hardacres and Stonefold ; Lambden House, with its conspicuous 
flowering gean-trees, when in season ; Rowchester house among 
trees in line with the last; Springwells, Pittlesheugh, Eccles 
Tofts, and Purves Hall; other note-worthy places hereabouts 
were not within view. There is a good outlook to Northumber- 
land. The alternation of ridge and hollow crossing the face of 
the country is again very obvious. As we turned up to join the 
main-road, the October gale has prostrated some fine Scotch firs, 
not far from the Orange lane farm-steading The old map of 
1771 places another plantation on the west side of the road here, 
named Ann’s Grove, the name possibly taken from Ann Hume 
Campbell, who was the eldest daughter and co-heir of Hugh, 

third earl of Marchmont, and wife of Sir John Paterson, 


Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 251 


Mr Watson has supplied an account of the origin of the name 
of Orange lane which is not generally known. The farm house 
‘was built by Mr Dickson of Anton’s Hill, and the first tenant 
was John Orwin, who was an innkeeper and lived there in 1788. 
In course of time the name has been corrupted into its present 
form.” It is older than this, however, for it appears on the map 
of 1771. Solanum Dulcamara grows near Orange lane. Within 
sight of it is Bankhead. In Bankhead wood, Dr. Thomson found 
Pyrola minor. On arivulet behind the ridge here, the old map 
places Horsesyke Mill. The puzzling uame Horsykend, which 
occurs somewhere in the Club’s Proceedings, or in the Flora, 
signifies end of this Horse syke. 


The road now. leads straight forward to Stainrig, which is a 
new house. Anton’s Hill on the opposite ridge is enveloped in 
the shadow of its many goodly old oaks. There is a small 
rookery at Stainrig. The note of the Wood-warbler (Phyllos- 
copus stbilatrix) was heard among the tall tree tops; and missel 
thrushes were seen. About a story height of Leitholm Peel, up 
to the first windows, still continues erect; it is ivied behind. A 
corn field prevented access to it. It belongs to Anton’s Hill. 
When the Statistical Account was written, this wall was 31 feet 
long, about 15 feet high, and two thick. ‘: Wester Peles” was 
among the ‘‘Towres and places brent, raced and caste doune”’ 
by the Earl of Hertford’s forces between the 8th and 23d Sep- 
tember, 1545. Wrangham, which participated in the same dis- 
aster, stood behind the wooded ridge that envelopes Anton’s 
Hill, and was represented in 1771 by a place called Wrangham- 
hill. Formerly there were several houses between the Peel and 
the present bridge. .Mr Melville writes: ‘‘ After you pass Leit- 
holm Peel, you come to Anton’s Hill lodge (on the left). A little 
on, in the middle of a large grass field, you see a clump of trees, 
not far from the road. In the middle of this clump is a circular 
fountain with this inscription: ‘Fons, sacr. San. ANTON. ac 
SANITAT.’ ”’—a modern fancy, no doubt. 

We turned up to go to Anton’s Hill before crossing the Lamb- 
den burn, as there was nothing particular to be gained by pro- 
ceeding to Leitholm, which entails the climbing of a steep bank. 
There were some fine ashes, till wrecked by the October gale, at 
the angle before reaching the burn. The tree-pipit (Anthus 
arboreus) frequents the tall trees in this neighbourhood. The 
Lambden burn winds along a green meadow, which is adapted 


252 Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 


for grazing above the bridge. Having no proper banks the burn 
is liable to overflow the haughs. Its ‘hooks and crooks,’ that 
‘fill the bowie and fill the kirn,” are proverbial. It enters Leet 
a mile below this, and ancient Leitholm is said to have been 
situated at the junction. ‘‘The Chapel of Leitholm,” says Dr. 
Thomson, ‘‘stood at the west end of the present village. The 
site of it is marked by an old ash tree known by the name of 
the chapel tree, which grows on the summit of the chapel know. 
The adjoining ground was used as a place of burial, and is now 
cultivated. Bones and coffins have been occasionally dug up.” 
Alexander the parson of Letham witnesses more than one of the 
earlier charters of Coldstream Priory. On a previous occasion I 
went to see the village, which is the most thriving in the parish. 
It has a large school, and a Presbyterian meeting-house, and has 
a sort of independent position. It consists of a double row of 
houses, built along a ridge, on each side of the public way ; some 
empty and in disrepair, but the majority renovated; and several 
of a better cast. There were flower plots before a number of the 
houses ; on the whole a respectable looking place. The village 
ends on the east in a green lane, at least as much grass as road 
on it, between tall unkempt hedges. On a higher parallel ridge 
on the opposite side of the stream stands Belchester, the tall trees 
near it, that maintain the rookery, being very prominent. In 
Armstrong’s Map, 1771, an old British Camp is set down near 
Belchester. 

The Virtue Well is at the Leet. Its present state is thus de- 
scribed to me: ‘It is in a sort of marsh, and all the back water 
from the burn has surrounded it, so that no water can be got 
from it. It would be worth cleaning out,” as undoubtedly 
ought to be done. This chalybeate well was furnished with a 
stone cover in 1780. Dr. Thomson, who analysed the water, 
says ‘the supply of water is pretty copious.” ‘‘Its specific 
gravity is 1:00237, and in summer the temperature is 48°. The 
solid contents are sulphate of lime, common salt, and a minute 
portion of iron held in solution by carbonic acid.” 

The carriages drove up to Anton’s Hill, where there is a com- 
paratively new mansion, with charming well laid out lawn and 
flower borders, Capt. Hunter was unfortunately absent in 
London. Among the usual assortment of plants grown in a 
greenhouse, there were here several forced examples of Saxifraga 
pyramidalis, (which is shy of flowering on some borders), that 


Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 253 


shewed what a princely plant itis, when grown to perfection. Per- 
mission had been granted to visit Belchester House and grounds, 
but time did not permit, as several members had to leave by 
early train. The rest of the journey round by Birgham to Kelso 
was performed by most without any halt, but those in the last 
carriage, came on more leisurely. Passing Grizzlefield farm, there 
was not much of immediate interest till reaching Hatchednize. 
On the high bank of the Leet on the N.E., Castlelaw House and 
its mysterious ‘‘ Mount” peered through encompassing trees 
and the woods of Hirsel, and the green bare summit of the 
Hirsel Law swallowed up the rest of the prospect. Ferneyrig 
‘bog of which we skirted the one end, and Lithtillam Loch, fur- 
nish the best botanical ground in this part of Berwickshire. 
Since the early days of the Club, no naturalist has explored them 
and except some plantations they remain in almost their primeval 
uncultivated wildness. . The plantations may even have restored 
some of the scarcer half-dying out plants to vigour. Of its zool- 
ogy we know next to nothing. 


Birgham is a lengthy village, with two farm steadings one at 
eachend. In1771 it belonged to ‘“‘ Cockburn, Bart.” At present 
the superiority is divided between the Karl of Home and Sir 
John Marjoribanks. Behind the easternmost farm-steading is 
situated the graveyard, which has again become the object of 
parochial solicitude. On one of the tombstones the name of the 
place is spelled Birgholm, which is of the same exquisite stamp 
as the modern Leitholm. Beneath this green platform, the cele- 
brated historical haugh, stretches away in a spacious open plain 
bounded and encircled by the broad Tweed, whose waters flash- 
ing in the sunlight, are skimmed by the black-headed gulls, 
engaged in the pursuit of minnows or water insects, their lively 
forms finely relieved against the brightness. Where the bank 
rises on the southern side it is crowned with trees. Birgham is 
of sufficient height to catch a view of the Cheviot hills. 

Lonicera perfoliata was in full bloom in front of one of the 
cottages. Above a deep cutting by the road-side after passing 
Springhill Reseda lutea and Hypericum perforatum grow on the 
steep bank. As we proceed, the chief elevation of the river 
banks, originating in a deep section of the rocks, is on the north 
side. The rock is partly of red sandstones and marls with bands 
of gypsum, but nearer Lochton of grey marls, and sandstones, 
overlaid by a thick bed of rolled greywacke gravel, closely re- 


254 Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 


sembling the elevated gravel ridges piled up, of similar materials, 
near Tallinsburn lake. Patches of this uomistakeable gravel 
brought from the upper reaches of the Tweed and its tributaries, 
are turned up among the soil of several of the farms here, and 
probably, at least so far as I saw, mingled with minuter grit 
and sand it furnishes the main constituents of the kaims, which 
formed a peculiar feature in the early stages of our journey. 
The rolling earth waves were again repeated at Lochton, and 
these undulations were equally exemplified on the face of the 
country southward of the Tweed. 

Jackdaws build in some of the sandstone scaurs here, and a 
small colony of bank martins is established in the cliffs opposite 
to the Anna. It is a most animated scene on these fine reaches 
of the river, when the swallow tribes, at the period of their 
annual arrival, flock thither in thousands for sustenance, of 
which at that chilly season the insects floating on or flying above 
the stream afford the readiest supply; crossing and recrossing 
as they do in sport, as if weaving an airy net; or sallying forth 
in long flights, and executing rapid evolutions ; or sedulously in 
earnest work plying their little bills amidst the dimpling ripples. 
Of angling on the Tweed I have had no experience, but the 
pleasure experienced beside that classic stream must be exquisite. 
Looking over the rocks here, the water-dock shows its rough 
foliage near the river brink. Among some trees opposite Loch- 
ton, Allium vineale, Viola sylvatica, Viola odorata, and Myosotis 
sylvatica were gathered. At Edeuhall there isa scattered rook- 
ery. Common peppermint grows wild in a ditch near Hden- 
mouth bridge. Here is a favourite resort of the pied wag-tail ; 
and the white throat and the sedge warbler find a retreat; and a 
little more inland the redstart is not a stranger. 

Kelso was reached in time to permit of a glimpse of its Pea 
ings, ancient and modern, so much appreciated by strangers, as 
well as to allow a sight of the nurseries, with their diversity of 
floral varieties and temptations. At the hostelry there were two 
rich collections of spring garden flowers on view, brought by Mr 
Boyd and Mr Muirhead. 

At four o’clock the members assembled at the Queen’s Head 
Hotel, where Mr and Mrs dill provided a sumptuous dinner. 
Mr G. P. Hughes of Middleton Hall, President of the Club, was 
chairman, and the Rev. R. Hopper Williamson, Whickham, and 
Mr William Wilson, Berwick, acted as croupiers. Amongst 


Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 255 


others present were—Sir George H. Scott Douglas, Bart.; Mr 
James Hardy (Secretary); Revs. John F. Bigge, Stamfordham ; 
A. B. Coulson, Carham; ©. J. Cowan, Morebattle; John 
Edmunds, Kyloe; Thomas Ilderton of Ilderton ; Ambrose Jones, 
Stannington ; Peter M’Kerron, Kelso; William Stobbs, Gordon; 
Major Thompson and sons, Walworth Hall, Darlington ; Captain 
J. F. Macpherson, Melrose; Captain F. M. Norman, R.N., Ber- 
wick; Messrs Charles Anderson, Jedburgh; Henry H. Blair, 
Alnwick ; William B. Boyd, Faldonside; Alex. H. Borthwick, 
Melrose; J. Broadway, Alnwick; M. T. Culley of Coupland ; 
. Charles Douglas, M.D., Kelso; Middleton H. Dand, Hauxley 
Cottage ; John Freer, Melrose ; Thos. Greig, Upper Wooden ; W. 
T. Hindmarsh, Alnwick ; Edward Johnson, M D., Tweedbank: ; 
W.H. Johnson, Edinburgh ; James B. Kerr, Kelso ; R. Darling 
Ker, Edinburgh; William Madden, Berwick; Alex. J. Main, 
M.D., Alnwick; George Muirhead, Paxton; J. L. Newbigen, 
Alnwick; Adam Robertson, Alnwick; Francis Russell, Jed- 
bank; W. Stewart, Kelso; David W. B. Tait, W.S., Kelso; 
John Turnbull, Abbey St Bathans; John Turnbull, Selkirk ; J. 
J. Vernon, Hawick; Charles Watson, Dunse; J. G. Winning, 
Branxholm, &c. After dinner, the following were proposed and 
seconded as new members:—Mr M. Culley, younger of Coup- 
land Castle; Mr John Dunn, M.A., Newcastle; Mr Thomas 
Greig, Wooden; Mr William Horsley, Chirton House; Mr 
James R. Storer, Alnwick; and Mr J. G. Winning, Branxholm. 
The two toasts allowed by the rules of the club were duly 
honoured, but previous to this the Chairman very felicitously 
gave the toast of the Queen, alluding in feeling terms to her 
Majesty’s illness. As time pressed, there was only time to 
read a selection from the six papers on the notice paper, 
though they were all of special interest. Mr Jas. Tait, Blains- 
lie, had one on the ‘“‘ Black Dyke,” with remarks on some camps 
near Lauder. Dr A. J. Smith sent his published paper on the 
Celtic Bell, now in Kelso Museum. Miss Sarah Dand, Morwick 
Hall, forwarded drawings of the inscriptions on the rocks near 
Morwick, and explanatory notes. 


A fine photograph of a group of fifteen flint implements found 
at Farnham, in Coquetdale, was passed round the table, and a 
paper thereon by Mr D. D. Dixon, Rothbury, was read ; and Mr 
Loney sent a sketch copy of the cross at Crosshall. 


256 Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 


' VISIT TO KIDLAND. 


As an appendage to this meeting, I may state that immediately 
it had concluded, having been unsatisfied with the results of the 
Club’s visit to the Upper Coquet in the previous summer, I pro- 
ceeded for a week to the secluded and almost unknown, except 
to the sportsman, tract of country called Kidiand, which lies be- 
tween the Great Cheviot and the head of the Coquet, crossing 
the hills by Hownam, Greenhill, Heatherhope, Philip-hope, the 
Windy Gyle, and Usway Ford to Milkhope. Here I was joined 
by Mr Dixon, and Mr James Thomson, from the southern side of 
the Cheviots. We had a most enjoyable time, and clear bracing 
weather. We explored and botanised most of the tributaries of 
the Alwin, climbed not a few of the hills, secured several rare 
plants, as well as observations on the zoology and mineralogy. 
The site of Memmerkirk was surveyed, and the positions of the 
remains of numerous shielings and hut circles were ascertained, 
A mineral spring and a vein of lead ore were revealed to us by 
our host, Mr John Anderson, Milkhope, who afforded us much 
insight into the condition of shepherd life on that rough and in- 
clement out-post of civilisation. A circumstantial and reliable 
account of the discovery of a bronze, iron, and stone implement 
together in a fissure of peat, on the back of Cheviot, by the finder 
himself, was obtained; and on my return home, a drawing of the 
articles suitable for engraving has been presented by Mr Robt. 
Blair, South Shields, the obliging Secretary of the Society of 
Antiquaries of Newcastle, who had acquired the articles from 
our informant some years ago, while crossing these almost 
trackless wilds. A packet with several rude stone implements, 
and patterns of glazed earthenware pottery, has recently been 
dispatched from Milkhope, and has arrived safely. Kidland 
having been from early times a possession of the monks of New- 
minster, a history of the district is rendered possible, and the 
charters have been copied, with the intention of this being 
attempted. On my return I spent a day in revisiting the re- 
mains of antiquity on Bughtrig, including the Moat. Western 
Kidland between Usway burn and Chew-green still requires 
investigation. In regard to the Roman Station at Chew-green, 
or Makendon Camp as it is called, our venerable member, Mr 
Carr-Ellison, on whose property it is, informed me when I after- 
wards visited him at Hedgeley, that he intends to excavate it, 
in the interests of archsology. 


Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 257 


HOLY ISLAND. 


_ The second meeting of the year was held on Wednesday, 27th 

June, at Beal Half-way House, for Holy Island. There wasa 
very full attendance, upwards of fifty members and their friends 
being present from the different districts embraced by the Club 
—Berwickshire, Roxburghshire, Northumberland, Selkirkshire, 
East Lothian, Dumfriesshire, Edinburgh, and Durham sending 
representatives. A substantial breakfast having been despatched 
at the comfortable road-side inn, a start was made from the rail- 
. way station in long carts, conveyances, and on foot to cross the 
_ three miles of wet sands which lie between the mainland and the 
island. Arrived there, the party was met by several more mem- 
bers of the Club, who had been resident on the island for a day 
or two previous. The party now broke up into different groups, 
following the bent of their own inclinations as to the direction 
they took. Most, however, at first had a good look round the 
venerable old priory, the beautiful ruins of which, no matter 
how often visited, are ever full of interest, teeming as they are 
with so many associations of the past. Most of the party also, 
at some time or other during the day, climbed up to the topmost 
platform of the old castle to enjoy the magnificent panoramic 
view to be had from it. Mr M. G. Crossman, Berwick, having 
his yacht lying in the harbour at the time, kindly invited the 
visitors on board, and hospitably entertained them to lunch in 
the saloon. 


Meantime the more ardent naturalists of the company, having 
escaped from these fascinations, were engaged in botanising the 
northern end of the island, where they were joined by the Presi- 
dent and the junior Secretary, who were the latest to arrive. 
Here the miniature meadows, hedged in by the long sand-bent 
(several of which are very damp), were crowded with blossoms, 
and every creek and bay and long-stretching line of coast offered 
a rich and varied flora. The gay Viper’s Bugloss was partic- 
ularly effulgent, and along with it grew the more sober-tinted, 
but more curious Hound’s-tongue. The frequent plots of Birds’- 
foot Trefoil were especially rich in colour ; and alongside of them 
were contrasted the fainter hues of the Silver-weed, which is 
very common here. Sheep-rot (Hydrocotyle vulgaris and Juncus 
bufonius) grew in the marshes. The Sea-pink or Thrift was 
remarkable for the size of its individual and loosely-detached 
florets, and for the number of white and pale-tinted varieties. 

Gl 


258 Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 


The usual sea-side frequenters—Sea-side Sandwort, Sea Milk- 
wort, Yellow Stone-crop, Purple Mountain Milk-vetch, Jointed 
Glasswort, and Sea Rocket—were picked up; and a great pro- 
fusion of the rare Sea Lungwort (Mertensia maritima) was seen 
in full blossom (blue) at ‘‘ The Coves.” The Orchises, O. lati- 
folia and VU. incarnata, stood up in crowds in the moist soil of the 
marshes ; and the rare Water Pimpernel (Samolus Valerandi) by 
the little water-courses. The bright crimson Hrythea littoralis 
was coming into blossom; and a Gentian, not examined, was 
common. Lvttorella lacustris (Plantain Shore-weed) was gathered 
in the marsh behind the Salmon Fishery Houses. Chara hispida 
also grew there, and quantities of the curious star-headed sedge, 
Carex incurva, which was discovered here by Mr Boyd on a for- 
mer occasion. Double Lady-smock bordered a marsh in another 
part of the island. On the present visit the Club was fortunate 
to add the following plants to the flora of the island, which is 
evidently not yet fully investigated :—Hgursetum varregatum, 
Lycopodium Selaginoides, Thrincia hirta, Carex distans, and the 
rare moss, Ambiyodon dealbatus, which grew in great quantity and 
full of capsules. The Rev. James Farquharson picked up Carex 
divisa, new to Northumberland; and Dr. Charles Douglas and 
others, Cakile rugosa, new to Britain. Every one was charmed 
with the richness of the flora. There were few birds visible. 
Larks were singing overhead; several sea-pipits and a single 
wheat-ear were seen. A small colony of ring plovers and a 
number of lapwings were disturbed on the Snook, and made 
much clamouring. 

The long procession in recrossing the sands, in vehicles of 
every description, with groups of ‘walkers and waders in half 
amphibious attire, and the glorious cloud and land prospect 
overhead and afar off, formed a grand picture. 

A list of plants picked up on this occasion has since been for- 


warded to me by our late President, the Rev. Jas. Farquharson. 

‘‘ The following is by no means a list of all the plants picked up by 
various members of the Club on occasion of our visit, but only of the- 
more notable species. None are entered in it but such as were actually 


gathered by myself and others. 
Thalictrum minus. 
Cakile maritima. 


between old lime kiln and the 
sea, west of the town). 


Coronopus Ruellii. 
Draba verna (in flower at mid- 


summer !) 
Cardamine pratensis (Double 
flowered. Ina marshy spot 


Spergularia marina. 
Lotus corniculatus, var. crassi- 

[folius ? 
a var. villosus ? 
Astragalus Gerosien 


Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 259 


Anthriscus vulgaris. Sueda maritima. 

Tragopogon pratensis. Salicornia herbacea. 

Carlina vulgaris. Salix repens, var. prostata ? 

Erythrea littoralis. Orchis latifolia, var. incarnata 

Hyoscyamus niger. (very fine). 

Mertensia maritima Allium vineale. 

Asperugo procumbens. Blysmus compressus. 

Cynoglossum officinale. Carex incurva. 

Echium vulgare some magnifi- vulpina. (Margin of small 
cent plants among the sand- pool between Beal Farm 
hills. } and the Island). 

Anagallis arvensis. distans. 

Anagallis tenella. Poa compressa. 

Samolus Valerandi. Botrychium Lunaria. 

Armeria maritima (pure white). | Lycopodium Selaginoides. 

Littorella lacustris. | Ae dia 


Lowlynn was open to the Club, where there is a collection of 
rock plants, which were much admired. A small party, after 
visiting the island, drove to Haggerston House, and saw the 
garden and grounds. The floral show is on the ribbon system ; 
but there are also a few herbaceous plants of old standing, none 
of them rare. The greenhouse was well stocked with ferns, and 
the flowering plants were a good selection. The apricot trees 
here sometimes die suddenly on the walls without apparent 
cause. Many of the hollies had succumbed to the severity of 
recent winters, and a large tree of Sequoia gigantea (or Welling- 
tonia) was killed here. <Araucaria imbricata was comparatively 
unimpaired. The house is capacious, but it is only inhabited in 
the shooting season. 


A number of the party had to catch early trains, but there still 
remained about forty, who met at dinner at the Half-way House. 
The President, G. P. Hughes, Esq., of Middleton Hall, occupied 
the chair, the vice-chair being filled by the Rev. James Far- 
quharson, Selkirk. After dinner the following six gentlemen 
were proposed as new members:—Mr James Thomson, Shaw- 
don; Mr James Thin, jun., Edinburgh; Dr Robert Shirra Gibb, 
Boon, Lauder; Col. Forster of Sanson Seal; Mr William Robert- 
son, Alnwick; and Mr Richard Burdon Sanderson of Budle. 
The following papers were read or laid before the meeting .—1. 
‘¢ William Stevenson: his Scientific Work and Writings,” with 
an obituary notice. By Professor Duns, D.D., F.R.S.E., of the 
New College, Edinburgh. This memoir also contained selections 
from the letters of eminent scientific men addressed to Mr 
Stevenson. 2. ‘‘On the Damage done to Pine Trees at Coup- 
land Castle by the Snowstorms of Winter 1882-3.” By M. T. 


260 Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 


Culley, Esq. 3. ‘‘ On the Signification of the name Lindisfarne.” 
By R. Carr-Ellison, Esq., F.S.A., of Dunstan Hill. 4. Geolo- 
gical Papers and Sections by Mr David Carr, Felkington, con- 
sisting of—(1st) ‘‘ Breaks of the Coal Measures to the Tweed 
and the Till for three miles.” (2d) ‘‘A section of the Kyloe 
Hills, from Fenwick, N.B. of the Hills to the Low.” (3d) “A 
Section of the Face of the Hetton Limestone.” 5. “Ona 
Recent Visit to Kidland, with an account of its Antiquities, 
Botany, Zoology and Mineralogy.” By James Hardy. 

Mr Gunn, Chief Magistrate of Dunse, showed and explained a 
photograph of the singular tree-like appearance on his son’s arm 
after being struck by lightning. It was not like the twigs of a 
yew tree, but closely resembled the dendritic figures on porphy- 
ritic rocks, attributed to the action of manganese. Mr Robert 
Renton brought two very small stone balls found on Fans farm, 
a few coins obtained in Coldingham churchyard, and a strange 
morstrosity of the water hemlock (Ctcuta virosa). Mr Charles 
Watson exhibited skins of the Bernicle Goose from Goswick, 
and of the Arctic Tern from the same vicinity. 

One of the coins dug up in Coldingham churchyard, while 
opening a grave, is an Anglo-Saxon (copper) styca. There isa 
short cross as usual on the centre of each disc. The obverse 
inscription reads: +EANBALD AR. i.e., Eanbald Archbishop ; 
on the reverse is the moneyer’s name +HODVLF. There were 
two archbishops of York named Eanbald; the first died 10th 
August, 796, and on the i4th August, four days after, the 
second Kanbald was consecrated in the place of the other; and 
he received the pall 8th Sept., 797. (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 
sub annis). What intercourse there was between York and 
Coldingham at that early period, it is impossible to say. Visit- 
ants there might be to the shrine of St Ebba, and monasteries 
were then a sort of hostelry for wayfarers. The coin being 
found in the churchyard we may presume that it had some con- 
nection with the monastic establishment here; moreover it is a 
church and not a regal coin. 

There is another coin I have got to mention, which was found 
on Holy Island, but under what circumstances I am not informed. 
This is a Gold Lion of James I., of Scotland, in good preserva- 
tion. The obverse bears the Arms of Scotland (lion rampant 
within a double tressure) in a lozenge shield, fleur-de-lis between 
some of the words; a medium crown: xITACOBVS. DE. IGRA- 


Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 261 


CIA. REXS. On the reverse: in an orle of six crescents em- 
bracing a quatrefoil and terminating in fleur-de-lis, a St. 
Andrew’s Cross with I on the centre, between two fleur-de- 
lis: +SALVVI. (2 crosses) FACPOPVLVS. (a fleur-de-lis) 
TVVRONE (a fleur-de-lis). This blundered inscription for 
SALVVM. FAC. POPVLVM. TVVM. DNE., is recorded in Lind- 
say’s Coinage of Scotland, p. 160, from acoin in the British 
Museum. I give the divisions of the lettering as on the example 
submitted to me, and not as in Lindsay. This I believe will be 
placed in Berwick Museum. 

A third coin, a plack of Mary Queen of Scots in billon, was 
' found in digging potatoes at Holy Island. It corresponds with 
a figure in Lindsay’s plate 16, No. 30. It is thus technically 
described in Lindsay’s Scottish Coinage, p. 197. Obverse 
+MARIA. D. G. REGINA. SCOTORV. Thistle head crowned 
with an arched crown between M. and R. CrossM.M. Reverse: 
OPPIDVM. EDINBURGE. A plain St. Andrew’s cross 
through an open crown between two cinquefoils. Fleur-de-lis 
M.M. This belongs to Mrs Lumsden, Castle Heaton. 

A fourth coin picked up this year in a field near the Pease 
sands, on the track of the old Berwick and Edinburgh road may 
also be recorded here. It is a hardhead of Queen Mary, a minute 
copper coin. It is figured in Lindsay, plate 17, p.42. Obverse: 
4+MARIA. D. G. SCOTTOR. REGINA. M (with a ball or dot 
over it) crowned in the field. Cross Potent M.M. Reverse: 
VICIT VERITAS. 1551. Lion rampant crowned. 

ABERLADY. 

The third meeting for the year 1883 was held at Aberlady on 
Wednesday, 25th July. Owing to the threatening condition of 
the weather, or other causes, only a limited party participated in 
the privileges accorded to this meeting and the advantages it 
offered for botanical and zoological, as well as antiquarian, 
investigation. Unfortunately, the auguries respecting the state 
of the weather were realised ; and the sudden death of a relative 
in the hotel keeper’s house at Aberlady necessitated the trans- 
ference of the meeting to Haddington in the afternoon. Mr 
Clark, however, had engaged conveyances, which accommodated 
all present, who suffered no other inconvenience than a slight 
wetting. Up to eleven o’clock the day was favourable, and the 
party availed themselves of this to visit the grounds at Gosford, 
for which the Harl of Wemyss had granted permission. They 


262 Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 


entered the gate nearest the railway, and proceeded along the 
extensive park, by a drive lined nearly throughout with thriving 
shrubs and shapely trees, among which the yew, perhaps from its 
withstanding the influence of the sea breeze undamaged, pre- 
dominated, producing at times rather a sombre effect. The 
thick screen of trees along the sea-side effectually masks the 
extent of the grounds, which are fully two and a half miles in 
length, and of ample breadth. The two mansions—the old and 
the new, the newest having the oldest look—are placed in the most 
sheltered and most ornamental position amidst the woods, which 
are mostly of the age of the older house. Preparations are being 
made for the erection of a new mansion, which will supersede 
both. 


The chief characteristic of the pleasure grounds here is the 
ponds, nine acres in extent. The tenacious clayey soil, and the 
general flatness of the land, are adapted to the retention of mois- 
ture, which is supplied from inland springs. Forty acres of 
shrubberies and sheltering trees encircle the winding series of 
ponds, which, when viewed from end to end, appear as a con- 
tinuous, calm, broad river. They are pretty free from weeds. 
Ranunculus aquatilis and a Callitriche were noted. In summer 
they are liable to be covered witha ‘‘green glit’’—perhaps a 
Conferva. There is a fine umbrageous tree-covered island for 
the water fowl breeding in and retreating to. The bright flower 
borders, and the varied foliage and forms of the shrubs and 
trees, with the sweeping expanses of closely-cut, tender-hued 
green grass, and the mansion in the distance partly screened, 
together with the charm of water gently stirred, and peopled 
with multitudes of water fowl, some of them of gay colouring 
and singular appearance, formed a peculiarly charming picture, 
which was quite unexpected in a situation so close to a coast 
swept by fierce blighting winds. 


The water fowls preserved here are the following, as the 
names were taken down, without attempt at exact specification : 
— Geese.—Asiatic, American, Chinese, trumpeter, bernicle. 
Ducks.—Meadow (hatched by incubators), sheldrakes, eider, 
brown-headed teal. There are also coots and water-hens. Dab- 
chicks are scarce. In stormy weather in winter two hundred 
wild ducks at a time will take refuge here. As winter birds, 
golden-eye ducks, ‘‘black teals,” ‘white teals with yellow 


Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 263 


eyes,” and afew grebes, were mentioned as resorting thither, 
The ponds contain perch and tench. 

Glancing at the flower margins of the shrubbery there were 

noted :—Spacious plots of the great flowered Hypericum caly- 
cinum ; a large kind of Agrimony; a very well-grown example 
of Potentilla fruticosa; the double Geranium pratense; Spireeas, 
including the common meadow-sweet ; Burnet, a large kind; the 
French willow; and a shrub allied to the Snowberry, with blue 
berries, unknown to the company. Silver firs appear to grow 
well. There was a healthy Adves Smithiana, not particularly old, 
but entire at top; a fairly-sized Cedrus Atlantica; a Sequoia 
gigantea, of medium height. What else there were do not call 
for remark. A flourishing Quercus Ilex had escaped the recent 
winters. There is a vast collection of well-grown timber in the 
park. There is a thriving spanish Chestnut, growing in sandy 
loam, with a clay-subsoil, and a N.EK. exposure: 60 feet high, 
25 feet length of the bole; circumference at 1 foot 11 feet; at 5 
feet 9 feet 5 inches. The altitude of its position above the sea 
is 50 feet (Mr Hutchison). Some of the stems of the beeches 
are infested with the cottony Coccus Fagi, which, in a few 
instances, has been experienced to be fatal. Chermes Picee@ was 
prevalent on some of the trunks of the silver firs. Larches are 
apt to decay, and become hollow in the centre. 

There was some curious grotto work, the production of a local 
stone mason, now deceased, consisting of shore gravel placed in 
upright rows, and cemented to form pillars, studded at the top 
with sea shells, and crowned with the vast Chama gigas, and 
having suspended from the centre a large madrepore. There 
were three or more huge Lias Ammonites as adjuncts to these 
laboriously-constructed exemplifications of a taste now little 
esteemed. The rockeries were cleaner and better filled with 
variety of plants than is usual in these structures. 

The garden is on a great scale, and is mainly devoted to the 
production of fruit and vegetables. The soil is forced. The 
bedding-out border was very fine, one long band of vivid colour, 
with sundry subsidiary detachments of skilfully-placed blossoms. 
The herbaceous border is thinly planted, and, at present at least, 
is not attractive. Roses do not thrive well here, owing to the 
prevalent winds. The present rosary has been thrice planted, 
and only owes its existence to a sheltering west wall. The crop 
of fruit this year is very heavy, pears especially. On one of the 


264 Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 


walls the pear trees are so studded with fruit that the gardener 
had never witnessed anything of the kind, except in France. 
The vines are in healthy bearing condition. Among others 
“‘Bell’s Alnwick Seedling,” which I had seen a short time pre- 
viously in the house where it was first reared, occupies a place of 
honour. Its red stems and variegated foliage in autumn, render 
it a serviceable addition to bouquets at that season. A notable 
peach tree, the Stirling Castle peach, covers two houses from one 
main stem. Two new peach-houses have been lately added. 
The smaller ferns were mostly Maiden-hair. The Amazonian 
lily (Zucharis Amazonica) is here flowered with success. The 
following were noted in passing through the houses :—Dracena 
Vettchit (palm), two; Dicksonia Antarctica (tree fern) ; Dacrydium 
cupressinum (conifer); Thamnopteris Australasica (fern) ; Alsophila 
excelsa (two examples of this tree fern). The creepers observed 
were Lapageria rosea, Maurandya Barclayana (lasts three years), 
and Cobea scandens variegata, which nearly covers the house; and 
there was any amount of Pelargoniums, Fuschias, Cockscombs, 
Gloxinias, Coleuses, Begonias, &c. A few orchids have been 
recently introduced. 

Thus far the day’s progress was satisfactory, but before 
reaching Aberlady the opposite shores of Fife were seen to be 

-enwrapt in gloom, from which an intercepting shower advanced 

across the Firth. The hotel was gained timeously, however, 
where luncheon was served, and while the rain lasted the busi- 
ness of the Club was transacted, Mr Turnbull of Abbey St 
Bathans occupying the chair. The following gentlemen were 
then proposed for membership :—Major Bryan Burrell of Broom- 
park, Alnwick; Mr James Brunlees, C.E., Westminster, Lon- 
don; and John S. Muir, M.D., Thorncroft, Selkirk. 

Mr Stevens exhibited a small earthenware urn, discovered 
January, 1880, by John Purves, a workman, in a quarry on 
Gullane Hill. It belongs to the family at Luftness, who lent it to 
the Club to be engraved. Mr Turnbull undertook to contribute 
another figure of an urn found at Manderston, Berwickshire, to 
fill up the plate; and this has now been accomplished. 

Mr Hardy handed round a ‘List of the Plants on the Coast 
from Longniddry to Gullane,” picked up by himself, Capt. 
Norman, R.N., and Mr Arthur Evans in August, 1882, and on 
the previous week. Mr Evans exhibited a flowering specimen of © 
Cornus Suecica from the east end of Cheviot, and Saaifraga Hir- 


Report of Meetings... By James Hardy. 265 


culus from Langton. Mr W. B. Boyd brought an example of 
the ripe fruit of Rubus arcticus, var. fecundus, grown at Faldon- 
side. It had a vanilla scent and flavour. A comparison of notes 
of the rare or new plants obtained in last month’s excursion to 
Holy Island was made. TZhrincia hirta was noticed at the 
Snook; and this was confirmed by Mr Evans, who finds it grow- 
ing all along the sandy coast on the mainland near the Island. 
Thalictrum minus and Botrychium Lunaria were gathered on the 
Links; of Zragopogon porrifolius one example was got by Mr 
Charles Watson, and Cakile rugosa, a plant new to Britain, was 
found by Dr. Charles Douglas—a whole strip of it—on the Castle 
‘ Rock. The specimen of the last was determined by Professor 
Dickson of Edinburgh, who had a favourable opinion of its 
indigenousness. Subsequently, however, my colleague, Dr. F. 
Douglas writes me, that it grew as if from seed that had fallen 
from about the Castle ; and Professor Babington writes me thus : 
“* Cakile (or rather Rapistrum) rugora, I believe to be an introduced 
plant; it has often been found in connection with cultivation.” 

Twice the company essayed to venture forth to visit Luffness, 
which had been rendered accessible by the courtesy of the Hon. 
Mrs Hope. On the first attempt it was still too wet, and the 
conveyance had scarcely left the second time when the rain 
descended in torrents. Shelter was sought under trees and be- 
hind stone walls and umbrellas till it faired, when the remains 
of the old monastery and church of the Red Friars, with the 
recumbent statue, said to be that of one of the Bickertons of 
Luffness, by others the founder, whoever he was, were inspected, 
as well as the adjoining site of their fish ponds still plainly dis- 
cernible. ‘‘The church measures 94 ft. 10 in. by !9 feet, form- 
ing an oblong divided by a central chancel arch.” (Proc. 8. A. 
Scotland, iii., 299.) 

Luffness is a small but most interesting example of a Scottish 
baronial mansion. The old portion has been a fortified house, 
with walls of great thickness, on a model of Dirleton Castle, to 
which the present family have made additions not out of keeping 
with the original. The clustered towers are very striking. The 
tall chimneys are visible above the trees from every point of 
vantage in the district. It is surrounded by the ditches which 
defended the fort raised by De Thermes, the French General, in 
‘1549, to distress the English garrison at Haddington, by inter- 


rupting their supplies, by which and other measures he effes- 
) Hl 


266 Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 


tually starved the English out. The French fort was ordered to 
be destroyed in 1551, but the house was to remain the property 
of Hepburn of Waughton. The oldest part of the present house 
was erected by the Hepburns in 1584. The members of the 
Club were cordially invited to view the older portions of the 
house, which are the entrance hall, the library, and a sitting- 
room adjacent. An old door, studded with iron bolt heads, placed 
in a turret stair, was brought from Saltcoats. The sculptured 
stones affixed to the outside of the walls as ornaments appear as 
if they had also come from another mansion. The numerous 
large antlers of red-deer, suspended as trophies of the chase in 
the entrance hall, are from Hungary. During repairs and alter- 
ations about the place three human skeletons had been dug up; 
two of them in the entrance hall, one on each side. There are 
some very large sycamores on the outskirts of the house; a 
slender tall cypress near the principal walk, and some other good 
ornamental trees, have attained good heights. The moats have 
been planted up with small conifers and flower knots. There 
are bedded-out flowers and grass in front. Although close on 
the public road, the house is quite secluded. 

In the bank at Peffer Mouth, the East and Mid-Lothian coal 
strata crop out, and are very distinctly seen. In the marsh 
between the bed of the Peffer and the open sands stands the 
King’s Kist, a singular square piece of rock. 

The soil and long grass on the links having become thoroughly 
saturated with moisture, it was resolved to give up an attempt 
to proceed farther in this direction. Blysmus rufus, Trifolium 
fragiferum, and Carex distans were gathered west of the Peffer. 
The birds seen on the shore on the previous week were curlews, 
ring dotterels, black-headed gulls, lapwings, sea-pipits, wheat- 
ears, greenfinches, pied wagtails, and redshanks, the last 
appearing to have nested in the marshes. ‘To-day a flock of 
starlings were the only birds visible. 

Before leaving Aberlady the church and churchyard were 
looked into, which were kindly shewn by the Rev. J. Hart, the 
parish minister. The embattled church-tower and two northern 
aisles, with fine undamaged windows, are old. The rest of the 
church had undergone an 18th century renovation. This is 
about to be removed, and the church restored to the primitive 
model. The church, besides an inscription to a gallant warrior 
of the house of Wemyss, and one of the ministers, contains a 


Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 267 


fine marble monument erected by Patrick Lord Elibank to the 
memory of his lady (Lady North and Grey, who died in 1762). 
The principal figure is an angel leaning over an urn, and extin- 
guishing an inverted torch. The elaborate Latin inscription on 
the pedestal is said to have been composed by his Lordship him- 
self. 

There was formerly a chapel dedicated to St Mary, connected 
with the Luffness property, in the north-west corner of the 
churchyard. Outside in the green pasture between the church 
and the sea are the yellow-tinted mouldering remains of the castle 
_ of Kilspindie, built in 1584, once the property of a branch of the 
Douglas family, and still more remotely, conjectured from the 
import of its name, ‘the cell of the Black Hoods,” to have been 
the site of a settlement of Culdees. Corroborative of this, Aber- 
lady till the Reformation was a mensal church of the bishoprick 
of Dunkeld, an early retreat of this religious order. Aberlady 
was the Port of the Royal Burgh of Haddington. 

The company, increased by two additional members, as soon 
as the day cleared up, took the road to Haddington, obtaining 
as they passed a near view of the picturesque and highly inter- 
esting tract of country round the Garleton hills, associated as it 
is with so many important historical personages. On reaching 
the height, the densely-wooded country round Haddington and 
up the valley of the Tyne and its tributaries opened on the pro- 
spect ; and the town itself, which is not unworthy of the rich 
sylvan accessories, aud the rural charms that environ it. The 
crops on all sides appeared to be full of promise. 

In Mr Smith’s manse the old church registers are preserved, 
one of the volumes at least with entries older than 1600. In 
two of the volumes are bound up fragments of the music sung 
to Latin verses in the church before the Reformation, and to 
which both Wishart and Knox may have listened. The notes 
are square-headed, like the specimens in Dr. David Laing’s 
collection, now deposited in the Edinburgh University Library. 
A rapid visit to the church of St Mary’s filled up the interval till 
dinner. 

Those present at this meeting were—Mr George P. Hughes, 
Middleton Hall, Wooler, President; Dr. F. Douglas and Mr J. 
Hardy, Sccretaries; Dr. Charles Douglas, Kelso; Dr. James 
Denholm, Mavisbank, Polton; Rev. W. D. Herald, Dunse ; 
Rey. R. Nimmo Smith, Haddington; Rev. William Stobbs, 


268 Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 


Gordon; Messrs W. B. Boyd, Faldonside; John Congalton, 
Aberlady; A. H. Evans, Scremerston; William H. Johnson, 
Edinburgh; George Heriot Stevens, Gullane; and John ‘urn- 
bull, Abbey St Bathans. 

Subsequent to this visit, Mr W. Boyd and J made an examina- 
tion of the coast from Lufiness to Dirleton, finding Uéricularia 
vulgaris in flower at the ponds, and some curious varieties of a 
Carex, perhaps not different from arenaria. This is an early 
tract, and we were too late in the season. The whole coast, 
however, from Longniddry to Archerfield, has been perambulated 
by members of the Club this season. We saw the gardens at 
Archerfield and Dirleton. It was a beautiful day and we were 
rewarded with many fine prospects. 

The brown, orange-banded caterpillars of Huchelia Jacobee were 
very numerous this season on the links, and bared the ragwort 
leaves to the stumps. On the roads at Gullane one could not 
walk without crushing some of them. 


ST. MARY’S LOCH. 

A meeting of nearly forty members for St. Mary’s Loch, on 
Wednesday, August 29th, was an agreeable surprise, after the 
rain of the preceding day-and evening, and the lugubrious 
looking morning. A great stock of waterproofs and umbrellas 
had been provided to avert rain, but fortunately the dripping 
mists drew up at the hour of starting from Selkirk, and those 
acquainted with the district averred that Yarrow had rarely been 
visited under more auspicious skies. Among the hills, as the com- 
plement to a previous day of rain, the features of the landscape 
acquire the utmost distinctness,.the distant view becomes 
enlarged, and there is a pervading sobriety favourable to obser-_ 
vation. 

The wooded portion of the vale of Yarrow, with its renowned 
battle-field—its ruined tower, resort of royal hunters, feudal 
chiefs and vassal ‘‘menyie,” and more than once begirt with a 
besieging foe;—and its famous dwellings, high and lowly, re- 
plete with historical, biographical and poetical associations; scenes 
also where 

‘« Yarrow in her sounding sweep 

By rock and ruin raves and rushes ;” 
having been visited by the Club on very recent occasions, the 
new ground which it was about to enter upon, commences about 
Lewenshope. Still we are not yet so familiar here, as to know 


Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 269 


everything. The last Polecat, we are toldin passing, was killed 
in “ Black Andro’s Wood,” some years ago. It was a person 
called “Black”? Andrew Dickson, of Selkirk, who, to the emolu- 
ment of himself and family, either furnished the trees, or himself 
planted this portion of the Bowhill estate, and has had his name 
commemorated in this hill-side of stately dark pines. The oaks 
and hazels of the outskirts of the Hangingshaw, where they 
thrive amidst a vast congeries of boulders,—the moraine one 
might say of the whole vale of Yarrow,—are the remnants 
of one of the old woods of the Forest. Freed of the shadows of 
the woods, the prospect becomes more enlivening round the base 
of Fastheugh hill, where there runs a fringe of bowery native 
birches and alders in clumps, or disposed as elegant single trees, 
along the southern bank of the stream. Fastheugh hill (1645 
feet), being bared from base to summit on this side, is one of 
the finest and most imposing heights on the Yarrow; more so, 
however, when looked back upon half-way up the vale, which it 
seems to block up at this end with its bulk. It was empurpled 
with heather in blossom ; and is not craggy, but very thin in the 
skin, the core of rock beneath at intervals piercing through. 
There are other large green hills as we proceed, but not of 
remarkably striking forms, and rather characterless and lumpy, 
seldom precipitate, a few shewing glitters or flows of small 
stones, and one at least distinguished by a crag. The grass is 
rougher than on the more arid uplands about Innerleithen. 
Where it is moist the covering is sprit or bent or heather, but 
less heathery than spritty or benty (for sprit and bent predomin- 
ate), with extensive beds of brackens on the deeper, drier, and 
finer grass ground. The soil is more peaty towards St. Mary’s 
Loch. 

Above and below Yarrow Kirk, there are numerous gravel 
and drift mounds, which occasion much inequality on the sur- 
face ;—spoils brought down from the upper ranges along ancient 
water-courses, which have again been modified by the action of 
the present streams. The sides of the vale are subdivided by 
cross cleughs and passes ; some of which are broad depressions. 
Others are narrower, and are intersected by rapid rivulets, whose 
exits, bordered and littered by streaks and accumulations of rolled 
gravel, attest the violence of the current during the rain or win- 
ter spates; but farther up during the spring and summer-tides, 
lingering by the “‘ yellow gowlon” meadows, or rushing between 


270 Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 


flowery braes, gay with the sunflower-cistus and scented with 
the mountain-thyme ; 


“‘ While a lone fairy angler, with glimmering hand, 
From the thyme-laden banks waves her delicate wand.” 


The gloom of Yarrow is merely a poetical fiction ; it is a quiet 
pastoral valley, fully as animated and cheerful as any other far 
withdrawn river-basin enclosed by heavy and not particularly 
picturesque hills massed behind each other. These are grander 
and wilder where they, as it were, draw themselves up to their 
full height, and approximate to enclose St. Mary’s Loch and the 
Loch of the Lowes; and dark peat rifts scar their mossy brows. 

Cultivation to some extent attends the stream, with greater or 
less continuity, nearly to St. Mary’s Loch, forming a narrow 
verge to the green or heathy grazings on the back ground. 
There are thriving crops of grain, and turnips, and clover grass, 
almost up to the lake’s brink. The farm-houses and buildings 
are superior, and the cottages are better even than several in the 
low country ; most of them are slated, and a thatched dwelling is 
the exception. 

We pass Lewenshope and Tinnis, and then reach the broken 
Deuchar bridge (a narrow bridge for riders and pack-horses), 
near which the mill only now survives. Deuchar was a stirring 
place once, when the carriers traversed the country from Ettrick 
and made it a rendezvous. It once had its own chapel and 
tower of defence. The highway to Edinburgh, in those times, 
went up Deuchar burn—over Deuchar hill and Minchmoor to 
Traquair. Deuchar-swyre was the scene of the events that 
gave origin to the woeful ballad, ‘‘ The Dowie Dens of Yarrow.” 


‘¢ A fairer rose did never bloom, 
Than there lay cropped on Yarrow.” 


The first halt was called at Yarrow Kirk, where the company 
alighted to see the church of the Rutherfords and Russells, and 
the resort of the Ettrick Shepherd and his family on the day of 
rest. The manse is well sheltered with trees, and is favoured 
with other amenities. The church, built in 1640, has no special 
features of interest, unless it be a mural tablet at the back, 
dedicated to the memory of the Rev. John Rutherford, —father 
of Dr. John Rutherford,—‘‘the Yarrow Doctor ’”—Professor of 
the Practice of Medicine, in the early medical school in Kdin- 
burgh, and one of its institutors,—grandfather of Dr. Daniel 
Rutherford, from 1786 to 1819 Professor of Botany in the 
University of Edinburgh ;—and honoured also to have been the 


Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 271 


maternal great grandfather of Sir Walter Scott—‘‘ the shireff,”’ 
as the document quoted phrases it. In the Latin inscription, 
which will, if there is space, be given afterwards, the deceased 
is thus apostrophised: ‘‘O! thrice happy man! Thy fame is 
above the lofty mountains and green banks of Yarrow! Thy 
spirit beyond the stars !” 

A stone of red sandstone is built into the wall at the western 
door, having on it a sun-dial and inscription : 

WATCH & PRAY. 

TIME IS SHORT. 
The date is 1640. This dial belonged to Deuchar kirk, which 
Yarrow superseded, taking its place as well as that of the 
chapel at Kirkhope ; and also of the mother church of St. Mary 
of the Lowes; the church which feudal strife laid low. 

‘“Opposite Yarrow church,” Mr Andrew Currie, who was our 
guide and instructor for the day, writes, ‘‘on the south of the 
river is a deep hollow with a shepherd’s house —the name of 
this place-is Kershope, and I can recollect a common remark in 
my young days—that in the shorter days of winter, the sun did 
not shine on Kershope for three weeks—now-a-days this does 
not hold good. An old track runs from here westward on the 
hill-slope, having the name of ‘ Harden’s drive.’ ”’ 

Some well-grown ash trees, as if they had sheltered an old 
dwelling, were passed near a green pasture above the roadside, 
and a grave was pointed out, among the gravel, at the top of the 
bank overhanging the highway, in which a skeleton had become 
exposed, but every scrap of bones had been purloined, as might 
have been expected, when the side of the grave was left unpro- 
tected. The field near this belonging to Whitehope farm, called 
Annan Street, is that which contains the lettered ‘‘ Yarrow 
Stone,” and the other two unhewn upright rude monoliths, one 
of which stands near the shepherd’s house, which, from having 
been built among cist-graves has obtained the modern misleading 
name of ‘‘ Warriors’ Rest.” This field in its uncultivated state 
was ‘‘ covered with cairns and graves,” and appears to have been 
a burial place of pre-historic tribes (not necessarily of warriors 
who were slaughtered in fight, for people when they died, then 
as much as now, would have to be deposited somewhere), as 
well as a race amenable to Christian proprieties, who under- 
stood a debased Latin tongue. Miss Russell’s well-directed 
study has revealed to us a better reading of the inscription on 


272 Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 


the middle stone, and part of her paper from the Club’s Pro- 
ceedings was read to the company. The letters could not well be 
traced in the open lizht of mid-day. The stone had formerly 
been protected by a wooden paling, which cattle had broken 
down; and idle visitors had with knives been cutting at the 
letters, and scratching the face of the stone. On Mr Eliott 
Lockhart’s attention being directed to this, it was promptly 
remedied. 

About a mile onward and to the westward of this field on the 
same side of the Yarrow, is the farm of Catslack-burn, its name 
derived, as well as that of the Catslack-knowe, and not improb- 
ably that of the first part of the Catrail, from the Wild-cats that 
once frequented the neighbourhood of the slack, or concealed 
themselves by day in the ditch of the earth-work. Another 
evidence of their former prevalence is the Cat craig above 
Tinnis, and there is also a Cat-car-wood, or Cather wood, in the 
parish. 

‘‘The Catrail, or rather the continuation of it, was here traced 
by Professor Veitch and the late Dr. Russell. It crosses the 
river at Sundhope, and is lost on the ascent of Sundhope hill.” 
So Mr Currie tells us. We tried to have a glimpse of it both in 
going and returning, but failed, although every decayed fail- 
dike, on this bright day, was perceptible on the hill-slopes. Old 
people who preferred going to Ettrick Church used to follow a 
road across the hollow, between Sundhope and Ladhope. 

Yarrow-Feus is a long straggling village, first feud in 1792 
from the Duke of Buccleuch. To the west a few miles we crossed 
Mountbenger burn, and afterwards passed the place itself, once 
occupied by the Kttrick Shepherd, being that unfortunate farm, 
where according to his own confession he lost £2900. It was 
hereabouts that old marks of cultivation by balks were re- 
marked. Wethen reached the ‘‘ Gordon Arms,” said to have 
been first established by one who had been a butler to a Duke 
of Gordon, or some one else of the Gordon lineage. From this 
branches off across the Yarrow, and then by Eldinhope and 
Hartleap (so called from an incident in a hunt connected with a 
Scottish King), a road to Tushielaw Inn, on the Ettrick. An- 
other road to the north, up the Benger burn, leads to Traquair ; 
and by this road the party received a contingent who had driven 
from Innerleithen. The old grey tower of Dryhope, abode of 
“‘ Mary Scott, the flower of Yarrow,” is now bare and comfort- 


Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 273 


less, alongside the tree-encompassed modern house. A wild 
burn runs near it, leaving its margin widely encumbered with 
gravel. Goats are said to be kept at Dryhope. We had first 
encountered the black-faced breed of sheep above Sundhope. 
Sheep, however, were very much out of sight during the day. 

But before reaching Dryhope we had crossed the Douglas 
burn, (the reputed scene of the ‘Douglas Tragedy,”) which 
derives its early supplies from the Black-house heights, on the 
farm once held by the Laidlaws, where Hogg was a shepherd 
at 18 years of age, and where he continued 12 years, deriving 
information from books in his master’s library, and by un- 
wearied practice acquired his unrivalled facility in song writing. 
Alirieve, where the poet died, is opposite Dryhope burn. Ere 
we were aware, we had reached the loch, and looked down on its 
calm waters, and sunk shores. The reflection of Bowerhope 
Law on the opposite side, with its patches of green, its grey 
rocks, its purple streaks of heath, and the mackerel sky over- 
head, dappled with blue, called forth expressions of admiration 
and delight. 


‘“‘ Far in the mirror bright and blue, 
Each hills huge outlines you may view.” 


As a piece of folk-lore we are told that ‘St Mary’s Loch is as 
deep as Bowerhope is high.” Bowerhope house, nestling near 
the shore of the lake, is not without the attraction of trees and 
bushes and green meadows. ‘This farm has been long held, 
and still is, -by the Ettrick Shepherd’s relations, the Laidlaws, 
who are a very ancient race in the ‘‘ Forest.”’ 

We pass Kirkstead burn near the lower end of the lake. 
We ought to have climbed to St Mary’s churchyard, which oc- 
cupies a space of level ground ata considerable height above the 
shore of the lake. It was, however, thought that there might 
be time for walking back to it. The ruins of the old church are 
nearly obliterated, but the plan of the foundation is still re- 
cognisable. From it is to be had the most complete upward 
view of the lake and its precincts. Some interments have taken 
place in the churchyard lately, I am told, and it is still in good 
preservation, and has some good headstones and monuments. 
Mr Bell, schoolmaster at Yarrow, states that ‘‘the enclosing 
wall was lately repaired, and the cost defrayed out of money left 
by the late Mr and Mrs Scott, Eldinhope, and ought to be in 
good order. The great age reached by the Scott family buried 


there is remarkable.” 
nal 


274 Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 


On the craggy and stony end of Henderland hill, is a thicket 
of hazels, stunted and tangled, the victims of the fierce gusts of 
wind to which they are exposed. This is another remuant of 
the woods that studded the ancient forest tracts, and not far re- 
mote from the favourite haunts of the stag in Meggat-land, 
which King James the Fifth rejoiced to pursue, and where still 
survives to this day, ‘‘The Deer Law.” ~ Adders are said to 
frequent the skirts of this wood. Meggat is renowned for its 
trout-fishing. Henderland Tower, and the monumental slab of 
Piérs Cockburn and his spouse in the chapel-garth received 
special attention. The journey terminated at Rodono Hotel. 
From its platform, Bowerhope Law exhibits its full proportions 
in front across the lake, and every asperity or depression on 
its green slopes is visible to day, and very dimpled it is through- 
out its extensive range. 

There are two swans on the lake, and the restless black-headed 
gulls hover over the surface towards its outlet. On the journey 
up, two curlews and several lapwings were observed—Hogg’s 
‘‘yammering tewit and grey curlew’’—and pipit larks perched 
on the stone-walls. Martins, but not swallows, were seen at the 
lower end of the lake. Slated houses allure them to their eaves 
and windows. 

We found everything at Rodono very comfortable. A large 
party went to Tibby Shiels, sat in classic seats and places, and 
endeavoured to recall the presence of worthies who once held 
high converse here, when the day’s angling sport was over, and 
enjoyment was at its height among Scotland’s famous talkers, 
some of whom, especially John Wilson, several present had 
listened to, when in his most eloquent moods. “I could name,” 
says T. T. Stoddart, ‘‘ eight or nine speculators in rhymes, more 
than one philosopher, scholars, and lawyers of considerable emi- 
nence, along with occupants of three or four professorial chairs, 
in whose company, below Tibby’s roof, I have spent evenings of 
great delight,”? We had Mr Andrew Currie with us, who knew 
personally several of the participators in those conventions. 

Thereafter the company visited Mr Currie’s statue of ‘“‘ James 
Hogg, the Httrick Shepherd,” so appropriately placed among 
the scenes on which his writings have contributed to confer 
celebrity ; for as we can read beneath, 


“ Oft’ had he viewed, as morning rose, 
The bosom of the lonely Lowes ; 


Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 275 


Oft’ thrilled his heart at close of even, 

To see the dappled vales of heaven, 

With many a mountain, moor and tree, 

Asleep upon the Saint Mary.” 
The members felt indignant at the profanation Mr Currie’s work 
was undergoing from the thoughtless public and covetous 
visitors. They have commenced cutting their names, and 
scribbling their ribaldry on the pedestal, and have even knocked 
off and appropriated one of the horns of one of the ornamental 
ram’s heads (of the Leicester breed by the bye), that terminate 
each upper corner. Several subsequently subscribed to the fund 
for erecting an iron-railing to preserve the statue from further 
spoliation. 

There is an impression of mystery about the defile between 
the steep hills occupied by the Lake of Lowes, and the seemingly 
endless winding by which it hides itself among the darker 
elevations behind, but we find it impracticable to proceed any 
farther, and reluctantly return to the hotel. Time flew all too 
fast ; there was possibility here for botanising, but little could 
be effected. We had to content ourselves with what came 
readiest to hand, and if the collection is small, it has this to 
recommend it, that it was native to the spot. I am indebted to 
the Rey. James Farquharson for a notice of what his gatherings 
were, and I afterwards examined what his companion, Mr Bird, 
had laid his handson. ‘ Along with another member, Mr Bird, 
Edinburgh,” writes our ex-President, ‘‘I followed the course of 
the burn, which descends behind the hotel, up the steep ascent 
to the swampy table-land where the stream has its origin. In 
the little gulley it has formed on the hill-side, I picked up 
Lysimachia nemorum, Helianthemum vulgare, Crepis paludosa, 
Meracium murorum, Carex pulicaris, Molinia cerulea, Polypodium 
Dryopteris, Aspidium Oreopteris ; while in the flat swampy ground 
above, where there was a profusion of Sphagnum and other 
moisture-loving mosses, the following were found,—Drosera 
rotundifolia, Sedum villosum, Rubus Chamemorus, Narthecium 
ossifragum, Apargia autumnalis, and Empetrum nigrum. Broad 
patches of Eleocharis cespitosa had begun to assume their autumn 
tawny hue.” To theseI have only to add Parnassia palustris and 
Pedicularis sylvatica. Listera cordata was also gathered. A party 
had a row in a boat, and fished up Potamogeton perfoliatum, a 
rarity, from the lake. 

The following were present at this meeting; Sir George S. 


276 Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 


Douglas, Bart., Springwood Park; Revs. J. Elphinstone Elliot 
Bates, Milbourne Hall, Newcastle; J. F. Bigge, Stamfordham ; 
James Boyd, Innerleithen; John Edmunds, Kyloe; James 
Farquharson, Selkirk ; Arthur Gordon, Greenlaw; F. T. Hetling, 
Rector of Essendon, Hertford; Ambrose Jones, Stannington ; 
H.A Langston, Hebburn, Newcastle ; J. A. Sharrock, Stockton- 
on-Tees ; William Snodgrass, D.D., Canobie; Geo. W. Sprott, 
D.D., North Berwick; William Stobbs, Gordon; J. Walker, 
Whalton Rectory ; G. P. Wilkinson, Harperley Park, Darling- 
ton; R. H. Williamson, Whickham, Co. Durham; Lieut.-Col. 
Dysonsaurie, lst Border Regiment ; Captain Forbes, R.N.; Dr. 
J. S. Muir, Selkirk; Messrs Charles Anderson, Jedburgh ; Geo. 
Bird, Edinburgh; William B. Boyd, Faldonside; T. Craig- 
Brown, Selkirk ; Andrew Currie, Darnick; John Scott Dudgeon, 
Longnewton; Thomas Greig, Wooden ; James Hardy, Oldcam- 
bus, (secretary) ; Peter Loney, Marchmont; A. Miller, Liverpool; 
Robert Renton, Fans; Frederick Lewis Roy, Nenthorn; Henry 
Rutherfurd, Fairnington; Thomas Turnbull, Lilliesleaf; James 
Wood, Galashiels. 

The Revs. J. F. Bigge and James Farquharson officiated as 
Chairman and Croupier. After dinner the Rey. EH. A. Langston, 
Hebburn-on-Tyne, and Mr Henry Rutherfurd of Fairnington, 
were nominated for membership. The papers brought forward 
or announced were,—1, Memoir of Mungo Park, the Traveller, 
by Dr. H. S. Anderson, Selkirk ; 2, On Bewick’s Swan, shot on 
Shaws Lake, with the Anatomy, by Dr. Thomas Anderson of 
Shaws; 8, On a dreadful Storm of Hail and its effects in Rox- 
burghshire, by Mr J. 8. Dudgeon. 4, Two Notices by Miss 
Russell of Ashiesteel ;—1st, On Three Lockets found on the 
battlefield of Philiphaugh; 2nd, On Dumno Coins. 5, A Notice 
from Sheriff Russell of a Water Rail in his garden at Jed Bank. 
The Rev. Dr. Sprott mentioned a curious little M.S. of ecclesi- 
astical import, that he thought might be useful for a chapter in 
the Club’s Proceedings, by extracting the local portions. It is 
entitled: ‘“Ane Alphabetical Account of all the Churches or 
Paroch Kirks, in Scotland, giving ane Account of the Shires 
where they lye, wt the Diocie, Presbytrie, Commissarie, and 
Patrons these Churches belongs to, by Mr And. Sympson.”’ The 
copy was written in Edinburgh, Oct., 1710, by R.M., who annexes 
a Catalogue of all the Religious Houses in Scotland. Dr Sprott 
has sent me this M.S., which I will copy and arrange for a future 


Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. Pr 


number of the Proceedings. There was exhibited by the Rev. 
G. P. Wilkinson a very curious medieval ivory shrine repre- 
senting the apotheosis of Mary Magdalene, which had been 
found at Croxdale, co. Durham. Mr Turnbull, Lilliesleaf, 
brought a fine example of 4ctea spicata with its berries, also the 
scarlet Monarda, Monarda didyma, both from his garden. Mr 
Farquharson stated that he had obtained specimens of fossil 
Graptolites and Crustacea from the black slate at Dobb’s Linn. 

The return was not less gratifying than the drive upwards. A 
group of cattle occupied a spit on the lake-shore in a position 
most favourable for a sketch. Fishers were out all along the 
line of the stream. The fine views of massive green hills, with 
far-stretching slopes and clean new farm steadings well sheltered ; 
and lower down of clumps of trees, and birchen groves, and 
seattered trees, and finally the grand old woods again, kept up 
a succession of pleasing objects. At Yarrow Feus we witnessed 
a party of pied wagtails in pursuit of flies disturbed from the 
grass by a number of grazing cows, and-admired the agility 
which they exhibited in capturing their prey. 

One feature in Yarrow that a stranger remarks is the number 
of sentinel-like stone pyramids on several of the hill-tops, and 
especially clustered round Sundhope. The question is put, are 
they modern or ancient? Unquestionably modern in their 
present pillar-like form, but many of them constructed at the 
expense of a primeval cairn at their base. Those on the hills 
around Bowhill are very recent, having been erected when some 
of the family attained their majority, or for some other congrat- 
ulatory manifestation. There are three all freshly built of cleaned 
stones on the Three Brethren Hill, out of an accumulation of 
long weathered stones. Those up the Yarrow were carefully 
constructed, probably by shepherds as landmarks in mists and 
snow storms. As said before, some of them at least are based 
on a sepulchral cairn. Mr Currie examined one of these. He 
writes, ‘‘I examined several cairns last spring, particularly one 
on Ladhope Hill. On clearing away the foundation I came on a 
cist formed by slabs set on edge, measuring about 2 feet 6 inches 
by 18 inches, filled with black earth but no trace of human 
remains.”’ 

There are no camps in Yarrow, and besides these cairns and 
the ancient burial ground at Annan’s Street, no other discoveries 
of tombs are known, than those recorded in the ‘“‘ New Statis- 


278 Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 


tical Account” of the parish (p. 47). 

“On Dryhope Haugh there stood a large cairn called Herton’s Hill, 
in the midst of which, when the stones were removed about 30 years ago 
[1803], to enclose the surrounding fields, some urns were found, besides a 
coffin formed of slabs and containing ashes. There may still be seen 
[1833], to the westward of Altrive Lake, on rising knolls, five considerable 
tumuli, probably remains of the ancient Britons. None of them 
have been opened; but the surface of the largest exhibits a mixture of 
charcoal and ashes. Its top was surrounded by a circle of stones thirty 
yards in circumference, with a small square of stones in the centre that 
were taken away to build dykes.” 

An iron spear-head under a cairn, and a looped bronze celt 
from among cists, were the only weapons disclosed at Annan’s 
Street. They may have been contemporaneous. The sculptured 
stone (a sandstone) described by Dr. Daniel Wilson, from a 
drawing, with figures of spirals, may not be older than the latest 
bronze age. 

The day after the meeting I spent with my friend Mr W. B. 
Boyd, at Faldonside, examining the thriving alpines on his 
rockeries, and his amply stocked garden borders. In the after- 
noon we made a botanical investigation of the flat west of the 
house, not far from the Tweed where there is also a pond, and I 
noted down the following plants, which, hcwever, are not all 
natives: Symphytum tuberosum, S. asperrimum; much Stellaria 
nemorum ; Asperula taurina, Malva moschata, Circea Lutetiana, 
Petasites alba, Rumex viridis, Rubus cestus, Galeopsis versicolor, 
Scrophularia nodosa, Campanula latifolia, Alisma Plantago, Barbarea 
vulgaris, and Polygonum Hydropiper. During the winter great 
numbers of short-tailed field-mice had burrowed in the woods 
here, far more than Mr Boyd remembered of seeing before. 
They were more particularly noticable immediately after a snow- 
storm, as they seemed the. to be collected in larger numbers 
together. Mr Boyd forwarded me an example in the middle of 
January, and I found it to be a brownish backed vole, Arvicola 
glareola (Mus glareolus). By the side of the Railway near Bold 
Station, there is a very abundant showy Hypericum. I think it 
is H. perforatum ; for although it has not many pellucid dots on 
the leaves, it has not the net work of the pellucid veins that 
distinguishes dubiwm; moreover the sepals are erect and not 
deflexed. It would require to be examined in a fresh condition. 

At Galashiels, Mrs Wood, shewed me an example of Gymna- 
denia albida, which she had gathered on a dry knoll in Gala 
park. This is a valuable discovery. Any specimens that I have 


Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 279 


seen of it were from Mousewald parish, Dumfriesshire. In 
Northumberland it grows in North and South Tynedale. Inter- 
mediate localities may now be looked for. 

MIDDLETON HALL. 

The meeting for Wooler and Cheviot centred in Middleton 
Hall. With the exception of two hours at mid-day, incessant 
rain fell from morning till dark, the blasts increasing in energy 
as the day advanced. To participate in the ample provision for 
breakfast at the President’s hospitable board, only one arrived— 
Mr James Thomson, as the Club’s visitor for the day. When it 
cleared up about 12 a.m., while Mr Hughes rode to Wooler to 
ascertain if there were any arrivals, Mr Thomson and I proceeded 
up Langleyford vale as far as Langlee. The lull in the tempest 
encouraged the attempt to make a few observations. 

The prospect from the top of Middleton Hall ‘bank always 
commands admiration. The fine long sweep of the Caldgate, 
broadly gravel-margined, along the green valley: beneath the 
steep, scooped-out bank, with its fern clad sides, its scattered 
thorns, its breaks of close-cropt pasture, and its high terminal 
planting, in which the gloomy hues of the pine intermingle, on 
the one side; and the rough broken pastoral ‘slopes, with dark 
level-topped alder groves clustered on the bottom swamps, and 
the scattered trees or thickets of oak, hazel, thorn or grey willow, 
wild briar or juniper, on the other, form a series of ever pleasing 
pictures to the lover of Nature in her wild aspects. The hills 
lift up their heads and beckon to us from afar; and the way 
opened up along the valley between its declivitous sides invites 
the willing footsteps towards the upland recesses. 

When descending to Careburn Bridge we examined the section 
of gravel by the roadside. There are small fragments of white 
or greenish-white sandstone (Tuedian) and of greywacke mixed 
with the predominant porphyritic constituents. Remains of this 
sandstone are rather widely dispersed along the lower flanks of 
the hills. They occur in Wooler-common burn; a large boulder 
at the mouth of Old Middleton burn ; also in South Middleton 
dean ; and other large blocks in the Upper Lill-burn nearly up 
to the road that crosses to Ilderton Moor. It is not quite safe 
to say whence these detached portions were derived. The 
Tuedian occurs 7m situ in the fields between Wooler and Earle; 
and towards the north at a considerable elevation on Whitelaw 
in the vicinity of Yevering Bell. Numerous minute fragments 


280 Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 


of far-transported greywacke occur among the gravel on the 
opposite side of the Caldgate. 

Few symptoms of the approach of autumn were as yet manifest. 
The ferny covering of the end of the Sneer had acquired a sickly 
yellow tinge; and a ruddy-leaved mountain ash, like an outburst 
of fire, streamed up amidst the as yet untarnished hazels and 
birches. The extensive alder clumps still maintained unbroken 
their deep green masses of colour. 

In the interval after the rain the rush of waters was audible 
on every side. Temporary torrents rushed violently down the 
steeps, and inundated the meadows. The augmented middle 
stream, moss-coloured and accelerated, broke high against the 
obstructive stones, or foamed around the rocky banks. A com- 
bination of infuriated water-falls, in one lengthened white streak 
dashed wildly down the precipitous ravine above-Langlee. 
The water-crow rejoiced in the aqueous commotion. Half-way 
up, three long-shaped, narrow, light brown birds, were seen at a 
distance, believed to be white-throats. A wren was also visible. 
There was little else noticeable. A fresh red-admiral butterfly 
(Vanessa atalanta, L) was abroad. There was a good crop of 
Fungi on the flats. We got within sight of Langleyford house, 
end its sombre fir wood; and in the far distance, the birchen 
groves on the hill-sides beyond were visible. Buta rain cloud that 
gathered about the peak of Hedgehope, dashed suddenly across 
the bulky Housy Crag, and swept down into the valley. This 
renewal of the blast deterred us from penetrating farther for the 
day. 

The entomolegy of the valley and its sides has been pretty 
exhaustively treated in the Club’s ‘“ Proceedings,” except the 
Lepidoptera, which require some one to be stationary in the 
vicinity for a week or two. It is to be hoped that some of our 
energetic young members will soon undertake this acceptable 
service. 

Meantime two other members, Mr Robert Weddell and Mr 
William Wilson, Berwick, had arrived at the hall. After 
luncheon, the Club was constituted, and the Rey. John Edmunds, 
Kyloe Vicarage, was proposed as a member. The [resident 
read a paper on the Paleontology of the Glendale valley, illus- 
trating it with the fine examples of Red Deer antlers, and a horn 
of the Urus (Bos primigenius, Boj.) that had been obtained in his 
father’s time, from the marl in Cresswell Moss, on the estate 


Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 281 


The girth of the horn, or rather the flint of the horn, at the 
junction with the skull is exactly one foot; the length from the 
junction with the skull to the point is two feet three inches. No 
tusks or teeth of the wild boar are preserved, but Mr Hughes 
had heard of their occurrence. After some hours of animated 
conversation the three visitants took their departure well enve- 
loped in water-proofs and other antipluvial defences. Out- 
side, the bursts of rain dashed against the windows; the trees 
were in violent agitation swayed by the outrageous gusts of 
wind; and the torn-off leaves were blown into the air like 

startled flights of birds, or dropped streaming to the ground. 
' The storm increased to a gale in the evening. 

Next morning a pair of chimney-swallows were sporting about 
the place. There are four martin nests attached to the house » 
but the martins generally leave about the 15th of September: 
This year a pair of sparrows took possession of one of the nests. 

Mr Hughes shewed me the moss that furnishes the marl. It 
occupies a curved hollow among low hillocks of drift, composed 
of gravel and clay, and is of considerable extent. The cavity, 
which looks as if the upper portion was once intersected by a 
small rivulet runs up to near the top of a small rounded hill 
where it terminates like the rounded head of a “‘hope.’”’ The 
peat is of a good depth ; and at its bottom lie the stems of great 
oak trees that had once grown on the dry margins and had been 
prostrated apparently by a gale from the north. Some hazel 
nuts were picked up. In the peat were fragments of rolled 
white sandstone and porphyry, which might have been washed 
in by surface water. The marl underlies the peat and the trees. 
The shells, which are numerous in the marl, are those of fetid 
stagnant water. JI thought I could discern traces of Chara 
hispida. The water is drained away by a very deep ditch, which 
keeps constantly running. Carex cespitosa is abundant in the 
marshiest part of the moss. 

This accumulation of marl has more than once been adverted 
to in the Club’s ‘‘ Proceedings.” In vol. I., p. 41 (1834), Mr 
James Mitchell describes the deposit. Oak and willow trees, 
acorns and hazel nuts, appeared in the peat, but no animal re- 
mains. Out of the marl two complete skeletons of red-deer, with 
large branching antlers had been extracted. They were standing 
in an upright position. A list of the shells collected from the 
marl is given; which according to corrected nomenclature were: 

J1 


282 Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 


Spherum corneum, Z. Limnea peregra, Dill. 
Pisidium pusillum, Z. Valvata piscinalis, Jill. 
Succinea putris, LZ. cristata, Jill. 
‘Planorbis contortus, Z. 

— nitidus, Mill. 

In 1860 (vol IV. pp. 158-9) it was visited by a party of the Club, 
including Mr Tate, who wrote the account. Three skeletons of 
red-deer had then been procured, and teeth of the boar. The 
timber noticed was of birch and hazel. A rib and some vertebre 
of red-deer, and a piece of bog-iron ore were collected by the 
Rey. John Baird. 

This is not the only locality where marl has been deposited on 
the margins of the great river valleys here. Its presence has 
also been ascertained near the steading at Humbleton Buildings 
on the edge of Glendale. Skeletons of bogged red-deer may also 
be expected elsewhere in the great plain between this and the 
Tweed. Several years ago I heard of one that had been found 
by a drainer, in what was called the Milfield plain, although 
the locality as pointed out was more in the Doddington district, 
being east of the Till. 

Middleton Hall is enclosed with shady old trees, and is pro- 
tected by new plantations along the heights from the N. W. wind. 
The mansion house is modern. The old hall stood at the bottom 
of the present pleasure ground, where there are two spreading 
sycamores. ‘There are the foundations of an old fortalice in the 
adjacent field, the remains of one of the ‘‘ two stone houses or 
castells’’ which were there in 1542, and belonged then to 
Robert and John ‘‘ Rotherforthe.””. The old hall might repre- 
sent the other. In the garden is a healthy cedar of Lebanon, 
whose trunk is still on the increase. The height is 34 feet; girth 
of the trunk at 1 foot and at 5 feet from the ground is 9 feet 6 
inches; the length of the branches from the centre of the tree 
29+5 feet. Besides larch, Scotch, spruce, and silver firs, Mr 
Hughes cultivates the following Coniferz successfully : Sequoia 
gigantea ; Pinus ponderosa, Lambertiana, nobilis, Nordmanniana, 
magnifica; Abies Menziest, Wilhamsom, Douglast; Libocedrus 
decurrens. 'The seeds, from which several of these were raised, 
were brought from the Yosemite valley. In the garden there is 
carefully preserved a clipped pyramidal-shaped beech which has 
an affecting history. It is intertwined and partly overgrown 
with a honeysuckle ; and the sprays of an old white rose penetrate 


/ 


Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 283 


through and aspire above it, and in the summer spread abroad a 
wealth of snowy blossoms. The three combined, the support 
and its fragrant embellishments, were planted by two ladies of 
the Derwentwater family, who resided long in the hall after the 
ruin of its former owners, —the Radcliffes. 

I learn that there are some old solid foundations near the 
outer shepherd’s house; and traces of a British camp on the 
higher ground. On Friday afternoon, I went to Doddington, to 
obtain the particulars about two urns revealed in digging the 
foundations for re-building a farm cottage at Mr Barber’s. They 
were dug out together from under the door-stone of the old cot- 
tage, and are both broken, but are in very fine condition other- 
wise. They are thin in texture, somewhat polished, and reddish 
coloured. Both are ornamented all over. The largest is an 
urn for ashes of the dead; the smallest a drinking cup. 
The largest, of a flower-pot shape, has at the top a band 
of upright and transverse strokes alternately; then a broader 
band of chevron or zig-zag ornament; and finally a series of upright 
and transverse strokes to the bottom. ‘The other, of the size of a 
small tumbler, and it might besaid tumbler shaped, is ornamented 
with entire lines, and lines of dots encircling it in alternation. It 
cannot be described without a figure ; and Mr Barber expressed 
his willingness to lend the urns for the purpose of having them 
sketched. I learned at the Rectory that people have been un- 
covering the inscribed stones on Doddington hill, which the 
Rev. W. Procter, junr., had endeavoured to protect with sods; 
and also that the inscriptions at the Routing Linn are becoming 
effaced by the weather, and that idle visitants are disfiguring the 
stones by cutting their names on them. 

When sheltering from a thunder storm, at Etal Castle, on the 
previous day, Mr Hughes and I remarked a considerable number 
of mason marks on the stones in the interior of the ruinous 
structure, which may be available for estimating its age. 

The following were some of the plants noted among the rocks 
at Tiptoe, or on the banks of Till there: 


Parietaria diffusa. Nepeta glechoma, 
Lonicera periclymenum. Hypericum perforatum, 
Euonymus europezeus. ——__ hirsutum. 
Origanum vulgare. Agrimonia eupatoria. 
Geranium pratense. Juncus diffusus. 


Tanacetum vulgare. 


284 Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 


There were large numbers of swallows between Tiptoe and 
Duddo, but nowhere else. The region of heated air in which 
they sported was that in which the thunder blasts, drifting up 
successively from Tweedside, reached their acme, and dis- 
charged themselves in torrents of rain. Itis to be hoped that 
the Club will have better weather than that experienced by its 
pioneers for a coming meeting in that vicinity. 

BERWICK. 

The annual meeting was held at Berwick, in the Museum. 
There was a drizzling rain with the wind in the east, which 
marred the enjoyment of the day outside. Among those present 
were:—Mr George P. Hughes, Middleton Hall, President ; 
Lieut.-Col. David Milne Home, M.P., Paxton House; Revs. 
John F. Bigge, Stamfordham; John Edmunds, Kyloe; James 
Farquharson, Selkirk; David Paul, Roxburgh; Evan Rutter, 
Spittal; R. N. Smith, Haddington; Geo. P. Wilkinson, Har- 
perley Park; R.H. Williamson, Whickham ; Drs. John Paxton, 
Berwick ; Charles Stuart, Chirnside; Allan Wilson, Alnwick ; 
Capt. J. A. Forbes, R.N., Berwick ; Capt. F. N. Norman, R.N., 
Berwick ; Messrs. Wm. Alder, Berwick; HE. A. L. Batters, Lon- 
don ; Robt. G. Bolam, Berwick ; George Bolam, Berwick ; John 
Broadway, Alnwick ; Matthew T. Culley, Coupland Castle ; Thos. 
Darling, Berwick; Robert Douglas, Berwick; James Hardy, 
Oldcambus (Secretary); W. T. Hindmarsh, Alnwick; Peter 
Loney, Marchmont; William Madden, Berwick; James Mein, 
Lamberton; George Muirhead, Paxton; James Nicholson, 
Thornton ; James Purves, Berwick; Adam Robertson, Alnwick ; 
John Scott, Berwick; J. R. Storer, Alnwick; John Turnbull, 
Selkirk; William Weatherhead, Berwick; Robert Weddell, 
Berwick ; Edward Willoby, Berwick ; William Wilson, Berwick. 

The President read his Address, and proposed Capt. F. M. 
Norman, R.N., as his successor; and Mr Hardy gave a summary 
report of the proceedings throughout the year. 

A rectification was made of the designation of non-paying 
members, who work along with the Club, who are to be here- 
after considered as Associates. A new class called Corresponding 
Members was established, consisting of eminent men of science, 
whom the Club feels bound to honour, and for whom hitherto there 
has been no provision made. Mr John Aitchison, Belford, for 
his contributions to the Ornithology of the district, was appointed 
an Associate ; and Professor C. C. Babington, F.R.S., Cambridge 


» 


Report of Meetings. By James Hardy. 285 


University; and the Rev. Leonard Blomfield, F.L.S., Bath; 
who have been in friendly relations with the Club from a very 
early period of its history, were recognised as its Corresponding 
Members. 

Those gentlemen who had been proposed at the different 
meetings of the year, were elected; and the following proposed 
at the present meeting were likewise added to the membership : 
viz. Mr Alfred Morrall Appleton, Solicitor, 12, Elvet Bridge, 
Durham ; Mr James Nisbet of Lambden, Greenlaw; Mr Edward 
A. L. Batters, B.A., L.L.B., F.L.S., London; Rev. Robert Bor- 
land, Yarrow, Selkirk; Rev. Edward Arkless, Berwick; Mr 
Blake Johnston Weatherhead, Berwick; Mr Charles Purvis, 
Alnwick; and Mr John MacNaught Campbell, Kelvingrove 
Museum, Glasgow. 

The Accounts were audited, and it was found that the outlay 
for the season considerably out-ran what had been received ; but 
not so as to exceed the amount in arrears. As the Treasurership 
is honorary, and occasions a deal of trouble, it is very desirable 
that prompt payment of subscriptions should be made. The 
increased size of the Club’s ‘‘ Proceedings,’ as well as the 
engravings, add appreciably to the current expense; and the 
members are receiving the benefit of every item of income. 

The places selected for meeting for the season 1884 were as 
follows: Cornhill for Pallinsburn, Flodden, and Ford, in May; 
Farne Islands in June; Prestonkirk for Whittingham and Pres- 
mennan in July; Ettrick from Selkirk in August; Newcastle in 
September ; and Berwick in October. 

A paper was read on Herons and Heronries in the Border dis- 
tricts, by Mr James Smail. The Rey. James Farquharson made 

some remarks on Carex divisa found on Holy Island, and read a 
' correspondence he had had with Professor Oliver on the speci- 
mens which he had submitted to him. The Rev. Geo. P. 
Wilkinson made a statement in regard to several old documents 
which a friend had lent him to show to the Club. One wasa 
petition from Sir Carnaby Haggerston and the inhabitants of 
Norham to the Bishop of Durham as Prince Palatine, to hold a 
fair and two markets at Norham. This was followed by a 
counter petition by the Mayor and Bailiffs of Berwick showing 
cause why the request should not be received. Then there was a 
letter from Lord Lisburne recommending the Bishop to refuse 
the grant. It appeared that the Bishop first refused and then 


286 Obituary Notices. By James Hardy. 


acceded to the petition. The other document related to the 
Roman Catholics in the different parishes in Norham and 
Islandshires divisions. 

The Rey. David Paul brought a number of the rarer Fungi ; 
Mr Muirhead had a vasculum of Asters and other autumnal 
flowers; and Dr. Stuart had also some plants to show to 
members. 

At Mrs Carter’s, Dr. Johnston’s Algz, newly arranged by Mr 
Batters, were shown; Miss Dickinson’s paintings of Fungi; 
photographs of the Farne Islands by Mr William Green, Ber- 
wick; several coins and curiosities, among others a gold St 
Andrews of Robert II. of Scotland from the Vale of Ettrick ; 
and a cup (lent by Miss Leitch, Tweedmouth) said to have 
belonged to Queen Mary and to have been used by her at Both- 
well Castle. There were also two local books from Mr Edward 
Willoby, viz. 1. Guild Book, 1794, 4to, entitled, ‘‘ A Roll of the 
Burgesses of Berwick according to Seniority.” 2. ‘‘A Directory 
and Concise History of Berwick-upon-Tweed, whereby every 
Tradesman, Merchant, Carrier, and the Shipping connected with 
the Commerce of that ancient Borough, will readily be found. 
Likewise Farm steeds twelve miles round the Country. The 
whole adapted for the Use of the Traveller and Merchant. Printed 
by W. Lochead, High Street. Price Three Shillings,” Svo. 

Col. Milne Home, M.P., moved a vote of thanks to the Presi- 
dent, and the members then adjourned to the King’s Arms Hotel 
for the annual dinner. 


Obituary Notices. 


Art the date of this, the last meeting for the year, the ordinary 
membership was 872. During the year the Club has lost four 
members by death. 1. Rev. Jonn Orr, M.A., Church Street, 
English Presbyterian Church, Berwick, a young minister of 
great promise, who died suddenly at Summerhill Terrace, 
Berwick, March 28rd, 1883. He had only been a member for 
two years. 2. Rosprert Crossman, Esq., J.P., of Cheswick, Lord 
of the Manor of Holy Island. Mr Crossman was born at Holy 
Island, 21st August, 1803, and died at Cheswick House, 17th 
July, 1883, in his 80th year. Mr Crossman was a most energetic 


Obituary Notices. By James Hardy. 287 


and successful man of business, and by his thorough probity and 
straightforwardness won the esteem and confidence of all with 
whom he came in contact ; and by his many acts of benevolence 
and generosity he endeared himself to all sorts and conditions of 
men, and many of the humbler classes will, by his death, lose a 
kind friend and benefactor. Mr Crossman in his latter years 
paid frequent visits to Holy Island, which he regarded with 
peculiar favour as the place of his birth. When the Club met 
there in June, Mr Crossman sent a message expressing his sor- 
row that he could no longer be present to welcome the Club as 
he had done hitherto, when in the neighbourhood. He became 
amember July 31st, 1862. 38. Rev. Joan WoopHam Dvunn, 
M.A., Vicar of Warkworth, died 18th September, 1883, aged 71. 
Mr Dunn was born in 1812, and was educated at Queen’s College, 
Cambridge (being a scholar and prizeman) where he graduated 
B.A., in 1836, and in the same year was ordained deacon, and 
licensed to the curacy of Longhoughton, where he succeeded the 
Rey. Aislabie Procter, and remained for three years. He was 
curate of Lesbury, 1839-42; vicar of Matterdale, in the diocese 
of Carlisle, 1842-46; vicar of Dalston, 1846-538, when the 
Bishop of Carlisle offered him the living of Warkworth. In 
1863 he obtained his M.A. degree. He was an active and 
laborious clergyman, and greatly esteemed by his people; a 
gifted scholar, a man of general knowledge, charitable and 
companionable. ‘‘In 1863 the Parish Church of Warkworth 
was restored at a cost of upwards of £1000, with a care and 
beauty, which must always remind those who see it, and knew 
him, of the taste, knowledge and energy in such matters which 
distinguished Vicar Dunn.” Mr Dunn’s favourite literary theme 
was the history of his own church and its romantic neighbour- 
hood. He was elected a member of the Club, 28th Oct., 1857. 
On the 25th of June, 1863, he read an interesting paper on 
‘¢ Warkworth—its Castle, Hermitage, and Church,’ with Plates, 
Hist. of Club, V., pp. 42-57, accompanied with valuable notes 
by Mr W. H. D. Longstaffe; and again, in the same vol. 
pp. 412-420, he gives ‘‘ Notices of the Ancient Vill of Wark- 
worth.” He also, at a meeting held at Alnmouth and Coquet 
Island, Sept. 28th, 1871, read an excellent prose version 
of the ‘‘Story of the Hermit of Warkworth,” which has since 
been printed by Mr Blair at Alnwick, as an accompaniment to 
Bishop Percy’s Ballad. Still earlier he had contributed to the 


288 Obituary Notices. By James Hardy. 


‘“‘ Archeologia Eliana” an article on Saxon Warkworth, vol. V., 
pp. 100-102 (1861) ; with a plate. In vol. VI., p. 62 of the same 
work he has a note ‘‘On an incised inscription on the interior 
jamb of the old Priest’s door in the chancel of Warkworth.” 
In the same vol. (1864) pp. 217-219, Mr Longstaffe, with a 
reference to Mr Dunn’s paper in the Hist. of the Club, contri- 
butes notes on Warkworth, with extracts from the Parish Books. 
To ‘‘ Archeologia Adliana,” vol. IIT., (1859) pp. 36-38. Mr Dunn 
furnishes a notice, with illustration, of ‘‘Ancient Sepulchral 
Remains at Amble.” This relates to a ‘‘Food-vessel, ’’ or small 
urn of unbakcd clay, a rude chip of flint, and a smooth cobble- 
stone found in August, 1857, in a cist enclosed in a friable shale, 
not far from the end of Warkworth South pier. These accompani- 
ed a skeleton lying on its left side, with the head to the S.W., 
having the knees much doubled, and the right arm thrown back. 
The urn was ornamented “‘ with zig-zag scorings, alternating 
with dotted lines, and upright and sometimes slanting scorings. ”’ 
It is now in the Museum of the Duke of Northumberland. Mr 
Dunn adds: ‘It appears that a few years ago, in the immediate 
proximity, two or more tumuli were found, which contained urns 
and bones; and flint arrow heads of elaborate finish have been 
occasionally met with,” (l.c. p. 38). Well formed-arrow heads 
have also been found in the same district in the land near Haux- 
ley; and examples of these were exhibited by Mr Henry Dand 
to the Club at a meeting at Powburn, 27th June, 1861. (Hist. of the 
Club, IV., p. 239.) 4. Dr. Jamus Scorr of Ashtrees, Rox., and 
27, Abercromby Place, Edinburgh, died at Newton, Rox., 22nd 
Sept., 1883, in his 70th year. Of this amiable and accomplished 
gentleman, a memoir by his relative, Dr. Francis Douglas, will 
follow. The references to Dr. Robson Scott’s contribution to the 
Club’s ‘‘ Proceedings’ are: Notices of a Deserted Heronry on 
the Farm of Swindean, in Bowmontwater (1865) vol. V., p. 220; 
and (1883) vol. X., pp. 87-88 ; Presidential Address at Kelso, Sept. 
24th, 1874, vol. VII., pp. 163-180 ; On an Oyster-Catcher shot at 
Belford on the Bowmont, 15th Sept, 1874, Ib. p. 192; Note of 
the Arrival of some Migratory Birds at Belford, in 1870-4, Ib. p. 
276; Time of Arrival of Migratory Birds at Belford, Bowmont 
water, vol. [X., pp. 400-410. 


William Stevenson. By Prorsessor Duns, D.D., F.R.S.E. 


Wr. SvEvEnson was born at Duns, 12th August, 1820, 
and died at Paisley, 20th January, 1883. The main object of 
this paper is to put on record Mr Stevenson’s labours as a scien- 
tific worker, and his contributiens to the literature of science. 
Mr David E. Stevenson has kindly sent to me many letters to 
his father from distinguished men of science, and, also, much 
unpublished MS. These might supply ample materials for a 
very interesting biography, but I shall refer to them only in so 
far as they fall in with the point of view of this notice. The 
earliest written record I have found of his scientific leanings is a 
Register of Barometrical Observations made at 9 a.m., 2 p.m., 
and 8 p.m., with a column for the direction of the wind and an- 
other for the weather. The terms, clear, cloudy, cloud with rain, 
fair with occasional cloud, rainy, stormy, frost, and suow serve 
his purpose for characterisation. This Register, begun on the 
18th of September, 1837, was continued more than forty years 
with comparatively few breaks. As a record of close, pains- 
taking, and acute observation in a department in which at the 
time of its commencement there were no easily available helps, 
and which grows in scientific accuracy and interest year after 
year, it bears full testimony to his ability as a meteorologist. It 
shews us his habit of the eye increasing in quickness as his 
range of observation widens, . nd his skill in the use of signs to 
serve for words keeping pace with enlarging knowledge of 
phenomena for whose description clearness and brevity are indis- 
pensable. The mode in which he both musters data and masters 
them in order to generalisation is equally note worthy. Mr 
Stevenson had early begun to think that there was a close con- 
nection between Cirri and Aurore, and in 1840 he communicated 
his views to Sir David Brewster, from whom he received the 
following note :— 

“Sir, 

I beg to thank you for your very interesting observations on 

Cirri and their connection with the appearance of the Aurora. The sub- 

ject is a most important one and well worthy of being systematically 

pursued. I read the substance of your letter at a Meeting of the St. 

Andrew’s Phil. Society yesterday; and we had the pleasure of electing 
K 1 


290 William Stevenson. By Professor Duns. 


you a Corresponding Member of the Society. Trusting that you will 
make us acquainted with any of your future discoveries that you may 
consider important, T am, Sir, 


Yours most truly, 


Noy 3rd. D. BREWSTER. ” 
St. Leonard’s St Andrews 


Sir David was quick to see the value and importance of the subject 
little more than hinted at here. Mr Stevenson’s observations 
indicated a new line of research which has yielded richer results 
than he could have anticipated. In October 1841 he forwarded 
a long letter to Sir David on ‘‘The Electricity of the Atmos- 
phere and the indications of Clouds of the nature of Cirri and 
Cirr-stratus.”’ This, and another in December of the same year 
on ‘‘A Remarkable Auroral display on the 19th November,”’ 
were read by Sir David before the same Society. Other articles 
followed, namely, ‘‘On some interesting Meteoric phencmena,”’ 
November, 1844, and ‘On an Aurora,’’ December, 1845. The 
same subjects led to a communication from Mr Airy, the 
Astronomer Royal; an interesting correspondence with Mr 
Glaisher, of the Greenwich Observatory, ranging from 1841 to 
1852; a letter from Mr Temple Chevallier, Durham College ; 
and to an intimate acquaintanceship with Dr. Dick, Broughty 
Ferry. In 1853, Mr Stevenson published an elaborate Article in 
the Philosophical Magazine in which he stated his maturest views 
on the connection believed to subsist ‘‘ between the Aurore 
and the formation and modification of clouds, particularly of the 
cirrus and cirro-stratus types.” In this paper he also refers to “‘ the 
connection between the variations of the solar spots and those of 
the terestrial magnetic forces.”” His:contributions to Meteorology 
at this period were many and important. Of these the following 
may be mentioned,—‘‘ On the general character of storms which 
pass over the British Isles,” (Zeverpool Lit. and Plul. Soc.). ‘‘ On 
the probable connection between the Solar spots and the Aurore,” 
(Royal Society). ‘‘Comparison of the Progressive Motions of 
Cyclones with the Motions of the Cirri,’’ ‘Lecture on Meteor- 
ology,” ‘Aurore Boreales.” The wide range of his knowledge 
of phenomena, the comparative freshness of his observations, the 
modesty with which he stated his views, and, withal, the 
thoroughly scientific method employed in his researches, drew to 
him the attention of the foremost workers in this department. 
The notes which follow may be taken as illustrations of the 
communications which reached him.— 


William Stevenson. By Professor Duns. 291 


* Royal Institution, 
My Dear Sir, 8 Mar. 1853. 

I am very much obliged by your kind note and shall be 
most grateful for any data you can favour me with in relation to atmos- 
pheric magnetism. The observations about the Cirri are exceedingly 
interesting, and if at your leisure you devote me a few minutes I shall 
be very thankful. Captn. Sabine was much struck by your note to me 
(the first one) and asked me to allow it to be read at the Royal Society 
next Thursday Evening, and I have sent it to him for that purpose. 

Your Very Obliged Servt., 
M. FARADAY. 
24 May 1860. 
“ Dear Sir, 1 Parliament St. S.W.”’ 

I thank you sincerely for the valuable and very inter- 
esting Paper which you so kindly sent to me on the 22nd. I have read 
it carefully. and shall stwdy it. In much your researches and ideas agree 
with mine—which encourages me not a little. During the last six 
months I have been urging Telegraph for Storms, and am now in daily 
expectation of Government authority to begin. Believe me, 

Your’s truly, 
ROBT. FITZROY. 

Can you spare me another copy for Dr. Lloyd of Dublin ?” 
In 1854 we find Mr Stevenson occupied with relations between 
‘“‘ Aoriculture and Meteorology,” and, in a correspondence with 
Sir J. 8. Forbes of Fettercairn, stating aspects of interest between 
these branches which have subsequently been fully recognised. 

There is proof that in the heart of his meteorological studies 
Mr Stevenson was giving equal, if not more, attention to Geology, 
and was, like a true observer, trying to make out the strati- 
graphical and paleecutological features of his own neighbourhood. 
The publication in the Witness Newspaper, 1840, of Hugh 
Miller’s graphic and fascinating papers on the Old Red Sand- 
stone, first gave Mr Stevenson the opportunity to make known 
his own work in this formation. Mliller’s cordially appreciative 
notice of this is well known. But not the least important fruit 
of Stevenson’s introduction to him was a correspondence begun 
in 1840 and continued till 1852. I have read Miller’s notes with 
unusual interest and pleasure. One of these and a brief extract 
from another may be given :— 
“ “My dear Sir, 

Many, many thanks for your parcel of fossils; I 
trust we shall by and by know something of the Old Red. You will 
excuse me the scanty bit of paper I employ when I tell you that all my 
spare minutes, and they are by no means numerous, are engaged with my 
little work on this formation. I trust in a month or six weeks to have 


292 William Stevenson By Professor Duns. 


the pleasure of sending youacopy. The specimen No 1, that in the 
thin fragments, contains not a tooth but an ichthyodorulite,—a sort of 
spine which formed the anterior part of a fin. I have seena similar one, 
only more entire, with Mr Murchison, which was dug out of the sand- 
stones of Clashbennie. It must have been no small fish that carried such 
a spear on its back, but there is nothing yet known regarding it. Your 
scale, No 2, is much more obscure than the scales of the Holoptychius 
generally are. Iam mistaken if it be not an occipital plate,—the bony 
matter well nigh absorbed, and the outer surface turned towards the 
stone. All the fish of this formation wear their bones outside ;—the 
scales, the external skull, the jaws, the rays, the ichthyodorulites were 
pure bone; the internal skeleton on the contrary, including the ribs, the 
vertebral column, the internal skull, and the internal rays, were cartila- 
sinous. They formed a connecting link between the two great classes 
into which all true fish are divided,—the osseous and the Cartilaginous,— 
a link which the present creation seems to want. Ican make nothing 
of your specimen No. 4. There is nothing coprolitic about it, nor am I 
prepared to say there is anything organic about it. The chemistry of 
geology is but little understood. I would be disposed, however, though 
with considerable uncertainty, to submit this last specimen rather to the 
chemist than to the naturalist learned in fossils. It has much the ap- 
pearance of being a trick of crystalization, and had there been ice in the 
days of the Old Red, I would be apt to attribute it to the freezing process, 
But if there was ice in those times Geologists are sadly mistaken. Pardon 
me this miserable scrawl, which I have not even time enough to read over, 
and believe that I am, My dear Sir, 
Yours very sincerely, 
HUGH MILLER. 

P.S.—In my little work I shall have to refer to your discovery. My 
own discoveries were made at atime when I was a working man,—a 
stone mason; and in addressing myself to the working classes I say so, 
in the hope of exciting their interest and awakening their curiosity. May 
I take the liberty of asking whether I may not speak of you in that char- 
acter also? You will I trust forgive me if I am guessing amiss, and drop 


me a very few lines on the subject. A.M. 
5 Sylvan Place, 17 July, 1841. 
My dear Sir, Many thanks for your kind recollection of me, and 


your excellent letter. It is written in a manner of which no Geologist 
might be ashamed, and the matter is as interesting as the manner is 
good. I had intended well nigh six weeks ago sending you a copy of my 
little work on the Old Red Sandstone,—published about that time, but 
in the hurry of the General Assembly and the Election, added to the 
average amount of toil incidental to a twice a week paper, the intention 
was unluckily not effected. Forgive me the delay and gratify me by accept- 
ing theaccompanying copy. . . . Pardon me this careless scrawl and 
believe me to be, My dear Sir, » 
Very sincerely yours, 
HUGH MILLER.” 


William Stevenson. By Professor Duns. 293 


Among the other communications entrusted tome by Mr D. 
E. Stevenson, are letters from the Duke of Argyll, Murchison, 
Sedgwick, Owen, Nicol, and A. Geikie, which are all of value as 
indicating what share his father had in connection with the rapid 
progress of Scottish Geology in the course of the last forty years. 
To give more specimens here would extend this notice beyond 
reasonable length. Besides, they would require for a setting a 
statement of the discoveries of contemporary workers which, 
however suitable as a chapter of biography, would be out of 
keeping with our present point of view. I content myself with 
a list of Mr Stevenson’s published papers :—‘‘ On the stratified 
rocks of Berwickshire and their imbedded Remains,” (Geol. Soc. 
Proc. 1848) ‘Two Lectures on the Geology of the neighbour- 
hood of Dunse, delivered at the Mechanics’ Institute,” (Berwick 
Advertiser, Dec. 1844) ‘‘On the Geology of Cockburnslaw and 
the adjoining District,” (Zrans. Roy. Soc. Hdin. 1849) ‘On a 
gap in the Grauwacke formation of the Eastern Lammermuirs,”’ 
(Geol. Soc. Janr. 1850) ‘‘ Remarks on certain traces of a forma- 
tion of Primary Quartz rock which appears to have at one time 
existed in the south of Scotland,” (Roy. Phys. Soc. Proce. 1850, 
also Berwick. Nat. Club Proc. 1864) ‘‘ Lecture on Geology at 
Hyemouth,” (Berwick Advertiser, Jan. 1851) ‘On Bedshiel 
Kaimes and their relations to similar deposits eastward and 
westward,” (Berwick. Nat. Club Proc. 1864) ‘On the origin of 
Granite,” (Roy. Phys. Proc. 1864) The object of this paper was 
to expound and illustrate the following Proposition :—‘‘ Granite 
is the result of Molten Felspar, of rocks adjacent to the place of 
eruption.” His illustrations are from Glencoe, Ben Nevis, 
Morvern, Ben Cruachan, Arran, and Aberdeenshire. ‘‘ Notes 
on certain Spiral forms,” (Do. Do.) The subject referred to 
in these notes is the spiral appearance seen in the course of 
streams a subject which has not yet been fully worked out. He 
says ‘‘ It will be observed that on the right bank of the stream the 
spiral form is from left to right, or similar to that of the hands of 
a watch, whilst on the left bank it is from right toleft,’’(Do. p. 865.) 
“‘ Notes of plants from Old Red Sandstone, Dunse,” (Do. Do.) 
“On evidence of Ice Action in Berwickshire,” (Ber. Nat. Club 
Proc. 1874). In 1876 Mr Stevenson forwarded to Mr R. Ether- 
idge, Jun., of the Geol. Sur. Scot., fragments of fossils found by 
him in Kimmerghame Quarry, saying at the same time that he 
guessed them to be fragments of Hurypterus larger than £, 


294 William Stevenson. By Professor Duns. 


Scoulart. When other fragments were forwarded Mr Stevenson’s 
guess was found to be correct, and the form was named Eury- 
pterus Stevensont. 

A subject in Speculative Geology, which has ever had a charm 
for students in whom a strong imagination is found united to 
good attainments as workers and observers, early cast its spell over 
Mr Stevenson. I refer to the hypothesis of the original fluid 
condition of the whole earth, and of its present internal condition. 
Field workers are necessarily much alone and have strong induce- 
ments to take to waking dreams. Besides, accurate knowledge of 
things ever tempts to enquiry after the thoughts which underly 
them. Indeed, the whole bent of recent science is dissatisfaction 
with the mere observation of phenomena, and an earnest desire 
to find the laws of which they are the expression. Had Mr 
Stevenson been satisfied with dreams without seeking their inter- 
pretation, and with hypotheses without attempting to render them 
into the form of laws, he would have escaped, perhaps, the 
greatest disappointment connected with his scientific work. 
Among his MSS. is an elaborate paper entitled ‘‘ Calculations, 
&e., relating to the Internal Fluidity of the Earth,” 1845. Itis 
loaded with complex calculations, marked by much shrewdness 
and fair inductive power. But there are inaccuracies in the 
calculations, and mistakes as to the import and value of phenom- 
ena appealed to as illustrative proofs. Some of these errors are 
corrected in subsequent copies, but after a careful perusal of the 
paper, one finds it impossible to dissent from the criticism of 


Professor Hopkins to whom he had sent it: 
‘ “* Cambridge, 
Dear Sir, Feb. 28, 1853. 

The subject which you have discussed in the paper you sent me has 
been frequently discussed before. And I am satisfied that neither further 
discussion of it nor numerical calculations respecting it, can be of any use to 
geology, unless conducted with far more mathematical accuracy than you 
have pretended to in these researches. Hitherto mathematicians have been 
deterred from attacking the subject more determinedly, I imagine, by the 
want of the essential experimental data to give practical value to their results. 
The effect of great pressure on the temperature of fusion of any substance, 
the degree in which it contracts or expands in the act of passing from the 
fluid to the solid state, the modification produced by great pressure or the 
rate of contraction of volume from loss of heat &c., &c., are points to be 
more or less approximately determined before we can enter with any hope of 
practical success on the general problem JI am now endeavouring, in con- 
junction with Mr Fairbairn and Mr Joul of Manchester, to supply some of 
these experimental data as far as they are attainable by direct experiment. 


William Stevenson. By Professor Duns. 295 


When the results shall be published I shall have much pleasure in sending 
youacopy. My impression is that of the Council the Geological would 
probably not recommend the publication of your memoir in the present state 
of the subject ; but if you wish to have it read there, I will with pleasure 
forward it to the Secretary for that purpose. If not, shall I return it to 
yourself ? Your very obliged servant, 

W. HOPKINS.” 


The thorough treatment of this subject implies both great 
expertnesss in numerical calculations, and great mathematical 
attainments. Mr Stevenson had natural powers which under 
training would have fitted him for both. But he had entered on 
his investigations without this advantage, and he was well aware 
of his deficiencies in this respect. When the late Rev. John 
Wallace, of Abbey St Bathans, a most accomplished mathe- 
matician and most genial man, opened a class for Mathematics 
in connection with the Dunse Mechanics’ Institute, Mr Stevenson 
became one of his most devoted and successful pupils, but the 
circumstances were such that no great progress could be made. 
He does not, however, seem to have sympathised with the esti- 
mate which Hopkins had formed of his paper, because he after- 
wards submitted it to a learned Society in competition for a 
prize, with the title ‘Deductions from the hypothesis of the 
internal fluidity of the Earth.” It was returned to him bearing 
the following pencil note, ‘“‘I am of opinion this paper is not 
entitled by its originality or importance to any prize. J.D.F.” 
Nevertheless, looking at this attempt to grapple with a great 
subject in the light even of a somewhat full acquaintance with 
its literature, and especially in view of Sir William Thomson’s 
papers ‘On the Secular Cooling of the Harth,” and ‘On the 
Doctrine of Uniformity in Geology,” I cannot help bearing 
testimony to the ability of its treatment, and the aptness and 
originality of much of its illustrative matter. This list of geo- 
logical papers conveys a very inadequate idea of the time and 
attention devoted by Mr Stevenson to the statement of his views. 
The correspondence referred to above is highly suggestive on 
this point. In several cases he preserved copies of his answers 
to queries by fellow workers, and these shew how heartily he 
entered into even the minutest details of the matter on hand— 
hastening to give far more information than was asked or 
expected. One example may be given. A good many years ago 
I had tried to work out the relations between deposits at Allanton, 
Chirnside, Putton mill, Langton, Fogo, &c., and having made up 


296 William Stevenson. By Professor Duns. 


my mind as to some of these, I wrote a note of two or three lines 
to Stevenson, looking for one quite as brief in return. But the 
answer was as follows :— 

Dunse, 7th, Octr., 1858. 

My Dear Sir, 

You are quite right in your impression regarding the strata 
below Langton Bridge.~-They are Lower Carboniferous and their place is at 
or near the very base of the System. Besides"the vegetable remains you 
mention, I have found at the scaur below the bridge, or more correctly in the 
same bedsa little farther down (in the plantation) teeth, scales, and spines 
of a large species of Gyracanthus. Similar fish remains have been found by 
me in strata occupying the same geological position at Broomhouse and 
Allanton. The Sandstones of Puttonmill and Kimmerghame are also very 
near the same position, and likewise contain fish remains. 

There is an extensive series of beds in Berwickshire, intervening between 
these and the Encrinal Limestone which crops out south of the Tweed. The 
equivalents of these beds may be seen in Balagan Glen near Campsie, 
Auchenreoch Glen near Dumbarton, &c. On the shore between the Pease burn 
and Dunglass there is a splendid section where strata occur, which I consider 
the representatives of the Langton beds (also fossiliferous near the south-east 
end of the section, a little above the Old Red strata). Much higher up in 
the same section (just below the fishers’ houses at Cockburnspath Cove) are 
fossiliferous beds, which I consider the equivalents of the Burdiehouse strata. 
The Encrinal Limestone is still a long way above these beds. The inter- 
vening strata may be seen along the coast, where, however, they are not so 
well developed as in the Merse. } 

In the course of Langton burn, between the bridge and Langton wood, a 
series of grey and reddish brown shales are seen associated with Sandstones 
and beds of a sort of Cornstone or impure concretionary calcareous rock. 
These strata contain no*fossils, but from their position and mineral character, 
are evidently the connecting links between the Carboniferous and Devonian 
Systems. The true Old Red (upper part) appears farther up the burn. 

A fault or faults of small extent probably existed near Langton bridge, 
and a fault of great extent has produced a ‘ boulversement’ of the Old Red 
above Langton wood. This fault runs along the east side of the Hardens by 
Raecleugh, and along the course of the burn to Choicelee, etc. Nevertheless 
I think the whole series of strata between the true Old Red, and the beds 
below Langton Bridge may be made out with tolerable completeness by com - 
paring other sections within a range of a few miles from Dunse. 

Believe me, Yours very sincerely, 
WM. STEVENSON. 


But the most important of Mr Stevenson’s studies in geology isa 
series of MS notes, consisting of more than two hundred and 
thirty closely written folio pages, begun in 1841 and continued 
till 1855 under the title ‘‘ Materials for the Geology of Berwick- 
shire.’? They are of great value, and bear the fullest and most 
satisfactory evidence of his rare accomplishments as a geologist. 


William Stevenson. By Professor Duns. 297 


I say this as one well acquainted with the localities and phenom- 
ena referred to, and as having often felt the difficulties connected 
with attempts to determine and explain the relations of the 
Lammermuir and Sub-Lammermuir deposits. 

Associated with these notes, and not unfrequently mixed up 
with them, are others made in the North and West Highlands, 
Fife, Forfar, Perth, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Linlithgow, Rox- 
burgh, Peebles and Selkirk Shires, in which his skill as a student 
of physical geology—descriptive and dynamical —is equally con- 
spicuous. In these notes, moreover, a good deal occurs which 
indicates that Mr Stevenson might have done good work in arches- 
ology had his mind become sufficiently interested in it. The 
qualities shown when he had to describe superficial deposits 
would have been most useful in this department. But I am not 
acquainted with any paper on Berwickshire Antiquities by him 
except tho ‘‘ Notice of a Cist found at Broomhill, Dunse,”’ in the 
Proceedings for 1863. In 1864 he delivered an Address to the 
Club as President. In the proceedings of the Society of Anti- 
quaries of Scotland for 1871, intimation is made of the presenta- 
tion by Mr Stevenson of a Bronzo Palstave found with a sandstone 
Celt on the farm of Windshiel. 

My chief desire in the foregoing remarks was to put on record 
the names at least of Mr Stevenson’s principal contributions to 
science. The outline is necessarily meagre and bald. Before 
closing, I refer briefly to the worker himself. In his ripe boy- 
hood I saw a good deal of Mr Stevenson. Occasionally on 
summer mornings, between 5 and 7 o’clock, he joined Stephen 
Hislop, myself, and others in our walks to the ‘‘ Verter Weil ;” — 
going by Todlaw and returning by Grueldykes and ‘‘ The Style.” 
The tastes of the little company were mostly towards science. 
The eyes of one wandered among wayside trees and flowers and 
grasses, of another among beasts and birds, and butterflies and 
beetles, while Stevenson’s scanned the sky or looked in the stream- 
let’s course for his favourite ‘‘ bdlletts” (pebbles). He was about 
5 feet 6 in height ; as a lad he was slender of build with a slightly 
‘forward stoop, and even then with student shoulders; long arms 
and fingers ; light hair, greyish blue eyes, thinnish lips ; and mouth 
around which happy thoughts and quiet humour seemed ever 
lingering. When I left Berwickshire for the University we fell 
out of acquaintanceship, but-I continued to take great interest 
in the reports of his work, | ; 

: 1! 


298 William Stevenson By Professor Duns. 


Mr Stevenson’s father was a working cooper in Dunse, where 
his family, for several generations, were well to do feuars. 
William was early apprenticed to Mr R. Young, draper. At the 
close of his apprenticeship he sought earnestly for a situation as 
a draper’s assistant, but, after six weary weeks of unsuccessful 
application at shops in Edinburgh and Glasgow, he had to return 
home. As he had never taken heartily to shop work, he willingly 
embraced an offer of employment in the office of Mr Allan Purves, 
factor on Dunse Castle Estates, where he continued till 1848. 
He had for several years been well known beyond his native 
county. The recognised leaders in the departments of science 
to which he was especially devoted—Meteorology and Geology— 
had cordially acknowledged the value of his work. In such 
circumstances it was not unreasonable to begin to cherish hopes 
of work more congenial than the daily routine of that in which 
he was engaged. He thought, for example, that he might be of 
some service on the staff of the Geological Survey, and ventured 
to say so to Murchison, who mentioned his name and claims to 
Sir Henry T. De la Beche. But nothing came of this or other 
applications. Deferred hope -brought its wonted sickness of 
heart, and he resolved to spend the rest of his days in America, 
where he believed merit and not interest or patronage determined 
success. The results of this resolution are described by himself, 
in a peculiarly graphic MS, entitled ‘+ Stevenson’s Voyages: Or 
Notes of three unsuccessful attemvts to reach New York: Spring, 
1848.’ The shrewd observations, strong common sense, and 
picturesque details of scenes and incidents which occur in this 
narrative will strike most. But it abounds also with illustrations 
of aspects of individuality, which I had not hitherto associated 
with Mr Stevenson. Hebhad reached the age at which all the 
powers of man—moral and intellectual—seek their highest expres- 
sion—powers, many of which, in the case of those studying for, 
or just entered on, learned professions, are repressed by the very 
seriousness of that earnestness of hope that springs from labour 
as earnest. But Stevenson at this time does not seem to have 
had much, if any, of the thoughtful sadness which Albert Durer 
has so finally expressed in his great science-picture ‘‘ Melancholia, ” 
as usually a fruit of persistent intellectual work. There is wit 
in “The Voyages” but it is not genial. There is humour but it 
is not quiet. It is worth noting that the period of Mr Stevenson’s 
greatest intellectual activity was the decade ending 1853—that is 


Memoir of Dr. James Robson-Scott. By F. Douglas. 299 


between the age of twenty three and thirty three; a somewhat 
early development, when we remember that most of the really 
substantial and lasting work in literature and science is done 
after that age. Towards the close of his life the business appoint- 
ments which he held in connection with town and country work 
seem to have made it impossible to devote much time to science. 
But he never fell short of the description of himself given, when 
@ comparatively young man, on the occasion of receiving a valu- 
able volume from his town’s folk ; He said—‘‘ I have always felt, 
as I think every one must feel in such circumstances, that the 
pleasure connected with such labours is, in itself, irrespective of 
any other recognition or reward, far more than an adequate com- 
pensation for any trouble which their performance may involve. 
The pleasure which one feels in doing what he concientiously 
believes to be right, is assuredly one of the highest which a man 
can enjoy in this state of existence. Convinced of the truth of 
this, I trust I shall be ever ready, so far as my humble abilities 
and opportunities admit, to take part in any work which I may 
consider beneficial, either to the interests of my townsmen or to 
those of the world at large.”” The re-perusal of the papers in 
meteorology and geology named above, together with the oppor- 
tunity I have now had of carefully examining the unpublished 
MSS, also referred to above, have more than confirmed the high 
estimate I had previously formed of William Stevenson as a 
scientific worker. 


Memoir of Dr. James Robson-Scott. 


Dr. Rosson Scorr was the eldest son of Mr John Robson, 
tenant in Belford on Bowmont Water, and grandson of James 
Robson, Esq., of Samieston, whose name has long been fami- 
liar to Border farmers and stockholders as the pioneer in the 
improvement of the Cheviot breed of sheep. Dr. Scott was born 
at Belford in 1814, and after a home education entered the 
literary classes of the Edinburgh University—subsequently he 
chose medicine as a profession, and after graduating in Hdin- 
burgh in 1836 obtained an appointment in the Medical Service 
of the East Indian Company at Madras. After serving some 
time in that presidency, he accompanied his regiment to Singa- 


300 Mungo Park. By H. 8. Anderson, M.D. 


pore and subsequently to China towards the conclusion of the 
War with that country. On returning to Madras he had for two 
years the medical charge at the Neilgherry Hills, and then took 
furlough to Europe. He was appointed to a Cavalry regiment 
on his return to India, an appointment which he held until he 
left the Service in 1858. By his brother officers Dr. Scott was 
highly esteemed, and he was, from geniality of temper and dis- 
position, a general favourite with dll classes in the public service. 
in the death of a maternal uncle, he inherited the estate of Ash- 
trees in Roxburghshire and took the additional patronymic name 
of Scott. He was Commissioner of Supply and Justice of Peace 
for Roxburghshire, and being fond of Archeological pursuits 
was associated with Sir Walter Elliot, of Wolfelee, in the investi- 
gation of old county records. Dr. Scott had from his youth an 
ardent attachment to Natural History, especially to Ornithology 
and Botany. In 1868 he became a member of the Berwickshire 
Naturalists’ Club, and to its Transactions he occasionally contri- 
buted; in 1873 he was appointed its President and delivered the 
annual address at Kelso in 1874. Dr. Scott was also an office- 
bearer in the Scottish Meteorological Society, in which he took 
great interest. He died after a very brief illness at his brother’s 
house, Newton near Jedburgh, on the 22nd September, 1883, and 
was buried with his forefathers in the churchyard of Hownam. He 
is survived by his widow, two married daughters, and one son, 
an officer in the 3rd Hussars. F. Dovetas. 


Mungo Park. By H. 8, ANDERSON, M.D., Selkirk. 


As requested by the Members of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ 
Club, I venture to give a sketch of the celebrated African 
traveller, Mungo Park, who, by his explorations in the interior 
of Africa, added much to our knowledge not only of the physical, 
but also of the moral geography of that very interesting but 
then almost unknown country. He was the discoverer of the 
course of the Niger—in truth the pioneer of African travel. 

Park, as all know who have read his very interesting Journal, 
had to encounter the greatest difficulties and dangers, and even 
a long and cruel imprisonment; but all these he overcame by a 
rare combination of prudence, temper, and perseverance, and his 
simple but beautiful narrative is almost like a romance. 


Mungo Park. By H.S. Anderson, M.D. 301 


Mungo Park is a son of ‘‘ Tho Forest,” having been born and 
brought up at Foulshiels on the banks of the Yarrow, opposite 
Newark. He was educated as a surgeon, and was the appren- 
tice of my grandfather Dr. Anderson of Selkirk, whose daughter 
he afterwards married. He went first to India, but returned 
soon, and being strongly impressed with a desire to travel and 
explore unknown regions, he selected Africa, and set out alone 
to that country in 1795, under the auspices of the African 
Association. He landed on the West Ooast of Africa near the 
mouth of the Gambia, and then started eastward. At first he 
encountered considerable difficulties and opposition, but the 
natives were on the whole very friendly, till he came among 
Moors by whom he was taken prisoner and brutally treated. 
But he escaped, though at the greatest risk, and persevered on 
his journey, still proceeding eastward, until at last he reached 
the banks of the Niger. With what infinite pleasure he must 
have gazed on the great object of his mission, the long looked 
for majestic Niger glittering in the sun, as broad as the Thames 
and flowing to the east. After this he still travelled eastward, 
following the Niger in hopes of determining its course, and finding 
its termination in the ocean; but again he fell in with cruel and 
inhospitable natives, suffered much from hunger and thirst, and 
was often in the greatest danger of his life, being stripped naked 
and left entirely without food. 

Reduced by fever, and destitute of the means of procuring the 
mere necessaries of life, he was at last driven to abandon his 
enterprise, and resolved, but with the deepest regret, to retrace 
his steps homewards. After again encountering great dangers 
and difficulties he gained the coast, where he fell in with an 
American vessel, and reached England by way of the West 
Indies, having been absent two years and seven months. 

In 1799 he published the Journal of his Travels, which was 
received with much favour by the public, and is still a favourite 
book. 

After his return to this country he married and settled in 
Peeblesas amedical practitioner, but the drudgery of a country doc- 
tor’s life, and the long dreary rides up Tweedsmoor and over Tala 
Linns to Meggat head were more irksome to him than the dan- 
gers of Africa ; so he resolved once more to return there, and 
make out the course and termination of the Niger. 

Accordingly under the auspices of the British Government, 


302 Mungo Park. By H.S. Anderson, M.D. 


accompanied by several friends, amongst whom were his own 
brother-in-law Dr. Alexander Anderson and Mr George Scott of 
Singlie, and with a band of 30 soldiers, he started on his second 
Mission to Africa in January, 1805. He again set out for the 
Niger, which he reached in about six months; but the journey 
being made in the rainy and unhealthy season, most of the 
soldiers died as also his two friends Anderson and Scott. With 
the few left he embarked on the long looked for river, but was 
soon attacked by natives, and after defending himself nobly was 
either killed or drowned. 

His fate was for some time very uncertain, and though a 
tolerably correct account came to this country, his widow and 
family longed and hoped for his return for any a day. 

Thus perished Mungo Park, a hero of ‘‘The Forest,” and a hero 
to all who have read his Journal; one whose enterprising spirit, 
calm fortitude and unshaken perseverance few travellers have 
equalled, none surpassed. His experience and example may 
have stimulated and encouraged others. He led the van, and 
although many have since followed, and great strides have been 
made in our knowledge of the great Continent of Africa since 
his day, still much is due to Mungo Park; and the inhabitants 
of ‘‘The Forest” and of Selkirk have shown their appreciation 
of the man. by the handsome monument erected in their street 
to his memory. 

There is in my possession an in‘eresting relic of Park’s second 
African Expedition. It is a copy of Isaac Watts’ ‘‘ Psalms and 
Hymns,” which belonged to Alexander Anderson, my uncle, who 
accompanied his brother-in-law Park in his second journey, but 
died ere the party had proceeded far into the interior. The 
traveller had preserved this volume after the death of his friend, 
for it was found in the boat in which Park was killed, and was 
kept in the hut of an African chief, hung up wrapped in yellow 
muslin as a charm, ‘“‘ because it belonged to the good white 
man.” Richard Landor brought it home and gave it to Mr Nut- 
land, a literary friend in London. The relic was shown by Mr 
Nutland to Hogg the Ettrick Shepherd, who remarked ‘‘ How 
much his friend Dr. Anderson of Selkirk would value that book.” 
Mr Nutland readily said he would be happy to restore it to the 
family, and at once did so. The volume is a small duodecimo, 
published iu 1800 by C. Whittingham, London, in which Watts’ 
Psalms of David, imitated in the language of the New Testament, 


Mungo Park, By H.S. Anderson, M.D. 303 


are bound up with his Hymns and Spiritual Songs, in three 
books occupying 540 pages. On the fly-leaf the owner’s name 
appears ‘‘ Alexander Anderson,’’ General Military Hospital, 
Gosport, Augt. 30, 1804. 

The waters of the Niger have left their traces on the brown and 
stained pages, and almost obliterated the gilding from the edges 
of the leaves; but the dilapidated state of the little volume 
makes it all the more titting a momento of the sad fate that 
overtook its owner, and then his more distinguished friend and 
leader. To both of them it probably brought help and solace 
when parted from their fellow Christians, and contending with 
the difficulties of African travel ; for Anderson was a thoroughly 
religious man, and the Christian faith of Park was strong and 
sincere. 

A most gratuitous attack has recently been made on the 
character of Mungo Park by an eminent and eloquent writer, Mr 
Ruskin, in ‘ Fors Clavigera,’’ in having questioned his belief 
and kindness as a husband and head of afamily. Fortunately 
there exist documents which attest Park’s religious principles, far 
more satisfactori!y than his preservation and probable use of the 
little volume I[ have referred to; anda letter to his wife which 
has been preserved exhibits him in the character of a loving 
and chivalrous husband. 

I append a letter written by Park on the eve of his departure 
for India, to the same attached friend who accompanied him to 
Africa, and perished ere the Niger was reavhed, viz. Dr. Alex- 
ander Anderson. 

The letter to his wife is almost too sacred for the public eye, 
and but for Mr Ruskin’s extraordinary and inexcusable explosion, 
I doubt whether I should have printedit. It was written while 
Park was in London, negotiating with the Government about a 
proposed exploration of New South Wales, which never came to 
any practical result. ‘Ihe letter speaks for itself, and completely. 
refutes the baseless aspersions of Mr Ruskin. 

Extract of letter of Mungo Park to his brother-in-law, Dr. Alexr. Anderson. 


London Feby. 9th, 1793. 

I have now reached that height that I can behold the. tumults of nations 
with indifference, confident that the reins of events are in our Father's hands, 
May you and I ‘not like the stubborn mule, but like the weaning child) obey 
his hand that after all the troubles of this dark world in which we are truly 
strangers, we may, through the wonders of atonement reach a far greater and 


an exceeding weight of glory. _ I wish you may be enabled to look upon-the 


304 Notice of an Urn. By John Turnbull. 


day of your departure with the same resignation that I do on mine. My hope 
is now approaching to a certainty. If1 be deceived, may God alone put me 
right, for I wa rather die in the delusion than wake to all the joys of earth. 
May the Holy Spirit dwell for ever in yr heart, my dear friend, and if I never 
see my native land again muy I rather see the green sod on yy grave than 
see you anything but a Christian. Farewell. 

(Signed) MUNGO PARK. 


To his Wife. 
London, March 12th, 1801. 

My lovely Ailie, 

Nothing gives me more pleasure than to write to you, and the 
reason why I delayed it a day last time, was to get some money to send you 
wh I hope you have received. You say you are wishing to spend a note 
upon yourself; my sweet Ailie, you may be sure I approve of it, what is mine 
is yours, and I receive much pleasure from yr jgoodness in consulting me abt 
such a trifle. I wish I had thousands to give you but I know that my Ella 
will be contented with what we have, and we shall live in the hope of seeing 
better days. 1 long very much to be with you my love, and I was in great 
hopes of having things settled before now, but “Sir Joseph” is ill and 
I can do nothing till he recovers. 

T am happy to know you will go to New South Wales with me, my sweet 
wife. you are everything that I could desire, and wherever we go, you may 
be sure of one thing, that I shall always love you. Whenever I have fixed 
on this or any other situation I shall write to you, in the meantime let nobody 
know till things are settled, as there is much between the cup and the lip. 

My lovely Ailie, you are constantly in my thoughts I am tired of this place 
but cannot lose the present opportunity of doing something for our advantage. 
When that is accomplished I shall not lose one moment. My Darling, when 
we meet I shall be the happiest man on earth. I had a letter fr my brother 
Adam on Monday, by this time he has sailed for India. Write soon forI 
count the days till 1 hear fr you, my lovely Ailie. Yrs ever, 

(Signed) MUNGO PARK. 


Notice of an Urn jound at Manderston, Berwickshire. By 
JOHN TURNBULL, Esq., W.S., F.S.A. Scot. Plate I. Fig. 1. 


In the Parish of Manderston about 150 yards south of the 
west gate is a somewhat abrupt rise in the ground of 10 or 12 
feet. In digging material in the early part of July, 1882, from 
this slope to fill up a hollow in the approach to the house, and 
just on the top of the slope, a Cist containing an Urn was laid 
open. The workman’s pick had passed between the stones 
forming the Oist—tore away the stone at the east end of it, and 


Notice of an Urn. By John Turnbull. 305 


broke a hole in the Urn which however otherwise remains entire. 
The Cist lies approximately east and west. It is from 39 to 40 
inches long, 26 to 28 broad, and 16 deep. A single stone forms 
each side and end, and the cover consisted also of a single stone 
—all of them red sandstone slabs from 6 to 8 inches thick. It is 
difficult to say whether or not they have been dressed in any 
way. There was no stone fur the floor. The cover was about 6 
inches below the surface of the ground. 

In the Cist were found an urn and some fragments of human 
bones much decayed—among them a piece of the skull. The 
urn must have stood near the east end of the Cist, otherwise it 
could not have been broken by the pick which tore away the 
east end wall. Itis 74 inches high by 6 inches across the mouth. 
It is of what is called the drinking cup type, and is ornamented 
by incised lines encircling it forming six bands—three of the 
spaces between these bands being completely filled by oblique 
incised lines ; and the other spaces being oraprmented by smaller 
markings along-side the bands. 

[I extract a few particulars from another account by Mr Wm. 
Fairbairn: ‘‘The urn was found about 500 yards to the west of 
Manderston House, and about 70 yards from a very fine spring 
of water which at present supplies the mansion-house. The 
adjacent ground runs with a gentle slope both to the north and 
south, and it was on what appears to be the highest part of the 
ridge, consisting chiefly of gravel and sand, that the cist was 
found, and where I may say it still stands. The circumference 
of the urn at top is 194 inches; at its most contracted part above 
the middle 17 inches; at the greatest girth below the middle 193 
inches; at the base 124 inches. Parts of the skull found along 
with it are i of anjinch in thickness. One of the side-stones of 
the cist measures 3 feet and the other 3 feet 6 inches. These 
with one of the end stones still remain fixed in the earth. The 
stones are of the roughest description, and no care has been 
taken to square or dress them in any way. The depth of the 
stones may be said to be about two feet; and if the cavity has 
at any time been deeper, it must have been made so by scooping 
out. the bottom.” The engraving is from a drawing by Mr 
Turnbull.—J. H.] 


Ml 


5306 


On an Urn found on the Galla-law near Luffness, East 
Lothian. By James Harpy. Plate I. fig. 2. 


Ar the Aberlady meeting Mr George H. Stevens, Gullane, 
exhibited a small earthenware Urn, discovered January, 1880, 
by John Purves, a workman, in a quarry on the rise of Luffness 
Links, towards Gullane Hill. It is what is called a ‘‘food 
vessel,” intended to hold provisions for the spirit-body of theinmate 
of that particular grave in the next world. It resemblesa small 
flower pot. Its height is 43 inches, diameter across the top 5} 
inches, and at the bottom 3 inches. It has a well marked lip, 
ornamented with 4 circular lines of impressions of plaited thong 
or rush; the ornament of the upper part of the urn on the out- 
side consists of 10 similar lines, and then a well-marked smooth 
rib; beneath this, on the diminishing portion, is a band of up- 
right strokes, which are from 3 to % of an inch in length. 

In the same locality Mr Stevens picked up a fragment of a 
diminutive vessel of Samian ware, showing intercourse with 
Roman occupants. He also found several bits of a cinerary urn. 
On the same rocky ‘‘ knowe’’—the ‘‘Galla-law’’—there were 
found about eighty years ago, gold ornaments, including a 
bracelet ‘‘of the appearance of the brass handles of an old- 
fashioned chest of drawers,” i.e.a Penannular gold ring or 
armlet. Mr Stevens writes that ‘to the north-east of the quarry 
is a spring of water called ‘ Brand’s Well,’ the only one on the 
hill; and possibly a Holy Well endowed at Gullane by David I., 
when he endowed one at Garvald. Still more to the north-east 
on the same line, is a large number of boulders scattered on the 
hill-side which may have been a sacerdotal and a judicial circle, 
or Mote-hill.” 

There are likewise various other examples of ancient inter- 
ments and reminders of old British occupancy on that line of 
coast. The most elaborately ornamented sepulchral urn hitherto 
discovered in North Britain was obtained in 1802, at Luffness on 
the estate of George W. Hope, Esq., and was long kept at Luff- 
ness, till it was irretrievably fractured by the mis-management 
ofaservant. It had fortunately been figured and described in 
the ‘‘ Archeological Journal,” vol. xv., p. 287. There is also a 
figure of it in the illustrated Catalogue of the Meeting of the 
Archeological Institute, held in Edinburgh, July, 1856, p. 37. 
The height of the original was 53} inches; diameter of the 


Black Dyke and British Camps. By James Tait. 307 


mouth 6} inches. ‘‘A few years ago,” writes Mr Stevens, 
‘‘about 800 yards to the east of Luffness House, in a gravel 
bank, the skeleton of a human being was found, buried and en- 
closed in a stone cist, not unlike a “‘ box-drain,”’ of 1 foot 6 inches 
square, and fully 6 feet long. The size of the leg bones and the 
cist indicated a man of large size. The gravel bank appeared to 
be an ancient sea beach on the 25 feet contour line of the 
Trigonometrical Survey.”’ 
On the west of Aberlady there are other traces of the old 
inhabitants. Mr Congalton, Aberlady, states that when he was 
_a youth there were remains of a fine camp, in a field near Craigie- 
law, part of which was then entire. This was dismantled fifty 
years ago. Farther again to the N.W. there have occurred 
numerous relics of the old dwellers on these shores. Should 
these again be disturbed by quarrying, it is hoped they will be 
attended to, and not lost. ‘‘ All along the shore,’”’ says the Rev. 
Dr. Neil Roy, writing 1791, ‘from Aberlady to Longniddry are 
a great many stone graves, all of them that have been opened 
containing human bones: particularly in Gosford Links they are 
laid almost as thick as in a churchyard, and fill a considerable 
space of ground. It is remarkable that many of them lie nearly 
south and north. In searching lately for a stone quarry there - 
were found in a hole, enclosed with stones, about 30 inches by 
18, the bones of a human body, and a small well-formed tessel- 
lated urn of a very light blue colour. It is in the custody of the 
Earl of Wemyss. Ata small distance from these graves are two 
pretty large tumuli.” (Trans. Soc. of Antiq. of Scotland, 1., 
p- 517). 


On the Black Dyke and some British Camps vn the west of 
Berwickshire. By James Tart, Blainslie. 


I, THE BLACK DYKE. 

A few years ago the Black Dyke could be spoken of as an 
existing memorial of antiquity : now it is only in one small part 
that it can be examined with anything like critical curiosity. Its 
effacement has been caused by the extension of agricultural im- 
provements over the moorlands where the Black Dyke ran, The 


308 Black Dyke and British Camps. By James Tait. 


Black Dyke, though bearing such a name, was not a mere Dyke 
and nothing more ; it was also a road,* and was in fact always 
spoken of by people in its vicinity as an old Roman Road. It 
had been formed by digging a deep trench on both sides of the 
proposed line of way, and then throwing the earth thus excavated 
into the inside of the trenches, thus forming a way high and dry. 
Its width along its course seems to have been rather more than 
twelve feet, and its height seems to have varied, sometimes 
rising four feet above the level of the adjacent ground. 

The first trace of the Black Dyke in its northern part was on the 
northern extremity of Boon Moor, in the Parish of Legerwoo 
where some years ago, before this moor was brought under cul- » 
tivation, the course of the Black Dyke could be easily discerned 
running southwards, and passing on the eastern side of two camps 
fortified by earthen ramparts. These have been levelled, and the 
earth of which they were composed, scattered over the adjoining 
ground. Pursuing its way southward, seldom however keeping 
a straight line, but bending to the right or left as the ground 
required, it passed Corsbie, and then proceeded up the ridge or 
spur that runs out from Legerwood Black Hill. This hill which 
is on the west side of the Black Dyke, is of considerable elevation, 
and its highest portion had been used by the Ancient Britons asa 
place of strength: The hill being steep on all sides but one, the 
Britons had contented themselves with raising a single earthen 
rampart round their camp. Nothing can be said about the size 
of this rampart as it has been quite levelled in the course of culti- 
vation. Within the last two years several spindle whorls have 
been picked up inside the lines of this camp. Legerwood Black 
Hill is the northern face of the great plateau, covering over 3,000 
acres of ground which lies between Earlstoun and Legerwood. 
Within the limits of this plateau were several camps, one of 
which situated a mile north from Huntshaw appears to have been 
of Roman construction. The Harlaw or ploughed hill seems to 
have been the name of this great table land, since a valley at its 
base bears the name of the ‘‘ Karlaw Haugh, ” and it is quite a 
possibility that the town of Harlstoun has taken its name from 
this Earlaw. The local pronunciation of the names of this haugh 
and the parish of Harlstoun favours this etymology. 


* In this respect the Black Dyke resembled the Wansdyke, the great 
earthwork that separated Mercia from Wessex and is believed to have 
been used as a Road. 


Pd 


Black Dyke and British Camps. By James Tait. 309 


Returning to the Black Dyke, it was next found running down 
the Black Hill spur in the direction of West Morriston. All 
along this part of its course stone coffins have been turned up 
by the plough in former times; indeed, occasional spots are 
spoken of by old residenters as ancient burying grounds. This 
seems to favour that etymology of ‘‘ Legerwood ” which explains 
it as ‘‘ Deadmen’s Wood. ” 

The Black Dyke, passing on its right an old camp and shortly 
after on its left a great gravelly knowe called ‘‘ Kelso Hill,’ now 
removed, left the farm of West Morriston and the Parish of 
Legerwood, and entered the farm of Purveshaugh, which is in 

© Parish of Harlstoun. It passed at some distance west from 
the steading of Purveshaugh, having on its right side the old farm 
house of Standingstone, which has taken its name from a 
‘“‘Standingstone”’ standing in a corner of the steading. This 
stone has no marks of any description, and looks westward to a 
large circular camp of the Ancient Britons—a ‘‘round about, ”’ 
situated on an eminence of moderate height. The Black Dyke 
passed on through the farm of Purveshaugh, crossing a field 
where, some years ago, a labourer while cutting a drain, turned 
up a horn containing about 150 silver coins mostly of the reign 
of Edward I. of England. The Black Dyke next crossed the 
most easterly field on the farm of Georgefield, from which it 
proceeds on towards a moor on the farm of Yarlside, where for 
about half a mile it is in its best state, and where any one who 
wishes to see the small remains of the Black Dyke must go. In 
all other parts of its course it is at the best no more than faintly 
discernible, but at this part is given a very fair idea of what the 
Black Dyke was throughout most of its course within the memory 
of the present generation. The Black Dyke next proceeded 
across the farm of Park and entering the Parish of Mertoun, 
crossed the western part of the farm of Brotherstone, and passed 
the east end of Redpath Hill, where seems to have been a British 
Camp. 

This farm of Brotherstone takes its name from two standing- 
stones, standing in a field eastward from the farm steading. 
These stones are less weather-beaten than most standing-stones 
and perhaps there is truth in the traditional statement that they 
are comparatively modern and erected in memory of two brothers 
who here slew each other. Here is the site of the ancient village 
of Wrangham, not a stone of which now remains. This village 


310 Black Dyke and British Cumps. By James Tait. 


was the reputed birth-place of St. Cuthbert, the famous Anglo- 
Saxon saint, and Bishop of Lindisfarne, and here he is said to 
have spent his early years under the care of a devoted nurse 
named Kenspid. When he grew older, he is said to have served 
as a herd boy on the banks of the Leader, and the place of his 
service has been said to be Cuddyhall, midway between Harls- 
toun and Lauder. Old Melrose, where St. Cuthbert spent the 
middle stage of his life, is at a short distance from Wrangham. 

Throughout the whole distance of about ten miles, along 
which we have already traced the Black Dyke, its course has 
run through fields and across country. It is quite otherwise 
with the remainder of it. After leaving the farm of Brother- 
stone, and cutting off a small portion of the farm of Craighouse, 
it crosses the highway leading from Melrose to Smailholm, and 
thereafter maintains its existeuce as a lawful way,fenced by 
hedges and dykes, and having the traditional reputation of being 
an old Roman Road. It next proceeds by the east end of 
Bemersyde Hill in a southern direction, till it reaches the road 
from Mertoun to St Boswells, and either becomes one with this 
road, or is not farther traceable. If continued by the Mertoun 
road to St Boswells, it may have joined the Watling Street, a 
local name for which is the Weirgate. 


II. BRITISH CAMPS. 


Returning to our starting point, the northern extremity of 
Boon Moor, we are there about two miles distant from the Hare- 
faulds, an Ancient British walled encampment, situated on the 
farm of Blythe, and at no great distance from the farm steading. 
Though the camp is now in utter ruin, twenty years ago great 
part of it was in a state of perfect preservation, and a short 
account of its former state may not be uninteresting. The camp 
was of an oval shape, and had been defended bya great stone 
wall about six feet in thickness on the northern side where it 
was assailable; on the other sides the wall did not exceed three 
feet in thickness. The ‘‘faulds’’ rested on the strong exterior 
outer wall and had their entrances toward the centre of the camp. 
The measurements of five of these, all on the north side of the 
camp, were 394, 57, 30, 60, and 78 feet in circumference. Each 
of them had behind it in the exterior wall a cell of the exact 
shape of a draw well. These cells may have been store-rooms 
for the dwellers in the folds, An old broken down dry-stone 


Black Dyke and British Camps. By James Tait. 311 


dyke runs through the middle of the camp from west to east, 
and after leaving the camp its course may be traced towards the 
steading of Blythe for about 200 yards. The ground on which the 
dyke runs is above the level of the ground around it, and perhaps 
is the line of the famous earthwork called Harrit?s Dyke which 
ran from Blythe to Berwick. 

A small camp covering half an acre of ground stood a short 
distance west from the farm house of Blythe, and a strong 
British encampment covering fully two acres, and defended by 
three earthen ramparts, lies between Harefaulds and the steading 
of Thirlstane. It is situated on high ground, and is covered 
with a young plantation. 

About two miles north from the Harefaulds is found a small 
so-called Druidical Circle, embracing within its circuit rather 
more than the third part of an acre. The stones of the circle are 
about forty in number, are all small, of a rough shape, and all 
apparently in their original position. Traces of hut circles were 
found on the western side of the Circle, and about seventy-five 
yards 8.E., are standing two large stones near to one another, 
and formerly there were a great number of broken pieces of 
stone close around them, the remains possibly of some rude 
Cromlech. 

About two hundred yards east from this Circle is an oval ring 
enclosing about two acres of ground. The stones used in this 
ring are of the same size and character as those in the small 
circle, but placed at much wider intervals, the distance between 
the stones varying from twenty two to twenty eight yards. This 
oval ring bears the name of the ‘‘ Burrastoun Lair,” and pro- 
bably was the Lair or hiding place of the inhabitants of the 
Burgh town of Lauder, on occasion of a Border Raid, or an 
English invasion. Other Border towns in like manner seem to 
have had their lairs or hiding places in times of war and danger ; 
that of Earlstoun was in the How of the Hope on Huntshaw 
Hill, and the last time it was had recourse to was in 1745, when 
the villagers fled thither at the coming of some of Prince 
Charlie’s Highlanders, who, however, found them out and 
despoiled them of their brogues. 

The Burrastoun Lair lies at the eastern base of Dabs Hood, 
one of the most considerable eminences of the Lammermoors. 
The summit of this hill is fairly level, and about six acres at the 
highest point are enclosed by strong earthen ramparts. Another 


312 Black Dyke and British Camps. By James Tait. 


camp enclosing about half an acre of ground, and lying north 
from it at a distance of a quarter of a mile, may be considered as 
an outpost of the larger camp. 

Another great camp is on the top of the hill behind Longcroft, 
and encloses about four acres. One striking feature of this camp 
is the fact that the whole interior space has been sub-divided 
into smaller camps, each protected by a strong stone wall. The 
average diameter of these smaller camps is about thirty yards. 

South from Longcroft Camp and separated from it by a wide 
valley is Addingstone Camp. This is much smaller than Long- 
croft Camp, but the earthen ramparts are of immense size, and in 
the centre has been a circular enclosure protected by an earth- 
work about 60 yards in circumference. Addingstone Camp is 
nearly rectangular in shape. 

Another great camp is Black Chesters, situated on a hill with- 
in the limits of the farm of Blackburn, rather more than two 
miles above Lauder, and on the western side of the Leader. As 
its site has been planted with trees, its area inside the outermost 
rampart is estimated only at about six acres. Three great 
earthen ramparts with wide and deep ditches between form the 
outer fortifications, while parts of the inner area seem to have 
had separate defences. To increase the security deep pits had 
been dug at intervals within the camp, and in these cattle and 
flocks may have been safely penned. A fourth rampart protected 
this Camp on the west side where it was most open to attack. 

These Camps are the best preserved of all the Camps in 
Lauderdale. 


315 


Notes on the late Mr George Tate's Specimens of Lower- 
Carboniferous Entomostraca from Berwickshire and 
Northumberland. By T. Rupert Jones, Esq., F.R.S. 
F.G.S., &c. (With PLATE II.) 


Part 1. Enumeration of the Hand-specimens, with their Localities. 

In the ‘‘ Proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club,” 
for 1863 (1864), pp. 83-89, there is a ‘‘ Description of Entomos- 
traca from the Mountain-limestone of Berwickshire and North- 
umberland”’ by myself, ‘‘ With notes on the strata in which they 
occur, by George Tate, F.G.S., &c.”’ This paper contained 
descriptions of Estheria striata (Miinster), var. Zateana, Jones (p. 
85, fig. 1), and Candona (?) Tateana, Jones (p. 87, fig. 2), which 
had already been treated of in the ‘‘Monograph of Fossil 
Estheriz,” Paleontographical Society, 1862; also another 
Entomostracon, under the name of Beyrichia Tatec, Jones (p. 88, 
fig. 3.) 

I have had much doubt as to the real generic place of this 
last-mentioned species; and I shall again allude to it in the 
sequel. 

After publishing the description of the Entomostraca above 
mentioned, the late Mr George Tate, of Alnwick, placed in 
my hands for examination other specimens from the Lower- 
Carboniferous Strata of Berwickshire and Northumberland. 
Various circumstances, however, have prevented my doing jus- 
tice to them until now; and, although I regret the delay in 
fulfilling my late friend’s wish that these specimens should be 
fully examined, yet they have had much of my earnest attention 
from time to time, and I am pleased to think that my friend Mr 
J. W. Kirkby has favoured me with his notes on some of them. 

The hand-specimens confided to my care are marked with 
letters and localities. I will refer to them under these designa- 
tions; and, incorporating Mr G. Tate’s notes on their geological 
positions, briefly notice their characters, and add afterwards the 
descriptions of the new or little-known species occurring in them. 

1. A. Lamberton. Estherian shale, with stheria striata 
(Minster), var. Zateana, Jones, and Candona (?) Tateana, Jones ; 
see ‘‘ Monogr. Foss. Estheriz,”’ Pal. Soc. 1862, p. 27 and p. 128, 
where the name of the locality is given as ‘‘ Lammerton.” 

2.B. Alnwick Moor. Black shale, fine-grained, somewhat 
carbonaceous and micaceous; low down in the Mountain-lime- 

Nl 


) 


314 Lower-Carboniferous Entomostraca. By T. R. Jones. 


stone group; with Anthracomya and fish-scales. Bed-planes 
covered with casts and impressions of Beyrichia crinita, sp. nov. 
There is also a somewhat crushed Lstherza tenella (Jordan), in 
shape like fig. 23, pl. 1, and fig. 5, pl. 5, of the ‘“‘ Monograph 
Foss. Estherie,” 1862. 

3. OC. Tweedmouth. A dark-coloured, fine-grained shale, with 
numerous valves of Leperditia subrecta (Portlock) and ZL. Scoto- 
burdigalensis* (Hibbert), scattered over some of the planes of 
bedding, mostly small, crushed, half-imbedded, and otherwise 
obscured. This is very similar to some of the Carboniferous 
shales of Ireland, described in the ‘“‘ Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.” for 
July, 1866, pp. 42-50. There are also two or three specimens of 
a Kirkbya in this Tweedmouth shale. Mr Kirkby has found a 
similar form in the Calciferous-sandstone series of Fifeshire 
(equivalent to the Tuedian group of Berwickshire). We are 
inclined to refer this Kirkbya to a species allied to M’Coy’s 
‘* Cythere costata”’ (see ‘‘ Ann. Mag. N. H.,” July, 1866, p. 43), 
but somewhat different in the arrangement of its ridges, and 
known to us as K. spiralis, J. & K. MS. 

This shale contains some fish-remains; and it seems to be low 
down in the Mountain-limestone group, nearly in the same zone 
as the shale from Alnwick Moor with Beyrichia erinita. 

4. D. Quarter-of-a-mile north of Denwick Lane. This is a lime- 
stone containing some small and obscure Leperditie (?) ; from near 
the middle of the M.-L. group. 

5. E. Cawlishes [ Cawledge|, near Alnwick. A bluish-grey 
' fossiliferous shale; from near the middle of the M.-L. group, 
and containing Leperditia Scotoburdigalensis, small encrinital 
joints, &e. 

6. F. No Jocality. Limestone with Productus, from near the 
middle of the M.-L. group. No Entomostraca. 

7. G. Bellingham. Fragment of red ironstone, from the lower 
part of the M.-L. group. This contains a varietal form of Car- 
boma fabulina, J. & K., which species is abundant in the Lower 
and Upper Carboniferous strata of Scotland, and in the Upper 

Carboniferous (Coal-measures) of England and Wales. 


*See “Ann. Mag. N. H.” of May, 1865, and July, 1866, for the 
arrangement of these two species under Leperditia by Messrs. Jones and 
Kirkby. 

+‘ Trans. Geol. Soc. Glasgow,” vol. rv., 1867, p. 213 ; and “ Ann, Mag. 
N. H.” ser. 5, vol, rv., 1879, p. 30, 


Lower-Carboniferous Entomostraca. By T. R. Jones. 315 


8. H. Howick. Bluish-grey, shaley, argillaceous limestone 
with Naticopsis and other fossils. From the middle of the M.-L. 
group. Some obscure ovate Cytherelle (?). 

9. K. Shittleheugh, Reedwater, Northumberland. Dark-shale, 
with some small, obscure, crushed, and nearly semicircular 
valves of LZ. Scotcburdigalensis (?). From the lower part of the 
M.-L. group. 

10. L. Howick. Hard, black, carbonaceous shale, with 
Aviculopecten, and small obscure casts of ZL. Scotoburdigalensis (?). 

11. M. Lamberton. Arenaceous shale, dark-grey and hard ; 
from a few yards beneath the lowest bed of the section given at 
page 27 of the ‘“‘Monogr. Foss. Estheriz,” 1862. It contains 
Spiyfer, &c. A very interesting little Entomostracon occurs 
here (four or five specimens have been found) which has the 
characters of a minute Cytherella. I shall record it as Cytherella 
Tatei, in memory of its discoverer. 

12. N. Howick. Soft, black, carbonaceous shale, with a frag- 
ment of Aviculopecten, and obscure casts of L. Scotoburdigalensis (?). 

13. O. Near Cornhill. Impure limestone with Anthracomya 
(?) and Microconchus. Near the same zone Araucarites, G. Tate, 
‘Fossil Flora of the Mountain-limestone Formation of the 
Eastern Borders,” p. 298, occurs. No Entomostracon. 

14. Q. Cockburnspath, South of. Very impure limestone, or, 
rather, a brownish-grey micaceous sandstone, cemented with the 
calcareous Entomostracan fragments. It belongs to the lower 
part of the Tuedian* group, and is like that marked ‘‘ W,”’ but 
not so coarse. L. Scotoburdigalensis abounds in it. In a letter 
Mr Tate described the specimen as ‘‘ A very impure limestone 
near the base of the Tuedian group, on the Berwickshire coast. 
about one mile south of Cockburnspath. Of this bed there are 
three feet ; and above it a conglomerate of three feet, with the 
same fossils. Besides Entomostraca these beds contain fish 
remains and plants; among the latter is Stigmaria ficoides.” 


* See “The Berwickshire M.-L. Fauna, &c.” in the “ Proceed. Ber- 
wicksh. Nat. Club,” vol. 1v, p. 151; and “Geology of Northumberland 
and Durham ”’ in the ‘‘ Nat. Hist. Trans. Northumb. and Durh.,” 1876, 
pp. 8and9. Ina letter dated October 8, 1861, Mr G. Tate referred to the 
group of strata called ‘“Tuedian”’ by him, as being “separated from the 
Mountain-limestone,” and as being ‘ seen chiefly in Berwickshire, on the 
Tweed and Whiteadder, as well as on the coast. They occur too in 
Northumberland. My last discovery of them was at Akeld, west of 
Wooler, where they are tilted up against the Cheviot porphyry.” 


316 Lower-Carboniferous Entomostraca. By T. R. Jones. 


15. R. Leet near Coldstream. Grey Tuedian shale, with L. 
Scotoburdigalensis (common), and two specimens of a Cythere, 
somewhat like C’. Jonesiana*, Kirkby, which is well known from 
Permian strata; and to which several specimens of Cythere from 
the Carboniferous Limestone of England and Scotland approach 
very closely in form. As, however, it is a new species I call it 
C. Kirkbyana. 

16. 8. Lireburn on Tweed. Dark-grey shale, somewhat mica- 
ceous. Tuedian. JL. Scotoburdigalensis. 

17. T. Kenebs on the Whiteadder near Dunse. Grey Tuedian 
shale, with Anthracomya (?) and L. Scotoburdigalensis. 

18. V. Tweed two miles above Kelso. Light-grey micaceous shale 
(Tuedian), with broken valves of Z. Scotoburdigalensis (?). 

18. W. Edington Mill, Whiteadder. Coarse micaceous and fel- 
spathic sandstone, cemented with the calcareous matter of Ento- 
mostracan valves. Tuedian. JZ. Scotoburdigalensis abundant, 
shewing muscle-spot and interiors. 

20. X. Burnmouth on the Berwickshire Coast. Grey micaceous 
shale, with Anthracomya. Tuedian group. L. Scotoburdigalensis. 

21. Z. Hutton, Hutton Hall, below Hutton Mill, and Hutton 
Mill, on the Whiteadder. Grey micaceous fossiliferous Tuedian 
shale, with obscure casts and broken valves of Leperditia Scoto- 
burdigalensis. 


Parr u. Description of the Lower-Carboniferous Entomostraca collected 
by the late Mr George Tate, F.G.S. 


1. Canpona (?) TatTeana, Jones. 

‘Monogr. Foss. Estheriz, Pal. Soc.,’’ 1862, p. 123, pl. v., f. 15; 
and ‘‘ Proceed. Berwicksh. Nat. Club,”’ vol. v., 1864, p. 87, wood- 
cut, fig. 2. 

I have nothing to add to the description formerly given of this 
rather obscure species. 

2. Bernix Tater, Jones. 

Pl. 11., fig. 5 (Prof. Lebour’s); figs. 6a, 6b, 6c (Mr G. Tate’s). 
Beyrichia Tatei, Jones, ‘“Proceed. Berwicksh. Nat. Club,’ vol. v., 
1864, pp. 87-89 ; woodcut, fig. 3. 

I have already (page 313) alluded to my doubts as to the 
generic alliance of this species. At first (op. ci. p. 88) I com- 
pared it with some small so-called ‘‘ Beyrichie (from Canada), 


* G. Tate’s “ History of Alnwick ” vol. ii., 1869, p. 45. 


Lower-Curboniferous Entomostraca. By T. R. Jones. 317 


figured and described in the ‘Ann. Mag. N. H.’ ser. 3, vol. 1, 
p- 244, pl. 9, in which a simple furrow and a tendency to a 
Leperditia-like form are characteristic.” These were referred 
by Dr. Holl and myself in 1865 (‘‘Ann. Mag. N. H.,”’ ser. 3, vol. 
XVI, p, 417) to the genus Primitia ; but I do not wish to transfer 
Mr Tate’s little fossil to the last-mentioned genus for several 
reasons. 

In the first place, the dorsal line in my woodcut, fig. 3, p. 88, 
ends too sharply at the narrower (posterior?) portion of the 
valve,—giving the valve too much of a Leperditioid appearance ; 
in fact, the specimens have a less pronounced hinge-line, and 
less oblong valves (that is, with less equal ends), than the figure 
shews. Thus they now appear to me to be much less Leper- 
ditioid, and much more Cytheroid, that is, ovate-oblong, with the 
anterior portion broader than the posterior, and the dorsal much 
straighter than the ventral margin ; the dorsal line, also, falls 
into its anterior slope (or stops at the front hinge-joint) at about 
a fourth of the length of the valve from the broadest end, and 
loses its straightness more imperceptibly near the hinder end of 
the valve. The transverse sulcus impressed on the mid-dorsal 
region of each valve is not, however, known in recent Cythere ; 
but it is characteristic of Limnicythere, and occurs also in some 
other recent Entomostracans of estuarine or freshwater habitats, 
—namely Cyprideis (Cytheridea), and in one Cypris (C. gibba, 
Ramdohr/. These dorso-sulcate valves of Cyprids and Cytherids 
exhibit also the general ovate-oblong outline described above as 
that shewn by the fossil specimens under notice. 

Thus, then, our fossil specimens are neither Beyrichie nor 
Primitie* ; nor can we regard them as belonging to Cythere. 

Placed with its anterior (broadest) end upwards (as usual in 
depicting Cythere and its allies), the so-called ‘“ Beyrichia” Tated 
reminds us of some existing forms of Cypris, Cyprideis, and Lim- 
nicythere ; and it corresponds with them in appearance far better 
than it agrees with any Beyrichian form, and even better than 
with the Primitie to which I once thought it might be assimilated. 
Nevertheless it differs from all in some essential particulars ; and, 
though it may have some relationship with the freshwater and 
brackish Limnicythere and other dorso-sulcate forms above men- 
tioned, yet the apparent alliance is not close enough to allow of 


*I mentioned this as a likely collocation in the “ Ann. Mag, N.H.”’ 
November 1882, p. 359. 


318 Lower-Carboniferous Entomostraca. By T. R. Jones. 


its being placed generically with any of them. 

With my new views of its alliance, it is now described as 
having a moderately convex, bean-shaped carapace, with sub- 
oblong, equal valves, broader (higher) at one end (anterior) than 
at the other. The largest carapace is 1°5 millimetre long, and 
the width (height) of the valves is more than half the length by 
mi of the length. Both ends are rounded, but the large curve of 
the anterior margin is slightly flattened above in front of the 
hinge-line; and the hinder curve is slightly compressed at its 
lower half. Dorsal border straight along the hinge-line, which 
extends from a fitth of the length of the valve from the posterior, 
to nearly a third of the valve’s length from the front. The sur- 
face is smooth to the eye, but, when magnified, shews a radiating 
reticulation, which varies in intensity in different individuals ; it 
is also impressed with a shallow furrow in the middle third of the 
dorsal region, reaching to the centre of the valve ; and it bears a 
small submedial tubercle in front of the sulcus, accompanied by 
some small irregular depressions of the surface; seen edgeways 
the carapace has a long, narrow, oval shape, with sharp ends; 
end-wise it is subovate. The radiate ornament on the valves 
from Northumberland reminds us of a similar marking sometimes 
visible on the outside of Leperditia (L. arctica), and always on the 
inside or cast. But the broad, definite, central muscle-spot and 
the escutcheoned eye-spot of Leperditia are both wanting ; and the 
dorsal furrow, though present in Primitia, is not a Leperditian 
feature. 

A coarse radiate reticulation is present in the Silurian Beyrichia 
clathrata, Jones, from Beechey Island, but the true Beyrichian 
furrows and lobe distinguish this form. 

In some respects Carbonia* seems to be a near ally of the form 
under notice ; but it is not dorso-sulcate. Some of the Carbonie 
have the submedial tubercle, and an external sculpturing; but 
the latter appears as longitudinal striz } or simple reticulationt. 

In Carbonia the smallest end is taken for the anterior, and the 
right valve is larger than the left, the dorsal line convex and the 
ventral nearly straight. In the specimens before us the largest 


 * “Geol, Mag.” vol. vit., 1870, p. 218, pl. 9, figs. 4—10 ; and “Ann. Mag. 
N.H.” ser. 5, vol. vr., 1879, p. 30, pls. 2 and 3. 


t “Geol. Mag.” Joc. cit. figs. 4, 8, 10. 
t“Ann. M. N. H.” Joc. cit. pl. 2, figs. 9, 10, and pl. 8, fig. 8. 


Lower-Carboniferous Entomostraca. By T.R. Jones. 319 


end is indicated as the anterior by its relation to what appears to 
be the projection of the front hinge-joint, as usual in many Cyth- 
erids and Cyprids. 

Not agreeing, then, with any known genus, this little Ostracod 
from Brunton, Northumberland, requires a nominal group to be 
determined for it ; and, known only as occuring in the Bernician* 
system, it may be termed Berniz. 

Its habitat was either lacustrine or estuarine, for the specimens 
are found in a carbonaceous and pyritous shale, that is, a mud 
charged with vegetable and other organic matter, sulphur, and 
iron. 

Bernix Tatei occurs in a pyritized state and liable to decomposi- 
tion, incrowded groups, with Anthracosia, Lingula, and fish remains, 
in a dark carbonaceous shalet below the ‘‘ Big Limestone, ”’ in the 
the middle of the Mountain-Limestone series of Northumberland, 
at Brunton, near Chollerford, on the North Tyne. It was 
collected by Mr G. Tate during a tour along the Roman Wall in 
1857. SeeG. Tate’s “‘ Geology of the District traversed by the 
Roman Wall, 4to, 1867, p. 7. 

A similar fossil, evidently a slightly modified variety of the 
same species, having a radiately ornamented surface, but with 
a rather less oblong contour, has been discovered by Prof. 
Lebour, F.G.8S., in a hard black carbonaceous shale, con- 
taining Anthracomya (?), and belonging to the Upper-Bernician 
(Yoredale) group of West Northumberland. The carapaces are 
thickly strewn, both in patches and scattered, on the bed-planes, 
together with numerous small shiny Cythere(?), sharp at one 
end and blunt at the other, somewhat like C. pungens, J. & K. and 
moreover like Darwinella in outline, as intimated by Dr G. 8. 
Brady, F.R.S., in a letter to Prof. Lebour. 

Prof. Lebour informs me that his specimens of Bernizx Tatei 
come from a ‘Shale, containing fish-remains and plants, a few 
feet below the Great Limestone (the best known bed of the 
Upper-Bernician series), where it crosses the River North Tyne 


* Those limestones, shales, coals, sandstones, and grits of the North- 
umberland District (about 10,000 feet thick) which are equivalent to the 
Yoredale and Mountain-limestone series of the south. See G. A. Lebour’s 
‘“‘ Outlines of the Geology of Northumberland,” small 8vo. 1878; Lambert, 
Newcastle on Tyne. 


+ Constituting a black-band ironstone ; see Mr G. Tate’s description in 
the ‘‘ Proceed. Berwicksh. Nat. Club,” vol. v., p. 88, 


320 Lower-Carboniferous Entomostraca. By T. BR. Jones. 


at Walwick Grange, below Chollerford Bridge.’’ He adds that 
the Brunton shale is the bed which was worked years ago on the 
hillside below Brunton in connection with a black-band-ironstone. 
This is on the same horizon as the shale at Walwick Grange ; but 
the latter is the only available spot where it can now be seen, the 
shale-heaps at Brunton having long ago been covered up with 
grass. ”’ 

[ Prof. Lebour further tells me by letter that he has had the 
old shale-heaps (where Mr Tate got his Berniz) at Brunton dug 
up afresh, and that he has obtained numerous specimens of both 
Bernix Tatei and Darwinella (?) Berniciana, with perhaps some 
other species, from it*. ] 

We may note also that the Geological Surveyors of Scotland 
have collected from a soft brownish-grey shale of the Calciferous- 
Sandstone series (Tuedian), at Fulwood Burn, Lanarkshire, an 
internal cast} of an Ostracod somewhat similar to Berniz Tater, 
having a mid-dorsal impression, with some associated small 
irregular depressions. It is rather larger, however, and the 
profiles of the valve (edge and end) differ from those of the 
foregoing. 

3. CyTHERE (Macrocypris ?) KIRKBYANA, nov. 

Pl. 11., fig. 3a, 3b. 

This kind of valve among fossils is usually referred to Cythere, 
but it may be equivalent to the recent genus JDacrocypris, as far 
as the outline can show,—as the soft parts and limbs are 
necessarily wanting, it is safer to keep it in Cythere, used ina 
general and, to a great extent, an artificial, sense. 

In shape the valve has one edge (dorsal) much arched and 
nearly semi-circular, bnt with the highest convexity at the post- 
erior third; the other edge is nearly straight (very slightly 
incurved), length 1 millim. One end (anterior) is rather more 
truly rounded than the other, which slopes down rapidly 
from the highest dorsal curvature, where the height of the valve 
is almost equal to half of the length. The profile of two valves 


*Prof. Lebour has just lately favoured me with specimens of this 
Entomostracan shale. As he intimated, it contains other species, unde- 
termined and well worthy of attentive study. One isa Beyrichia,perhaps 
B. multiloba. Some of the shale appears to have been almost wholly 
composed of the Bernix and is a real oil-shale. 


+ Labelled ‘ M 555a,” 


Lower-Carboniferous Entomostraca. By T.R. Jones. 321 


together (the carapace) would be lanceolate, the eral convexity 
being small. 

This form Be een nts to several Carboniferous Cythere 
(unpublished), and indeed to some other fossil as well as living 
forms. It is very close to C. Jonesiana, Kirkby; but in the 
latter the greatest convexity of the dorsal line is medial and 
not posterior; and its valves are more convex in profile. This 
Tuedian form, now recognised as a new species, I name after my 
friend and fellow-worker, Mr J. W. Kirkby, of Ashgrove, near 

Windygates, Fife. 

- From a Tuedian Shale (‘‘R” at page 316), Banks of the Leet 
near Coldstream, with Leperditia Scotoburdigalensis. 

4, CARBONIA FABULINA, J. & K., var. 

Pl. mm. figs. 2a, 2b, Qe. 

At page 318 some remarks on Carbonia, and references to its 
published definition, were made in comparing Bernix Tatei with 
that genus. In the littie piece of ironstone marked ‘‘G” (page 
814) from the lower part of the Mountain-limestone at Belling- 
ham, is a good specimen and well preserved, except that the 
antero-ventral margin has been broken.* Length 1:5 millims. 
Some uncertainty occurred on account of this  interfer- 
ence with its natural outline, and inadvertently the specimen was 
figured in the plate with its hind end upwards, in view at first of 
its belonging to a different genus. 

There is certainly some little difference in shape between this 
and the ordinary Carboniferous Carbonie ;+ but they have a con- 
siderable range of variability, and might well be extended to 
include this stout form. The appearance, however, of the right 
valve being larger than the left in our specimen, the. distinct 
punctation, the central spot (though only of a slightly darker 
tint), and the relatively true profiles, leave no doubt of the 
specific identity. 

5. LePERDITIA ScoTOBURDIGALENSIS (Hibbert). 

Pl. 11., figs. 7 and 9. 

6. LEPERDITIA sUBRECTA (Portlock). 

Pl 1, fig. 8: 

These are regarded as dwarf and poorly developed varieties of 


* This fracture has caused the strong obliquity on the right hand lower 
part of the figure 2a. 


Tt See “ Ann. M. N. H.”, ser. 5., vol. 1v., pl. 2. 
ot 


822 Lower-Carboniferous Entomostraca. By T. R. Jones. 


Leperditia Okeni (Minster), and their history is given, in the 
‘‘Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.” ser. 8, vol. xvi, 1866, pp. 39-40. 
Some of their allies are described and figured op. cit., vol. xv., 
1865, pp. 406, 407, pl. 22; but they have not themselves been 
well drawn hitherto. JL. subrecta in length 2 millims., L. Scoto- 
burdigalensis 1:5 millim. Their exteriors rarely bear the chief 
Leperditian characters—excepting general form (and that modi- 
fied}; but intermediate gradations, among the countless 
individuals that swarmed in the muddy lagoons nearly every- 
where in the Carboniferous period, supply the deficiencies. Fig. 
9 (an interior) shews a rather more exactly Leperditioid shape 
than the other two, and bears a central (thickened ?) muscle-spot. 
Fig. 7 and 8 are from the specimen of Lower M.-L. marked “‘C” 
(Tweedmouth, see above, page 314); fig. 9 isa Tuedian speci- 
men from ‘ W,” Edington Mill (see p. 316). Several others 
of the hand-specimens, both Tuedian and Bernician, contain L. 
Scotoburdigalensis, as shewn by the Table, p. 324. This variety 
was wrongly referred by me to ‘‘ Cytheropsis”” in the ‘‘ Monogr. 
Foss. Estherie,’’ Pal. Soc., 1862, p. 31, &. 

7. BreyRicHrA oriniTa, J & K., MS. 

Pl. 11., figs. 10 and 11. 

This is arather feebly developed Beyrichia, liable apparently to 
much variation in its outline and transverse sulci, though the 
pressure to which the probably thin valves have been subjected 
may have caused some of the seeming) differences between 
individuals. . 

The valves are 1 millim. in length, oblong with rounded ends. 
In fig. 11 the height is nearly 2rds that of the length ; in fig. 10 
the height is proportionally less though the valve islarger. The 
sulci give rise to three transverse ridges, of varying length and 
variously disposed, sometimes at nearly equal distances, some- 
times crowded towards one end of the valve—but doubtlessly 
unequal pressure in the muddy deposit has modified the 
ridges and the outlines of individuals. Occasionally two of the 
ridges unite towards the ventral margin, as is usual with many 
Beyrichie. The most interesting feature of this species, however, 
is the fringe of fine spines, or hair-like prickles, set along the 
front, lower, and hind margins of the valves; about thirty seem 
to have ornamented fig. 10; and much variation is seen in this 
respect and otherwise, among the multitude of individuals 
impressed on the black shale from Alnwick Moor, ‘“‘B,” low 


Lower-Carboniferous Entomostraca. By T. R. Jones. 323 


down in the M.-L. group. Often the valves are destitute of this 
fringe; but that is not to be wondered at, as in many other 
instances of broad-margined paleeozoic Beyrichie (Carboniferous 
and Silurian), sometimes with a radiated ledge, the thin edge has 
been broken away and lost. 

Forms closely allied to B. crinita are known in the Calciferous- 
sandstone series at Billowness, Fifeshire, and in the Carboni- 
ferous shales at Cultra in Ireland. The fringe, however, differs, 
chiefly in being more delicate, and the sulci and lobes of the 
surface have differences in the several forms. 

8. Krrxpya sPIRALIs, J. & K., MS. 

Pl. 11., figs. 12 and 13. 

Valves subovate, 1 millim. long, with a height of more than 
half the length; probably thin, bordered with a delicate raised 
rim, which sends off a branch from its dorsal portion into the 
central area, and this, curving along the broader third of the 
valve, concentrically with its edge, turns towards the ventral 
margin, skirting it in good specimens; and, returning over the 
posterior third, encloses an independent, medial, longitudinal 
somewhat sinuous ridge. The characteristic medial pit or 
depression is also present. These features are modified in the 
crushed specimens before us (especially in fig. 12). This species 
israrein ‘‘C,” from Tweedmouth, Lower M.-L. group. It occurs 
in the Calciferous-sandstone, Fife, where it was discovered by 
Mr J. W. Kirkby in 1878; and we havea similar form from 
Soignies, Belguim. It is allied to X. costata (M’Coy), in which 
the ridges are stronger, more numerous, and more regularly 
disposed; also to X. plicata, J. & K., MS., and another ridged 
Kirkbya, all from Lower-Carboniferous strata. 

9. CYTHERELLA TATEI, sp. nov. 

El. u., figs. la, 1b, Ic. 

Valves small (-75 millim. long), smooth, white, thick, close- 
fitting, convex, oblong-ovate; breadth (height) equal to about 
two-thirds of the length, the greatest convexity rather more 
central than usual inthe genus. ‘The relative shortness, breadth, 
(height), and convexity of this species serve as distinctions. 

A few specimens occur in a shale (‘‘M,” see page 315) from 
the Lower Mountain-limestone group at Lamberton, containing 
Spirifer, &e. 

Two obscure Cytherelle (?), of similar broadly ovate shape, 
occur in the piece of fossiliferous rock ‘‘ H,” from the Middle 


324 Lower-Carboniferous Entomostraca. By T. R. Jones. 


Mountain-limestone at Howick (see page 315). 

10. EsrHerta striata (Miinster), var. Tats ANA, Jones. 

I have nothing particular to add concerning this interesting 
form to the description given in the ‘‘ Monogr. Foss. Estheriz,”’ 
Pal. Soc., 1862. 

11. EsTHERIA TENELLA (Jordan). 

This Lstheria, described and illustrated in the ‘‘ Monogr. Foss. 
Esth.”” 1862, pp. 31, &c., is represented by one specimen in the 
black shale, marked ‘‘B”’ (see above page 3138) from Alnwick, 
low down in the Mountain-limestone group. Since it was 
described by me in 1862, I have been able to add some localities 
of its occurence (see ‘‘ Geol. Mag.”’, ser. 2, vol. 8, 1878, p. 101 and 
p. 278) namely—Ciudad Real in Spain, Saarbriicken in Germany, 
and Kargalinsh in Russia. It has also been noticed by the 
Geological Surveyors of Scotland, at Airdrie, at Shettleston, and 
at Burniebrae Burn, near Shield’s farm, not far from Milton of 
Campsie ; and it is known in South Wales (‘‘Geol. Mag.” vol. viz., 
1870, p. 218). These are all Carboniferous, unless the German 
and Russian specimens are (as Dr. Geinitz supposes) of Permian 
age. 


A List of the Fossil Entomostraca in the Specimens of Lower- 
Carboniferous Rocks collected by the late Mr George Tate, F.G.S. 


Numbers and Letters used 
in the foregoing Notes. 
1. Canpona? TAtTEANA, Jones ......... 1. A. Estherian shale ; Lamberton. 
Mountain-limestone group 
(lower part). 
2. BERNIX TATEI, JONES ...scsseesee ees (p. 316) Brunton. M.-L. group 
(middle part). 
3. Macrocypris ? KIRKBYANA Jones ...15. R. Leet. Tuedian group. 
4. CARBONIA FABULINA, Jones and 


KIRK DY scdecd aasan sete elaeaetie ot 7. G. Bellingham. M.-L. group. 
5. LEpERDITIA SCoOTOBURDIGALENSIS 
(Hibbert) 8 rtsat dsereesteetrcgaty 8. C. Tweedmouth. M.-L. group 


(lower part). 

~4, D.? Near Denwick Lane. M.-L. 
group (middle part). 

5. HE. Cawlishes [Cawledge]. M.-L, 
group (middle part). 

9. K. Shittleheugh. M.-L. group. 

10. L. Howick. M.-L. group. 

12. N. Howick. M.-L. group. 

15. R Leet. Tuedian, 

16. 8. Fireburn. Tuedian. 


Lower-Carboniferous Entomostraca. By T. R. Jones. 325 


17. T. Kenebs, Tuedian. 
1s. V. Tweed. Tuedian. 
19. W, Edington Mill. Tuedian. 
20. X. Burnmouth. Tuedian. 
21. Z. Hutton, &e. Tuedian. 
6. LeperpDiT1A suBREctA (Portlock)... 3. C. Tweedmouth. M.-L. group 


(low down). 

7. BEryRIcuta crinita, J. & K.......... 2. B. Alnwick Moor. M.-L. group 
(low down). 

8. KIRKBYA SPIRALIS, J. & Ky... sseeee 3. C. Tweedmouth. M.-L group 
(lower part). 

9. CYTHERELLA TaTEI, Jones ........ 11. M. Lamberton. M.-L. group 


(lowest part). 
8. H.? Howick. M.-L. group 
(middle part). 
10. Estuerm striata (Minster), var. 


TATEANA, JONES.....cscececseseceess 1. A. Estherian Shale ; Lamberton, 
M.-L. group (lower part). 
11. EstHERIA TENELLA (Jordan). 2. B. Alnwick Moor, M.-L. group 
(low down). 
APPENDIX. 


DaRwINELLA? BERNICIANA, Sp. nov. 

Pl. 11., figs. 4a, 4b, 4c. 

Valves small (‘5 mm. long), smooth, elongate, with rounded 
ends, one (anterior) narrower and more compressed than the 
other; the carapace almost cylindrical, but tapering anteriorly ; 
blunt or truncate behind. 

This little Cytheroid occurs in great numbers, and in good 
preservation (valves united), with the Bernix Tatei found by 
Prof. Lebour (see above, page 319). It resembles some small 
Entomostraca commonly associated with certain coal-seams in 
Scotland ; and more particularly it approaches Cythere (Darwin- 
ella?) pungens, J. & K. (*‘ Trans. Geol. Soc. Glasgow,” vol. 11., 
1867, p. 222; referred to Carbonia in the ‘‘Ann. Mag. N. H.” 
ser. 5, vol. v., p. 87); but it is blunter at the ends and more 
cylindrical. ; 

Dr. G. S. Brady has suggested (see above, p. 319) the alliance 
of this minute species with his Darwinella, which is fully 
described and illustrated in the ‘‘ Monogr. Post-tertiary Entomo- 
straca,” Pal. Soc., 1874, pp. 440, 441 ; and the estuarine habitat 
of this genus is in accordance with the probable habitat of the 
Carboniferous specimens. I have already pointed out another 
such probable Darwinella in the fossil state, as occurring in the 


326 On a Hail Storm near Jedburgh. By J.S8. Dudgeon. 


Wealden shales of Obernkirchen, Hanover ; ‘‘ Geol. Mag.” Dec. 
1I., vol. v., 1878, p. 107. 

It also somewhat resembles a small form given by Jones and 
Kirkby, with doubtful alliance, in the “Ann. M. N. H.” July, 
1870, pl. 3, fig. 26, 27, 


EXPLANATION OF PLATE II. 
Lower-Carboniferous Entomostraca. 
[All the Figures are magnified 25 diameters. | 

Fig. 1. Cytherella Tated, sp.nov. a, right valve shown ; 0, edge 
view ; ¢, end view. 

2. Carbonia fabulina, J. & K., a, left valve shewn (figured with 
anterior end downwards ; the dotted line shows the broken edge) ; 
6, ventral view (anterior end upwards); c, end view. 

3. Cythere ? (Macrocypris ?) Kirkbyana, sp. nov. a, right valve ; }, 
edge view. 

4. Darwinella ? Berniciana, sp. nov. a, right valve shewn ; 8, 
edge view. (Prof. Lebour’s specimens.) 

5. Berma Tatei, Jones. Right valve shewn. (Prof. Lebour’s 
specimens. ) 

6. B. Tatei, Jones. a, left valve shewn; 0, dorsal view; c, end 
view. 

7. Leperditia Scotoburdigalensis (Aibbert). Right valve. 

8. L. subrecta (Portlock). Right valve. 

9. L. Scotoburdigalensis (Hibbert) Interior of left valve. 

10. Beyrichia crinita, J. & K. Right valve; crushed. 
11. B. crinita, J. & K. Right valve. 

12. Kirkbya spiralis, J. & K. Right? valve; crushed. 
13. K. spiralis, J. & K. Right? valve. 


On a Hail Storm near Jedburgh on 13th July, 1882. 
Communicated by J, Scorr DuDGEon, from notes fur- 
nished by GIDEON Port, Esq., of Knowesouth. 


Harr storms of disastrous severity are of such rare occurence 
in this part of the country, that some particulars regarding one 
which occasioned serious damage last summer in the neighbour- 
hood of Jedburgh, may well receive some permanent record in 
our Club’s Transactions. 


On a Hail Storm near Jedburgh. By J. 8. Dudgeon. 327 


The forenoon of the 13th day of July was hot and sultry, the 
thermometer varying from 65° to 70°. The sky, towards noon, 
became very black, and distant peals of thunder were heard, 
every thing betokening the approach of a storm from the north. 
Suddenly, about 1 o’clock in the afternoon, the storm-cloud 
burst and the hailstones came down in blinding severity at once 
and lasted in full fury for nearly half-an-hour. No rain fell 
before nor did any succeed the hailshower over the area which 
it embraced. Coming from the north and driven by a high wind, 
the hailstorm commenced about 400 yards to the south of the 
river Teviot, opposite to Chesters House, on the farm of Lanton 
Mains, and travelled almost due south for about a mile and a half, 
to near the top of the Dunion Hill, embracing in width from east 
to west an extent of almost half a mile. The cloud, however, as 
it travelled southwards, after proceeding one third of its way, 
divided into two parts of unequal magnitude, the lesser and 
sooner expended taking a south-westerly direction, the larger 
and more violent keeping its original due southerly course. 
There was thus left between the two areas of devastation a 
wedge-shaped area which suffered only toa trifling extent, The 
hailstones fell so thickly that at a distance of 50 yards objects 
could not be distinguished. In size they varied, the larger ones 
containing fully a cubic inch of ice, prism-shaped, in length 
about an inch and a quarter and in breadth about three-quarters 
of an inch; their edges being rounded showed the clear ice in the 
centre under the coating of snow ice outside. These covered the 
ground after the storm had passed to the depth of quite three 
inches, and though the thermometer during the afternoon of the 
18th and the following day stood as high as 64° in the shade, 
still quantities remained in sheltered situations to be collected on 
the 15th. 

As was to be expected, the crops exposed to a storm of such 
unusual severity suffered great damage. Barley and oats, which 
were in full ear at the time, were cut down and broken off to 
within four inches of the ground. Turnips, then beginning to 
close in the drill, were left without the trace of aleaf. Even 
pastures were blighted and scathed as by fire. It being compar- 
atively early in the season, and the weather that followed being 
favourable, turnips and pasture grass in most instances recovered 
to great extent, but grain crops were for the most part irretriev- 
ably destroyed. 


328 On a Hail Storm near Jedburgh. By J. 8. Dudgeon. 


On Mr Pott’s farm of Rewcastle, over which the storm passed 
from one extreme end to the other, fully 500 acres suffered, while 
on Mr Robson Scott’s farm of Newton, to the west, about 60 acres, 
and on Mr Pott’s farm of Lanton Mains, to the north-east, some 
80 acres were exposed to its scourge. 

Having the particulars it may be interesting to give details 
regarding the actual damage done in some instances. From ten 
acres of barley on Lanton Mains, a full and most promising 
crop at the time of the disaster, the whole produce when thrashed 
out only amounted to 88 bushels of grain. And from twenty 
acres of oats on the same farm the total yield was 376 bushels, 
while ten acres under potatoes were found nearly worthless. 
On the farm of Rewcastle, where 180 acres under barley and 
oats and 87 acres under turnips were exposed to the calamity, 
the damage was even more serious. Sixty acres of barley and 
fifteen acres of oats were so totally cut to the ground that 
scarcely a single head could be found standing uninjured, while 
the remaining 105 acres were only slightly less destroyed. The 
corn plants which had been thus cut down by the hailstones came 
away again at once in fresh growth from the root, and soon 
pushed forward into ear, presenting in the course of six weeks 
thick and even cropsof grain. These might, in an earlier 
climate and under the influence of a warm dry autumn, have 
filled and ripened properly, but in this instance the weather 
proved adverse, and though Mr Pott exercised the greatest 
patience and allowed the crops to stand uncut till the end of 
October, the result was disappointing ; for though the straw, still 
partially green when reaped, was found to make excellent fod- 
der, yet the yield in grain was found sadly deficient alike 
in quantity and quality—quite unfit for marketable purposes. 
For instance from a thirty acres field of barley, stacked by the 
10th of November, the produce of grain only reached 21 bushels 
per acre and its weight only 42 lbs per bushel. And fifteen 
acres of oats gave when thrashed 408 bushels of corn weigh- 
ing 35 lbs per bushel. Perhaps as judicious a course was 
followed in the case of another field of Barley, containing thirty 
acres also, which had been seeded down to grass. This was 
allowed to stand for five weeks, or until the second growth was 
coming into ear, when Mr Pott had it cut and saved like a hay 
crop. On this fodder he wintered 60 cattle for three months, 
which ate it greedily and throve well. 


On a Hail Storm near Jedburgh. By J. 8. Dudgeon. 329 


The injury done to the turnip crop, though at the time appar- 
ently irreparable, turned out not so serious. A field of twenty 
acres under Swedes, which had been thinned out for some three 
weeks and was looking luxuriant, was so mercilessly dealt with 
that no vestige of a leaf was left, and the rootlets themselves 
could only be discovered by poking for them amongst the soil. 
Yet, strange to say, the field of Swedes recovered so wonderfully 
that ultimately it turned out a fair crop. In the case, however, 
of common turnips the result was different, for a field of seven- 
teen acres under this crop, which was cut up in like fashion, 
never recovered the injury, and in the end turned out next to 
worthless. 

The severity of the storm may perhaps be best appreciated by 
its effect on an old grass field of 50 acres at Knowesouth, which 
was in the height of its well-known mid-summer luxuriance of 
vegetation, carrying a stock of 53 head of cattle and 2 scores of 
sheep. So much was it destroyed, that next day it had to be 
relieved of 25 head of cattle, and even then, those remaining 
were pinched for meat during the next three weeks. 

A curious circumstance was observable in a small field of oats 
on the upper part of Rewcastle farm. A single ash-tree, about 
50 feet high, stands in the middle of this field. Beginning at 
this tree and extending the whole length of the field southwards 
for 100 yards, the ground too sloping very considerably upwards, 
say quite 50 feet from the tree to the boundary fence, there was 
distinctly noticeable a strip of the crop, in width fully equal to 
the greatest breadth of the tree’s foliage, which had escaped in 
great measure the severity of the blast. It seemed to indicate 
that the shelter this tree had afforded was sufficient to save the 
croup to its leeward for a distance of at least 100 yards, and 
that even when the ground sloped somewhat steeply upwards 
from it. 


[yl 


330 
Herons and Border Heronries. By JAMES SMAIL. 


Tar country members of the Club must nearly all be familiar 
with the appearance and flight of the Heron; and many must 
well know its haunts and ways. There is therefore no necessity 
for a long or exhaustive paper on the natural history of the bird. 

When in full flight, it flies at a great height; and from the 
slowness with which the wings are flapped its flight seems slow, 
whereas it is in reality a rapid flier. When rising from a river 
bed its flight is decidedly slow, and it continues so until the 
necessary elevation for rapid flight is reached. The gull tribe, 
from the bulky solan goose downward, if suddenly started, or if 
seized, invariably vomit the fish last swallowed, provided, that is, 
that they had recently been feeding; but the heron on the other 
hand when suddenly started on the river’s edge, flies off with a 
wild scream, and invariably as it does so dyes the water with its 
droppings. Anglers are all aware of this habit of the bird. In- 
deed there is a vulgar adage in the Borders relative to it. In 
the nesting season, and in the summer and autumn months, the 
heron is an active bird, and flits from place to place in search of 
food over a wide track of country. In bright winter days it 
travels less; and several birds at a time may be seen occasionally 
sunning and preening themselves on the summits of some tall 
sequestered fir plantation. They will sit for hours at a time in 
such places, with all their feathers bunched-out to the sun. 

The food of herons consists chiefly of fish; but in times of 
strait they are not very particular as to what they eat. In frosty 
weather, when the river pools and lakes are ice-bound they seek 
the shallows of running streams, which are seldom frozen over; 
and there.they feed on water insects, which are always numerous 
in such places; and as the water cricket or creeper, produced 
from the stone fly, is about an inch long, and is abundant in such 
places, and a species of earth-worm is also numerously to be 
found under the stones in such shallows, the birds find a fair 
amount of feeding even in frosty weather, when our smaller 
birds often suffer severely from want of food. The sea shore 
also yields much food for the herons; and they partake occasion- 
ally of frogs, small toads, lizards, mice, and water rats. 

Several naturalists state that the heron feeds during the night, 
especially when it is moonlight ; but so far as I have observed 
no naturalist has stated that he had seen it feeding through the 


Herons and Border Heronries. By James Smail. 331 


night. I have in summer time been very many times afoot for 
angling purposes at all hours of the night, and although resident 
in a district where herons are numerous, and often on the watch 
for them, I never saw one feeding during the night, nor did I ever 
start one during the night. I have, however, repeatedly seen 
herons fishing very late, when the twilight had almost given way 
to darkness, and the moon had cast faint shadows on the streams. 
But in cases where I waited and watched for a time I invariably 
saw the birds fly off landwards. I have also many a time in the 
summer heard and seen herons flying riverwards overhead in the 
early dawn ; and times out of number I have started them on the 
river’s edge when busy at their morning meal, just after daylight 
had fairly mastered the dawn; but rooks, jackdaws, gulls, and 
numerous song birds are as early and late astir as the heron. 
Indeed the black-headed gull or maw, which breeds in upland 
mosses, may be heard giving call-notes as it flies during all hours 
of the night in June and July. From my own experience, I 
would therefore judge the heron as a very late and very early 
feeder, but not a bird that feeds during the night. 

The heron was once ‘royal game,” and was protected, and 
was prized for the table. How it was soisa mystery. Even 
when plump, and dressed and roasted to perfection, it is so fishy 
in flavour that eating of it would turn almost any stomach of the 
present day. But the young birds taken from the nest, and 
properly stewed, are really good; I have seen them at table 
repeatedly. Old birds should perhaps be buried for a few days 
before being roasted. In our Western Isles the cormorant is 
used for soup, and it makes excellent soup, but the bird is buried 
for a few days before boiling. 

The nest of the heron is broad and comparatively flat, and 
resembles in material and shape, but not of course in size, the 
nest of the wood pigeon. The number of eggs in a nest is 
usually two; sometimes there are three, and occasionally only 
one. The nests are built mostly on tall beech trees, and are 
placed far out, on branches that look too slender for such bulky 
nests. It is very exciting to climb to and visit a nest and handle 
the young. The swaying of the slender branches at such a 
height causes at times wild thrills of excitement to pass through 
the climber. When the young in the nest are reached they, 
though even nearly featherless, suddenly arch their long slender 
necks and strike boldly at the adventurer, their beautiful eyes 


332 Herons and Border Heronries. By James Smail. 


glaring and flashing the while; and at the same time the parent 
birds keep circling closely round the nest, screaming fiercely, and 
making every few seconds a wild dash at the climber, but always 
swerving and wheeling off when within a few feet of his head. 

The Heronries in the five counties given below number 22, 
namely,— 


In Berwickshire 8 
Roxburghshire 4 
Selkirkshire 1 
Peebleshire 1 
Northumberland 8 

Total 22, 


In the same order here is the complete list of Heronries :— 
HERONRIES IN BERWICKSHIRE. 


There are a good many heronries in this county, and a con- 
siderable number of single nests may any year be found in 
different parts; and judging from the number of herons that 
frequent the rivers and other small trout streams, the birds are 
pretty numerous. Food, in the shape of trout, smelts, minnows, 
loaches, and small eels, is endless in the Berwickshire rivers and 
burns; and trout are extra numerous in the rivers and their 
upland tributaries in the higher parts of the county, such as 
Leader Water, the Eden, Whiteadder, and Blackadder. 

Luggy Wood isa heronry of some 8 nests, in the policy of 
Thirlstane Castle, seat of the Earl of Lauderdale. It 
has been in existence so long: that no one remembers 
when it was begun. 

Olisterdub is on the same grounds, and is of similar size; and 
was begun about teu years ago. 

Duns Castle heronry contains about 12 nests. 

Pistol Wood heronry on Blackadder estate is small. 

The Hirsel heronry is old and pretty large. 

Mertoun heronry, on Lord Polwarth’s estate is also pretty large. 

Lithtillum Loch heronry. No report as to size. 

Mr A. Campbell Swinton reports that “till lately herons bred 
at Nisbet ;”” and Mr G. Muirhead states that he has 
been informed on good authority that herons used to 
breed on the tall silver firs on the side of the Tweed on 
the Paxton estate. 


Herons and Border Heronries. By James Smail. 333 


ROXBURGHSHIRE HERONRIKES. 

Herons are very numerous in Roxburghshire, which must be 
a favourite abode of those birds. Like the preceding county, its 
rivers and streamlets yield a plentiful supply of food, and its 
abundance of stately trees affords good shelter and protection for 
nesting purposes. Solitary or single nests are also pretty com- 
mon in this county. 

Dodburn heronry, on Allan Water in Upper Teviotdale, numbers 
about 20 nests. 

Wells heronry, on Rule Water, occupies the tall wood from 
Billerwell Ford, to Wells Mansion-House, and numbers 
20 nests. Early in the century there were nearly 100 
nests in this heronry. 

Swindon heronry, at the head of the river Bowmont numbered 
from 8 to 10 nests. This was formerly a larger heronry ; 
but from the clearing of trees on which the birds rested 
the number is nowsmall. Thelate Duke of Roxburghe 
caused some young trees to be planted and enclosed, 
with a view to giving the birds more nest room in the 
future. [Deserted 1880-83. Inspring 1884 the herons 
took up their abode in a young plantation on the farm 
of Calroust, to the north of Swindon, where there are 
now five nests |. 

Ormiston House heronry in Lower Teviotdale. No report as to 
size. [Very limited.—J. H.] 

Hendersyde Park, Kelso. Ten to fifteen nests. 

SELKIRKSHIRE HERONRIES. 

Herons are common, as anglers know, all along the valleys of 
Kttrick and Yarrow, where they find fish food in abundance, but 
the only heronry in the county is at The Haining, at Selkirk. 
An occasional nest may be found elsewhere ; and as the heronry 
at The Haining is small, herons from distant nesting places must 
beyond doubt frequent and catch fish in the Selkirkshire streams. 

PEEBLESSHIRE HERONRIES. 

Like Selkirkshire, this county has many streams teeming with 
fish, and numerous herons may be there seen daily, hunting up 
the waters, and, like the former county, it has only onefheronry, 
at 
Dawick, the seat of Sir James Nasmyth, about seven miles above 

Peebles. The woods at Dawick form a fine retreat for 
birds ; and the heronry numbers about 50 nests. 


334 Shooting of Cygnus Bewickii. By Thomas Anderson. 


Mr Oolin J. Mackenzie of Portmore, writes as follows:— 
‘‘There was a heronry of considerable size in some old trees on 
the margin of Portmore Loch. The trees were blown down in 
the gale of February 1855 ; and for some years the herons built 
on some younger trees near at hand but eventually departed, and 
have not returned.” 

NORTHUMBERLAND HERONRIES. 

In the upland streams of Northumberland trout are very 
plentiful, and heron food is there in plenty; but the rivers in the 
lower parts of the county are as a whole somewhat sluggish, and 
fish are not so numerous. Several gentlemen have mentioned 
that isolated nests may be found here and there; but the follow- 
ing are the heronries. 

Bolam, seat of Lord Decies, 30 nests. 

Capheaton, seat of Sir John Swinburne, a few nests. 
Sweethope, Sir Walter Trevelyan’s. 

Chillingham. Large. 

Unthank on South Tyne. About 14 nests. 
Harbottle on the Coquet. 20 nests. 

Felton Park. Many years ago had 17 nests. 

There is also a small heronry on Lord Redesdale’s estate on 
Reedwater. 


Account of Shooting of Cygnus Bewickii; with Notes on 
Anatomical Characteristics. By THomas ANDERSON, Esq., 
M.D., of Shaws. 


On Wednesday, Nov. 29th, when shooting over Shaws with a 
party, we were fortunate enough to meet with Bewick’s Swan, 
and were successful in obtaining two specimens of that rare and 
interesting bird. | 

The ground was covered with snow to the depth of about 14 
to 2 inches; there had been 6° to 8° of frost the night before; 
the wind was from the N.E., and the barometer was falling. 
This condition of weather was interesting inasmuch as five days 
afterwards, on Monday the 4th, began the great snow storm 
which continued until it culminated in the calamitous and 
unprecedented fall, upon Thursday the 7th of December. It 
will be remembered that this was followed by a week of most 
intense frost, the thermometer at one time registering 38° F. of 


Shooting of Cygnus Bewickii. By Thomas Anderson. 335 


frost, the wind being from the same quarter during all that time. 
These conditions are interesting, because they would serve to 
indicate that the birds had been driven from their ordinary 
habitat by severe weather, and flown before it farther south than 
they are usually met with 

The birds were five in number, and were upon the Upper 
Shaws loch where they were observed for the first time on Sun- 
day the 26th. Here they had remained since that date, and 
although frequently disturbed by shepherds and others pass- 
ing, and notwithstanding their shy and watchful habits, they 
showed no desire to leave. Whether this was owing to fatigue 
after a long flight, or to their having found their new quarters 
suitable to their habits and requirements, could not be deter- 
mined. The loch is a small circular one about } of a mile across, 
with a muddy bottom, and fringed with reeds and aquatic plants, 
and shallow to some distance out; altogether a favourable feed- 
ing ground for birds of the habits and conformation of the Swan. 

When we first sighted the loch from behind an eminence 300 
to 400 yards off, three of the birds were seen feeding among the 
weeds some distance apart, and on our appearing they immedi- 
ately came together and were joined by the other two, which 
had been a short way up the inlet above its mouth, and com- 
menced swimming round the edge of the loch at the side farthest 
opposite to where we were standing. On our approaching, the 
Swans went into the centre of the loch, and were swimming 
round in a small circle with their necks and heads erect and bill 
carried high in the air, and occasionally uttering a note of alarm. 
They kept sailing majestically round in the very centre far out of 
shot. At last a shot was fired, and immediately the long necks 
were stretched out, the great wings unfolded, and flight com- 
menced, first very heavy and laboured as the great birds seemed 
to run upon the surface of the water flapping it with slow strokes 
that resounded loud in the clear frosty air. There was, fortun- 
ately for our object, no wind at the time, and the birds in their 
difficulty in rising had to come close to the edge before they had 
attained sufficient elevation to settle down into a regular flight. 
They came right over two guns and one fell, while another 
lagged so far behind the remaining three as to indicate that 
he was wounded. The first bird was recovered by a retriever, 
and the second bird was found on the Lower Shaws loch about 
2 of a mile away, which it was unable to leave, although it 


336 Shooting of Cygnus Bewickii. By Thomas Anderson. 


flew from one end to the other twice before it was shot. 

Both specimens were preserved and a description with carefully 

noted measurements taken as follows. 

A. From larger specimen. 

1. From tip of bill to tip of tail, 493 inches. 
2. Length between tip of each wing, 833 inches. 
3 ,, wing from carpal flexure to tip of longest primary, 

222 inches. 

. Bill along upper outline, 4 inches. 

. Tarsus, 44 inches. 
. Middle toe, 53 inches, 
. Claw of middle toe, 2°inch. 

Primaries ten, second and third longest and of equal length. 
Tail twenty. Iris brown. Legs, toes, and webs black. Bill 
black, but at base the covering skin a brilliant chrome yellow, 
which colour reached to half way between base of bill and 
nostril. 

Entire plumage snowy white. 

But it is in the structure of the trachea and sternum that the 
characteristic features are met with, the keel of the latter being 
modified in a remarkable manner to receive a peculiar develope- 
ment in the former. 

The sternum is neither so large nor so strong as might be 
expected in a bird of sucha size. Its extreme length is 77s 
inches, and its greatest width, which is across the plate just 
behind the point at which the keel springs, is 33 inches. Though 
of comparatively thin construction, its surface is well marked by 
the rough lines of attachment of the great pectoral muscles, which 
run in well defined ridges along the plate and the sides of the 
keel. On its posterior edge it has the two deep notches char- 
acteristic of the Anseres which run up toa depth of lye inches. 

It isin the keel itself that the remarkable modification referred 
to is met with. Commencing posteriorly in a smooth triangular 
surface, 14 inches from the posterior edge of the sternum, the 
keel gradually rises and runs forward for 53 inches, attaining 
its greatest depth, 53 inches, at its anterior extemity. The 
smooth surface does not run into a narrow edge as is the case in 
most birds, but presents inferiorly a flat surface throughout its 
entire length. In front this surface is } inch wide, it contracts 
about the middle to 3 inch and expands again to 2 inch posteriorly, 
where it first rises from the plane surface of the sternum and 


STOO 


Shooting of Cygnus Bewickii. By Thomas Anderson. 337 


where it is bounded by the rough line of attachment of the great 
pectoral muscle. When examined from the front we find this 
keel composed of two side plates, separated by about half an inch, 
and forming with the floor of the sternum proper a cavity or 
oblong cul de-sac, which runs back for the entire length of the 
keel. Anteriorily this cavity measures across the base § inch 
and across the apex 4 inch (inside measurements), and contains 
a peculiar fold of the trachea which is prolonged into it to the 
depth of 24 inches. 

The upper or internal surface of the sternum upon which the 
lungs rest presents a convexity along the middle line, which is 
most marked opposite each extremity of the keel. 

Tracing the trachea downwards from the cervical region we 
find it there about 3 inch in diameter, then passing in front of 
the clavicles, and curving downwards, it takes a perfectly hori- 
zontal course and lies in the sternal notch. At this point it is 
slightly larger, and it now enters the cavity of the sternum. 
Here its upper surface is in approximation with the lower sur- 
face of the tube as that emerges from the cavity. In fact the 
two tubes are parallel and the upper or returning one is slightly 
larger. On removing a triangular portion from the side of the 
keel and following the course of the trachea, we find it running 
backwards for 23inches when it suddenly turns vertically upwards 
being completely doubled on itself, ascends for an inch, and is 
again doubled on itself, and now passing horizontally forwards 
emerges from the cavity in close relation to the entering tube. 
It now passes underneath the rounded arch of the furcula and 
curving upwards it enters the thorax and divides into the bronchi. 

The cartilaginous rings of the trachea are, in the cervical 
region, more or less regular. They are slightly deeper in front 
and these overlap the narrower portion of the posterior rings. 
They become stronger as they go down, and within the sternum 
these rings are very strong and here they are of greatest width 
inferiorly. At the bend there is one large strong ring lying 
horizontal, and altogether overlapping those on each side; while 
at this point the diameter of the trachea, has nearly attained 
its greatest size, v= inch, but the superior portion of the tube is 
slightly larger. After passing the arch of the furcula the rings 
again become smaller and narrower until they enter the thorax. 

Within the sternum the whole structure is stronger than at 
any other point, and its air-containing capacity is ae and 

Q 


338 Injury done by a Snow Storm. By M.T. Culley. 


it is firmly fixed by membranous bands which do not admit of 
the slightest extension or retraction of this peculiar fold. 

With regard to its function, this seems uncertain ; it either 
gives to the bird the power of emitting the peculiar note, some- 
what similar to that of the Hooper /C. musicus), which also has 
a prolongation of the trachea into the sternum; or what seems 
more likely it gives lightness and buoyancy to the whole frame. 

Ettrick Bank, March, 1883. 


On the Injury done to Scotch Furs at Coupland Castle by a 
Snow Storm in December, 1882. By MatrHew T. 
CULLEY, Esq. 


THE snow storm of December 1882 was pretty heavy, but not 
nearly so heavy as many that I have seen: nevertheless it did 
more harm to my firs than any other Ihave known. On Decem- 
ber 7th very wet snow fell to the depth of about a foot, and as 
the wind, (which had been rather high), went off, and there was a 
remarkable absence of frost, it lay on the boughs of the trees so 
as to bend them by its weight in avery unusual manner. It thus 
remained without melting, while at the same time there was no 
frost to render it crisp and light. Scotch fir naturally suffered 
most severely, though all kinds of trees suffered more or less. 
Immense boughs were broken off the Scotch firs, so much so that 
the Highway Authorities sent for my-woodmen to clear away the 
branches that fell from my trees overlooking the turnpike road 
near Akeld Lodge. The Scotch firs that line the approach to my 
house were especially disfigured, most of projecting boughs being 
bent or broken off, and in two cases the tops of the trees were 
smashed off. One large silver fir was dreadfully bent and 
broken in its lower branches, and birches suffered also. I never 
saw anything like the same amount of damage done by snow 
before, and I have since noticed that the adjoining woods of 
Ewart have suffered similarly. 


339 
Fungi from the neighbourhood of Roxburgh, not hitherto 
recorded from the Border district—a1883. By the Rev, 
Davip Paut, M.A., Roxburgh. 


1. Agaricus (Lepiota) clypeolarius, Bull. Ina wood ; September. 
A pretty Fungus allied to Ag. cristatus. 

2. Ag. (Tricholoma) portentosus, Fr. In a wood. 

3. Ag. (Tricholoma) resplendens, Fr. In woods, not rare ; re- 
markable for its beautiful hyaline tints. 

4. Ag. (Pluteus) nanus, var. lutescens, Pers. Three or four 
specimens of this Fungus were found on old saw-dust at Stichill 
in October. It is neither nanus, nor phlebophorus, but partakes of 
the characters of both, which indeed seem to pass imperceptibly 
into one another. The pileus was moist and not pruinose, and 
the stem and gills corresponded to those of var. /utescens. 

5. Ag. (Nolanea) mammosus, Fr. In Roxburgh churchyard. 
October. Rare. 

6. Ag. (Nolanca) pisciodorus, Ces. It is doubtful if this be 
really a different Fungus from dg. (Naucoria) cucumis, P. The 
difference of colour in the spores is the main distinction between 
them, but I am informed by the Rev. J. Stevenson, of Glamis, 
that in 50 specimens of Ag. cucumis, gathered on the same spot 
and at the same time, which he examined, the spores shaded in 
colour from the brown of eucumis to the pink of pisciodorus. Nov 
have I been able to detect the cucumber smell of cucumis as 
distinguished from the fishy smell of pisciodorus ; to me they seem 
all to smell of fish. But perhaps Fries would not have said of 
meas he says of someone in his Hym. Eur., “ olfactu valde 
praepollet.”’ 

7. Ag. (Inocybe) geophyllus, Sow., var. at Leritius, B. & Br. 
Found by me along with Mr W. B. Boyd at Ormiston in October. 
Its larger size and curious red stains mark it well off from the 
ordinary géophyllus. Mr A. Jerdon found it plentifully at Mel- 
rose in October, 1868. See ‘‘ Transactions” for that year, p. 411. 
Perhaps not uncommon. 

8. Ag. (Flammula) lentus, Pers. At Sunlaws. October. Not 
common here. 

9. Lactarius quetus, Fr. In woods. 

10. Polyporus caesvus. Fr. 

11. Corticium puteanum, Schum. In Roxburgh Manse, on 
dripping wood below a water cistern. October. 

12. Geoglossum glabrum, Pers. Among grass. 


340 
Ednam Hospital. By JAMES HARDY. 


Documentary evidence fails to elicit the origin of the Hospital 
of St Leonards of Ednam. Seeing that from the days of king 
Edgar, with the exceptional, and I think temporary settlement 
of Thor the Long, the lands of Ednam appertained to the Crown, 
and the advowson of the hospital was attached to the lands, it is 
not unreasonable to conclude that it owed its foundation to David 
I., or his son Henry, Earl of Northumberland. The relation of 
Prince Henry towards the establishment is to a certain extent 
apparent from the Countess Ada his widow, granting to it the 
only endowment on record—a half carucate of land in the terri- 
tory of Petcorthyn or Pechortyne, ‘in Scotia,” now Pitcorthie 
in the parish of Kilrenny, Fifeshire, (Register de Dryburgh, p. 
118); afterwards transferred by arrangement to the monastery 
of Dryburgh; ‘‘for the soul of my lord Henry, the earl, and the 
soul of my son Malcolm the king, and the salvation of my soul, 
and the salvation of my children, and for the souls of my 
parents.” (Ibid, p. 11.). The date of this benefaction is thus 
fixed for the reign of Malcolm IV., (1153-—1165). 

The master and congregation of St Leonard’s Hospital had 
rented from the convent of Dryburgh, for an annual payment of 
half a mark of silver and one pound of incense, a half carucate 
of land in the territory of Ednam; but for convenience, in the 
reign of King William (1165—1214) they exchanged their Fife- 
shire property for this half-ploughgate nearer home. It is from 
a small privilege annexed to this bargain that we obtain the only 
particulars of the domestic economy of the inmates of the hos- 
pital revealed to us; and it shews us moreover that scant pro- 
vision had been made for their maintenance and clothing. The 
abbot and convent, we are told, by the pressing petition of com- 
mon friends yielded to the congregation of the hospital power ¢o 
full each year a quantity of white cloth limited to 24 ells (about 
74% yards) at their mill at Dryburgh. In respect of charity this 
was done at the expense of the abbot and convent, and after the 
manner in which they were wont to dress the coats of their lay 
brethren. This is the most favourable interpretation of the 
grant, in which it is not very clear who were to be at the charge 
of the cleansing operation. 

The extent of the hospital land as we ascertain by a very 
modern advertisement afterwards quoted was about 160 acres. 


Ednam Hospital. By James Hardy. 341 


Tt is called in a Kelso Charter (No. 14) the land of the infirm, 
—‘‘terram infirmorum’’—i.e., to say of sickly and decrepit 
monks, and for the maintenance of ‘‘ poor and infirm people.” 

The situation of the hospital is indicated in a charter of King 
William, the Lion, to Kelso Abbey of lands and privileges in 
the territory of Ednam, as being at the intersection of the road 
leading from the bridge of the ford on the west side of Ednam, 
to the forking of the road that came from the northern part of 
the petary of Ednam. (Chart. Kelso, No. 14, p. 18.) 

The lands and hospital of Ednam continued crown property 
till the reign of Robert I., who granted them to his son-in-law, 
Walter Stuart, from whom his son, afterwards Robert IL., 
derived them. For an interval in the reign of David II., they 
were at the disposal of Edward III. In 1349, Edward III. 
issued a writ for restoring the hospitals of St Mary at Berwick 
and of Edenham to Robert de Burton, who is said to have been 
a busy agent of the English king on the Border. (Jeffrey’s 
Roxburgh, iii. p. 111, from Rot. Scot, 1.) 

In 1378, in the time of Robert II,, a concession which that 
king had bestowed, of the lands of Ednam and the advocation of 
the hospital, was revoked in Parliament from Robert de Erskin, 
knt., and dame Christian de Ketht his wife, (Act Parl. Scot. i. aa 
pp. 197, 198), who were otherwise provided for; and in 1392, 
the tends and patronage were acquired by ‘Sie John de 
Edmonston of that ilk, and Isobel Stuart his wife, elsewhere 
called Euphemia and also Margaret, daughter of Robert IT. 
(Genealogy of the Lairds of Kdnem and Duntreth, Glasgow, 
A.D., 1699, p. 4; Nisbet’s Heraldry, ii., Appendix, p. 156). 

This early documentary evidence dissipates the conjecture of 
Spottiswood (Religious Houses, &c., p. 290), that the hospital 
seemed to have been founded by the Edmonstons, which has 
been recently repeated in Walcott’s compilation ‘The Ancient 
Church of Scotland,” p. 387. 

In 1426, an instance occurs of the exercise of the patronage: 
“‘Joannes de Edmonston. tutor dativus Jacobi de Edmonston, 
filii et heredis quondam Davidis de Kdmonston de Ednem, 
presents Mr Robert Heriot to the chaplainry of the hospital, 
which was vacant by the death of Mr Alexander Crichton. This 
is confirmed by King James at Edinburgh, 27th September, 
1426.” (Spottiswood in Keith’s Bishops of Scotland, p. 290. 
Hdinr. 1755), 


342 Ednam Hospital. By James Hardy. 


In the Retours for Roxburgh, No. 340, Nov. 8, 1633, Andrew 
Edmondstoun of that ilk is retoured in possession of the patron- 
age of the hospital of Ednem. In No. 197, Nov. 22, 1649, 
Dayid Creichtoune of Lugtoun, in right of his mother Joneta 
Edmestoune, is retoured of this patronage; and also in the lands 
of Spittle from olden time called the ‘‘lands of the place of the 
hospital of St Leonard of Edinghame,”’ with the teinds. In 
No. 261, Jan. 22, 1678, Joneta Home, heiress of Major John 
Home of Carrolsyde, her father, held with other lands in Ednem 
barony (perhaps in wadsett) the patronage of this hospital. 

A new period now opens out, and printed documents cease to 
guide. In 1692, the proprietor of Spitle was James Ffallow or 
Fallay. (Ednam Session Book). In that year the barony of 
Ednam, with the exception of Newton Don, was almost entire 
in the hands of the Edmonstons: the heritors of the parish were 
then: ‘‘ Ednem,’”’ (Andrew Edmonston,) born 1688 ; his mother, 
“the Lady,” daughter to Sir Alexander Don of Newton; his 
uncle, Sir James Don of Newton; and ‘James Ffallow of 
Spitle.” 

The land of Spitle next appears in !746, as belonging to the 
Ormstons, a wealthy Kelso family, who according to Anderson’s 
Scottish Nation, iii. p. 596, purchased what is now part of the 
estate of Hendersyde, in 1715, from Edmonstone of Ednam. 
This we learn from an obituary notice, in the newspapers of the 
period, of the owner, who is designated Mr Charles Ormston, 
sen. of Spitle. As Iam not aware that anywhere else we can 
obtain the data about the property, or the eulogies pronounced 
by their contemporaries on its owners, I shall conclude by sub- 
joining extracts of what is recorded of them and the hospital 
land. 


“On the 26th past (September) died Mr Charles Ormston, sen. of 
Spitle, merchant in Kelso, in the 80th year of his age. He was one of 
the people called Quakers, and lived and died in great reputation among 
all his neighbours and acquaintance. He was a man of great plainness, 
sobriety, and temperance; of great humanity and hospitality ; always 
ready to do good, and to supply the poor, which he did chearfully without 
ostentation. He was a kind husband, a loving father, a good neighbour, 
and generous master. His death, as a publick loss to the place, is 
lamented by people of all ranks. He has left a handsome estate to his_ 
children.” (Newcastle Journal, No. 392, Oct. 11, 1746.) 


“Farms To Let. The farms of Newstead or Fairnyhill and Ednem 
Hospital, the first containing 170 and odd acres, and the other about 160 


On the Incised Rocks at Morwick. 343 


acres, or thereby, are to be let on lease for such anumber of years as 
parties can agree, to commence at Whit-sunday, 1771. Tho most part of 
the lands of these are of a remarkable good quality, and extremely im- 
proveable, are within a measured mile of the town of Kelso,and the farm 
of Newstead is steelbow. For farther particulars enquire at Dr William 
Ormston of Henderside, the proprietor, at Kelso; or Mr John Waldie, 
writer there.” (Newcastle Journal, Feb. 17, 1770.) 
Before the close of the year the proprietor died. 


“Sunday morning died at Kelso, in the prime of his age, Dr William 
Ormston of that place ; a gentleman of fortune and great merit ; in life 
very much beloved by all his acquaintance, and in death universally 
deplored.” (Newcastle Journal, Dec. 22, 1770.) 


I have nothing more to say about this pendicle of the EKdmon- 
stoune property, but I may take up the history of the family, 
which I have obtained almost complete, as Lairds of Ednam, 
when more space can be allotted to the subject. 


On the Incised Rocks at Morwick. By JAMES Harpy. 
With Notices and Illustrations by Miss SARAH DAND. 
Elates LI, TV.,:V.j.V* 


Tus paper on the remarkable group of incised inscriptions on 
the face of a precipitous sandstone rock overhanging the Coquet 
behind the village of Morwick, and at a short distance from 
Morwick Hall, is drawn up from the observations of the Club 
made during their visit in 1877; from the notes of Miss Sarah 
Dand accompanying the faithful sketches, with which, with great 
painstaking, she has favoured the Club; and from the recollec- 
tions of a very brief visit which I paid to the spot, July 4th, 
1888, in company with Mr Middleton Dand, Mr John Dand, Mr 
Wm. T. Hindmarsh, and Capt. McCabe. 

The record of the visit of the Club on the 27th June, 1877, in 
the address of the President, Dr. Charles Douglas, is so accurate 
and ample, that it is superfluous to relate afresh the circum- 
stances of the discovery of the figures, or their special attributes. 
I shall therefore incorporate the greater part of it. It is owing 
to the Club’s resolution on that occasion, that an ‘‘ account of 
these inscriptions with engravings,’’ should be supplied for the 
Proceedings, that with Miss Dand’s assistance the subject is now 
resumed. 

‘< A move was now made onwards to Morwick Mill, where the 
party joined some of the members, who had gone by a more 


344 On the Incised Rocks at Morwick. 


direct route to inspect the incised figures on rocks overhanging 
the Coquet, a short way below the mill, which had recently been 
discovered by Mr Middleton Dand. These are different trom any 
of those so well and elaborately described by our late Secretary, 
Mr Tate, and others, as occurring on the rocks at Old Bewick, 
Doddington, Routing Linn, and other places in Northumberland. 
Those already recorded occur generally on the surface of sand- 
stone rocks, cropping up on hills or other high ground; these 
are on the face of a sandstone cliff rising perpendicularly from 
the bed of the Coquet, a very short way above the level of the 
sea. The most typical of the forms are composed of concentric 
circles with a radial groove passing from the centre to the 
circumference or beyond it. In these now under observation, 
about six in number, there is no radial groove, but the figure 
in the most distinct is of a spiral form, somewhat resembling 
those figured by Mr Tate in his paper published in 1864, from 
Capt. Carr, R.E., as occuring on rock temples at Malta; with 
this remarkable difference, however, that the latter were in 
relief, those on the Coquet, like all others in Northumberland, 
incised. The first inscription seen by Mr Dand from a boat on 
the river is of a different character from any of the others, the 
outer circle being composed of a number of dots or pits, at per- 
haps two inches distance from each other, in this somewhat 
resembling an inscription discovered by Mr Tate at Jedburgh, 
but not 7 s¢tu, and shown in Plate xt. Fig. 6 of the illustrations 
to his paper. The entire diameter appeared from the boat, from 
which the inspection was made by small detachments of our 
party at a time, to be about a foot, and was apparently the ~ 
largest observed ; it faced the river; others were on a different 
aspect of the rock, facing nearly at right angles to the one first 
observed. One of our members noticed that two of the spiral 
figures, close to each other, were in fact continuous, the line 
being carried from one to the other. The inscriptions are from 
about ten to fifteen feet above the present level of the river, but 
at the remote period at which they were doubtless executed the 
channel of the river would be at a much higher elevation*.” 
The distance of the incised rock from the village of Warkworth 
including the windings of the river is 2? miles; and there is 
little more than a mile farther to the present mouth of the river. 


* Hist. of the Ber. Nat. Club, viii., pp. 212-213. 


On the Incised Rocks at Morwick. 345 


At first I imagined that a party of wanderers sheltering here at 
no great distance from the open sea, might have formed these 
tracings during their involuntary detention; but having subse- 
quently learned that there are remnants a a British Camp on 
the space behind the perpendicular cliff, it is rather I think to 
the agency of its resident occupants that these improved exer- 
cises in stone-cutting may be attributed. 

‘There is very little trace,’ Miss Dand writes, “ of any camp 
left. A formed path three yards wide from and to the camp 
slopes from west to east to the level of the river, leaving a 
steep bank to the south, and a deeper bank from the height of 
the path to the river. To the north this is the only feature of 
manual formation, and is immediately to the east of the incised 
rock. An extensive view,’’ she continues, ‘‘can be had to the 
north and west, but owing to the rising ground, only ashort way 
can be seen to the south and east. Two small ravines on the 
west and east favour the idea that it might have been made a 
strong position. It has been suggested that here was the site of 
Hugh de Morwick’s castle (the Norman possessor of the land), 
but this is a mere conjecture, for I do not know of any tradition 
bearing this out. Were this the fact it might account for the 
disappearance of the outlines of the Camp. There are several 
mounds running from north to south on the north side of the 
river on Warkworth Moor. They may be merely owing to 
tracks worn at different ages to ‘ Pomfret’s ford,’—now cor- 
rupted into ‘ Paupers’ ford’—a few yards to the east; but they 
are not unlike barrows.” This suggestion must be left for 
future inquiry. 

Miss Dand next proceeds to describe the figures in Plates ITT., 
IV. and V. The plates are exact reproductions of her pen and 
ink drawings. 

‘“‘The figures are scattered over the face of a perpendicular 
grey sandstone rock on the south bank of the Coquet. Except- 
ing in figures 1, 2, and 3 there seems no attempt at combination. 
Figure 1 is the highest. Calling the rock about 30 feet high, 
the spirals will be about 20 feet from the ordinary level of the 
river. Figure 2 is on part of the rock facing east and is about 
7 feet from the ground. The spirals here like those in figure 1 
are of a uniform size and depth, about 3 inches in diameter and 
‘cut into the rock about the 8th of an inch. In figure 4 the spiral 
is larger being quite 5 inches in diameter, and curls the opposite 

R1 


346 On the Incised Rocks at Morwick. 


way to its smaller representatives. I find figure 5 has long been 
known in the village as ‘The Lion.’ It is much the largest; is 
about 1 foot from the ground in a part of the rock that is very 
coarse and gritty, and appears much effaced by the weather. 
The cups round the horse-shoe in figure 6 are very much deeper 
than the lines, being cut into the rock about an inch. This 
figure is about 12 feet above the surface of the river. Figure 3 
is about 7 feet above the river, is much overgrown with lichens, 
and is very indistinct.” 

I visited the scene under the disadvantage of a heavy thunder 
plump; and the troubled and discoloured river was in flood, 
sweeping down rafts of wood and branches. This necessitated a 
cautious guidance of the boat, which had to be steadied and held 
secure by achain from the shore. The rock is a single cliff | 
below the high bank, supposed to have been once crowned with 
a British Camp. It was ornamented with ferns from its numer- 
ous crevices, and one face of it was guttered from the top with 
numerous water runnels. It was surmised that the figures might 
at one time have been more numerous. The rock is crumbly, 
and detached masses of it have fallen ; and the inscriptions now 
remaining are preserved on the more indurated projections. The 
northern bank of the river is grassy and without trees. The 
wooded scene above this free space, where the mill-race and the 
main stream of the Coquet meet at the apex of an islet clad with 
tall umbrageous trees, is exceedingly fine. 

To discuss the particular object and meaning of these rock- 
writings is beyond the scope of this paper. Among them are 
examples of the first spirals as yet observed among the North- 
umbrian rocks. Next to the Berwickshire Club, the Antiquarian 
Society of Scotland have in their ‘‘ Proceedings” figured 
examples of cups, circles, and other rock markings; but among 
them I have failed to find spirals exactly according with those 
represented in the accompanying plates. On the stone, however, 
engraved in Plate V., the similarity of the incised figures to those 
at Morwick, is too obvious to be disregarded. Itis derived from 
a plate at p. 106 of Mr Robert Bruce Armstrong’s elaborate and 
careful ‘‘ History of Liddesdale, Eskdale, Ewesdale, Wauchope- 
dale and the Debateable Land,’ Part 1, Edinburgh, David 
Douglas, 1883, 4to; which the liberality of the publisher has 
placed at the disposal of the Club. The stone, evidently only a 
fragment of a larger block once containing more figures, forms 


Ancient British Flint Implements. By D. D. Dixon. 347 


the door-sill of the vault of the Hollows Tower on the river Esk, 
the residence of ‘‘ Johnie Armstrong, ” (Gilnockie), of tragic fame, 
and supposed to have been erected by that Border reiver inthe early 
part of the sixteenth century. Whence it was at first procured is 
not stated, but there might still be tangible evidence remaining 
in the neighbourhood if earnestly sought out. A representation 
of a double spiral, like that on the stone at the Hollows, resemb- 
ling the volutes on an Ionic column, is of ready access in the 
Catalogue of the Museum of the 8.A.S8. p.115, froma sculptured 
stone found in a “ Pict’s House” in Eday, Orkney. A very re- 
-markable association of the double pagan volute with a Christian 
cross may be seen in a figure in the Scottish Society of Anti- 
quaries’ volume for 1880-81, page 121, in a contribution by Mr 
William Stevenson on the Antiquities of the Islands of Colonsay 
and Oransay. A barbarous figure with a human head and a 
fish’s tail, has the arms converted into involute spirals on the 
transverse beam of the cross. 

The survival of the original central cup and concentric circles 
of the older Northumbrian sculptures, is sufficiently pronounced 
in the Morwick group; but art had advanced since a more prim- 
ative age, and was forming new combinations apparently more 
ornamental than significant, both in what was added and what 
was retrenched. This modification is also exemplified in some 
figures on the sculptured rock at Cuddy’s Cove, near Doddington, 
which have other more modern accompaniments. On one of 
them the pagan circles and cup are displayed in the centre of a 
small cross ; shewing’ a pagan and Christian emblem combined, 
it may have been contemporaneously. We find there also the 
horse-shoe arch. 


Ancient British Flint Implements found at Low Farnham, 
Coquetdale. By D. D. Dixon. Plates VI., and VII. 


THE accompanying Plates VI and VII showa group of sixteen 
neolithic flint implements, which have been turned up by the 
plough in the fields at Low Farnham, in Coquetdale, and collected 
by Mr John Nicholson. Besides this selection of the various forms, 
there have been upwards of fifty other flints found. Many of them 
appear to have been broken by use, and others are apparently 
chippings struck off in the course of manufacture. Although 
there is none found in the neighbourhood, flint probably formed 


348 Ancient British Flint Implements. By D. D. Dixon. 


an article of barter between tribes, and during the long winter 
months the occupants of a settlement or camp at Farnham may 
have employed themselves in the making of tools from the pieces 
of flint, got in exchange for other commodities, which may account 
for the small pieces of flint or chippings, most of which bear the 
mark of human workmanship. Farnham is in the parish of 
Alwinton, five miles west of Rothbury, one mile east of Holy- 
stone, and stands on the gently rising slopes of the eastern bank 
of the river Coquet, which here runs from north to south. No 
signs of any camp exist near where the flints have been found, 
and, at any rate, the tillage of centuries would have obliterated 
all traces of it had one ever existed; but in a field contiguous, 
there are green mounds not yet excavated, which have the ap- 
pearance of burial mounds. The neighbourhood, too, is thickly 
studded with ancient remains. Grave mounds or barrows occur 
on a hill near Barrow Burn, hence the name; and on the North 
banks of the Coquet, at Harbottle, in !869, several cists or graves 
were opened by Canon Greenwell, when most interesting remains 
were discovered ; and, no doubt, in many of the fields around 
Harbottle, if a diligent search were made while ploughing, there 
would be found flints of a similar character to those found at 
Farnham. On Wreigh Hill, about a mile southward is ‘‘ Hetche- 
ster, ’’ supposed to be a British camp, where have been found in 
large numbers the bones and antlers of enormous deer. On 
Holystone Common there are numerous grave mounds, some 
of which were excavated in 1870, by Canon Greenwell and C. H. 
Cadogan, Esq., who found them to contain urns and other relics 
of the ancient Britons. Two miles south is the camp of Hare- 
haugh with its triple ramparts, and facing it on the south is the 
fine circular camp, ‘“‘ Soldiers’ Fauld,’’ at Whitefield, topping 
the crest of a round hill, a spur of the Simonside range. 
Doubtless, these flints are the weapons of war and of the chase 
as well as domestic tools, such as would be used by the ancient 
inhabitants of Coquetdale at a period contemporaneous with the 
occupation of the camps mentioned. Apart from the finding of 
flints, Farnham has a few other associations of interest—there 
once stood there a Border tower, a stronghold of an ancient 
Northumbrian family, the ‘‘ Horsleys,’”’ ‘‘ A.D. 1460, Turris de 
Thernham, Robti Horsley.” ‘A.D. 1542, at Tharnham ys a 
toure of thinherytance of one Rog’ Horsley in measurable good 
repac’ons.”’ ‘‘Nun’s Close’ one of the fields known by that 


Notes on Marine Alga. By Edward A. L. Batters. 349 


name, where the greatest number of flints is found, seems to de- 
note connection in days gone by with the adjoining nunnery at 
Holystone. Wreigh Hill rises on the south, where formerly 
stood a considerable village, which on Wednesday, May 25, 1412, 
was pillaged and burnt by the Scotch freebooters, and again in 
1665 it was depopulated by the plague. On the opposite bank 
of the Coquet is the old village of Holystone, reputed to have 
been one of the places visited by Paulinus the Bishop on an 
evangelizing tour, where, it is said, he baptised 3000 Saxon con- 
verts, Haster 627. Plainfield Moor, which is part of Farnham, 
is the spot where James, the ill-fated Earl of Derwentwater, 
raised the standard for the Pretender in the rising of 1715. 

The following is a list of the flints, indicating their nature and 
colour :—1, thumb flint or scraper, dark slate ; 2, oval arrow head, 
dark slate ; 3, oval arrow head, light drab: 4, thumb flint, dark 
slate ; 5, arrow head, lower part fractured, dark slate; 6, arrow 
head, very light slate, as if bleached ; 7, arrow ,head, very light 
slate, as if bleached ; 8, arrow head, dark slate ; 9, knife or flake, 
light brown ; 10, barbed arrow head, light slate ; 11, arrow head, 
fine dark slate; 12, knife or flake, light slate ; 13, arrow head, 
nearly white, as if bleached ; 14, portion of spear head, fractured 
at lower part, dark flint (beautifully chipped); 15, thumb flint, 
(has been the outside chip), dark slate; 16, barbed arrow head, 
fractured, light red brown. 

[The illustrations are from pen and ink sketches by Mr J. T. 
Dixon, Rothbury. ] 


Notes on the Marine Alge of Berwick-wpon-Tweed. By 
Epwarp A. L. BATTers, B.A., LL.B., F.L,S. Plates, VIIL, 
IX., X., and XI. 


Since writing the article for last year’s Proceedings I have 
been fortunate enough to find at or near Berwick the following 
Algee, not previously recorded as occurring in the neighbourhood. 

1. Spherozyga Carmichael. Harv. Phy. Brit., Pl. 113, A. 
(Cylindrospermum Carmichaelii, Huts. Spec. Alg. p. 294. Ana- 
baina marina. Bréb. in An. Sc. Nat. Belonia torulosa. Carm. 
Alg. App. ined. ). 

Filaments slightly curved, attenuated at each end, moniliform, 
densely interwoven, forming a gelatinous stratum of a bluish- 


350 Notes on Marine Alga. By Edward A. L. Batters. 


green colour, on mud and decaying alge. Several heterocysts 
in each filament. Spores one on each side of the heterocyst, 
oblong, about twice as long as broad, brownish green when 
mature. 

Estuary of the Tweed and on the muddy banks of the river 
between the two bridges on the Berwick side. Rare. 

2. Spirulina tenuissima. Kutz. Phy. Gen. p. 183. Harv. 
Phye. Brit., Pl. 105, c. 

Filaments excessively slender, twisted into a spiral, forming a 
thin, bright metallic or verdigris-green stratum on mud. 

My specimens come very near Crouan’s Spirulina pseudo- 
tenuissima. The spiral is more open and the threads finer than 
Harvey’s plate would lead one to suppose is the case with S. 
tenuissima. It is therefore with considerable doubt that I have 
referred the Berwick plant to the present species. I have only 
met with this plant on one occasion, when I found a considerable 
quantity between the old bridge and the railway bridge on the 
Tweed, but only secured a small quantity for examination. On 
returning the next day I found the mud had been disturbed and 
not a vestige of the Spirulinaremained. Rare. 

83. Oscillatoria littoralis. Carm. Alg. Appin. ined. Harv. 
Phye. Brit., Pl. 105. A. 

A thin membranaceous dark green stratum covering the bot- 
tom of muddy pools near high water mark. Filaments usually 
twisted into bundles, straight or slightly curved. Strize well 
marked at intervals of about one third the width of the filament. 
The stratum peels off the rock in the form of a dirty green mem- 
brane which does not adhere to paper at all well. 

Damp rocks near high water mark between the pier and the 
‘‘Greenses.””’ Not uncommon. 

4. Oscillatoria subuliformis. Thwaites in Harv. Phye. Brit., Pl. 
251. B. . 

Stratum of dark green colour, soft, gelatinous. Filaments 
very slender, tapering toan incurved point. Strize indistinct and 
separated from each other by intervals of half the width of the 
filament. 

The Coves at Dodd’s Well, and on the sand at the mouth of 
the river. Not uncommon. 

5. Oscillatoria nigro-viridis. Thw. in Harv. Phyc. Brit., Pl. 
251. A. 

A dark olive green almost black stratum (arich metallic green 


Notes on Marine Alge. By Edward A. L. Batters. 351 


when dry and mounted) soft, gelatinous. Filaments slender, 
points blunt and slightly, though distinctly, curved. Striz 
transverse, not very distinct, separated from each other by 
intervals of about half the width of the filament. 

On the muddy banks of the river from its mouth to the 
‘¢Plantation.”” Very common. 

6. Oscillatoria insignis. Thwaites, in Harv. Phye. Brit., Pl. 251. C. 

A thin, blackish-brown, gelatinous stratum hardly to be dis- 
tinguished from the mud on which it grows. Filaments thick, 
straight; apices obtuse and curved. Strize close and conspicuous. 

On mud, Holy Island, and in great plenty on either side of the 
stakes after leaving Fenham Flats to cross to the Island. 

7. Lyngbya ferruginea. Ag. Harv. Phy. Brit., Pl. 311. (L. eru- 
ginosa 4g.; L. estuarii, Liebm.). 

A loosely interwoven, dark green or brownish stratum of very 
slender threads. Filaments tolerably clearly annulated, wall of 
the tube very thin though distinct. 

Muddy pools at the mouth of the river. Rare. 

8. Rivularia atra, Roth. var. confluens. 

Fronds ‘‘flattish owing to the coalescence of several indivi- 
duals,’’ otherwise like the normal form, with which it is identical 
in microscopical structure. 

This variety of &. atra often forms a flat expansion of two or 
three inches in diameter on rocks, and looks at first sight quite 
distinct from the almost globular fronds of the normal type of 
the species. 

Muddy rocks near the ‘‘Greenses,” and at ‘‘ Sharper Head.” 
Common. : 

9. Hormospora ramosa. Thwaites in Harv. Phyc. Brit., Pl. 213. 

Fronds very minute, invisible to the naked eye. Filaments 
branched, colour cells oval, when mature. 

Whilst examining a specimen of Cladophora flavescens under the 
microscope I discovered a few specimens of this beautiful micro- 
scopic alga. 

Fenham Flats. 

10. Cladophora flavescens. Kutz. Harv. Phyc. Brit., Pl. 298. 

Filaments very slender, interwoven into large floating masses 
of a pale yellowish-green colour. Branches irregular, distant, 
mostly alternate, sometimes dichotomous, patent or nearly so, 
upper branches few and mostly secund. Joints six to eight times 
longer than broad. ‘The colour of this alga is usually a fine 


352 Notes on Marine Algw. By Edward A. L. Batters. 


yellowish-green, but it often happens that much greener patches 
are to be seen mixed up with the ordinary coloured fronds in the 
same mass. 

Holy Island and Fenham Flats. Not uncommon. 

11. Vaucheria velutina. 4g. Harv. Phye. Brit., Pl. 321. 

Filaments creeping, forming exceedingly dense cushion-like 
strata on mud. Branches erect simple or forked rising to one 
height. The tips of the branches, which rise abeve the mud, are 
bright green, the creeping filaments themselves are either colour- 
less or stained by the mud in which they are growing. The 
creeping filaments are often densely interwoven and firmly fixed 
in the mud, the larger portion of them being usually dead ‘ with 
avery offensive odour.” The spherical vesicles, filled with a 
dark green granular mass, are not unfrequent. Vesicles either 
stalked or sessile usually produced on the upright branches but 
sometimes also on the creeping ones. 

Estuary of the Tweed, and on the muddy banks of the river as 
far as the ‘“ Plantation.”” Very common. 

There are several other species of the genus Vaucheria to be 
found on the soft mud below the foot bridge, but as I have never 
found them in fruit it is impossible to say to which species they 
should be referred. 

12. Fucus vesiculosus, Linn. var. B. subecostatus. 

(Fucus Balticus. Ag. Sv. Bot. t. 516, Grev. Crypt, Fl. t. 181. 
Harv. Phyce. Brit. Desc. plate 204.) 

Fronds small, from an inch to two inches high, narrow, usually 
dichotomous and destitute of air vessels. Midrib very indistinct. 

No one at first sight would take this plant to be a variety of 
F’. vesiculosus ; it seems to come very much nearer F. ceranoides. 
Its small size, want of air vessels, and the almost entire absence 
of midrib, mark it as avery distinct variety. It grows in salt 
marshes, usually on the soft mud round the margins of pools. 

Banks of the Tweed a little way above the railway bridge. 
Not uncommon. 

13. Dictyosiphon hippuroides. Aresch. Obs. Phyc. III., p. 27, 
Phyc. Mar. Sc., tab. 6., A. 

Fronds brown, from a few inches to a foot or more long, 
filamentous, rather densely beset with irregularly alternate, 
sometimes opposite, branches which are rebranched again in a 
similar manner. Always parastical on Chordaria flagelliformis, 
which it often covers so densely that the “‘ host plant” is hardly 


Notes on Marine Alge. By Edward A. L. Batters. 353 


discernible. Berwick Bay and all along the coast northwards. 
Common. 

14. Sphacelaria ccespitula. Lyngb. Hydr. p. 105 t., 32, fig. A. 

Very minute tufts of fine filaments, growing on the roots of 
Laminaria digitata. Filaments very slender. Branches irreg- 
ular often secund, few. Joints about as long as broad. Colour 
a light brown. 

Berwick Bay. Rare. 

There is a small Sphacelaria which grows in shallow sandy 
pools a little to the north of Sharper head. It forms small tufts 
which appear above the sand like fine wire. It appears to be 
S. racemosa but as I have not found any fruit I cannot speak with 
certainty. 

14. Cruoria adherens. J. G. Ag. Sp. Alg., vol. II., p. 491. 
Frond forming a thin, smooth, fleshy crust on the stems of 
Laminaria digitata. Frond at first circular afterwards irregular 
in shape, half an inch to two inches in diameter. The crust is 
composed of erect, or once or twice dichotomous, jointed fila- 
ments set in gelatine, all of one length so as to form a smooth 
surface,joints nearly aslong as broad,colour a dark reddish-purple . 
Substance tough, but still fleshy-feeling, horny when dry. I 
have seen no fructification except the terminal pyriform green 
spore surrounded by a wide gelatinous limbus described by 
Harvey in the Natural History Review vol. II. (1867), p. 203 
and pl. 13, ¢. fig 1. 

Berwick Bay, common. 

16. Melobesia Lenormandi, Aresch. (Lithophyllum Lenormandi, 
Rosanoff.) 

Frond forming a thin chalky crust on rocks, the under surface 
closely adherent, the upper smooth. Fronds suborbicular at 
first, afterwards overlapping one another and irregular in outline, 
slightly zonate, margins crenate, lobed, tetraspores four-parted 
contained in hemispherical conceptacles very much flattened on 
the top, orifices of the conceptacles numerous. 

Berwick Bay &c., common. 

17. Melobesia coralline. Orn., Liste des Alg. mar. 1. «, Fl. d. 
Finist. p. 150. 

Fronds small, one or two lines in diameter, pale-lilac or mauve, 
thick, slightly convex, obovoid or deltoid, confluent, sometimes 
lobed, conceptacles numerous not much raised above the surface 
of the frond, spores divided into two. : 

s 


354 Notes on Marine Alge. By Edward A. L, Batters. 


Parasitical on Corallina officinalis, which it sometimes almost 
entirely covers, oftener however it is found in small quantity on 
the fronds of the ‘host plant.” 

[In article I. ‘“‘ Berw. Nat. Cl. Proceedings,”’ 1883, p. 113, line 
11 from bottom for ‘‘ pond” read ‘frond ;”’ p. 114. line 5 ‘from 
bottom for ‘‘ Areschong’s’”’ read « Areschoug’s.””] 


EXPLANATION OF PLATES. 


Plate VIII. 
Fig. 1. Phleospora tortiis. Natural size. 
Fig, 2. Transverse section of a young branch, 500 diam. 
Fig. 3. fs an old », 900 diam. 


Plate IX. 


Fig. 1. Mitophyllum reptans growing on Laminaria digitata. 
Natural size. 

Fig. 2. The same detached from the Zaminaria stem so as to 
show shape of frond. Natural size. 

Fig. 3. Surface of frond, 240 diam. 

Fig. 4. Vertical section of frond, 500 diam. 

Fig. 5. Elachista Grevillit -growing on Cladophora rupestris. 
Natural size. 

Fig 6. Section of same showing unilocular sporangia, &c., 
500 diam. 


Plate X. 


Fig. 1. Zhamnidion intermedium growing on Ahnfeldtia. plicata. 
Natural size. 

Fig. 2. Branch and spores, 125 diam. 

Fig. 3. Group of tetraspores, 500 diam. 

Fig. 4. Sphacelaria cespitula growing on Laminaria digitata. 
Natural size. 

Fig. 5. Portion of same. 125 diam. 

Fig. 6. Joints of same. 500 diam. 

Fig. 7. Phyllitis Fascia. Natural size. 

Fig. 8. Section of same. 125 diam. 


Plate XI. 


Fig. 1. Melobesia coralline. Natural size. 

Figs. 2. and 38. same. Different forms. 75 diam. 
Fig. 4. Surface of frond. 125 diam. 

Fig. 5. Spores. 500 diam. 


Carex divisa. By the Rev. James Farquharson. 355 


Fig. 6. Melobesia Lenormand growing on astone. Natural size. 

Fig. 7. The same. 75 diam. 

Fig. 8. Spores. 500 diameters. 

All the plants figured are new British Algee, except Elachista 
Grevillizc, but I am not acquainted with any work containing a 
figure of that species in fruit. 


Carex divisa found in Holy Island. By the Rev. JAMES 
FARQUHARSON, M.A., Selkirk. 


On the 26th of June, 1883, the day before the Club paid its 
last visit to Holy Island,-when botanising there with the Rev. 
Mr Paul, of Roxburgh, I picked up in the marshy ground 
beyond the old windmill a Carex, of which it is worth while 
making a note in the Proceedings. 

Not thinking there would be any difficulty in determining the 
species, taking it indeed at the moment for C. ovalis, which I 
wished to examine minutely, I unfortunately did not secure a 
specimen with roots, but gathered simply the herbage, and the 
spikes, at that season immature. After returning to Selkirk I 
examined the plant carefully, and found it to be certainly not C. 
ovalis, but a species with which I was unacquainted, and which, 
with the books of reference at my command, I could not satis- 
factorily determine. Mr A. Brotherston, Kelso, to whom I sent 
specimens, thought it was probably C. divisa, an opinion which 
was confirmed by Mr J. G. Baker, of Kew, to whom on Mr 
Brotherston’s suggestion I forwarded the plant; but neither of 
them could pronounce on the species with certainty on account of 
the immaturity of the fruit, and the want of roots in the speci- 
mens submitted to them. Mr Baker having forwarded my note 
to Professor Oliver, of Kew, who was residing at Bamborough 
in August, that gentleman visited Holy Island and searched for 
the plant; but though he found the spot I had indicated to him, 
he failed to find the Carex. 

In the month of September I had an opportunity of visiting 
Kew, and was enabled by Prof. Oliver’s kindness, and in his 
company, to make a careful comparison of my specimens with 
those of C. divisa in the Kew Herbarium, especially with the 


356 Titlark feeding young Cuckoo. 


numerous specimens in Dr. Boott’s collection of Carices. The 
dried specimens in the Herbarium vary considerably in appear- 
ance, but to many of them the plants in my possession made the 
closest possible approach. While more mature specimens would 
be requisite to remove all doubt on the subject, I confess there 
is now scarcely a doubt in my own mind; and Professor Oliver 
stated as the result of our examination and comparison, that 
there need be little hestitation in declaring that the Holy Island 
plant is Carex divisa. He was under the impression that the 
species had been previously found somewhere within the territory 
of the Tyneside Naturalists’ Club; but the present is the first 
record of its occurrence in the district visited by the Berwickshire 
Naturalists’ Club. J. FARQUHARSON. 


Titlark feeding young Cuckoo. 


I have only a few times seen the titlark and a young cuckoo 
together ; and it is interesting to watch how closely the small 
bird follows the larger in all-its movements. I have not, how- 
ever, seen the titlark feeding the cuckoo, which must be a very 
pretty sight. I have received a note from a friend, who resides 
in the uplands of Gala Water, telling me that he watched a 
titling and young cuckoo for about half an hour this season, 
during which time the tit many times fed the cuckoo. The 
cuckoo seemed easy and careless of its small foster mother, but 
was always ready to accept the grub. offered. Sometimes the tit 
sat on the cuckoo’s back when feeding it, sometimes on its head, 
and occasionally it dropped the food into the gaping mouth of 
the cuckoo while passing it on the wing. ‘This is so interesting 
a subject, that members who have witnessed similar proceedings 
on the part of these birds would do well to record them for the 
benefit of the Club. JAMES SMAIL. 

Kirkcaldy, Oct. 24th, 1888. 


357 


On a Dirk or Dagger found at Rothbury, July, 1883. By 
D. D. Drxon. 


Tuts dagger, a relic of those savage lawless days in Coquet- 

dale, when all men seemed 
“ To follow still the good old plan, 

That they should take who have the power, 

And they should keep who can,” 
was found by some workmen a few feet beneath 
the surface while digging a foundation for a 
house on the “‘ Borough Butts,” at Rothbury, 
a piece of ground known by that name lying 
on the north side of the river Coquet, between 
the church and the County Hotel, which in 
olden times would be the practice ground of 
the village bowmen. 

The Butts, according to law, were erected . 
and kept in repair by each township. From “N& 
the time of Edward II., many Acts of Parlia- 
ment were passed to encourage the practice of 
archery ; and during the reign of Henry VIII., 
the law was very stringent that every boy over 
seven years of age, and every man under sixty, 
should provide himself or be provided by his 
friends with long-bow and shafts; and that on 
Sundays and holidays all able-bodied men 
should appear in the field to employ their lei- 
sure hours, ‘‘as valyant Englishmen ought to 
do,” inthe noble exercise of shooting. The 
vill of ‘‘Routhbery,’”’ as well as other town- 
ships, would be required to furnish in time of 
war a band of archers for the king’s service; 
and doubtless Rothbury bowmen would num- 
ber amongst the English Archers at the field of 
Flodden, where 

“Fell England’s arrow-flight like rain.” BS 

In 1458, John Cartington of Cartington Castle, near Rothbury, 
was one of the Commissioners appointed by King Henry VI. 
to raise archers in the County of Northumberland; and the 
adjacent township of Rothbury would bea portion of his district, 
where he would levy for men. 


358 Reports of the Great Storm of Wind, October, 1881. 


As the dagger, which appears to be a weapon of the 15th or 
16th century, was found on the ancient archery practice ground, 
we may surmise it to have been dropped by one of the archers; or 
lost in a fray, an event that we well know was of frequent 
occurrence amongst the dalesmen at that period. At all events 
—how or when lost—we have in it a momento of savage days 
and savage deeds in Coquetdale. D. D. Drxon. 


Reports on the Effects of the Great Storm of Wind, 14th 
October, 1881,0n Plantations. [Continued from p. 214.] 


BERWICKSHIRE. 
Report by Alexander McIntosh, gardener, Paxton House, on 
the Effects of the Storm of 14th October, 1881, on the woods on 
Paxton Estate, the property of Col. David Milne Home, M.P., 


9th Noy., 1883. 

About a quarter before twelve o’clock noon on the 14th October, 1881, 
the sky assumed almost inky darkness, and one could hear the storm 
approaching with a rushing sound; the wind being almost due north. 

Some sashes on frames in the gardens here were lifted off and tossed 
about like feathers, and a brick wall, 30 feet long and 8 feet high, in 
connection with the forcing houses, was blown over. The storm reached 
its height in this neighbourhood about one o’clock afternoon. 

The number of trees blown down on Paxton Estate was 456; a great 
many more were also damaged of which no record was kept. The most 
of the trees blown down consisted of hardwood, such as oak, beech, elm, 
etc. In most cases the trees were lying with their tops to the south. A 
few were lying south-east, but I attribute that a good deal to the position 
of the woods. ; 

The storm must have run in currents, for some partsof the woods here 
escaped, while in other parts very great damage was done. 

The Gardens, Paxton House, ALEX. McINTOSH. 

9th Nov., 1883. ; 

On Billie Estate, the property of Col. David Milne Holme, M.P. 

Grange, Coldingham, 31st October, 1883. 

The number of trees blown down in Grange Plantation on the 14th 
October, 1881, was about 14,000 Scotch fir, 2,000 larches, and 500 spruce 
firs. The wind was from the north, andit seems to have run in currents, 
as there are places where the trees are standing on both sides, and the 
whole of the trees between levelled. All the trees in Grange Plantation 
were lying in one direction ; but in regard to the trees that fell around 
Auchencrow Mains farm-house, the wind had been a good deal more 
from the east; and the same happened in the Callside Plantation at 
Restonhill. There were 1,594 trees overturned on Restonhill; and 2,181 


Reports of the Great Storm of Wind, October, 1881. 359 


trees on Heughhead and Cairncross ; and 1,230 trees on Crosslaw, and 
North and South Faliaknowe. The trees in the last named plantation 
are mostly blown down in patches at different places, and not regularly 
over the whole plantation. ROBERT CLEGHORN, 
Forester, Grange. 


Longformacus Estate, the property of Lieut.-Col. Brown. 
Longformacus, Duns, Berwickshire, lst May, 1884. 

Dear Mr Hardy.—I have been trying to arrive at the estimate number 
of the trees blown down, but I cannot get at it properly ; the only correct 
plan is to count the number of stumps, which I will set to work to do this 
summer. Yours truly, A. M. BROWN. 

A rough calculation of the blown down wood on 14th October, 1881, is 
as follows, only counting large trees,— 


Scotch Fir 2854 
Beech 178 
Ash 114 
Elm 67 
Larch 400 
Planes 7 
Limes 4 
Oaks 8 
Spruce 114 

Total 3744 


At present, by the recent gales in January and December last, about as 
much again has been blown down. But I will have the whole properly 
counted this summer. AG Mo Be 


Report as to the effects of the gales of October, 1881, and 
February, 1882, on plantations on Duns Castle Estate, the pro- 
perty of William James Hay, Esq. 

The policies of Duns Castle are situated a short distance to the north- 
west of the town of Duns, at the southern extremity of the valley between 
Duns Law and the eastern slopes of the Hardens ridge; inclusive of the 
woods which crown the summit of the Law and the higher grounds oppo- 
site, they extend over an area of about 1000 acres. The castle itself 
stands at an elevation of nearly 500 feet above the sea level; the Law 
rises to a height of 700 feet; while some of the wooded eminences to the 
north-west attain an altitude of fully 800 feet. The park round the 
mansion is of a gently undulating character, and is ornamented with 
splendid trees, principally limes, sycamores, oaks, and beeches; anda 
magnificent avenue of limes, 300 yards in length, forms the eastern 
approach to the castle. Many of these trees are upwards of 14 feet in 
girth, and an examination of sections of several of the largest that 
were recently blown down show that they were at least 170 years 
old. The woods on the hill slopes are composed chiefly of Scotch fir, with 
a liberal admixture of larch and spruce and the commoner deciduous 
trees, 


860 Report of the Great Storm of Wind, October, 1881. 


The effects of the gale of the 14th October last at Duns Castle were 
most disastrous; and it may safely be affirmed that no storm of this 
century, not excepting the gale of 1856 which was one of the most 
destructive to plantations ever experienced in this district, has caused 
such devastation over so wide spread an area. Here, as elsewhere, the 
course of the wind, the comparatively short duration of the gale, and its 
extreme violence, gave clear indications of its cyclonic character. The 
wind appears to have swept down the valley from the north in circular 
or spiral gusts ; breaking through the avenue of limes already mentioned 
and wrecking some fine clumps of trees in the park, as well as a belt of 
plantation about half a mile to the south, besides causing great havoc in 
the woods on the slopes at each side of the valley. On the highest por- 
tions of the grounds the damage was not quite so great; and it is some- 
what singular that the subsequent?gales in October, November, and the 
following February did comparatively little mischief at Dunse Castle, 
although on several estates in the vicinity they were almost as destruc- 
tive as the storm of the 14th October. This may perhaps be accounted 
for by the fact that the principal exposure of the Duns woods is towards 
the north and east, while the later gales seem to have had more or less 
of a westerly direction. 

In the table appended will be found statistics of the number, varieties, 
ages, &c. of the trees blown down on the estate. 

The price of timber in the locality has naturally been considerably 
affected by the sudden introduction of so enormous a quantity of it into 
the market; but its depreciation in value has not been so great as was 
at first apprehended, excepting in the case of beech which is practically 
almost valueless. Upwards of 1400 trees, comprising fine specimens 
of oak, lime, Scotch fir, larch, and poplar were sold by public roup on the 
ground in February last, and realised fair prices. The remainder of the 
wood was sold in bulk to Messrs R. & R. Brownlee, Timber Merchants, 
Earlston, who have undertaken to cut and remove the whole within two 
years. 

An experiment of great arboricultural interest was instituted by Mr 
Hay shortly after the storm. Naturally anxious to save as many as 
possible of the fine park trees which had been overturned by the gale Mr 
Hay, after advising with Mr Hutchison of Carlowrie, resolved to raise a 
number of the largest. The operation, though confessedly one of great 
difficulty, was successfully accomplished in every instance within a few 
weeks ; and at the present moment no fewer than 60 trees, most of them 
upwards of 100 years old, which had been prostrated by the storm, are 
standing in their original positions. Previously to their being raised the 
trees were deprived of their heaviest branches and after being brought 
to the perpendicular were firmly and carefully supported by strong wire 
ropes attached to posts driven securely into the ground. The roots were 
at the same time embedded in rich soil, and copiously watered. It is 
yet too early to pronounce definitely as to the success of the experiment ; 
but it may be stated that all the trees which formed the subject of it are 
living, and many have made vigorous growths and if we are favoured with 


Report of the Great Storm of Wind, October 1881. 361 


ordinary seasons, may be confidently expected to survive for many years 
to come. J. FERGUSON. 
Duns, 21 Aug., 1882. 


Table. 
° (oo fpr eer ° 
-A DoD n 
o is By ) 2 3 8 onl © ce 
: a H 23%m\ 52152 | ss 
Species, = S Za 'E $ S e a|s 4) 58 Remarks. 
oF 5 Siszo7| oh te 20 4 bo 
22 ea Se i a 
eon Fir eae ioe 5446 380 |10feet 6 feet 
arc. 2814 11 Hibs ©) 
Spruce 2760 | 2200 560 9 66 
Silver Fir 50 50 | 9'6 59 
Oak 618 228 | 390/ 9:10 | 7 '20 blown down oaks raised. 
Lime 170 110 60 12°4 6 (20 op limes ,, 
Beech 439 : 226 | 263 16 610 | 1 3 beech ,, 
Sycamore 450 4u0 60 11 4°3 
Klm 724 674| 60 146 | 5 5 4, elms. ,, 
ape 2a wh mer 60 14 a8 2 og ash trees ,, 
panis estnu ' 0 11 ‘ 
Birch 345 345 48 3°4 
Alder 100 100 4 3 
Poplar and Willow] 160 160 Lt 10 2 A poplars ,, 
Other Hardwoods 50 50 6 3:6 '10 », manles, walnuts 
SoS ee NRE ST and thorns raised. 
16922 | 3285 |12394 | 1243 


Note of trees blown down by Gales of 1883-4. 


Scotch Fir 975, 70 under 50 years old, others above 50. 
Larch 41, All over 5v Hi 
Spruce 30, ” ” 
Birch and other hardwood 450, o e 
Total 1096 


Measurements of the largest Trees at Whitehall near Chirn- 
side, with damage done by the October Gale, by Charles 
Stuart, M.D. 

Hillside Cottage, Chirnside, 3rd March, 1884. 

My Dear Sir,—I omitted to send you the measures of the Whitehall 
trees, many of them blown down since, by the great gale of the 14th 
Oct., 1881. 

13 Hollies, varying in girth from 3 ft. 10in. to 1 ft. 6in., and the 
heights varying from 51 ft. to 39 ft., all killed by the great frost of 1879- 
80-S1. 

Oaks blown down, No 1., girth five feet from the ground 8 ft. 7 in., 84 ft. 
high. No. 2. § ft. 10 in. in girth, 78 ft. high. 

English Yews, 42 ft. high, 6 ft.in girth, much damaged by frost on north 


side. 
Spanish Chestnuts. 


Girth 8 ft. 9 in. 51 ft. high 
9 13 ” 6 ” 72 9? 
” 9 ” 5 ” 63 ”? 
” 8 ” 6 ”? 75 99 
” 9 ” 3 ” 63 ” 
»” 10 ” 9 ” 69 ” 


a aa | 


362 Report of the Great Storm of Wind, October 1881. 


Girth 8 ft. 11 in. 75 ft. high. 

” 10 ” 9 ” 72 ” 
Mostly blown down. 

Girth 10 ft. 6 in. 84 ft. high. 
” 11 ” 8 ” 86 be) 
” 14 ” 10 ” 66 2? 
” 12 ” 9 ” 78 39 
” 10 bh) 0 ” 78 99 
» 10,, 10,, 78 99 
UBS gy Bigg 96 cn 


English Elm, erth 9 ft. 4 in., 87 ft. high. 

Holly, 45 ft. high, 4 ft. 4 in. in girth, completely killed by frost. 

English Yews, 29 ft. high, 3 ft. 2in.in girth. 33 all killed by frost. 

Scotch Firs, 69 feet high, 12 ft. 10in. in girth. No. 2, 78 ft. high, 10 
ft.2in at five feet from ground, much damaged by great gale. 

64 Hollies, 63 ft. hizh, 3 ft. 9in. in girth, had been in ancient days a 
hedge, all killed to the ground by frost. 

Oak, 87 ft. high, 13 ft. 2 in.in girth, blown down. No. 2, 10 ft.in girth, 
also blown down. Yours truly, C. STUART. 


EAST LOTHIAN. 
Number of Trees blown down on the Estate of Tyninghame, 
the property of the Right. Hon. the Earl of Haddington, October 
14th, 1881, with the contents of some of the largest specimens. 


Beech. 


Lime. 


dod &§ 
3 

ie) < ss o 

827 336 131 149 9503 11 160 20 17- 4867 32 . 90 74—9219 Trees. 
Contents of the bole of some of the largest treees. Some of these had 


limbs containing many cubic feet of timber. 


Spanish Chestnut. 
Spruce Fir. 


» Sycamore. 
x Hornbeam. 
Scots Fir. 


Birch. 
ean 


aq 
o 
& 5 
qn 


< Total. 


Length 4 Girth Contents. Length 4 Girth Contents. 
Beech ...... 39 by 233 14969 Oale cs..ce« 44 by 238 161°7'8 
58 by 19 145°4:10 | Scots Fir...51 by 22 171°5:0 
50 by 25 217°0°2 40 by 27% 210°0°10 
20 by 33 151°3°0 28 by 27% 147:0°7 
48 by 25 . 208-40 51 by 182 124671 
49 by 265 212°8'1 Plane ...... 30 by 183 71:3°7 
27 by 264 181°8:0 AMIN seesia amr 30 by 19 75:26 
61 by 202 182°4°7 45 by 20 125:0'0 
Osle Sasson 53 by 18 119°3°0 Silver Fir 21 by 31 146°9°10 
36 by 253 165°9°2 Spanish 
31 by 25% 142°8:10 | Chestnut...83 by 22 101:0°9 
42 by 194 11010710 


R. P. BROTHERSTON, 


363 


On a Spoon of the Renaissance period found at Mousin, 
near Belford ; with a notice of Mousin. By Jas. Harpy. 


Tuts small ornamented spoon, although 
only of pewter, is a very fine example of 
Renaissance—perhaps 16th century—work- 
manship, and has been figured for the 
preservation of the style from a drawing 
by Miss Dickinson. It was found at 
Mousin some years since, and belongs to 
Mrs Lumsden, Castle Heaton, who sent it to 
be exhibited at the Berwick Meeting, 
October, 1883. The figure has rather a 
diminutive appearance, being only one half 
of the original size, which is 61s inches long. 
The length of the mouth is about 23 inches ; 
breadth of ditto, 132 inch; length of free 
part of handle, 3 inches ; of ornamental part, 
about 1 in. The stamp contains a cross, 
with the initials T. P. 

As it may have belonged to an occupant, 
and not to an owner of the place, it is in 
vain to search after its former possessor. 


MOUSIN. 

Of the township of Mousin and its owners there is no written history, and 
I am tempted, after looking over the references to it in some of the records, 
to draw up a short statement of what the information they yield, 
amounts to. 

Mousin or Mowson is a hamlet and township in Bamburgh parish, 13 mile 
S. by E. of Belford. The present name is a corruption of the ancient 
Mulesfen, Molesfen, Millisfen, Mulfen, etc. The name is of Anglo-Saxon 
origin ; the first half possibly from A.S. mold, Scotch, muldes, mools earth, 
soil; or from A.S. mudo, a mule, and fen a marsh; or even from A.S. mylen, a 
mill; the mill at the marsh. Mod/ is alsoan A.S. personal appellative. The 
double 77 and single /, readily combine, or fade into w. The name is pro- 
nounced as a labial. —‘‘ Moosn,” inthe manner Scotch people say moose for 
mouse. 

As holding by drengage, the earliest known owners represent old native 
proprietors who succumbed to the Conquest, and were reinstated in their 
lands under Norman auspices; and holding as they did directly from the 
crown, and officially connected with the royal castle of Bamburgh, two of 


364 On a Spoon found at Mouzsin. By James Hardy. 


them show their loyalty, and veil their affinity to the subdued race, by 
adopting the Christian names of Henry and Stephen, Anglo-Norman kings. 

The peculiar tenure of the numerous royal demesne tenants of Bamburgh 
Castle is epitomised, but quite readily understood, in the example of Mules- 
fen, as we find it registered in the ‘‘ Testa de Nevill”’ and the “ Rotuli 
Hundredorum,’’ from inquisitions held towards the ciose of the reign of 
Henry III., and the opening years of Edward I. In this primary stage, 
Mulesfen was not a single vill, but is also spoken of as a ‘‘villata,’’ or 
combination of vills not sufficiently large to stand single*: but possessed of 
the rights of a community. Of these Mulesfen proper appears to have been 
the head of the manor ; subsequently we hear of two of the other divisions ; 
as Mousin Newlands, and South Mulesfen. 

{. Henry de Millisfen holds of the lord the king in capite, Millesfen in 
drengage, and pays by the year 30s.. and makes carriage of timber (truncag’) 
to the Castle of Bamburgh and ought to pay tallages (crown revenues) with 
the mesne tenants of the lord the king, and ought to pay of cornage 14d, and 
of merchet, (for the marriage of daughters) 16s., and of heriet (the best 
animal on decease of the owner) 16s, and of relief, 16s; and for forfeiture, 
16s ; and ought to plough once in the year at the will of the sergeant with 
six ploughs receiving one meal of the lord the king, and carry corn in autumn 
with twelve wains receiving one meal of the lord the king, and ought to reap 
in autumn three days annually, each day with twelve men receiving one meal 
of the lordthe king, and is rated for mill-dues at the thirteenth measure 
(ad xiij vas) and pays pannage.T - 

2. The villa of Mullesfen was drengage of the lord the king and was in the 
hands of Luce de Rysgeford along with the heir, and is worth 30 shillings.{ 

3. Stephen de Mulesfen holds one villa of the lord the king, in drengage, 
by the service of 80s, in the year, and shall plough with one plough, his own, 
one day in lent, provision being found by the lord the king, and shall reap in 
autumn three days, each day with twelve men, the king providing victuals, 
and shall carry tree trunks to the castle of Bamburgh. and shall give merchet, 
and aid-, and pannage of his own hogs, and shall go with the serjeants of the 
lord the king for taking up payment of distress warrants for the debts due to 
the lord the king. All his ancestors have held by the same service which is 
of ancient infeftment, and there is nothing from that fief either alienated or 
given away, whence the lord the king may have his service diminished. § 

Henry de Mulefen died possessed of Mulesfene manor, 52 Hen. ITI (1267).|| 
His name occurs also in a plea of that date. Henry de Mulesfene is witness] 
of the charter of Sir Simon de Lucre, assigning five roods of ground in 
South Charlton, of valuable common pasturage rights to the monks of the 
Farne Islands. ** 


* Hilis’s Gen. Introd. to Domesday-Book, p. 131. 

+ Testa de Nevill, p. 389. 

EE Sibaipaool 

§ Ib. p. 393. 

|| Ing. p. Mortem, i. p. 31, No. 9. 

{ Placitor. Abbrey. in Hodgson’s Hist. of Northd. vol. iii., part ii, p. 343, 
** Raine’s North Durham, App. p. 124. 


Ona Spoon found at Mousin. By James Hardy. 365 


He was succeeded by another Henry. In the ‘‘ Rotuli Hundredorum, 3 
Edward I. (1274 ,a jury of inquisition found that Henry de Molesfen holds 
the vill of Mulesfen of the lord the king in chief by free sokage, paying 
thence 30 shillings for his farm, and 14d for cornage, and he pays to the 
castle of Bamburgh 3 merks for multure, and shall lead by the year 15 trunks 
of trees by turns, and in autumn shall make one carriage with J2 wains by 
turns, being allowed one meal by the day, and shall reap with 26 men for 
one day by turns, on the allowance of one meal for the day, and shall plough 
with six ploughs once in the year, one meal of food being allowed for the 
day, and the same “‘ villata,’’ (or combination of vills) shall give pannage 
for their hogs which shall be found above a year’s age at the feast of Holy 
Cross in autumn (Sept. 14), and for each pig that feeds in the open field one 
penny at the feast of Martinmas in winter (Nov. 11,) in the name of pannage 
to the king’s agistors of Wytingeham.* 

It had been then the practice of the little townlets and hamlets holding of 
Bamburgh by a similar tenure, to graze their pigs at Whittingham during 
the acorn season? ; a blank unfortunately cccurring in the document, can 
only be conjecturally filled up. 

At the same date the jury said that the villates of Socston (Shoreston) 
Sunderland, Beednal and Mulfen were wont to come to [the woods ?] of 
Wyttenham with their hogs, and there to agist them (or pay a stipulated price 
for their pasture) to the agistor of the lord the king, but now for twenty 
years by past they had not come, to the great loss of the king. ¢ 

The great trees of Whittingham vale probably also supplied much of the 
materials of the truncage for fuel insisted on as the special work of the great 
tenants of the castle-lands of Bamburgh. 

In ‘ Placita de quo Warranto,” 21, Edw. I. (1292), Roger de Mulfen was 
summoned about some tenements, and he pled that they were of the inherit- 
ance of Beatrix his wife, whose name was omitted in the brief, and the plea 
was accepted. f 

The Mulefens disappear. In 33 Edw. I., (1304), Thomas de Camera 
obtains an inquisition for licence of infeftment for Robert his son, of Mules- 
fen manor holding of Bamburgh Castle, of two carucates of land at Yernum, 
and one carucate at Ederston.§ We again hear of the property of Mulesfen in 
the following grant, 3. Edw. IIJ (1328-9'. Newland has been dissevered from 
the manor, which still retains certain rights. The king then granted to 
Thomas de Bamburgh for his life-time all the lands and tenements with their 
Pertinents which belonged to John Middleton, forfeited for treason, in la 
Neweland,’’ and Warndham, which are valued at £7°7°6 annually, by pay- 
ment annually to the king of £6°9°10, and to the Prior of St. Oswald 6s 8d, 
and to the proprietor of Mulesfen 2s, with which the said lands and tenements 
in ‘‘Ja Newland” are burdened annually to the said prior and proprietor.|| 

Mulesfen had passed to the Swinhoes in the reign of Elizabeth. In 1576, 


* Rot. Hund. i. p. 95. 

+ Ib. p. 92. 

t Hodgson’s Northd., vol. iii. pt. ii., p. 187. 
§ Ing. p. M.i., p. 55. 

|| Originalia, ii. p. 305. 


366 On the Cross at Crosshall. By James Hardy. 


Thomas Swinho, gentleman, of Mowlfen was one of an inquest on the rights 
and liberties of Bamburgh Castle. ‘‘South Mowlsfen’’ was one of the places, 
‘which pay yearly severall rents into the suid Castle, which rents be commonly 
called Drimgage (sic). And the same townes alsoe do make appearance at 
head courts, or in default thereof lye in fyne or be mercyed.’’ * 

Henry Swinhoe of Mowson, son of Henry Swinhoe of Burton, a son of 
William Swinhoe of Cornhill and Goswick, was comptroller of Berwick, and 
was living in 1610. The willof hisson Thomas Swinhoe of Mousen, Esq , 
is dated 13th January, 164l,and proved 1642. His son and heir Thomas 
Swinhoe of Mousen, Esq., was below age, 1641; he was owner of Mowsen, 
and Whittle in the parish of Shilbottlein 1663. There wasa Gilbert Swinhoe 
of Mousen, 1671, who had numerous descendants. t 

Mousin estate was purchased by the Rev. John Shaftoe, A.M., vicar of 
Netherwarden, who endowed with it a Free School and Almshouses at Haydon 
Bridge, by deed of gift bearing date the 16th and 17th of June, 1685. 


* Hutchinson’s View of Northd, pp. 169, 170. 
+ Raine’s North Durham, p. 184. 


t Mackenzie’s Hist. of Northd, ii., p. 258 Parson and White’s Northumber- 
Durham, ii., p. 627 ; Sopwith’s Alston Moor, p. 12. 


On the Ancient Cross at Crosshall, in the Parish of Eccles, 
Berwickshire. By JamMES Harpy. 


One of the best preserved of the ancient historical monuments 
of the Merse district is the cross or obelisk at Crosshall in the 
parish of Eccles. Hitherto it has remained intact, and it is 
highly creditable to the people dwelling near it, to have pre- 
served it unmolested. As the late Mr John Hood of Stoneridge 
remarked in a letter on the subject: ‘‘ One of the most extra- 
ordinary things about the cross is that successive generations of 
cottagers for hundreds of years have lived just in front of the 
cross, and that none of the children have ever destroyed it.” 
One of its proprietors, however, did not exercise the same pre- 
servative forbearance, for Sir John Paterson in 1788 wished to 
remove it to the front of Eccles house, and employed workmen 
who dug several feet into the earth to try to lift it, but were 
unable to raise the stone on which it stands. 

In connection with the Club’s visit to this monument it is 
desirable that an account of it should appear in the ‘ Proceed- 
ings.” There have been various observations published at differ- 
ent periods relative to this cross. It is described, or referred to, in 
both the Statistical Accounts; figured and annotated on in Muir’s 
‘‘ Notes on Remains of Ecclesiastical Architecture,” p. 35.; and 
again pourtrayed by Mr Drummond in the “ Proceedings of 


On the Cross at Crosshall. By James Hardy. 367 


the Society of Antiquaries,” vol. 1v., 1863, p. 89., in an article 
entitled ‘‘ Notice of some Stone Crosses, with especial reference 
to the Market-Crosses of Scotland.”” The Council of the Society 
of Antiquaries have on this occasion granted permission to use 
Mr Drummond’s illustration, which will afford a general idea of 
the aspect of the cross, with the prospect of Hume Castle in the 
distance. But the earliest detailed notice and delineation of its 
features are those of Mr Roger Robertson of Ladykirk, contained 
in the first volume of the “‘ Transactions of the Society of Anti- 
quaries of Scotland,” vol. 1, 1792, pp. 269-272. This being 
almost entirely out of reach, and containing the only plausible 
theory of the cause of its erection may fitly be reprinted. 

The column and its basis it may be premised are of a durable 
white sandstone, possibly derived trom Eccles quarry. 

“ This obelisk,’’ writes Mr Robertson ‘stands near a village called Deadrig, 
[now Crosshall], in the parish of Eccles and county of Berwick, about half a 


mile westward from the turnpike road, between Greenlaw and Coldstream. 
The whole height, about 4 

one entire stone. Base, 

2 feet 84 inches broad.’’ ; i 

cal Account of Berwick- | 

‘*the column above the 


See 


= 


——— 


It is of one piece of ; 
M 
{ ‘al ! 
14 feet 10 inches. The i. y 
nya 
3 feet 10 inches high, 3 
[The measurements as 
shire by Dr R. D. 


stone inserted intoa base. om 
shaft and round top of 

feet 2 inches long, and le 
given in the new Statisti- fe i 
Thomson, areas follows: [ i / 


= 
Se = 


base measures 10 feet 
high, 1 foot 6 inches 
broad on the west and 
east sides at the bottom, 
and 1 foot on the north 
and south. The pedes- 
tal, which is a large solid 
block of sandstone is 2 
feet 6 inches high, and 3 
feet square on its upper 
surface, and is raised 1 
foot 6 inches above the 
ground, so that the whole 
elevation of the cross is 
14 feet ’’] 


368 On the Cross at Crosshall. By James Hardy. 


“Tt has two broad and two narrow sides; and tapers from the bottom, where 
it is 1 foot 9 inches over, to 1 foot 2inches at the top; the diameter of the 
flat circular ornament on the top, being 1 foot 10 inches. On both sides of 
the circle at the top, there is ingraved a plain cross. On the east side, a rude 
figure of a man 4 feet 3} inches in length, attended by a greyhound 2 feet 11 
inches long. On the opposite or west side, a shield bearing three cheverons 
[‘‘ a cheveron in the dexter and sinister chiefs, and precise middle base respec- 
tively, ”] and below, a St. John’s cross, 5 feet 2 incheshigh. The south and 
north sides are about a third part narrower than the east and west. On the 
south side, the same shield is repeated, and beneath is a two-handed sword, 
5 feet 9 inches long ; the handle 9 inches. Northside, a cross Calvary, top 
of it inclosed in an ornament resembling a shield. The cross is 5 feet 7 
inches high. 

The shape, size, and figure of the obelisk, resembles the carved pillar in 
Flintshire, described in Camden’s Britannia, which he esteems to be a Danish 
monument, and not unlike one given and described by Pennant, in his Voyage 
to the Western Isles, p. 236. 

The mixture of the heathen emblem of the dog [the editor, however, very 
appropriately subjoins the remark that ‘‘ the accompaniment of a greyhound 
is very common in monuments of a very late date, and by no means requires 
being referred to pagan customs,’’] with the Christian sign of the cross, give 
room to conjecture, that it had been erected when even heathen customs had 
not been entirely forgotten. But the shield bearing three cheverons proves, 
that it has been set up when the science of heraldry had been pretty far ad- 
vanced in Scotland, and after the first croisade, anno 1096, when our nobility 
and gentry first assumed coats armorial. The bearing is of one of the sirname 
of Soules [or Soulis]. 

A family of this name flourished in Scotland, and were employed in the 
highest offices of state for a long time, till Sir William, the head of the 
family, was tried, forfeited, and condemned by sentence of Parliament, to per- 
petual imprisonment, for a conspiracy against Robert Bruce, anno 1320 [see 
Nisbet, Fordun, and Index to Anderson’s Diplomata, etc. ] 

The repetition of so many crosses probably shows that the person, whose 
monument this is, had been at the holy war. The first time that any num- 
ber of the Scots went to these wars, was to the second croisade, anno 1144, and 
likely Soules among others. And we know that, much about this time 
the nunnery of Eccles, situated about a quarter of a mile 
distant from this obelisk, was founded anno 1154. It is very probable, 
therefore, that this monument was erected after the year 1154. 

The sword on the southside exhibits a true representation of the ancient 
two handed sword ; and it is of the precise dimensions of that one given to 
the Society by Mr Wight, and mentioned in the minutes of the Society, May 
1781, donation 44. 

The delineation of this sword is a proof that this monument has been erected 
while these two handed swords were in use, and resembles the swords repre- 
sented upon the great seals of Scotland, and the seals of the great Barons ; 
especially those from 1124, to the time of David Bruce, in 1329. 

T therefore offer a conjecture, that this obelisk is the monument of the 
father of Sir John de Soules, Lieutenant or Viceroy to John Baliol [see 


On the Cross at Crosshall. By James Hardy. 369 


Fordun] ; but I submit this to the inquiry of the ingenious antiquary. 
The vulgar tradition says, that a governor of Hume Castle was killed on 
the spot, in askirmish Hume Castle is about two miles distant from it.” 


That the dignitary to whose honour this monument was raised 
was a Soules, may from the arms on the scutcheons be granted, 
but that it was to commemorate the father of the Sir John Soules 
referred to by Mr Robertson is most improbable. The father 
was Nicholas de Sules, sheriff of Roxburgh, 1346, who “ although 
the wisest and most eloquent man in the kingdom was removed 
from the councils of his sovereign in 1255, and died at Rouen, 
in Normandy, in 1264. By his wife Annora, the fifth daughter 
of the Earl of Buchan, hehad atleasttwo sons, William and John.’’* 
To follow out their history is not required, because the want of 
coincidence in dates contradicts Mr Robertson’s proposed identi- 
fication. Neither are we helped by knowing who were the 
predecessors of Nicholas. Randolphde Soulis, a Northamptonshire 
baron, appears as the progenitor of the race, in the charters of 
David I., Malcolm IV., and William the Lion. He held the office 
of the king’s butler during the reign of William the Lion. The 
second Randolph, lord of Liddesdale, like his predecessor, was 
assassinated in 1207, in his castle, by his own domestics. Fulco 
de Sules was the next ‘“‘ pincerna;’”’ and he occurs of date 1222- 
1223. Nicholas, the son of Fulco,and his successor as king’s butler, 
and notable as the erecter of Hermitage Castle, is the banished 
noble who died at Rouen in 1264. 

None of the Soules family, so far as is known, held possessions 
in this part of Berwickshire. It is, however, quite possible that 
some distinguished scion of the race may have fallen at this spot 
of evil name, in some unrecorded skirmish, of which tradition is 
the only chronicler. 

On the subject of this cross I am permitted to quote a letter 
from Mr James Drummond, the artist, to Mr Milne Home, dated 
8 Royal Crescent, Edinburgh, 14th September, 1875, expressive 
of his opinion on some of the figures represented on it. 

‘<The cross in the parish of Eccles I made a sketch of many years ago, 
and there is a small woodcut of it [the sime now accompanying this paper] 
as an illustration of a certain class of Crosses in a paper which I sent te the 


Antiquarian Society in 1861. Nothing is such a puzzle as the date of such 
memorials, the art being so rude that it directs one to no period, the dress or 


* Armstrong’s Hist. of Liddesdale, pp. 124-125. 


+ Ibid, pp. 123-5. 
vl 


370 On the Cross at Crosshall. By James Hardy. 


armour being a mere blur. As to Mr Robertson’s conjecture, of the heathen 
emblem of the dog, it is quite out of the question. I take it simply to mean 
that the knight was not only a soldier (as indicated by the claighmor), but 
was fond of the chase, such being quite common in all sorts of monumental 
stones in the West Highlands, where by far the finest of such memorials 
remain. On these you have also deer hunts, otter, seal and salmon, also 
falcons attacking other birds, pointing to the worldly pursuits and enjoyments 
of those to whom such monuments were erected. 

I remember that the heraldry was very indistinct, and that I made it out 
on one of the shields, as something like this [a pen and ink representation of 
three cheverons on a shield, two above and one beneath) but I might decipher 
it very differently now, as I had paid little attention to such subjects then, 
merely sketching what was picturesque. Although the above (referring to 
his rough sketch ) is not our way of placing three cheverons on a shield, yet 
it may have been an early way, or by one unaccustomed to do heraldic work, 
who was told to put three cheverons ona shield. Be that as it may itis a 
capital specimen of its class. ”’ 

The arms of the Souleses were not uniformly charged with 
cheverons. The Sir William Soules, who died a prisoner in 
Dumbarton Castle, ‘‘ bore bars. See his seal, General Register 
House, A.D. 1320. The arms of Sir John de Soules were a barry 
of six with a bend.”* His seal is engraved in Mr Armstrong’s 
recent work, p. 170. : 

Although the monument may be safe at present under the in- 
fluence of public opinion, it has sometimes been regretted that it 
has never been defended from any accident, by an enclosure. 
Some correspondence as to the desirability of some protection 
being accorded to it, took place in 1875, between some of the 
Berwickshire County gentlemen and a former Marquis of 
Tweeddale to whom Crosshall belonged, but nothing was accom- 
plished. From a perusal of the papers I see that an iron railing 
to secure it had been estimated at £30. Wire fences had not 
then been in vogue. 

I see in the correspondence statements about some local tradi- 
tion associating the name of the Soulis family with the pillar. I 
may safely assert that any tradition to that effect is not older 
than Mr Robertson’s paper, and that the ‘‘Sir Roger ”’ about to 
be mentioned was no other than Mr Roger Robertson himself, 
whom the country people had confused with the Soulises whom 
he had written about. 

It is Mr Hood who puts the story intoform. ‘‘ Tradition says, 
it was in memory of a Sir Roger de Sovlis of Hermitage, of a 


* Armstrong’s Hist of Liddesdale, &c., Note, p. 129, 


On the Cross at Crosshall. By James Hardy. 371 


powerful family in Liddisdale, who was ambassador from the 
Scottish Court to that of France in our early history. There is 
also a tradition about a battle being fought on the side of a small 
burn close by, betwixt the Scots and some English Raiders, where 
this de Soulis was slain—called ‘‘ Lipraick’s Syke, ’ -—-where old 
Dickson’s father was drowned after a raid of a different kind— 
a hard drinking match—universal in those days.” 

The country people have further improved on this story. They 
say that the burn ran with lappered (congealed) blood for twenty 
four hours; and then by an etymological feat they derive the 
name Lipraick or Lapraick from lappered. * The field of slaugh- 
ter on the same authority was the ‘‘ Dead-rigs,’’ although that 
name might have arisen from the flatness of the ground, from 
whose surface water does not readily recede. ‘‘ Dedrygg” 
appears in in a Melrose charter dated 1431. (Lib. de Melros, p. 
524.) 

CAMP AT HARDAORES. 

On the hill of Hardacres, says the more recent Statistical 
Account (1834), about a mile north-west of the cross, there are 
traces of entrenchments, and some cannon balls have been found 
between it and Hume Castle, which stands two miles north west. 
The latter are, perhaps, remnants of Colonel Fenwick’s attack 
upon Hume Castle in 1650. ‘‘ The camp at Hardacres, ” writes 
Mr Hood in 1875, ‘‘ had a marsh on the north and south, and no 
access could be had to the top of the hill where the camp was, 
unless the intruder went in at the east end of the hill and so up 
to the very west end, where a double row of trenches were quite 
visible in my early days.” The camp on the summit of Hard- 
acres Hill is marked as circular in Armstrong’s map of Berwick- 
shire, 1771. This map places the village of Deadrigg to the 
west of the obelisk, and close to it, facing in a different direction 
from the present farm cottages. 

[Since these notes were written I have revisited the pillar, and 
Iam sorry to report that the stone-cutting mania is no longer 


* The original form was probably Liprig, i.e. Leap-rig, from the A.S. 
hlip, saltus, and hrycg, or rige, dorsum, a ridge. The same word occurs 
in an old grant of land near Haydon-bridge, near the river Tyne, under 
the form of Liprig and Liprigs.—(Archeologia Ailiana, N.S. x. p. 41.)— 
Since this note was written, I find the Berwickshire locality written as 
“ Leprieg[s], ” in a charter of land near Halsington to Master William de 
Grenlaw, in the reign of Alexander II, (Liber de Melros, p. 206.] 


372 On a Flint Scraper. By James Hardy. 


restrained at Crossrig, and that one corner of the pedestal is 
now lettered with fresh cut initials, and that the pillar itself has 
not escaped the desecrating knife; and the children are battering 
it with stones. Some deep pits at each corner of the basal stone 
were I am informed scooped out by a boy in former years. 
They are blackened over now, but might without explanation be 
mistaken for the pagan cup symbol. | 


On a Flint Scraper found on Gullane Links. By JAMES 
Harpy. 


Tuts admirable example of a Flint Scraper—the finest I ever 
examined—was picked up on Gullane Links and given to Mr 
George H. Stevens, who handed it to me for record. It is now 
in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, who 
have favoured the Club with the wood-cut. 

The size of the Scraper is 2} by , 
12 inches. The wood-cut is afront 
and side view # of the actual size. 

The flint is a pale grey. The 
Scraper has been formed of a thick- 
ish slice, that has come off on one § 
side, now forming the back, with- 
out a flaw, and hasrequired no work 
ing: it is ridged on the back, 
slightly curved in front, and worked 
along both edges, as well as the = 
front. ‘‘It bears,” writes Dr. Anderson, ‘‘a very siseaetiee 
resemblance to some of the Esquimaux scrapers as figured by Sir 
John Lubbock and Dr. Evans.” 


373 


Names of the Farne Islands and of Lindisfarne. By the 
late RALPH CarR-ELLISON, Esq., of Dunston Hill. 


THE name of the Farne Islands was pronounced distinctly in 
old English as Farné, the final e being sounded asin a multitude 
of instances where it is now mute. It is, however, of the utmost 
importance to the orthography, beirg in fact the key to the sense 
of the term. It represents the Anglo-Saxon a in Férna for 
Farena, the genitive plural of Fara atraveller or pilgrim. So 
that in that mother-tongue of our vernacular English Férena 
ealande signified Islands of the Pilgrims, peregrinorum insula. 

This appellation is obviously not more ancient than the Anglo- 
Saxon and Christian epoch in Northumbria. It must have been 
preceded by a Cymric-British appellation, but all trace of this is 
lost.* In the name of Lindisfarne, however, we have a remnant 
of Cymric nomenclature, for it is plainly only a variant spelling 
of Linnesfarne, the d being introduced to add emphasis to the 
power of the ”, which is better conveyed by doubling the x it- 
self. There is no such word as Lind in Anglo-Saxon, except in 
the sense of the lime-tree; but Llyn, (pronounced hlyn,) is the 
ordinary Welsh term fora lake or any considerable sheet of 
water. The lake of Bala in North Wales, the only lake of much 
magnitude in the Principality, is denominated Llyn tegidin Welsh, 
that is Lake-clear. And the mountain ‘‘tarns” (to use a Norse 
term prevalent in Cumberland) are all known as Ziyns. Water- 
falls and rapids are designated Rhaidr, so that it is probable that 
when our Anglo-Saxon ancestors applied the Celtic term ln to 
waterfalls, they rather mistook its original sense in the British 
Cymric tongue, which would embrace the pool above or below 
the cascade, and not merely the waterfall. 

Lindisfarne is often thought to be so called from the Lind-Burn, 
which falls into the so-called slake or slack-water of Beal, 
(between the mainland and the Isle) near its north-western end, 
and traverses its bed at low water in a southerly direction till it 
falls into the haven at the low end of the slake to the southwards. 
But undoubtedly the Lind-Burn, which is but a very humble and 
insignificant feature, was itself so designated from the Lin or 
Lake or Slake which it traverses at low-water almost from end 


* The author had forgotten that Lindis-farne was called by the Britons 
Inis Medicante. Gibson’s Camden, fol. 1502.—J. H. 


374 Names of Farne Islands. By the late R. Carr-Ellison. 


toend. ‘Lindesfarena edland,” in Anglo-Saxon, meas simply 
Island of the Pilgrims of the Lind; that is, of the Lin, or Lake, 
or Slake. 

That which I am desirous to establish by these remarks, is 
that every Anglo-Saxon student can easily satisfy himself that 
the venerable names of the Farne Islands and of Lindisfarne are 
not mere fortuitous and arbitrary appellations, but highly and 
interestingly significant. Nay, not only every Anglo-Saxon but 
every German scholar can satisfy himself, for the verb fahren in 
German corresponds exactly with faran in Anglo-Saxon, and the 
noun fahren, with fara, both being equivalent to traveller, way- 
farer, pilgrim. For many years of my life I was under the im- 
pression that the term Farne might be of very remote and pre- 
Christian and pree-Saxon origin, and that its meaning was obscure. 
But this is clearly a perfectly gratuitous conception, and I plead 
guilty to great self-deception on a very plain and natural Saxon 
etymon, though not older than the epoch of Aidan and his Saxon 
converts. And I greatly regret that I did not exhibit such a 
view of the matter to the late Mr Tate, who consulted me on the 
question, when engaged in composing his account of these 
historic Isles, so interesting to every Northumbrian. 

[This notice has a melancholy interest as being the last pro- 
duction of Mr Carr-Ellison’s pen offered to the Club. I cannot 
omit a quotation from the letter, dated, Hedgeley, June 24, 
1883, that accompanied it. His wish to see it printed was 
destined not to be accomplished, as the lamented author died at 
Dunston Hill, on Feb. 4th, 1884. ‘I enclose a short paper on 
the etymology of the Farne Islands, and Lindisfarne, in the 
hope that you may be able to offer or present it to the Club, even 
if it cannot be read while your are on the Island. Strange to 
say, very few people seem to know that the appellations are 
strictly historic, and full of interest. It would gratify me much 
if in my old age I could see the paper inserted in the Transac- 
tions or Proceedings of our Club, and so rescued from oblivion. 
For I ought to have presented such a paper long ago.”’ | 


375 


Notes on Plate of British and other Coins, older than the 
Roman Conquest of Britain. By Miss RUSSELL. 


Tue British and other coins in Plate XII are copied, by one of 
the permanent photographic processes, from coins actually in the 
British Museum; casts being first taken in plaster, the dead 
surface of which photographs better than metal. They are 
selected chiefly in connection with the paper on the Catrail 
printed by the Club in 1882, as illustrating the position of the 
early Celtic races in Britain. There is much less Celtic left in 
England than in Ireland, Wales, or Scotland, but on the other 
hand, many varieties of coins have been found, older than the 
occupation of the country by the Romans, with Celtic inscrip- 
tions, and devices chiefly copied from Greek coins. The Greek 
influence must have come very much through the Greek settle- 
ment of Massilia or Marseilles. 

The early coins of England are so curious a subject, that so 
little having been made of them by the historians must be attri- 
buted to the fact, that we know very little of the people who 
used them, except from the coins themselves. The two coins 
engraved on the margin are copied from Gibson’s Camden. 

No. 1. of the plate isa gold stater of Philip II of Macedon, the father of 
Alexander ; it is rather a mystery how he can have had such an enormous 
coinage as he seems to have had ; these coins exist in numbers still, while his 
conquests were only or chiefly in Greece, and curiously enough, he was 
accused of bribing men of influence with the primitive currency of cattle, 
and with timber. The convex side has the head of Apollo with a laurel 
wreath; the concave side, a chariot with two horses and a driver; under the 
horses is a trident, and the name of Philip, in Greek letters. The date must 
be about B.C. 350, or rather later. 

No. 2. is a coin of the Greek town of Metapontum, on the Gulf of Taren- 
tum in the south of Italy, which is a small town still. The beautiful head of 
Ceres has not been done justice to in the autograph, the object being to have 
the best light on the British coins, The reverse has an ear of corn, an insect, 
and the name META. 

No. 3. is a coin of Gaul, that is, France, which has been engraved for the 
Club before. The head of the deity is tolerably imitated from the Greek, 
but the chariot has a monstrous symbolical human-headed horse, which the 
driver is urging over his prostrate enemies ; he holds something like a torque 
or wreath. 

No. 4.is also from Gaul; it is much more like the Greek model ; the head 
is very fair, and the horse a normal one, though by no means handsome. 
The object over the horse’s back looks liked a winged Victory, but seems to 
be meant for an eagle. There are three circles enclosing dots, which may or 


876 Notes on British and other Coins. By Miss Russell. 


may not indicate the value of the coin; and the name ARVD; I do not 
know if any meaning has been found for this or not. 

Nos. 5., 6., and 7. are from Yorkshire, and of the type usually found there. 
They all have on the convex side a double band of small objects like bricks, 
which is known from a long series of examples, to be a conventional repre- 
sentation of the wreath on the head of the Greek divinity, with the name 
VOLISIOS, apparently that of the chief, across it; and ornaments in the 
four angles, one of which resembles considerably the circular scroll orna- 
ments carved on pieces of wood found in the lake-dwelling at Lochlee. On 
the convex side is the horse, in a corresponding state of dilapidation, being 
actually dismembered ; but also the inscription DVMNOGO VER. TheR 
is of the type our own small ris taken from. The Dumnonii are mentioned 
by Ptolemy in the 2nd century, that is soon after the Roman conquest, in 
Devonshire and in Stirlingshire. Had the Yorkshire Dumnonii been driven 
westward, to join their congeners, by the pressure of the Roman invasion? 
The large hoard of coins like those in question found at Carnbre in Cornwall 
might be treasure carried off. N.B. Devon is evidently both Dumno, and 
Dyfnant, the country of valleys. Lindum of the Dumnonii, by help of 
Captain Thomas’ geography, I make out to be Camelon or Kemlin on the 
northern Roman wall. The name Dumno is found in two stone inscriptions 
on the southern Roman wall, some Dumnonii having apparently helped to 
build it; two at least containing it have been found in France; a Dumno- 
vellannus is one of the British kings mentioned in the great inscription of 
Augustus ; and part of the interest of the Yarrow inscription lies in it con- 
taining the name, or form, Dumnogei. This in itsturn may help to explain 
the English British coins, for Dumnoco, as it has usually been read, has 
puzzled the authorities, and it may bea contraction of Dumnogeno; the 
declensions and cases are all astray as it is. While we know that ‘‘princeps’” 
or what is meant for it, in the Yarrow inscription, is actually a translation 
of ‘‘ Ver,’’ for Nudd Hael appears in the pedigrees as one of the ‘* Gwyr’’— 
Men, Warriors, or Chiefs, of the North Cumbria—in contradistinction to 
Wales or Devon. Letters having come through the classical languages, the 
Celtic words are naturally written in a more or less Greek or Latin form. 

No. 8. also from Yorkshire, has the same devices, with different letters. 
Instead of the chief’s name crossing the conventional wreath is the name 
Dum, but the D is of the Greek form the Delta or triangle, and the VM in 
monogram, as in the Yarrow inscription of four centuries later. The Delta 
I believe is also found in post-Roman inscriptions; with its straight lines, it 
is the best form for cutting on stone. The Dum is reversed, by a common 
mistake in rude stamping. the die having been cut right instead of reversed. 
It should be mentioned, the Delta is quite perfect in the original ; it is almost 
the only letter that has not come out clearly in the autotype. On the other 
side, above the remains of the horse, isthe word TIGI[. This no doubt is 
the title which occurs in one of the inscriptions at Llantwit Major, of the 
6th century ; it is to ‘‘ Juthahelo Rex at Artmal Tega.” It was long ago 
remarked that the ancient title of the Tagus of Thessaly was probably con- 
nected with the Saxon Heretoga, Army-Leader. 1t is probably this word 
helps to form the Gaelic Tighearnach, Lord, which is variously interpreted 
as the man of the land, ¢ir ; or the man of the house, tigh; most likely it is 


Notes on British and other Coins. By Miss Russell. 377 


both, or all three. The same title seems to form part of the name of Prasu- 
tagus, the husband of Boadicea, who was tributary king in Essex soon after 
the Roman conquest. These eight coins are all gold; the five which follow 
are silver, except one, I think No. 10., which is electrum, a mixture of silver 
and gold. They show both more originality and more acquaintance with 
the Greek models than the Yorkshire ones; the horses,—prancing hog- 
maned ponies,—are spirited enough. 

No. 9. is one of the well-known coins of Cunobelinus, who was king in 
Essex just before the Roman conquest; it has an ear of corn on the convex 
side, with CAMV, for Camulodunum his capital, identified with Colchester, 
or rather the ruins near it; on the other, the horse, with CVNO. Cunobe- 
linus was king over two nations or tribes, called respectively (by the Roman 
writers) Trinobantes, and Catti, Cassi, Cassivellanni, and in one place at least, 
Catyeuchlani. Now as Trin in Welsh, and Cat or Cadin both Welsh and 
Gaelic, mean dattle, I do not suppose these are really proper names, but mean 
‘‘warriors.”’ And the coins rather confirm an idea I had formed before 
referring to them, that there was a mixture of Gaelic Celts—Gael who had 
never been in Scotland—among the Britons of the south of England. This 
view makes no difference as to anything historical; they were all Britons to 
the Romans, even to the people of the Grampians, and all met them with the 
same valiant resistance, though those who had the mountains behind them 
held out the longest, both in the north and in the west. The idea was first 
suggested to me by the Gaelic, or Gaelic-and-Welsh, look of some names 
north-east of London ; and Boadicea’s people are described as wearing some- 
thing very like the tartan which seems to have been characteristic of the old 
Gael of Scotland, the Picts or Cathbreacan—spotted or plaided warriors—and 
not to have been worn by the somewhat more civilised Scotsin Ireland. But 
it never struck me that there must have been Gaelin Kent at least, at some 
time, until I saw Dr. Angus Smith’s remark, that all the more primitive 
settlers in Britain would naturally land in the south-east first, even if coming 
from the Mediterranean, as they would coast along the continent, and 
cross with the white cliffs actually in sight. To make for Cornwall or 
Ireland would imply a much more advanced stage of navigation. It seems 
tomethat the Trinobantes were Dumnonii, and of course Cymri; Camulodunum 
sounds much like Cam’rodunum; while the Catti, whose capital is said to 
have been at Verulam, that is St Albans, were probably Cathbreacan. or Men, 
as I believe them to have called themselves before they came in contact with 
the German races, who would very certainly refuse to call the Gael dis- 
tinctly ‘“Men.’? That Casar’s Mandubian Gauls lived on the Dubis 
or Doubs, is even more satisfactory as to there having been Gael 
who called themselves Men, than the Clackmannan, Slamannan, 
and Pressmannan, of the east of Scotland, or the Man and Minnoch 
names which are found in Galloway, &c., by the dozen; or the Mona 
and Menevia which corroborate the theory of a Gaelic population on 
the coast of Wales; or Mannan, still used for part of Meath, which was an 
outlying portion of the Pictish territory in the north of Ireland. Now one 
of the sons of Cunobelinus, who was killed fighting the Romans on the line 
of the Thames, and is said—whether truly or not—to have given name to the 
Isle of Dogs, is called Togodumnus ; which seems to mean so oumears 

Vv 


378 Notes on British and other Coins. By Miss Russell. 


of the Dumnonii, that Mr Beale Poste is probably right in supposing him to 
be the Gwyther of the Welsh genealogies. The same writer, who saw much 
of the historical bearings of these coins, makes Adminius, the name of, 
apparently, the eldest son of Cunobelinus, Aed Menw; Aed, Aidan, being a 
common Celtic name, and Mino and Menw occurring in the Welsh pedi- 
grees. And J make Aed Menw, Aed of the Men, the Gael. The prince 
called Maudubratius, in a previous generation, is also called Androgeus; he 
was son of Imanentius, king of the Trinobantes, who had been dispossessed 
by Cassivellaunus; who probably only took that name or title then, for 
whether or not he was the ancestor of Cunobelinus, it is probable the two 
races already formed one nation, and that Mandubratius is a title containing 
both Man and Breacan. The Celtic Vraichane has been supposed to be an 
epithet of Mars, because of an inscription found in Derbyshire to “‘ Deo Marte 
Braciacee’’ but I do not suppose this means the plaided Mars (as it literally 
should) but the Mars of some Brychan or Cathbreacan tribe. Mr Skene 
protests against the worship of any such deity as Apollo Belinus in Britain ; 
but he seems to have been worshipped in France, and the Britons whom 
Caesar first encountered had not long emigrated into Kent from the contin- 
ent; and I do not see what one can make of—delinus and—vellaunus but 
lord or king. Cunobelinus should be head-lord. 

No 10. is nearly identical with the coins which have the name of Dubnovel- 
launus, and they are attributed by Mr Beale Poste to Togodummus. The 
M turns naturally into B as well as V in the Celtic languages, and it is likely 
enough that the identification is correct ; though a mere title may have many 
wearers. These coins have on the convex side a device much resembling the 
Spectacle-ornament of the Scotch Sculptured Stones, and, so far, bearing out 
Mr Campbell’s suggestion, that it is meant for the Sun and Moon joined by 
two Crescents. The crescents here are very distinct, while the orbs have 
been reduced to two small circles with dots in the centre. It is interesting, 
as connecting the coin with the device used by Cunobelinus, that an ear of 
corn streams from the crescent on each side. The symbols of the Sculptured 
Stones are supposed to be nearly peculiar to the Scottish Pictavia, thatis, the 
district from Orkney to Fife; but I see indications of them elsewhere. The 
concave side has the horse, with a branch or plant like a fern-leaf, anda circle 
and dot like those on the other side. I observe that circles like these on the 
coins &c., occur crnamenting the ground of some Etruscan paintings; and 
there are some circumstances connected with them, which suggest that if they 
are meant for the sun, it is the sun regarded as an Eye; which would 
explain this form. 

No 11. has a sort of double variation of the same device, though seen by 
itself it looks like a concatenation of comets ; but with the horse is the name 
TASCIOVAN VS—more distinct in other specimens. I do not know how 
the old antiquary Dr Plot found out that Tascio meant Leader, but it was to 
his credit, for it is not Welsh—certainly not modern Welsh—but Gaelic; 
Toiseach, pronounced Toshach, being in full use for ‘‘leader”’ or “beginning.” 
Vanus is clearly a Celtic word for head, but is actually nearer to the English 
‘‘ Van" than to any now in use. This coin has been supposed to be one of 
the father of Cunobelinus, coining at Verulam, the capital of the Catti; but 
the name is such a manifest title, I would only say, that from the device it 


Notes on British and.other Coins. By Miss Russell. 379 


is to be attributed to one of the family. Caractacus, the son of Cunobelinus 
who is the hero of the war with the Romans, uses his own personal name on 
his coins, Kerat, a Celtic name nearly the equivalent of the French masculine 
Aimé—the Scotch Esme (so written from the old spelling, Aismé). 

No. 12.a small coin, had AD in monogram, and is regarded as a coin of 
Adminius, who seems to have been the traitor who brought on the Roman invas- 
sion. There is another coin with Aedodomarus, supposed to mean Aed Mawr, 
or the Great. The pearl or bead pattern on No. 12 and many other coins ig 
interesting, when it is considered that pearls were a very valuable production 
of Britainin Cesar’s time. The small animal is probably meant for a horse. 

No. 13, also a small coin, has a crescent, with the words REX CALLE, 
and on the other side rather a fine eagle, with letters read as Epp, probably 
for Eppillus, the name of a historical king. The likeness of the Celtic rhys 
and righ, king, to rex, regis, seems to have been fully recognised. Calle would 
be Gaelic, not Welsh, for ‘‘ wood ;’’ it is supposed to stand for Calleva, but 
if the coin engraved from Camden is genuine, Calleva, whether the town was 
Wallingford or Silchester, is probably a mistake for Caledu, black wood. 
Rude as these coins are, they have lain undisturbed, as Sir Thomas Browne 
says ‘‘ under the drums and tramplings of three conquests ’’; while the Roman 
writings have only been preserved by recurring transcription, and, what is 
worse, emendation. 

— Catyeuchlani, if not a mistake, is another Gaelic indication—Clan Chattan 
in fact—the Welsh word for children is plant, and I do not know that it is 
ever used for the sept or tribe. Trino-vanus and Cassi-vellanus I assume 
to have been the titles of the leaders, applied by the Romans to the people. 
The two coins engraved from Camden are respectively No. 26 and 30 of 
the second plate of British coins in Gibson’s edition ; the first was horrowed 
by the editors from Speed, the second from Dr Plot. 

The first has a savage-looking bust which has been supposed to be a 
portrait, but is perhaps more likely to be intended for a classical divinity ; 
behind the head is the usual 
circle and dot. On the other 
side is the horse, also accom- 
panied by the circle—and the 
name CALEDV, whatever it 
exactly stands for. The old 
engraving has been accurately 
copied; Speed’s engraver has 
made the letters too like or- 
dinary type. 

The second has an important bearing on the Pictish symbols. One side is 
left blank by the engraver; I wish we knew what the device was ; in fact it 
would be very desirable to know 
if any coins like this and the 
last exist now. It should be 
mentioned here, that in looking 
throughDrStuart’s noble volumes 
of the ‘‘ Sculptured Stones, ’ it 
struck me in connection with Mr 
Campbell’s idea about the Spec- 


380 Notes on British and other Cons. By Miss Russell. 


tacle Ornament, that the Z must be the lightning ; it is always weighted at 
one end, sometimes with something very likea stone axe. Taking this view 
the serpent would be a natural symbol of earth, and the fish of water. And 
since then I have been confirmed in this interpretation, by the rather im- 
portant passages which Mr Skene quotes in ‘‘ Celtic Scotland” about Celtic 
paganism in Ireland. 

C. 8S. vol. ii. page 112. “ Besides the objects of nature—the clouds of 
heaven, the water of the earth, the trees and fountains—in which these gods 
were supposed to dwell, they seem also to have been adored in the shape of 
idols. The word in Fiace’s Hymn translated ‘ darkness’ is glossed by ‘the 
worship of idols ;’ and the few notices we have of them indicate that they 
were usually pillar stones. Thus in the Dinnsenchus Magh-Sleacht is said 
to have been thus called ‘ because there was the principal idol of Erin, that 
is the Cromceruach and twelve idols of stone round it, and himself of gold; 
and he was the god of all the people that possessed Erin till the coming of 
Padric’ (O’Connor, Script. Hist. Prolegomena, vol. i. p. 22.’) and in Cormac’s 
Glossary the word Indelba is glossed as ‘the names of the altars of these 
idols, because they were wont to carve on them the forms of the elements 
they adored there. (Cormac’s Gloss., Ir. Ar. Soc., p. 94). The gloss adds 
‘verbi gratia, figura solis.’ Is it possible this can refer to the cup-markings 
on stones and rocks.’ ” 

I see even more in those statements than Mr Skene does; at least it looks 
to me as if the latter part of the gloss had been added by a third writer, who 
did not fully understand what he explained ; that when he says “ the meaning 
of these words is, the image of the sun ”’ he was thinking of the cup and ring 
cuttings, which are found over great part of the world, while the first com- 
mentator referred to the symbols, which are almost peculiar to one district of 
Scotland, and there are found chiefly or entirely on monuments of the early 
Christian period. 

The representation of the Elements is not necessarily pagan, but if in 
Ireland it was restricted to the idol-altars, they would naturally enough be 
destroyed by the early missionaries. 

And here is something very like the Symbols, presumably from the south 
of England. Within the border of pearls, the coin in question has a zig-zag 
band across the centre, resembling, as the Z often does, the line of the real 
lightning ; a detached arrow-head of the form of a metal one; and a cres- 
cent. With these is an object more like a small pair of ram’s horns than any- 
thing else. This again confirms another supposition which had occurred to 
me, that the spirals of the rock-cuttings, &c., &c., at least the pairs of 
‘* opposed volutes,’’ are the old emblem of divinity, best known from the coins 
on which Alexander appears as Jupiter Ammon. 

Dr Schlieman was puzzled and interested about them, finding them on one 
of the stones so curiously like Celtic art which he turned up at Mycenza—he 
remarks they are the device on the shields of the Amazons. They appear in 
Egypt, long before the name of Ammon was used, not only as the sign of the 
ram-headed Kneph, the god of the inundation to which Egypt owes its 
existence as a nation, but on the sacred boats of the other gods; and are an 
intelligible enough rude symbol of power ; though not so happy artistically 
as the grand human-headed bulls of Assyria, which express the same idea, 


Notes on British and other Coins. By Miss Russell. 381 


I find that, in India, the stone we call the ammonite, the fossil nautilus 
shell, which forms a very fine velute, is often worn as the symbol of Vishnu 
the Preserver, by his devotees. Butit is the double spiral we are particularly 
concerned with here. 

Sir Henry Rawlinson engraves a statuette called Astarte, found somewhere 
in Etruria, in which the goddess is standing on a large pair of volutes, which 
however are upside down, regarded as horns. 

The connection with the water—which is interesting ethnologically, for it 
must be remembered it is quite arbitrary—reappears in Brittany, where Mr 
Milne found the large water-jars, of the same type as the broken pottery 
which he dug up in the rubbish wnder the Roman remains, were, in the 
present day, ornamented with a device somewhat resembling a yoke, but more 
like a small pair of sheep’s horns ; two waving lines are always carried round 
the jar, and the mark is above this on one side. The potters could not tell 
the meaning of these devices, though they used them. But our letter N is said 
to be derived, through the old alphabets, from the Egyptian hieroglyphic 
of a waving line, standing for a wave, or the sound em. The Greek scroll 
pattern, with all the volutes turning one way, is avowedly meant for the sea. 

Sir James Simpson remarks that the spirals are commoner in Ireland and 
Brittany than in Scotland, but they do not seem to be very common any- 
where. They are found in Scotland rather with the rude cup-cuttings than 
with the symbols ; in fact I am not sure that they occur with the latter except 
as decorations. In the peculiarly interesting remains from Norie’s Law, the 
handsome volutes are mere scrolls, while the symbols are on separate clasps 
or brooches. The circumstance is interesting, because I make them out de- 
cidedly pagan, and the Symbols evidently were in use in the Christian period. 
—tThe elemental symbols are often mixed up with personal or professional 
badges, books, swords, tools, &c. The round classical hand-mirror looks 
like another emblem of the sun, while the cocked-hat is an ornamented 
crescent. Of two suggestions of Mr Campbell’s about the Comb, I prefer 
that which makes it mysterious (originally) on account of the line of light 
which follows it along the hair in certain states of the weather. I have an idea 
that the amber and jet beads of the tombs have been placed there partly on 
account of their mysterious electrical sympathies ; ove bead is often found. I 
think this can hardly be accidental, though of course fossil resin outlasts many 
other deposits, having no tendency to decay. 

The opposed volutes do appear, and in connection with the water again, in 
a Semi-pagan crucifix from an old chapel in Colonsay, which I should suppose 
was of about the date of the Symbols, the 8th or 9th century—possibly later. 
It is engraved in the Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. for Feb. 14th, 1881. It is about 
five feet high; the outline of the stone is that of a cross, but the figure, with 
a human head, not badly executed, has the tail and part of the body of a fish, 
and instead of chest and arms, two large spirals. Fish are used in more than 
one way in early Christian symbolism, and there isa small conventional 
figure of Jonah and the Whale, engraved in Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. for Jan. 
10th, 1876, which shows how this Christ-Dagon may partly have been sug- 
gested. Altogether it appeals to the imagination, for it was.only in the 17th 
century that the annual sacrifice, the libation of ale, to Shony (Lord), the 
god of the sea, was stopped by the church in the Lewes. 


382 Notes on British and other Coins. By Miss Russell. 


The rude drawing which looks like a caricature of the Crucifixion, and is 
such an object of interest in Rome, is said to bea serious representation of 
the Anubis-Christ of the Gnostics, the jackal-headed god represented as 
crucified. I do not know if it has been noticed, that the Irish name of the 
golden idol at Magh-Sleacht, the Cromcruach, means crooked stack. This 
seems odd at first, but in fact idols of this shape and material are so well 
known, that somebody suggests that the wedge of gold found in Achan’s 
possession was a cone-idol. 

— According to the present view, both races of Gaelic Celts used the 
elemental symbols. The Picts of the north of Ireland may not improbably 
have been an overflow from Scotland, while the Scots may have colonised 
Ireland direct from the Continent ; the Gael of the south of England I infer 
were of the same race as the former. 

— As to the Cymric, or half-Cymric races, it may be observed the Silures 
were probably the same people as the Selgovz of Scotland. I would scarce- 
ly make them so Non-Aryan as Mr Skene does, but 1 have no doubt they 
had a large mixture of the old dark race. Silure is evidently Sil-wyr, men 
or warriors of the Sils; Selwood Forest shows the real name, and Sul, or 
Suli Minerva, at Bath, was probably a goddess of the same order as Brig- 
antia—or ROMA herself, for that matter. It was the name of Bronsil, hill 
of the Silures, west of the Malvern range, which suggested the point to me. 
And on thinking whether Selgove could not be reduced to the same, I 
recollected that coof and guff are both in use in Scotch for fool or lout; while 
the vernacular English cove merely means ‘‘ fellow,” and goff and gow have 
been specialised to mean ‘‘smith”’ in the Celtic languages. The Anglo- 
Saxon probably shows the older word in gum, and gom,for man. Gaffer 
and gammer are the English masculine and feminine, while the Scotch 
‘¢cummer’’ and French ‘‘ commére ’”’—nearly the same word—are probably 
from the same origin. The derivation of ‘‘ yeoman’”’ is so unknown that it 
has been connected with the extremely opposite French gamin, “street boy ”; 
goffe is also used for fool in French; while ‘‘la gomme”’ is a French slang 
expression for the masculine part of the fashionable world; and in some of 
the older Teutonic languages I see gumi and gomo meant hero. This last 
form seems to show that the Latin ‘‘homo” isfrom the same root! The 
Scotch name Cowan, which has been somehow derived from Cu, dog, is of 
course the same word. 

——The likeness which has been traced between Sil and Sikel, the name of 
the old inhabitants of Sicily, is not satisfactory, unless the name of the rock 
Scylla is a form of the latter. However, there are some old analogies, and 
they are rather non-Aryan. Shila or Shela is one name by which the 
Berbers of North Africa call themselves, and they seem to be the same people 
who were there before the Romans colonised the country. Further back, 
Homer calls the dirty aborigines of Dodona (supposed to be Yanina) Selli, 
and does not mention them as if they were Greeks. Whatever the name of 
Selgovee is, I think Solway is quite a separate word. Dr. Guest’s etymology 
for that is valuable and probable; he says that in the Cymric of Brittany, 
chal or shal means the rising tide. There is a Selcoth on the road between 
St Mary’s Loch and Moffat, which, if it isnot a Saxon Sel-cot, holy house— 
which I know no reason it should be—may have been on the frontier of the 


Notes on British and other Coins. By Miss Russell. 383 


Selgove at some time. Selwood in Somersetshire was Penselcoit, and Sel- 
coth also should be a Cymric Sel-coed, wood of the Sils. I suspect the Eng- 
lish ‘* wood ” to be more from the British coed and goed than from the Teu- 
tonic wald ; or perhaps about equally derived from both. 
——lIt may be remarked, that the Belgw, who inhabited great part of Eng- 
land south of the Thames, are hardly more specialised by their name than 
the Catti. It seems to be the same word that forms bag and box in Eng- 
lish, with their manifold meanings, and bulk and bulge; in fact it might 
mean almost anything. Mr Campbell inclines to regard Bolgam Mor, the 
name of one of his mythical warriors, as meaning ‘‘the great quivered 
one.’’ T see indications that begger is ‘‘ bagger ”; which word, indeed, is 
used by the Americans in one sense. 
—There is no stronger proof of the degree to which the old Celtic coins have 
been ignored, than the existence of rather a notable little book entitled ‘‘ A 
Neglected Fact in English History,’’ in which the author, who must have 
bestowed considerable labour on the subject, demonstrates that there is no 
appearance of any sudden change in what may be called the minor 
municipal arrangements of England, at any time; and infers from this, that 
the population subjugated by the Romans must, over great part of the coun : 
try, have been already Teutonic, of the race of the Saxons and Franks. The 
probable explanation of the facts has only become possible rather recently ; 
the old Irish laws, which have been printed by instalments within the last 
ten years, are said by the authorities to be, in fact, the same as the old Ger- 
man laws, only in a more primitive form than that in which the latter have 
come down. 
— It has nothing to do with the last question, which lies much deeper, but 
I do not know whether there is any evidence at all that the Catti, who were 
known to the Romans in Germany, were not Celts. The name of their 
adversaries, the Hermunduri, is just what the Celts might probably call the 
Germans, Jrmin-ur, or Wyr; ur seems to have been the Pictish form of vir 
&ce. Whoever, or whatever Jrmin was, it has probably something to do with 
our name for the Deutsch. When the admirable Grimm assumes that the god 
to whom the Catti sacrificed was either ‘l'yr or Woden, he may be just as right 
and as wrong as Tacitus, who states that the gods worshipped in those parts 
were Mars and Mercury. The name of Mannheim looks like a Celtic settle- 
ment ; Marcomanni, for the ancient inhabitants of Bavaria, if Celtic, should 
mean Picts who rode on horseback. Constanz is historically a Celtic settle- 
ment, and both Mainau and Brigantium occur nearit. The alleged worship 
of Neptune on the lake there has a Celtic suggestion, for the Gaelic naomh 
(meuve) as Mr Campbell points out in connection with Kneph, means 
“heaven "’ and also ‘‘holy.”’ 
— Dr. Angus Smith has died since the above reference to him was written; 
he will be even a greater loss to British ethnology than to other departments 
of science. He had made some very original observations of the types of 
face and voice prevailing in different districts, which required a delicate ear 
and retentive memory. 

Additional Note.—Tre and—Treu, which are certainly the Welsh Tuef, 
township, are traceable in names in Hertfordshire, nurth of London, 


384 


Ornithological Notes. By GEORGE BoLAm. 


OspREY : Pandion halicvetus, Linn. 
On the 18th October, 1881, I saw a recently set up specimen in a shop in 
Alnwick. It had been killed at Alnmouth a few days previously by a 
fisherman, on whose shoulder it had suddenly alighted as he was going 
home in the dark late one evening; another fine example, a female, was 
shot at Southern Knowe on the College water on 26th September, 1881. It 
had been in the neighbourhood for ten days or a fortnight before it was 
killed, and was well known to the shepherds, who tell me that it was 
remarkably tame and fearless, often allowing them to approach, or pass 
by, within a very short distance of it without taking alarm or flying away. 
It was preserved by Mr Brotherston of Kelso, and is now in Mr Steel’s 
collection in that town. 
PEREGRINE : Falco peregrinus, Gmel. 

On the 11th December last, while standing on the cliffs at Marshall 
Meadows, my attention was arrested by a pair of these birds which were 
wheeling round the bay, every now and then stooping at a bird upon the 
water. After a short time one of the falcons, the male, disappeared round 
the point to the north and was no more seen, while the female, after a 
few more stoops, alighted upon the cliffs which surround the bay. Ina 
few minutes the bird (which I now perceived to be a peewit) rose from the 
water and began making for the shore, but this movement was no sooner 
observed by the falcon than she immediately left her perch andgave chase 
and the peewit was quickly again forced to take to the water, while the 
falcon returned to the cliffs. Again and again did the plover rise and 
attempt to gain the land and as often was it driven to seek shelter in the 
water. At each attempt, however, it drew closer and closer to the shore, 
and at last managed to scramble amongst the loose stones and rocks lying 
at the water’s edge. Having once gained this shelter, one would naturally 
have supposed that it would have quietly remained there until the hawk 
had gone away, but such was not the case, for no sooner had the falcon 
returned to her post upon the cliffs, than the peewit again took wing and 
keeping close to the ground made off round the corner of the cliffs, closely 
pursued by the falcon, and both were soon lost to view. During the time 
that I watched the birds—some quarter of an hour or 20 minutes—the 
falcon might have easily struck the plover, but apparently was afraid to do 
so while over the water or in such close proximity to the ground. The 
peewit, when driven to the water, dived regularly and with apparent ease, 
each time that the falcons stooped at it, using its wings as the motive power 
for getting under water. As the pursuit continued along the shore the 
birds passed within a few feet of a fisherman, who was engaged in gather- 
ing bait upon the rocks, but nothing seemed to divert the attention of the 
peregrine from her quarry. How long the chase lasted after the birds 
disappeared from view, or how it would end of course can only be con- 
jectured, but judging from what I saw I fancy that the plover when quite 
exhausted, would find safety in at length remaining quiet under shelter of 
some stone or rock, until the falcon, tired of waiting, should have gone on 
to join her mate, or in search of some less erratic prey. 


Ornithological Notes. By George Bolam. 385 


Common Buzzarp: Buteo vulgaris, Leach. 

A very fine male, now in my possession, was shot at Blakelaw near 
Chatton, Northumberland, towards the end of the year 1880. It had fre- 
quented the neighbourhood for some time, and when killed was in the 
act of devouring a wood-pigeon, large numbers of which were at the time 
to be found in a weak and dying state from the severity and the long con- 
tinuance of the winter, and which would doubtless afford the buzzard a 
plentiful and easily obtained supply of food. 

Another was seen near Fowberry Tower, the seat of George Culley, Esq., 
as late as the end of March or beginning of April, 1881, and was allowed 
to escape unmolested. 

On the afternoon of 16th September last while strolling along the sea 
banks between Berwick and Marshall Meadows I had a fine view of a bird 
of this species. It seemed to be very devoid of fear or in an exhausted 
condition and had no doubt just arrived from a long flight. After I had 
watched it for some time, two crows, which had been feeding on the 
rocks not far off, caught sight of it and at once gave chase uttering fierce 
“‘craws’’; at first the buzzard paid but little attention to them, but bye 
and bye it rose and flapped heavily away inland pursued by its sable tor- 
mentors until lost to view in the distance. 

On the same day there was a great influx of migratory birds upon the 
coast; flycatchers, redstarts, &c., were observed at Berwick, while on the 
previous afternoon a red-backed shrike and a pied flycatcher had been 
killed near the very place where the buzzard was seen. 

RovuGH-LEGGED BuzzaRD: Buteo lagopus,(Gmel.) 

In the autumn and winter of 1880-81, there were numerous newspaper 
reports of the capture of these birds all over the country and many of 
them were within the limits of the Club. Of specimens I examined and 
which do not appear to have been recorded, I may mention one shot at 
Spindleston near Belford, in the beginning of October, 1880; this was a 
very large bird and had the feathers of the head and neck on the upper 
parts of a much paler colour than usual. Another fine example was shot 
by Mr Hoge’s keeper at Quickswood on the 15th of the same month; and 
a third, obtained near Coldstream, was preserved by Mr Beloe in February 
1881. 

Honry Buzzarp: Pernis aviporus, (Linn.) 

A bird of this species, in the dark brown state of plumage, was found 
washed up by the tide on the sands at Alnmouth in the beginning of 
October, 1881, and was preserved by a man in Alnwick in whose hands I 
had an opportunity of seeing it on the 13th of that month. The “ Alnwick 
Mercury”’ of 8th October, 1881, records “a fine female shot near Dunstan- 
burgh Castle on the 21st ult. by Mr John Duncan, of Percy Street, New- 
castle,’ and several others were noticed in the local papers as having been 
captured about the time, 

GREAT GREY SHRIKE; Lanius excubitor, Linn. 

A specimen, shot at Hslington Park, the seat of the Karl of Ravensworth, 

was sent to Alnwick for preservation about the end of October, 1880, and 

I saw two others killed during the same winter, the one at Lilburn, the 
wi 


386 Ornithological Notes. By George Bolam. 


other near Chillingham Castle. A male in my collection was shot upon 
the road close to Carham Station, upon the Berwick and Kelso Railway, 
on 5th November, 1881; and during the same week, another, also a male, 
waskilled near Downham in Northumberland, Abontthe 20th of November, 
1882, one was shot near Spittal and was brought by its captor to fhe 
Berwick Museum but was not, I believe, preserved ; and towards the end of 
the same month a seventh example was taken alive at Doxford near 
Alnwick. 

RED-BACKED SHRIKE: Lanius collwrio, Linn. 

A young female in immature plumage was shot by my brother on 15th 
September last, upon the sea banks about a mile and a half to the north of 
Berwick, and is now in my collection. 

Tawny Ow: Strix aluco, (Linn.) 

Tawny owls undoubtedly migrate to our shores in considerable numbers in 
the autumn from more northern latitudes, although I cannot say that I 
have remarked the clear grey plumage which Mr Robt. Gray thinks dis- 
tinguishes these visitors. The species breed regularly in nearly all our 
woods, and the birds met with during summer vary greatly in the 
shade and tint of their piumage; and this variation as in the case of some 
other birds of prey seems to be quite independent of either age or sex. 

On the 26th October last I came upon an individual of this species, 
sitting upon the remains of an old wreck near low water mark, upon the 
Goswick sands, and quite two miles away from the nearest ‘land.’ In 
spring and during the early part of summer tawny owls may often be 
heard hooting loudly in the middle of the day, and with apparent indiffer- 
ence to the bright sunshine. 

Pirp FuycatcHer: Muscicapa atricapilla, Linn. 

I have lately met with this species with some regularity during its 
autumnal migrations. 

As previously recorded in the ‘‘ Proceedings”’ of the Club one was shot 
in the garden here on the 16th October, 1879, while in 1881 I killed two 
birds in the same locality—one on the 25th, the other on the 26th of Sep- 
tember. Last autumn several were observed in the garden during 
September and one was shot on the 15th of that month on the sea shore, 
sitting upon a stone within the tide mark. The above were mostly young 
birds in winter plumage, but one or two were adults still retaining amongst 
the brown winter feathers some slight indications of the black of their 
summer dress. 

On their return in spring they are less Peoqnientely, met with. They have 
then generally almost completed the change to summer plumage; one in 
this state was killed at Goswick during the second week in May, 1881, and 
came into the possession of Mr Robt. Gray. In May, 1879, two mature 
birds were seen in a garden near Longhoughton, in the parish of Lesbury, 
and one of them was killed by a stone from a catapult. A male in my 
collection, which was killed near Felton on 10th May, 1883, differs slightly 
from the ordinary type in having the white on the outside feathers of the 
tail almost entirely wanting; the outer feather on each side being the only 
ones showing any signs of white, and they having only the very smallest tip. 


Ornithological Notes. By George Bolam. 387 


GoLpDEN ORIOLE: Oriolus galbula, Linn. 

A specimen of this beautiful bird was shot on 26th May, 1881, near 
Middleton Hall, Belford, the seat of J. Towlerton Leather, Esq., in North- 
umberland, and is now in my possession. It is in the full plumage of the 
adult male. Though to the southern parts of the Island the golden oriole 
is a somewhat regular summer viSitant, stragglers appearing almost every 
spring, and afew even remaining to breed in the north of England and 
in Scotland it is a very rare bird, the only other Northumbrian example 
having been recorded by Mr Selby, from Tynemouth so long ago as 1821. 

RED-BREASTED FLYCATCHER: Muscicapa parva, Bech. 

On the 5th of October, 1883, I was fortunate enough to shoot a specimen 
of this interesting little flycatcher in our garden at Berwick. When I first 
observed it fly across the garden and alight on some trees I was struck by 
the large amount of white displayed in the tail and was thus led to suspect 
that it was nota pied flycatcher, to which bird in other respects it was very 
similar. It was afterwards seen busily engaged in feeding upon Aphides, 
which were at the time very numerous and congregated upon the broad 
leaves of a sycamore tree; here again in its movements it showed a marked 
resemblance to its congeners, but some slight differences were noticed ; 
it several times ran, or rather hopped along a branch, or the top of a wall, 
to secure some minute insect, and it was on the whole more restless and 
less disposed to remain motionless than a pied flycatcher. 

On examination it proved to be a young male in the sombre brown of 
the autumn plumage, and in colouring it agrees generally with the short 
description given in the last edition of Yarrell’s British Birds. The ter- 
tials are broadly margined and tipped with pale yellowish brown, and the 
breast and under parts are more or less of a fine warm buff. The tail 
which consists of twelve feathers is hair brown and white, the brown being 
darkest on the middle feathers; the first three pairs of quills from the 
outside have the brown and white in nearly equal proportions; the basal 
halves being white, quite pure on the second and third pairs, bnt slightly 
freckled with brown on the outer feathers. The fourth pair have the 
outer web only white for about an inch near the middle, with a small por- 
tion of the inner web, next to the shaft, of a like colour; while on the 
fifth pair from the outside the white is confined to a rather narrow margin 
on a small portion of the outer web; the sixth or centre pair are wholly 
brown. In the 4th edition of Yarrell’s British Birds above referred to, it 
is stated that this species has only ten feathers in the tail, but Professor 
Newton informs me that since he wrote the account for that work he has 
found that specimens are met with having twelve feathers; and Mr John 
Hancock, to whom I have on many previous occasions been much indebted 
for useful information, at all times most kindly given, tells me that he 
finds, by examination of a large series of specimens in his collection, that 
twelve is the normal number of tail feathers, in M. parva, and that the only 
specimen he has which has ten feathers, has evidently lost two. Twelve 
would therefore seem to be the number of tail feathers in this species, and 
unless abnormally that number probably never varies. 

The red-breasted flycatcher has only been obtained in England upon 


388 Ornithological Notes. By George Bolam. 


three previous occasions—once near Falmouth, when two birds were seen, 
and twice in the Scilly Islands. In Ireland or Scotland it has not as yet 
been noticed, but the present specimen having been killed north of the 
Tweed and within a very few miles of the borders, would almost seem to 
give it a right to rank as an occasional visitor to the last named country. 

HepGE WARBLER: Accentor modularis, (Linn.) 

Varieties of this bird frequently occur. On the 15th March, 1878, I saw a 
rather unusual and very prettily marked specimen near the village of Ord, 
about a mile and a half from Berwick-on-Tweed. The head and neck and 
the whole of the lower parts of the body were pure white with the excep- 
tion of a dark feather or two near the occiput, and a few slight streaks of 
brown about the flanks; there was also a large patch of white upon the 
back, and several of the quills of both wings and tail were of a similar 
colour. Some years ago I remember seeing one which had the two outer 
feathers on each side of the tail quite white, the rest of the plumage being 
as usual; and during the past winter one frequented the garden here which 
had a single white spot, something in the form of a crescent, upon the 
back of the head. 

A nest of the hedge sparrow, which I came upon near the mill in Hern- 
cliffe Dene, in May, 1882, was most beautifully suspended amongst the long 
slender branches of some honey-suckle hanging over the side of the cliffs ; 
and a similar instance, where the nest was attached to trails of ivy, was 
noticed on the banks of the Whiteadder, in the previous year. So many 
of the eggs and young of these birds are destroyed by field-mice that one 
is almost led to wonder whether in hanging their nests to these slender 
branches, the birds are not exercising a kind of reason in thus doing their 
best to protect them from the plunders of such small enemies. 

Rine OvuzEL: Turdus torquatus, Linn. 

Appears to be very irregular in its migrations. In an ordinary way the 
breeding birds on the Cheviots have eggs in April, the second laying being 
about the beginning of June, but in some years migrants arrive on the 
coast as late as the middle of May. On 15th May, 1877, there were large 
numbers of the birds about the Abbey and Castle on Holy Island, but they 
do not build there, while in other years I. have observed them on the coast 
from the middle of April to near the end of May. During April and May 
small parties may often be seen upon the Kyloe Hills, and on the 16th 
May, 1879, I took a nest in that locality with full complement of eggs, but 
it is only very rarely that they breed there. 

On 5th December last I met with a single ring ouzel on the hills near 
Wooler ; it was feeding, in company with a flock of fieldfares, upon some 
hawthorn berries. With the exception of the instance mentioned by White, 
who records the appearance of some birds of this species in Hampshire at 
Christmas, 1770, this would appear to be the only time that the ring ouzel 
has been found in the British Isles during winter. 

GRASSHOPPER WARBLER: Acrocephalus nevius, (Bodd.) 

This is a bird which I cannot choose but think is rapidly increasing in our 
district. Some few years ago its voice was but seldom to be heard, where- 
as now it appears in some years almost plentifully, wherever there is scrub 


Ornithological Notes. By George Bolam. 389 


or thicket enough to furnish it with a hiding place, and it is not unfre- 
quently heard chattering away in the bottom of some thick hedge by the 
roadside. In this district its favourite haunt seems to be amongst tall 
heather, and on many of our moors its thrilling song is to be heard. On 
the hills above Langleyford and at the head of Common Burn it is some- 
times very numerous, and must nest there in some seasons in considerable 
numbers. 

It seems almost impossible that the note of this bird should be con- 
founded with that of the sedge warbler to which it bears so small a 
resemblance, but that this often happens can scarcely for a moment be 
doubted, and many of the reported cases of its having been heard would, if 
investigated into, probably turn out to be only the latter bird. Of course 
such a mistake can only be made by persons who have never heard the 
voice of the grasshopper warbler, as once listened to, its trill can never 
afterwards be mistaken for the song of any other of our warblers. 

In the fourth edition of ‘‘ Yarrell’s British Birds’’ the grasshopper 
warbler is stated to occur in all the southern counties of Scotland with the 
exception of Berwick, Roxburgh, and Selkirk; but this is probably an 
oversight, for in the two first-named counties, at least, it is a well known 
bird. Mr Hardy ‘‘has known it at Pease Dene from his youth up and 
never considered it rare,’’ and in many other localities it has also been 
been noticed. 


Lesser WHITETHROAT: Sylvia cwrruca, (Linn.) 


I killed two young birds, in immature plumage, in the garden here, about 
the middle of September, 1881, and one of them is now in my collection, 
the other having unfortunately been devoured by atame fox in whose way 
it chanced to fall when shot. 

GOLDEN CRESTED WREN: Regulus cristatus, Koch. 


Sometimes appears in large numbers in autumn. Thus in October, 1882, 
they were particularly numerous and were to be found in all kinds of 
unexpected places. Parties of from three or four up toa dozen individuals 
occurred all over Berwick, wherever a few trees or bushes were to be found 
to afford them food and shelter, while others were observed flitting about 
amongst the ‘‘bents’’ upon the links at Cheswick and Goswick. 

Upon the 18th of October they were very abundant on the sea banks 
near Berwick, and, although not appearing to be exhausted, some of them 
were so tame that one was actually caught beneath a hat, as it sat upon the 
side of a small haystack which had been left standing in the field. 

In April, 1883, a gold crest was picked up in the garden with a broken 
wing and was put into the greenhouse, where ina few hours it had become 
so tame and familiar that it would pick aphides from my fingers, or from 
a branch held in front of it. Hopping about from plant to plant it had in 
two days cleared the greenhouse of aphides and other insects, and then 
refusing to eat any other food it died. If they could only be kept alive 
and in health some of these small birds would be the best possible cure for 
«green fly’ in our greenhouses, for there is not a leaf or corner that they 
leave untried, and aphides appear to form their favourite food. 


390 Ornithological Notes. By George Bolam. 


Waxwine: Ampelis garrulus, Linn. 

Several occurred within the district during the winter of 1882-83. In the 
neighbourhood of Belford, one or more were picked up on Ross Links about 
the middle of December; while Mr Burn shot one at Glororum during the 
same month, and another was found dead at Grange Burn Mill. A fine 
specimen was killed on 28rd December by a man working on the Railway 
near Carham Station; two were shot at Hllingham near Chathill—one early 
in January, the other on 5th February; while near Felton a pair were 
ohserved, but were not disturbed, during the end of January, 1883. 

Meapow Pirit: Anthus pratensis, (Linn.) 

A very pretty and interesting variety of this bird was killed on the moors 
at Eglingham in Northumberland about the latter end of August, 1881, and 
came into my possession shortly afterwards. The whole plumage, including 
the quill feathers of both wings and tail, is of a uniform pale yellowish 
white, almost exactly resembling in colour what. is termed a “ mealy’’ 
canary : the colouring of the legs, toes, and bill being also very pale. An 
example was recorded long ago by Mr Thompson of Belfast, which in the 
“rich primrose yellow”’ of certain parts of its plumage seems to have 
agreed very closely with the present specimen, but his bird retained about 
the wings and tail a few feathers of the ordinary grey plumage. 

CHAFFINCH: Pringilla celebs, Linn. 

To Mr Robert Renton I am indebted for acurious variety of the chaffinch, 
which was killed at Fans near EHarlston in December, 1882 ; a short descrip- 
tion of it is as follows—wings dirty white, the quills edged on their outer 
webs with bright canary yellow, the white band on the lesser coverts, so 
conspicuous on the wing ef the ordinary chaffinch, is when carefully looked 
for, quite distinctly visible in pure white feathers amongst those tinged, 
or as it were soiled, with brown. Upper parts of head and neck and the 
sides of head pale yellowish brown, shoulders and back also pale brown, 
gradually becoming paler towards the rump, which together with the 
flanks is almost white, the feathers being margined with bright golden 
yellow. Upper tail coverts dirty white, tail greyish white but with the 
usual pure white marks on the outside feathers; all the shafts dark. The 
lower parts of the body are pale yellowish brown, darkest on the neck and 
upper breast, and gradually becoming paler towards the lower tail coverts, 
which latter are almost pure white. The iris was dark brown, and legs, 
bill, &c., of the usual colour. 

GoLb-FINCH: Fringilla carduelis, Linn: and Siskin: F. Spinus, Linn. 
During the hard weather of 18%0-8i a flock of siskins frequented some 
alder bushes close to the town of Wooler, and several of them were caught 
by the boys in hair nooses, or killed with catapults; amongst the latter 
was a single goldfinch. Although scarce, both of these birds are still 
sometimes to be met with in the district. I have on one or two occasions 
during spring and autumn seen gold finches in our garden in Berwick. 

TREE SPARROW: Passer montanus, (Linn.) 

Fairly common all along the coast line, but does not appear as a rule to 
advance very far inland, and except as a straggler is not generally found 
more thana few miles fromthe sea. It builds in almost any hole or crevice, 


Ornithological Notes. By George Bolam. 391 


that is large enough for the purpose, and I have taken the nest within the 
district in holes in old walls, in trees, in sand banks or amongst rocks on 
the sea side, under the tiles in the roofs of buildings, and in various 
other situations. The nest is more carefully put together than that of the 
common sparrow, so large a quantity of materials being seldom used, and 
no loose straws are left protruding from the entrance to the hole. Although 
to a certain extent migratory the tree sparrow is found here throughout 
the year, being perhaps most plentiful during the breeding season, and I 
do not think that in the north we have any great increase in its numbers 
in the autumn as seems to be the case in some of the more southern 
counties of England. 

Srarnine: Stwrnus vulgaris, Linn. — 

An almost white variety of the starling was killed near Beal during the 
Jast week in August, 1883, andisnowin my collection. The whole plumage 
is of a dull white, many of the feathers on the upper parts being margined 
or tipped with pale brown, while beneath, the breast is obscurely spotted. 
The legs, bill, &c., were rather pale in colour, irides of the usual dark 
brown. 

Hooprep Crow: Corvus cornia, Linn. 

A few individuals appear to remain with us almost every summer, and 
these probably breed either associated with carrion crows (C. corone) or 
with partners of their own colour. 

For the last seven years I have seldom missed seeing one or two hooded 
crows in some part of the district during summer, and in at least six of 
them I have known a mixed breed to have been reared upon the cliffs a 
little way to the north of Berwick ; the young birds from these nests have 
usually been intermediate in colouring between C. corniz, and C. corone, 
although one of two shot on 27th August, 1879, had only so small a shade 
of grey about the shoulders that at first sight it would have passed for a 
pure carrion. From August to November, 1880, I kept one of these “ half 
castes’ in confinement, and when he was again allowed his liberty, he had 
assumed an adult plumage as nearly as possible half way in colour between 
the two forms. 

Hoorozr: Upwpa epops, Linn. 

On 12th September, 1880, a beautiful specimen of this bird was shot by 
Mr Allan’s gamekeeper near the old toll gate at Grindon, in the parish of 
Norham, and I had an opportunity of examining it, in the flesh, on the 
following morning. It is now preserved and in Mr Allan’s possession. 
Another example was shot on the sands near high water mark between 
Beadnell village and Annstead on 25th August, 1882, by a person named 
Davidson, and was preserved in Alnwick for its captor. 

On 16th April, of the same year, a hoopoe was observed feeding by the 
side of a small burn on the coast near Bonlmer, but although suffered to 
remain unmolested, it was next morning no where to be seen, and had 
probably moved on, on its migratory journey. 

Stock-DovE : Columba enas, Linn. 

Since my last communication on the subject numerous instances of the 
breeding of this bird both in Northumberland and Berwickshire have come 


392 Ornithological Notes. By George Bolam. 


under notice, and I have seen a large number of nests in various localities. 
In this district a steep bank or cliff seems to be the site most frequently 
chosen for a nesting place, and instead of being in a rabbit hole the nest 
is often made upon a ledge of the rock itself behind some slight bush or 
other shelter, some of the nests bearing in this respect a very close resem- 
blance to those of escaped tame pigeons, which breed in a half wild state 
in similar situations. 

The stock-dove must be rapidly extending its range, for we hear con- 
stantly of examples having been seen or killed in some new locality. As 
an instance of this Dr Paxton had one brought to him in March, 1882, which 
had been shot upon the Ladykirk estate. The keeper who killed it said 
he had never, until a few days before when a pair took up their abode in 
one of the plantations, seen a bird like it, and he took it to the doctor as 
a “‘rara avis’’ and to find out from him what it was. This specimen, an 
adult male, was very kindly presented to me by Dr Paxton. 

During the last year or two stock-doves have frequently been noticed in 
the game shops in Berwick, exposed for sale amongst the common wood- 
pigeons. 

Quan: Coturnia vulgaris, Flem. 

In some seasons is not uncommon, though but seldom seen on account of 
the difficulty with which it is made to take wing. They all seem to leave 
us very soon after the corn is cut. 

A specimen was shot near Weetwood during the summer of 1878 ; it was 
in company with another and would in all probability be breeding near 
the place where it was killed. Two broods were reared upon an adjoining 
farm in 1880, and at Turvelaws, near Wooler, a pair were seen on several 
occasions during the summer of the following year. In September, 1879, 
four were seen on Nab Hill farm, in the parish of Ancroft, and two of 
them were shot by Mr Jas. Grey, junr., of Berwick ; and Mr Nicholson in- 
forms me that in 1877 a bevy was observed upon Murton farm about3 miles 
from Berwick; this would appear to have been a late brood for the young 
ones were scarcely able to fly at harvest time. 

As previously recorded (“‘ Proceedings’ 1878, p. 496) two immature birds 
were shot in that year upon Unthank farm, which adjoins Murton, and I 
am told by Mr Marshall, the tenant of Unthank, that he has known them 
breed there for a considerable number of years. The late Dr Colville 
Brown had in his possession the skin of an adult bird which was shot at 
Greivestead many years ago; in that locality and on the neighbouring 
farm of Grindon, quails used once to be of frequent occurrence. 

On 15th July, 1879, I heard the call note of the quail. proceeding from 
amongst the standing corn, at several places upon the road between East 
Learmouth and Mindrum Mill, and succeeded after some difficulty in walk- 
ing up to a pair of the birds; they rose suddenly within a few feet of me 
and did not fly far before again dropping amongst the corn. Under similar 
circumstances I have on more than one occasion heard them calling within a 
few miles of Berwick, and within the Parliamentary limits of the Borough, 
in the fields adjoining the roads leading to Paxton and Chirnside. Like 
the corncrake, quails are most vociferous after sundown, and it is when 


Ornithological Notes. By George Bolam, 393 


the twilight has pretty far advanced on a fine summer evening, and when 
most other birds are silent, that their ‘ plup’ ‘plup’ is most noticeable ; 
this note, which is often repeated two or three times, in succession some- 
what resembles one of the sounds made by a female turkey. 

An egg of this species, in my collection, was taken from a nest upon the 
links near Boulmer, about the year 1870. 

Grey Prover: Squatarola helvetica, (Linn). 

Very rarely seen on our coasts in summer plumage. On 25th August, 
1881, a pair flew over my head, on the sands near Holy Island, having full 
black breasts. 

Dusky REeDsHANK: Totanus fuscus, (Linn.) 

A bird which there can be no doubt was of this species was shot by Capt. 
Parker, R.N., about the middle of August, 1882, on the sands near Goswick. 
Not knowing the bird, Capt. Parker tookit to the Berwick Museum to have 
it identified, but failing to find out what it was, the bird was not preserved. 
From avery accurate description which I had from Capt. Parker, I felt quite 
sure that the bird must have been a dusky redshank, and this suspicion 
was afterwards proved to be correct; for Mr Wm. Shaw when I showed him 
aspecimenof Totanus fuscus in my collection, at once identified in it the 
bird which had been brought to him at the museum. 

That the specimen was not preserved is much to be regretted, for the 
dusky redshank is of very rare occurrence in the district ; and Capt Parker 
told me that had he known the bird would have been at all acceptable, he 
would have gladly presented it to the Museum. 

Rurr : Machetes pugnaz, (Linn.) 

On 22th August, 1880, I killed a young female of this species on the sands 
a few miles south of Berwick; and on 7th September last, a male was shot 
by my brother near the same place. These are both in the first plumage. 

In the ‘ Proceedings’’ for 1879 at page 168, a slight mistake has 
occurred. In speaking of three birds of this species there recorded it is 
stated that ‘“‘two of them are in the winter plumage, the other is imma- 
ture’’ this should be reversed so as to read ‘‘one of them is in winter 
plumage the others immature.’’ The adult plumage is rare in the district. 

When in the Zoological Gardens on 3rd September of last year, I was 

surprised to find the ruffs in full breeding plumage ; as were also some of 
the knots, bar-tailed godwits, and dunlins, which were confined in the same 
enclosure. Probably from the high feeding to which these captives are 
‘subjected, they had been longer in losing their summer condition, but, 
especially in the case of the ruffs, which when at liberty loose their ‘ ruff’ 
before the summer has far advanced, it seemed curious to find birds in 
this state so late in the autumn. 

Lirrie Stint: Tringa minuta, Leis., and CURLUE SANDPIPER: Tringa subar- 
quata, (Gild.) 2 
A little stint inimmature plumage was shot on 10th September, 1881, from 
amongst a flock of curlue sandpipers upon the rocks near Boulmer, 
Northumberland. Two others, also immature, were killed by my brother 

_ near Goswick, on llth September, 1883. 
x 


394 Ornithological Notes. By George Bolam. 


BaR-TAILED Gopwit: Limosa lapponica, (Linn.) 

During the second week in August, 1883, two bar-tailed godwits in their 
red or summer plumage were killed on Fenham flats, Holy Island. One 
of them which is now in my possession, is in full summer dress, not having 
changed a single feather : the other had begun to moult and had assumed 
here and there indications of its winter plumage. A specimen killed in the 
same locality in the autumn of 1882 still retained about the breast and 
wings a few red feathers, but I had not previously met with the full sum- 
mer plumage in the district. 

BLACK-TAILED Gopwit: Limosa egocephala, (Linn.) 

A specimen of this rare autumn visitant was obtained by my brother 
upon the Goswick sands on 7th September, 1883. It is a young male in 
immature plumage and was when shot in company with some bar-tailed 
godwits. 

WHIMBREL : Numenius pheopus, (Linn.) 

Does not leave us in spring until well on in May, and I have seen them 
in June. In the autumn the first arrivals begin to appear towards the end 
of July, and during August it is perhaps more abundant on our coast than 
at any other time of the year. 

LanpRAtt: Crex pratensis, (Bech.) 

One later than usual in departing was shot near the mouth of the Tweed 
on 27th of October, 1882. It was in good condition and proved to be 
gorged with earth worms, amongst them being the remains of a single 
black beetle. 

In May of last year I was surprised to see a corncrake sitting upon the 
top of a close cut hedge, quite four feet above the ground, craking away 
most vociferously. 

Brwicx’s Swan: Cygnus minor, Keys. and BI. 

Several small flocks visited Fenham flats during the winter of 1882. In 
the end of November of that year I had an opportunity of examining in 
the flesh three specimens which had been shot there on the 25th of the 
month, at one discharge from a punt gun belonging to Mr Anderson, 
Berwick. They were all fine adult birds, and two of them—male and 
female—were afterwards purchased for the Berwick Museum. A few days 
afterwards, another bird was shot from the same boat, and two others were 
secured by different people. They were all adults in fine conditien. : 

In the autumn of 1879 one of a pair was shot on the Till near Milfield 
by Mr George Grey, in whose possession it now is. 

GREY-LAG Goose: Anser ferus, (Gmel.) 

Much rarer than either the pink footed or bean goose although not un- 
frequently confounded with them, all geese of a grey colour being termed 
“‘ grey legs”’ by the fishermen and local shooters. In the ‘ Proceedings’ 
for. 1880, at page 401, the grey-lag is made to appear as a regular visitant 
to Berwick ; but this is a printer’s error—what I wrote was ‘‘ grey geese”’ 
(meaning grey geese generally as opposed to black or brent geese) and this 
has been confounded with the grey lag goose (Anser ferus) and hence the 
mistake. The record of migration as there given, should therefore be 
taken as applying indiscriminately to all three species of grey geese, though 


Ornithological Notes. By George Bolam. 395 


most probably to one of the two common kinds: the first flocks being 
generally seen passing high over-head and at much too great a distance to 
distinguish the species. 

BERNICLE GoosE: Anser leucopsis, (Bech.) 

On 24th November, 1882, having occasion to be at Goswick I had a very 
fine view of five of these birds. They were sitting upon a wet grass field 
and allowed me to approach so close to them that I could distinguish that 
most of them were in adult plumage, with clear white bands on the 
head and pure black and white on the lower parts of the body; associ- 
ated with the flock was a single grey goose, probably, from its size, of the 
pink footed species. The five bernicles remained in the neighbourhood 
until near the end of December, being constantly seen by the people on 
the farm, who were all much struck by their tameness. 

About the 10th of September, when the birds first appeared, one of 
their number was shot near to Goswick and came into the possession of Mr 
Hogg, who presented it to Mr Chas. Watson of Dunse, and the latter 
gentleman exhibited the specimen, as a skin, at the Holy Island meeting 
of the Club last year. 

SHOVELLER : Anas clypeata, (Linn.) 

Occasionally seen during winter and early spring, and a few remain over 
the summer and breed with us, but they all seem to disappear early in the 
autumn so soon as the young can fly. 

A pair were killed in a pond at Fenham about the second week in April, 
1883, and another pair were seen near Boulmer on 8th of December, in 
the previous year. 

Pintaln: Anas acuta, (Linn.) 

An old male in my collection was shot on the slakes at Fenham on 28rd 
September last; it isin the brown plumage of autumn. 

A specimen, also a male, which I had an opportunity of examining, was 
killed near the same place on 6th December 1882. It appeared to be a 
young bird and had not quite assumed the adult plumage. 

Locally the pintail goes almost invariably under the name of “‘ gadwell,’”’ 
and when we hear of a gadwell having been seen or killed, it is generally 
quite safe to assume that the bird meant belongs to this species. 

Smzew: Mergus albellus, Linn. 

During the winter of 1880-81 a smew,in female or immature plumage, was 
shot inriver Till near Heathery Hall in the parish of Chatton. 

GREAT CRESTED GREBE : Podiceps cristatus, (Linn.) 

A young male in first plumage was killed at Holy Island, on or abont the 
26th September, 1882, and is now in the collection of Mr Fredk. Raine, of 
Durham. 

This species sometimes remains with us till late in spring. I saw one on 
the Tweed near Berwick Bridge, on 30th May, 1881, and two years pre- 
viously, about the same time of year, a specimen in, I believe, full summer 
plumage, was killed near the same place. 

RED-NECKED GREBE: Podiceps rubricollis, (Gmel.) 

A grebe of this species was killed by one of the fishermen in the harbour 
at Holy Island, on the 10th November, 1882; on the 28th of the following 


396 Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy. 


month I saw two immature birds in the mouth of the Tweed near Spittal, 
and about two months later another was seen in the sea off Berwick Pier. 

ScLAVONIAN GREBE: Podiceps cornutus, (Gmel.) 
Next to the dab-chick, seems to be our most common grebe and may be 
seen pretty regularly on our coast during early spring. In my collection 
are two individuals, both in winter plumage, killed in the district the one 
on 17th February, 1883 and the other on 30th January of the present 
year. I have seen many others obtained in the district during the last 
few years. 

EARED GREBE : Podiceps auritus, (Linn.) 
A male was picked up in a disabled condition on the banks of the Tweed 
near Berwick, on 7th March, 1881, and a few days afterwards a female was 
shot in the same locality; both of these birds came into my possession. 
Only a few days before, the late Dr. Brown had told me that he had seen a 
flock of nearly 20 small grebes in the river, which he thought belonged to 
this species. 

Stormy PerreL: Procellaria pelagica, (Linn.) 
One was obtained by a gentleman from Newcastle, at Alnmouth, on 29th 
September, 1883. 

Suac: Graculus cristatus, (Fabr.) 
On 26th March, 1882, I saw one of these birds at St. Abb’s Head; it was 
sitting upon a ledge of the cliff pruning its feathers, and at a short distance 
from it sat two common cormorants. The shag was inimmature plumage, 
having white or pale grey breast, as was also one of the cormorants, the 
other had almost completely assumed its summer dress. 

Berwick-on-Tweed, 30th May, 1884. 


Notices from a variety of sowrces connected with the Ex- 
cursion up the Yarrow in. August, 1883. By JAMES 
Harpy. Plate XIII. 


1. Zhe Piper’s Pool ; a Reminiscence of the Battle of Philiphaugh. 

Mr AnprEw CurrIz writes that at the time of the battle of 
Philiphaugh there was no bridge crossing the Ettrick, where it 
does now ; ‘‘ only a ford for the traffic to and from the Burgh town. 
On the top of the bank overhanging this ford, the people of Sel- 
kirk flocked to see the battle, and during the contested passage 
of the ford in which for some time General Leslie was successfully 
held in check—one of his pipers stationed on the steep bank was 
shot dead and rolled over and over into this pool. Ettrick at 
that time ran in full volume against Laurieston Bank, and from 


Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy. 397 


the above incident the pool has since the battle retained the 
name of the ‘ Piper’s Pool.’ My information is derived from 
my mother, whose great grandfather was one of the onlookers, 
and who also lost his life a few years after by drowning in this 
very pool. On this account the pool has always had a double 
interest to the writer.” 

I have in the Wilkie MSS another traditionary relation, from 
which it appears that the Piper belonged to Montrose’s side. 
The little Memorandum Book from which it is extracted appears 
to have been written on a voyage to Sumatra and Calcutta in 
1818. An old lady in the town of Selkirk informed Mr Wilkie 
that on the day that the famous battle of Philiphaugh was 
fought, Montrose had ordered the Piper of Soney to play all the 
day, and if he (Montrose) gained the battle, that he would pay 
him well for his music. He was seated near the end of the 
present bridge of Selkirk on a rising bank, where he was shot. 
His body was thrown into an adjoining pool of water still called 
the Piper’s Pool. Hence the saying when a person is not paid 
for his labour : 

“ He is like the Piper 0’ Soney, 
That play’d a’ the day and gat nae money.” 

Swina, or Swaney, or Swina is one of the smaller Orkney 
Islands, but we would expect the Piper to be a Celt, and not an 
Orcadian. 


2. Battle Cairn at Philiphaugh. 

Mr Currie continues: ‘‘The battle was fought on the opposite 
haughs—to westward of the bridge. Montrose’s camp was 
hastily formed at the site of the Cairn erected by the late Sir 
John Murray. This Cairn I assisted Sir John in designing and 
erecting over thirty years ago. It stands on the eastern mound 
of Montrose’s Camp.” 

38. The General's Brig. 

‘‘The broken bridge, called the ‘General’s Brig,’ says Mr 
Currie ‘‘to the best of my knowledge is comparatively a modern 
structure, having been built by Lieut.-Gen. Mackay about 1760. 
The general was either the son or nephew of his celebrated 
name-sake of Killiecrankie—a relation of the Duke of Buccleugh 
of that time—who leased the home farms of Bowhill and Carter- 
haugh from the Duke. My grandfather was the Duke’s factor 
from 1760 to about 1780, and among the voluminous documents 
of his factorship I notice the expenses of this bridge. I have 


398 Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy. 


always in my professional capacity been curious about bridges as 
regards their mechanical structure at different periods, and I may 
tell you this one has been very badly built—very different from 
the old Gothic one at Yarrow Kirk.” A cannon ball has newly 
been dug up near the General’s Bridge. 


4. Remarks on Silver Lockets said to have been found on the field of 
Philiphaugh. By Miss RussEtu. 

I have not the notes at hand which I made on the interesting 
object mentioned in Sir Thomas Dick lLauder’s ‘ Rivers of 
Scotland ;” his description is so far correct, and yet it is not 
what he calls it. 

He says it is a silver locket found on the field of Philiphaugh, 
with various poetic devices outside, and containing a portrait of 
Montrose, most beautifully executed in relief. 

The last remaining sister of the gentleman in whose possession 
Sir Thomas D. Lauder saw the locket, died some time ago, and 
after her death I managed, through the kindness of one of the 
Lauder family, to ascertain that the locket was safe, and to see it. 

To my surprise, it turned out to be three (3) small lockets, all 
exactly alike. 

The portrait, in relief in silver like that on a coin, but full 
face, I thought at first was Lows the Fourteenth of France, whose 
portraits are so numerous and familiar; it was certainly not 
Montrose. 

And after looking at it for a moment, it struck me who it must 
be—Charles the Second, the first cousin of Louis; Henrietta 
Maria being daughter of Henri IV, and sister of Louis XIII. 
Charles was at the time of the battle of Philiphaugh, Prince of 
Wales, in exile in France, and about fifteen. 

The face of the portrait is quite young, and a ribbon like the 
ribbon of the Garter is round the neck, as that was worn at the 
time. 

If they were really found on the field of Philiphaugh, the his- 
tory of the lockets is evident enough; Montrose had no doubt 
sent, for the portraits at least, to France, as presents for royalists 
whom it was desirable to compliment. 

The workmanship, especially that bestowed on the long flowing 
hair, is beautiful; that of the lockets quite plain. 

The mottoes and devices are certainly, as it were, utterances 
of Montrose himself ; the devices he used himself have consider- 
able merit. 


Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy. 399 


The smallness of the lockets I suppose accounts for their having 
been overlooked in the plunder of the baggage; I did not mea- 
sure them but I think the heart-shaped outline would go into 
that of a shilling. 

Sir Thomas Dick Lauder’s Notice, “‘ Rivers of Scotland,” p. 99, 
is the following: ‘‘ We have seen a curious locket, found on the 
field of Philiphaugh, and now in the possession of Mr Graham 
of Lynedoch. It is heart-shaped—on one side there is carved a 
long straight heavy sword, and below it a winged heart, showing 
probably that it belonged to a Douglas—on the other side isa 
heart pierced through with darts, with the motto, ‘I live and 
dye for loyaltye.’ On opening it, there is engraven on the inside 
of the lid, ‘I mourne for Monarchie’ and the locket containsa 
most beautiful minute alto relievo likeness of Montrose.” 

5. Foulshiels and Mungo Park. 

On the occasions when I have passed Foulshiels where Mungo 
Park, the great African traveller was born, (Sept. 10th, 1771), 
and brought up, I have been surprised at the unbecoming state 
of the ruin of the old farm house, as contrasted with the many 
fine mansions and decent dwellings passed on either side of the 
public road. A ruined castle is picturesque and romantic, but a 
desolated cottage is a deformity and out of harmony with the 
train of pleasureable feelings induced by visiting memorable 
spots. Why not restore the thatched root, as it was in the days 
of old Mungo Park, the father, to preserve the walls; and plant 
some shrubs to gladden the exterior, ard make it look less 
naked ? 

The character of Mungo Park has quite recently become an 
object of solicitude to members of the Club, which ranks among 
its numbers several distant relatives or connections of his family, 
by reason of Mr Ruskin’s recently promulgated notion of what 
constitutes a religious and exemplary man. The theory is made 
to rest on Sir Walter Scott’s latent belief on old world ‘ freits,”’ 
and his friend Park’s out-spoken rejection of them; although 
there is nothing finer in even Scoti’s writings than the well- 
known incident of the moss in the desert, and Park’s reliance in 
the hour of despondency on God’s providential care. In addition 
to Dr. Anderson’s vindication, I shall cite what Mr Currie has to 
say, from what his mother told him. ‘‘My pious mother was 
schooled with him [at Selkirk]; and in her house he prepared 
much of his first account of Africa, and her opinion was that she 


400 Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy. 


never had experience of a better Christian man—so unselfish— 
so charitable and benevolent even to his enemies.” 

In his domestic relationships Park was unimpeachable, and 
not the heartless ogre Mr Ruskin supposes. The pleasant state 
of intercourse between him and his kindred may be perceived 
from the succeeding letter from him to Miss Bell Park, the use 
of which I owe to Mr Wm. Lang Blaikie, Holydean, as also the 
opportunity which it offers of introducing a copy of Park’s auto- 
graph, [See Plate XIII.] I copy the letter verbatim. 


To Miss Bell Park, Hartwoodmires near Selkirk, N.B. 
“ Dear Sister, 

I have not heard from Scotland since I left, but I hope you 
are all in good health and I attribute your silence to the hurry of harvest. 
However, let me hear from you soon and write how Sandy’s marriage 
comes on and how Jeany is; for I have heard nothing from her neither. 

I have nothing new to tell you, Iam very busy preparing my book for 
the press and all friends here are in good health. Mr Dickson is running 
about, sometimes in the shop and sometimes out of it. 

Peggy isin very good health, and dressed as I think in a Cotton gown 
of a bluish pattern—a round eared much—or what they call here a Cap— 
with a white ribbon—a Napkin of lawn or muslin or some such thing—a 
white striped dimity petticoat. 

Enphy and Bell are both in very good health, but they are gone out to 
play, therefore I must defer a description of them till my next letter. 


London I remain, 
Septt 21 ‘ your loving Brother, 
1798 MUNGO PARK. 


P.S. both Peggy and Mr Dickson have been very inquisitive about you 
and beg their Comp to you.” 


The Post Office stamp is SE. 21. 98. (Sept. 21, 1798). 

Mr Blaikie gives me a note of some of the relatives of Mungo 
Park, which may be valuable someday. To the two parties men- 
tioned,—-Mrs Laidlaw, Peel, and Mr Mungo Park, Tobermory— 
there is in Mr Blaikie’s possession, and shewn to the Club at 
Innerleithen, letters from Sir Walter Scott. These have already 
been printed in the ‘ Border Magazine,” published at Gala- 
shiels. 

‘Old Mungo Park of Foulshiels left five sons and three daughters, ie., 
Mungo, the traveller—Adam, a surgeon—Alexander, a banker—Archibald, 
father of the old lady who died three years ago—and John who succeeded 
his father in Foulshiels. One daughter married a Mr Thomson, farmer, 
Myretown, near Alloa. Another married a Mr Dickson, a gardener, who 
went to London, and became an intimate friend of Sir Joseph Banks. I 
have heard my mother tell of Mrs Dickson having taken ill and her 


Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy. 401 


husband calling in a Doctor, who on coming into the room asked what she 
complained of, to which she replied ‘it is only a weed.’ ‘A weed!’ said 
he, ‘did she drink it?’ ‘No, no, it is an onfa.’ This puzzled him still 
more, and he thought her delirious till her brother, Mungo Park, explained 
to him the meaning,—a one day’s fever. Miss Bell Park, the youngest of 
the three, kept house for her brother Archie at Hartwoodmyres, till he 
married Margaret Lang (my aunt), after which they removed to Lewinshope. 
In consequence of heavy losses by his brother Alexander, Archie became 
bankrupt, but through the interest of Sir Walter Scott he got an appoint- 
ment in Mull. There his wife died, and he did not long survive her. Bell 
Park married 1st—Mr John Anderson, uncle of the present Dr. Anderson. 
After his death she married Mr Buchanan, a lawyer in Glasgow, and 3rd— 
she married Mr Dalgleish, a leading man in Glasgow. Mrs Laidlaw, Peel, 
was Margaret Sibbald, sister to Mrs Lang (my grandmother), the mother 
of Margaret Lang, who married Archie Park. Mungo Park of Tobermory 
was their son.” 


6. Deuchar Bridge. 


Ihave again recourse to Mr Currie’s guidance. ‘‘ At Deuchar, 
according to the tradition of the district, there was once a castle, 
the site of which cannot now be identified, and on the same 
authority, the highway to Edinburgh went up Deuchar burn— 
over Deuchar hill and Minchmoor to Traquair. The old bridge 
here of two Gothic arches is now a ruin. In my recollection 
about 50 years ago it was entire, and at that time was the only 
bridge for church-goers and the public from Ettrick and the 
south of Yarrow parish by the road over Kershope-swire. This 
bridge I consider to belong to the 13th or 14th centnry, and it 
was similar in many respects to others of the same type built at 
the subjugation of the country by Edward I. Its roadway was 
only 12 feet wide, and rose and fell at the apex of the arch. I 
have examined several bridges of this period—-those of Stirling, 
Ayr, and Twizel—the last is the finest by far with a narrow 
roadway of 18 feet. All of them have been very carefully and 
strongly constructed and founded, with bot lime poured in as the 
atructures were built up, and when finished forming like con- 
crete a solid mass; hence their great endurance through the tear 
and wear of centuries to the present day.” 

What bridge across the Yarrow referred to in the following 
entry in the town books of Peebles was then constructing, I can- 
not say; perhaps by way of Mont Benger and Eldinshope: 
‘June 27th 1653. Upon the humble desire of Patrick Scott of 
Thirlstane, to have ane brig across the Yarrow, the magistrates 
of Peebles ordain all in the town who have horses, shall send the 

vor 


402 Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy. 


same for a day to carry lime for the said brig, under a penalty 
of forty shillings.” It shows how bridges were in former times 
‘‘ executed by compulsory contributions of labour under magis- 
terial authority.”’* 

7. Yarrow Kirk, and Reuinone to the Rev. John Rutherford. 

A statement relative to the parish church was recently obtained 
by Mr Currie among family papers, and he is of the belief that 
it was written by his late brother-in-law, Mr Scott, Ladhope, 
who died 12 years ago at the advanced age of 92. I extract the 
most of it. 

“Yarrow Kirk was erected in 1640. The parish church was formerly on 
the north of St Mary’s Loch and was called St Mary’s of the Lowes, and 
having subsidiary chapels at Deuchar and Kirkhope (on Ettrick). These 
chapels were suppressed about 1640. Yarrow Kirk bell was the gift of 
James Murray of Henderland to the kirk of Deuchar in 16—+. A dial 
with inscription ‘watch and pray,’ etc. belonged also to this kirk of 
Deuchar.—The Rev. John Rutherford was the first parish minister after 
the Revolution, and was ordained in 1691. He was schoolmaster of Sel- 
kirk before this. A stone tablet at the back of Yarrow Kirk, and in Latin, 
records his life and labours in the parish. The Rey. John Rutherford was 
maternal great grandfather of the Sheriff, Sir Walter Scott.—In 1791 Dr. 
Russell preached the funeral sermon of his predecessor, Dr Cramond. The 
roof of the kirk at that time was thatched and had no ceiling. In1826 the 
kirk underwent a thorough repair and a new belfry was’’—.’’ Here the 
document abruptly finishes. 

For a copy of the monument I am indebted to the Rev. 
Robert Borland, now minister of Yarrow, which I have com- 
pared with that in Dr. Charles Rogers’ ‘‘ Genealogical Memoirs 
of the Family of Sir Walter Scott,” p. xtrx; and I have also for 
the most part adopted Mr Borland’s translation, as being more 
literal. 

Memories 
R. D. Joannis. Rutherfoord., 
Ecclesico. Yaraensis, Pastoris. 
Intiger- Vigilantis- 

riml. slim. 

Et. Roberti. filii, quadriennis. 
Hoc. monumentum. erigere. curavit. 

Cristiana, Shaw. uxor. moerens. 


* Chambers’ Hist. of Peebleshire, p. 174. 


+ There was a Sir James Murray of Deuchar in 1648. (Chambers’ Hist. of 
Peebleshire, p, 454). Henderland was a modern acquisition of one of the 
Murray family. (Ib. p. 361.)—J. H, 


Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy. 403 


Obiit. May. 8. 1710. ministerii. 19. eet. 69. 
Pastor. eras. fidus. pater dilectus. amicus. 
Certus. herus. lenis. blaudus. gener. atque. 
Maritus. 

Integree. et. puree. defunctus munera. vite. 

Cesisti. fatis. annis. feeliciter. actis. 

O. ter. feelicem. tua. fama. super. juga. 

Celsa. et. virides. Yaree. ripas. animus. super. astra. 


“In memory of the Rev. Mr. John Rutherford, the very upright 
and very watchful pastor of the kirk of Yarrow, and of Robert 
his son of four years of age, Christiana Shaw, his mourning 
widow, was careful to erect this monument. He died May 8, 
1710, of his ministry 19, and of his age 69 years. 


Thou wast a faithful pastor, a beloved father, a sure friond: a 
gentle master, a kind husband, and son-in-law. 

Having discharged the office of a pure and honourable life, 
thou yieldest to the fates—thy years passed happily. O thrice 
blessed ! thy fame preeminent above the lofty hills and the green 
braes of Yarrow, while thy soul has passed above the stars!” 

The reading of feliciter and felicem for feliciter and felicem is 
curious. 


8. On Annan Street and its ancient Graves. 


To supplement Miss Russell’s valuable memoir on the Yarrow 
Inscribed Stone, I have collected a few notices from the articles 
written on that remarkable monument, regarding some of the 
graves in the surrounding area, and the few objects of rude art 
which they have yielded. I have also made a few inquiries, 
which have resulted at least in acquiring some original informa- 
tion. It is of consequence that we should be familiar with the 
preliminary circumstances, the knowledge of which may lead to 
something of greater importance being brought to light. A more 
careful examination of the ground when broken up for crop may 
reveal more of the ancient weapons or ornaments of the race once 
entombed here. Articles of all ages, in single numbers only 
have been picked up—flint, bronze, and iron. A search par- 
ticularly should be instituted for stone and flint implements, as 
they are the most liable to be passed over. The leisurely and 
artistic way in which the people have been buried here, shews 
that this is not a mere old battle field, but a necropolis of the old 
races of the “‘ Forest; ” we should therefore expect that the rudest 


404 Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy. 


and earliest stage would be well represented as soon as people 
know what to look for. 

The first notice of the Yarrow monuments is by Sir Walter 
Scott in the Introduction to the ballad of the ‘‘ Dowie Dens of 
Yarrow,’ in the ‘‘ Minstrelsy of the Scottish Borders.” The 
late Dr Russell in the “Statistical Account” of the parish of 
Yarrow in 18838, devotes a paragraph to it; subsequently it is 
referred to by Dr Daniel Wilson in his ‘‘ Prehistoric Annals of 
Scotland”; and then it falls to be discussed in an article by the 
late Dr J. A. Smith, entitled ‘Notes on some Sepulchral Cists 
and on the Latin Inscription upon one of the Standing Stones 
near Yarrow Kirk, Selkirkshire,” read July 18, 1857, and prin- 
ted in vol. i. of the ‘ Proceedings of the Scottish Society of 
Antiquaries, p, 489; and again in vol. iv; in ‘ Additional 
Notes” &c., pp. 524—540. This same volume also has some 
remarks of Sir James Simpson, on the inscription,—p. 134 and 
note. 

T have nothing more to suggest about the reading of the in- 
scription, (see present vol. p. 107) further than that I give up 
the subdivision of the word PRINCIPEI, in favour of the view 
that it is either an imperfect genitive, or that the supposed period 
may be a minuscle S, as is suggested by Dr Smith may be the 
intention of a rude mark after the similarly truncated word 
LIBERALI PRINCIPEIS might thus be an archaic form of 
PRINCIPIS. 

As is well known the cast of the stone now in the Museum of 
the Society of Antiquaries was taken by Mr Ourrie. When 
engaged with it, he made some subsidiary discoveries of very 
considerable service for estimating the age of some of the remains 
in that locality. ‘At the time,’ he writes, ‘‘when I took the 
cast from the inscribed upright stone, the shepherd of the ground 
had previously turned up in his garden ground a bronze battle- 
axe, and a polished black ring, like an optician’s eye-glass. 
This I got from him, and it is now in the Antiquarian Museum. 
I failed to get the bronze axe, which was used as a useful chopper 
in the shepherd’s house, but I made a sketch of it at the time.” 
The drawing represents a celt, 4 inches long and 24 broad at the 
edge, with a socket to admit a handle, and a lateral loop. It 
belongs to the latest bronze period. The celt was afterwards 
lost by the shepherd’s children. 

A fuller description of some of the objects obtained by Mr 


Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy. 405 


Currie is contained in the following extracts from Dr. Smith’s 
first paper. The copy of the engraving I owe to the Council of 
the Antiquarian Society. 


“In presenting to the Museum of the Society the small ring of cannel 
coal and portions of a clay urn from Mr Currie, sculptor, Darnick, it is 
worth recording that their remains were found in long sepulchral cists, 
composed of large slabs or flagstones, containing traces of bones, which 
were discovered this spring, while the ground was being trenched, in the 
garden attached to a shepherd’s cottage, a little to the west of Yarrow 
kirk, in Selkirkshire. Hight cists were discovered closely adjoining one 
another, and each measuring it is said, some 5 or 6 feet in length, about 
the size of ordinary graves, and they lay apparently in the direction of 
east and west. The ring of cannel coal (which is well represented in the 
subjoined drawing,) is of a rounded form, and 
shaped somewhat like the horn frame of a watch- 
maker’s eyeglass. It has four small perforations | 
placed at irregular intervals in its grooved sides; 
which pass through to the inside. The diameter 
of the larger margin of the ring is nearly 13 
inch, and of the other or smaller side 13; itis 
about # of an inch in depth on the side, and the 
central aperture measures nearly an inch in width. 

The small piece of the coarse clay urn, which was unfortunately 
broken at the time of its discovery, shews the usual patterns of oblique 
and straight lines, formed by the twisted cord, round its upper part, 
similar to the class of clay drinking-cups found in cists of a primitive 
character. A flint arrow-head was also found in the immediate neighbour- 
hood of the cists. A special interest was given to these cists, from their 
being in close proximity to three rude standing stones, which are placed in 
a line along the valley, running nearly east and west, at about a gun-shot 
apart from each other ; and it was at a distance of some 30 to 36 feet to 
the south of the eastern stone that the cists were found. Close by, acairn 
or heap of small round stones was discovered, enclosing a considerable 
quantity of partially decomposed bones, which after a few minutes exposure 
to the air crumbled into dust; and so numerous were the fragments of 
bones cast up by the workmen employed in digging the foundation of the 
recently built shepherd’s cottage, which stands a little to the north of the 
stone, that they fancied the ground here had been the site of an old 
churchyard. ”’ 

The ground was brought under cultivation about 1807 or 8, 
by the late Mr Ballantyne of Whitehope. The late Rev. Dr. 
Russell, Yarrow, in a letter to Dr Smith, thus indicates the 
situation: — 


“The piece of ground to the west of Yarrow Church appears to have 
been the scene of slaughter and sepulchre on a large scale, and probably 
on more than one occasion. From time immemorial it was a low waste 


406 Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy. 


moor, till about fifty years ago (written in 1857), when it was formed into 
a number of cultivated enclosures. Some diggings at the base of the 
eastern monument, the one connected with the cists, laid bare a considerable 
pile of small bones, while around the one in the centre, there was formerly 
a large cairn, under which lay a quantity of decomposed bones; on more 
than twenty different spots were similar cairns, in many of which fine 
yellow dust, and in one, part of an old iron spear, much worn away by rust; 
was found. The real tradition simply bears, that here a deadly feud was 
settled by dint of arms; the upright stones mark the place where the lords 
or leaders fell, and the bodies of their followers were thrown into a marshy 
pool, called the Dead Lake, in the adjoining haugh.”? (Proc. Soc. Ant. 
Scot. li., pp. 487-8.) 

Mr Currie learned recently from an aged lady in Yarrow that 
the Annan or Warriors’ Rest field at the beginning of the century 
was a ‘‘field of graves,” and covered with cairns and large stones 
before it was brought into cultivation. The story of the old 
people—and Mr Currie heard of it when he was a youth—is that 
old Dr Russell of Yarrow carted away loads of bones from the 
place at the beginning of the century, and applied them for man- 
ure to what is called ‘‘the Glebe.’’ The parish glebe has always 
been near St. Mary’s Loch, and much too far for Dr. Russell’s 
carts and horses on any such errand. But he rented from his 
son-in-law, Mr Ballantyne, Whitehope, fields in the vicinity of 
the manse, which the people in a ready way might term his 
Glebe. This is avouched in a letter from the old lady just referred 
to. ‘* Many a cart load was taken to the Glebe—and much horror 
expressed.’’ I quote this as an evidence of the vast quantity of 
human remains that had been here interred. 


In 1876, in company with another lady, Miss Russell paid a visit 
to view the inscribed stone. Her account in some measure con- 


tinues the preceding details, and supplies some apt explanatory 
suggestions and comments. 


“Dr Russell got into the carriage and drove up with us to the stones 
first. I do not remember that he told us anything particular ahout them. 
He said the inscription was sometimes very clear in the morning light ; I 
could only see the O which must be that of Dumnogeni ; it was a dark after- 
noon. Then we got into the carriage again, as he wanted to shew us the 
place where the bones were found when the cottage named the Warrior’s 
Rest was built. He shewed us the end of a stone cist, or rather stone 
built grave, with the bones of a human skeleton in it; this was discovered, 
I do not know exactly when, by a rabbit being seen running out of it; this 
is the skeleton, I think, that was sent to Edinburgh for examination and 
then replaced in its grave. 


But some time before this, I think, he said it had been, when that cottage 


Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy, 407 


near this spot was built, the shepherd was breaking up the ground allotted 
for the garden ; and he came upon several similar cists, with bones in them; 
he went to call his wife to look at them, but before she could get to the 
spot they had begun to crumble into dust, and were gone in a few minutes! 
There were eight, I think, found in the garden. 

I never heard of this discovery otherwise, but of course there was little 
to be seen. But Dr. Russell said ne had looked up the subject at the time, 
and made out, chiefly from Sir Henry Rawlinson’s writings, that the pre- 
servation or immediate destruction of bones and other objects suddenly 
uncovered—the phenomena of their crumbling to dust is quite familiar 
—seems to depend on whether the air has been completely excluded or 
not. If it has, the change that takes place on its sudden admission after 
many centuries, is so great, that everything except stones and so on, every- 
' thing organic, becomes disintegrated at once ; while in exactly similar cases» 
if the tomb or chamber has had chinks which admitted the air, things in 
a dry climate will last indefinitely. This is said to have been observed to 
a great degree, in the heaps of half-baked bricks, which seem always to 
have enclosed the rooms in the palaces of Nineveh. I do not know whether 
the theory is altogether correct, but the facts are well known.” 


Mr Currie has sent me a sketch of a section of one of the cists 
referred to in the preceding letter, and previously in the record 
of Proceedings, p.271. It is 5 feet 4 inches in length. Itis on 
the eastern end of Warrior’s Rest field, at the road side. ‘‘The 
end of it,”’ he says, writing Dec. 18,1883, ‘‘is open on the escarp- 
ment of gravel sloping to the public road, and a twelvemonth ago 
was full of bones. There is not a bone in it now, except a small 
part of a rib, which being still firm in texture shows the remark- 
able state of preservation of bone when lying in a bed of gravel. ”’ 


I have obtained from Mr William Bell, schoolmaster, Yarrow, 
what information he could collect about the remains found in a 
stone cist near Whitehope Farm House. It appears to be the 
skeleton Miss Russell heard of as being sent to Edinburgh. ‘The 
skeleton was that of a full grown male. The legs had been 
broken and doubled up. After the discovery the skull was first 
in the posession of Dr, Shaw, and then the Rev. Dr. Russell got 
it and sentitto the Edinburgh Museum, where it now is. The 
bones were interred in Yarrow Church Yard by Dr. Russell, The 
cist was of rude construction. The unpolished stone slabs had 
been brought from a quarry a mile off, where flag stones are 
still obtained.’”’ This again points to the deliberate and careful 
manner in which some of the interments had taken place. 


In a recent visit toSt. Mary’s Churchyard Mr Bell found the 
oldest date on the tombs there was 1699. 


408 Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy. 


9. The Tomb of Cockburn of Henderland ; and the owners of Hender- 
land Estate. 


We now pass out of Yarrow and the skirts of St. Mary’s Loch 
into Megget (or Meggat) dale, to view the ruined tower of the 
Cockburns of Henderland, (a family now extinct), and the site 
of the little chapel and churchyard, where probably wee deposi- 
ted under a memorial slab, the remains of the founder of the 
chapel and his spouse ;—Peter de Cockburn and his wife Marjory. 
The tomb has got mixed up, both in literature and in the popular 
belief, with the history of an unworthy scion of the race, who 
was more enamoured with the half-savage career of a leader of 
thieves, and the ‘‘ idlelimmers”’ of the Borders, than the straight- 
forward path of loyalty and fair dealing ; a traitor to his sovereign, 
and a waster of the family inheritance; who met with a tragic 
end as the meed of his crimes, which left a lasting impression not 
only among the dwellers among these hills, in his own generation, 
but is not even yet obliterated. Although we are now awake to 
the reality of events as they happened, it will probably not dissi- 
pate the cherished opinion, and this spot will continue to be 
visited as the tomb of an imaginary Piers Cockburn, whom the 
king of Scotland cruelly hanged, without a form of trial, over the 
gate of his own tower, and not as the mausoleum of a Border 
chieftain of stainless name and exemplary conduct. The popu- 
lar tale is thus related by Mr Elliot Aitchison in the “Scottish 
Journal of Topography, Antiquities,” ete, i. pp. 126-7; 
Edinburgh, 1847, now become a rare book. 

‘6 When James V., in 1530, made an excursion to the Border, to restore 
peace to the ‘ Debateable Land,’ Cockburn fell a victim to the royal venge- 
ance—justice it could not be called, and the deed is still regarded by the 
peasantry of the district as one of unjustifiable tyranny. On the king and 
his armed followers reaching Henderland Tower, a message was sent to 
Cockburn that he was wanted immediately. The borderer, being at 
dinner, returned an answer that he would not stir, were it the king him- 
self who wanted him, until he had finished his repast, The messenger 
was sent back to say that it was the ‘king himself’ who wanted him, and 
that he might prepare for instant death. Thus taken by surprise—his 
followers being absent, and surrounded only by his family—the knife with 
which he had been eating dropped from Cockburn’s hand, for well he knew 
the object of the royal visit—and without being allowed a moment’s pre- 
paration for death, he was hanged over his own gateway. His body was 
buried on the top of a little knoll on the other side of the tributary brook 
which flows past the ruins, and a “‘through-stone”’ [the figure shows that 
it is not a through-stone] marks the spot, which was lately enclosed and 


Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy. 409 


planted by the proprietor. The stone has an inscription round the edges 
in the old Saxon character, but, being overgrown with moss [lichens], it 
cannot be deciphered. It is said that the borderer’s wife would have met 
a similar fate, had she not, warned by a domestic, fled to a dark cave at 
the foot of the waterfall in the ravine above the tower, where she lay con- 
cealed till the danger was over. The waterfall is peculiarly picturesque: 
It is about twenty feet high, though it cannot be seen till the visitor is 
close upon it.” 

Sir Walter Scott, in his Introduction to the poem of the 
‘‘ Border Widow,” joins other pathetic touches. 

“A mountain torrent, called Henderland Burn, rushes impetuously from 
the hills, through a rocky chasm, named the Dowglen, and passes near the 
site of the tower. To the recesses of this glen, the wife.of Cockburn i8 
said to have retreated, during the execution of her husband; and a place 
called the Lady’s Seat, is still shown, where she is said to have striven to 
drown, amid the roar of the foaming cataract, the tumultuous noise which 
announced the close of his existence.”’ 


The ‘ Dow-linn” and not the ‘‘Dow-glen” is the correct 
name of the waterfall. (Scottish Journal, i, p. 248). ‘‘J. Pe 
a correspondent of the ‘‘ Peebleshire Monthly Advertiser,’’ whose 
communication is transferred to the ‘Scottish Journal”’ (1.c.) 
furnishes some additional and apparently correct statements 
aoout the tomb and its recent history. 

‘“The tomb, which is about five feet long, stands on a moat, or small 
conical hill, flat on the top, still called the Chapel-knowe, and is in the 
centre of what was called the chapel of the castle of Henderland, and pro- 
bably the ‘ Kirk of Enderland,’ mentioned in the Records of the Presbytery 
of Peebles, 17th June, 1603, as then ‘altogedder doun and equall wt ye erd’ 
(ground). 

Sir Walter Scott says: ‘In a deserted burial-place which once surrounded 
the chapel of the castle, the monument of Cockburn and his lady is still 
shown. It is a large stone broken in three parts; but some armorial bear- 
ings may yet be traced.’ WhenSir Walter wrote this note, the broken stone 
had been removed from its original resting place into the adjoining burying 
ground. 

In 1841, Mr Murray of Henderland ordered the tomb to be repaired, the 
Chapel-knowe to be planted, and these interesting relics to be protected by 
a stone wall round the foot of the moat, in which steps were formed for 
the convenience of strangers visiting 

“Lone St Mary’s silent lake,’ 
and its delightful neighbourhood. 

Before the repairs of the tomb were commenced, an individual who had 
been somewhat sceptical as to whether the stone had really been placed 
over the laird’s grave, dug about two feet down, and to his surprise turned 


up a portion of a human skull. It was in the dusk of the evening, and 
Z1 


410 Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy. 


struck with dismay, he threw down his spade and fled. Next morning, 
however, he returned, and part of the skull is now (1847) in the possession 
of a gentleman in Edinburgh. It was submitted to the inspection of a 
distinguished anatomist, who reported: ‘It is a portion of the inner table 
of the two parietal bones of the skull in advanced life, and apparently of 
the male sex. You will easily observe the serrated line of union of the two 
bones.’”’ 


The writer was of the opinion that this bone was part of the 
skull of the ‘‘redoubted Border Chief.’’ The circumstance of 
the desecration of the tomb quite recently came to Mr Currie’s 
notice, when he undertook a journey (Dec. 16th, 1883) to make 
the outline drawing of the tomb for the accompanying plate. 
(Plate XIII.) ‘‘ That it was desecrated and the skull abstracted,” 
he writes, ‘‘I have on the authority of my own brother at pre- 
sent from Australia, and to whom the thief confessed the foul 
deed, and indicated the party to whom he had sold it. I am 
glad to find now from my brother, that this same party had the 
good taste to restore the skull to its tomb at Henderland.”’ 


Mr Currie’s report on the present state of the stone is thatit is 
‘‘in a very bad condition, being scrawled with names. One of 
these has been recently cut along the sword, and so deeply cut the 
whole length of it, that the only way to restore it to the original 
state would be to fill the letters in with hard cement; also to 
clean the whole stone of its moss, and enclose it by an iron 
railing. If this is not done, it promises fair to be destroyed, and 
unintelligible in a few years.”” Mr Currie had great difficulty in 
deciphering the letters, what with the wretched state itisin, and 
the dark day, and but for the assistance of his nephew, who 
knew the inscription, he would have failed. The reading he 
obtained is ‘‘ Here tyes Piers pe Cocxsurn,”’ ou the top, ‘‘ AND 
HIS WIFE Marcory,” or ‘‘ Marsory”’-on the lateral margin. A 
more correct version and account of the sculpturing on the stones 
will be mentioned in the sequel. 

Although Sir Walter Scott in introducing the ballad of the 
Border Widow, ‘obtained from recitation in the Forest of 
Ettrick,”’ apparently gives credence to the tradition that Cock- 
burn of Henderland was hanged over the gate of his own tower 
by James V., he was well aware from Lesley’s History, which he 
quotes in the introduction to ‘Johnie Armstrong,” that Cock- 
burn and Scot ‘‘ the king of the thieves ’’ were beheaded and not 
hanged. No one could mistake who had consulted Lesley, who 
relates how these two offenders had a regular trial, and were 


Notes on Yarrow, By James Hardy. 411 


convicted before the king and a company of assessors, and were 
sentenced to be beheaded, and their heads were affixed to the 
highest place of the Court of Justice (the Tolbooth) in Edin- 
burgh.* 

Again it is the general belief, from taking the inscription as a 
guide, that the name of the man executed was Piers, Perys, or 
Peter, whereas it was William Cockburn, who was the criminal ; 
and consequently this monument belongs to an entirely different 
personage. Moreover, whatever were the precise circumstances 
of William Cockburn’s capture, James VY. had no personal par- 
‘ticipation in them. Cockburn was seized under the superinten- 
dence of James, Earl of Murray, the king’s lieutenant over the 
three Border Wardenries. The correct version is given in Mr 
Bruce Armstrong’s ‘‘ Hist. of Liddesdale,” pp. 272-3, as based 
on original documents. 


“We have no record of the proceedings of Bothwell or Murray, but it 
may be concluded that the latter acted with some energy, as William 
Cockburn of Henderland and Adam Scot of Tuschelaw were apprehended 
and brought to Edinburgh. On the 16th May [1530] the former was tried, 
convicted of high treason, theft, etc. and beheaded by favour of the king. 
(Books of Adjournal, MS. Justiciary Office.) The trial of the latter took 
place on the 18th May, when, being convicted of black mail he also was 
beheaded.’’+ The words of the record are preserved in Pitcairn’s ‘ Crim- 
inal Trials,’ vol. i., p. 145. ‘£1530, Maii 18, Adam Seot of Tuschelaw 
convicted of art and part of theftously taking black mail from the time 
of his entry within the Castle of Edinburgh, in ward, from John Brown in 
Hoprow ; and of art and part theftously taking black mail from Andrew 
Thorbrand, and William his brother; and for art and part theftously tak- 
ing of black mail from the poor tenants of Hopecailzow ; and of art and 
part theftously taking black mail from the tenants of Escheschiell. 
Beheaded. Quhaerfor the king caused hang the 18th May William Cock- 
burn of Henderlande, and Adame Scott of Tuschelaw, thieves apprehendit 
in Edinburgh, to terrifie others ;—and they were heidit, and their heidis 
fixit upon the Tolbuith of Edinburg.’ Pitcairn states the indictment 
against William Cokburne as “high treason, committed by him in bringing 
Alexander Forestare and his son, Englishmen to the plundering of Archi- 
bald Somerville, and for bringing certain Englishmen to the lands of 
Glenquhome.” 


* De Origine Moribus et rebus gestis Scotorum, Authore Joanne Leslxo 
Episcopo Rossensi, p. 410; Rome, 1675. 


* On the 19th November 1525, ‘a letter was sent to warn the lard of 
Henderland and Adam Skot to fynd pledges.’—Lord Treasurer’s Accounts, 
MS. Gen. Reg. House, f, 8b. 


412 Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy. 


‘‘The king now decided on taking the pacifying of the country 
into his own hands, and his first act showed how little confidence 
he had in the frequent promises he had received from the lords 
and barons in the south, for by his directions Bothwell, Home, 
Maxwell, Johnston, Buccleugh, Drumlangrig, Wamfray, Mark 
Ker of Dolphinstoune, John Home of Coldouneknowis, a son of 
Fernyhirst, and ason of Hennerland, were all placed in ward. 
[‘ Hennerland’s son,’ was to be delivered to Lord Hay—Act. 
Dom. Con. MS. vol. xr. f. 79.] On the 19th May a meeting of 
the council took place, at which it was arranged that the king, 
accompanied by the true barons and leges, should ride ‘in proper 
personn endlangis his bordouris’ for the punishment of male- 
factors and the pacifying of the country......... It was further 
decided that letters sheuld be written stating that Henderland 
and Tuschelaw had been executed for injuries committed on the 
inward part of the realm, and the king intended to put good rule 
throughout all his borders.” 

The lieges were therefore convoked to assemble with their 
households ‘‘bodin in feir of weire’”’ well victualled and fur- 
nished for 40 days to meet the king at Edinburgh on 26th June, 
and accompany his highness on the following day towards the 
Borders. The places visited by James are as follows. ‘‘ Meggot 
Water, Crammat, Pappert Law, St Marylaws, Carlaveruk 
Chapel, Ewindoors and Langhope.” (Pitscottie’s Chron.) From 
another and contemporary record we learn that the king was at 
Peblis on 2d July, at Douglas Watter, near St Mary’s Loch, on 
the 4th, at Carlanrig on 5th, at Allan Watter in Teviotdale on 
the 7th, in Heusdale | Hwesdale] on the 10th, at Stabilgorton on 
the 12th, at Peblis on the 13th, at Crammald near St Mary’s 
Loch on the 15th, and again at Peblis on the 18th.—Excerpta e 
Libris Domicilii, Jac. V., Appendix, p. 31: apud Armstrong, Le. 
Note, p. 273.—By a comparison of dates it is clear that the king 
was not in the vicinity of St Mary’s Loch, until a month and 
nineteen days after Henderland’s execution. 

But though the popular story may be erroneous, there may be 
features of truth in the narrative of Cockburn’s apprehension, 
and the escape of his wife. A verse in the ballad refers to the 
fatigues the wife underwent in the carrying his body to be 
interred. Did she convey it privately here from Edinburgh, to 
deposit it in the ancestral tomb? I would not willingly discredit 
the authenticity of the ballad attributed to this event. It may 


Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy. 413 


have been written long after from the impressions of floating 
tradition. Both Cockburn and his wife must have been pretty 
well advanced in life to have a son then grown to maturity, and 
capable of taking an independent part. 

The branch of the Cockburns of Henderland was once a more 
powerful family in the extent of landed property to which it was 
gradually being reduced by the imprudence or improvidence of 
its latter representatives. The successive ownerships of estates 
is a subject of much interest and value, especially historically ; 
and, on this occasion, | have been enabled to bring together a 
pretty full history of successive owners of the Henderland estate, 
who have never previously been presented in cousecutive view. 
The notices are fragmentary, and several may still remain con- 
cealed in charter-chests, or in private publications not readily 
accessible. To the Rev. Alex. Thomson Grant, Parsonage, Ros- 
lin, I am indebted for the many quotations from the Register of 
the Great Seal, 1882, 1883, 8vo. 

The original of the Cockburns appears to have been “Piers 
de Cockburn,” who signs Ragman Roll, A.D., 1292, 1296, 1297, 
ete. (Nisbet's Heraldry, 11., Appendix, p. 37.) The Henderland 
Cockburns branch from the Langtun stem, and were very close 
to it, when they obtained a renewal of their first charter, which 
entails the estate in defect of heirs on the Langton line. The 
arms of Cockburn of Henderland, according to Nisbet (Heraldry 
I, p. 848) are ‘“‘ argent, a mullet azure, between three cocks gules.” 

At Stirling, 10th April, and of his reign the 13th year, (1383) Robert IT. 
granted to Peter de Cockburne son and heir of Peter de Cockburne, the 
lands of Henriland with pertinents, and the lands in the vill of Bothill, and 
the lands also of Kyrkhurde in the vill of the same, with pertinents in 
Peblishire ; and the lands of Sundreland with the manor of the same within 
Selkyrkshire ; which lands with pertinents belonged to Peter’s father, but 
which he had resigned by staff and rod; and to hold to the same Peter and 
his bodily heirs, or failing to his legitimate brothers and sisters; or failing 
these to Alexander Cockburne de Langton the father, his heirs and assignees 
whomsoever, as freely and peaceably as the said Peter the father had held 
the same lands; reserving, however, to the said Peter the father, the free 
tenure of the said lands with pertinents for his life-time. (Reg. Mag. Sig. 
1. 163. 11. Edinr. 1814. fol.) 

In 1415, the Melros monks obtained the lands of Wynzehope or Glenkery, 
Selkirkshire, on the south side of the water of Temay, between their land 
of Migehope and the lands of Httrick and Dalgles, with twelve acres of 
meadow, from Robert Scot, laird of Murdieston and Rankilburn, with the 
consent of Walter Scot his son and heir, in exchange for the lands of 
Bellinden, This grant was ratified by the overlord, Peter de Kokburn, 


414 Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy. 


laird of Henryland, at Melros, June 18th, 1415. (Liber de Melros, pp. 
548-550). Cockburn appended his seal to the confirmatory deed, which 
presents three cocks, the arms of the family: engraved Plate XIV. f. 5. of 
the Liber de Melros: (Bannatyne Club). Robert Scot died 1426, leaving 
two sons, Sir Walter, his heir, and Stevin Scot of Castlelaw. Sir Walter 
Scot of Kirkurd his heir, who first established the house of Buccleuch at 
Branxholm Castle, married Margaret daughter of Peter Cockburn of 
Hinderland, by whom he had three sons; the oldest being Sir David his 
successor, who carried on the line of Buccleuch. (Douglas’s Baronage 
of Scotland, p. 219; Peerage, p. 101.). Sir Walter died between 1467 
and 1470. 

On 16th January, 1463-64, King James III. granted to William Douglas 
of Cluny, the lands of Sundirlandhall in the shire of Selkirk, which were in 
the king’s hands by reason of the forfeiture in parliament of William 
Cockburne, for assistance and support given by him to the traitor James 
de Douglas [the last of the Black Douglases] and his accomplices. (The 
Register of the Great Seal of Scotland from 1424 to 1513, Edinr. 1882, 8vo- 
No. 775.) 

On the 29th March thereafter, the same king granted to William de 
Cokburne and his heirs, the lands of Henryland and of Bothill, in the 
shire of Peblis; and the lands of Skiftounholme, ia the lordship of Annan- 
dale and shire of Drumfres; which were in the k ag’s hands by reason of 
the forfeiture of the said William de Cokburne for his treasonable aid given 
to the traitor James de Douglas and his accomplices. (Id. No. 788.) 

William de Cockburn must have recovered in some way the lands of 
Sundirland ; as on 20th (or 30th) July, 1474, William Cockburn of Henri- 
land, and Katerine Ruthirford, the spouse of young William, had charter 
from the crown of the half lands of Sundirland and Sundirlandhall, on the 
resignation of the father. (Reg. Great Seal, 1424-1513. No. 1180). 

Katherine Ruthirfurd who was married to William eldest son of William 
Cockburn of Henderland, was sister to Robert Ruthirfurd of Chatto, 
‘“‘ Margaret, daughter of Wiliam Cockburn and Katherine Ruthirfurd was 
married to Sir Walter Scott, the first Baron styled of Buccleuch.” (The 
Ruthirfurds of that Tk, p.xxxvi). It is supposed to have been the son of 
“‘ young William,” and Katherine Ruthirfurd who suffered for his misdeeds 
in the reign of James V., but from the similarity of names this is not cer- 
tain. What we know is that the William Cockburn who was beheaded, 
had a son, capable of acting for himself; and sufficiently dangerous as to 
be ordered into custody. 

There is on record the marriage of another. daughter of a Cockburn of 
‘“‘Hinderland,” called in Douglas’s Baronage, p. 215, “‘ William,’ but we 
have not the mother’sname. Walter Scott of Syntoun and Stirkshaws, who 
flourished 1525-1570, son of Robert Scott of Stirkshaws and Syntoun, slain 
November, 1509, married for his first wife a daughter of Cockburn of Hinder- 
land, by- whom he had one son, John Scott, mentioned 1513, who prede- 
ceased his father, leaving four sons, Walter who was at the fray at the 
Kirk of the Lowes, 20th June, 1557 (Pitcairn), and who died 1608; Robert, 
William, and James. Walter was the ancestor of the Scotts of Bonraw, 


Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy, 415 


who died out in 1720. (Refutation of the “ Pedigree of Scott of Stokoe,” 
&e. By John Scott of Rodono, 1867.) 


On 7th December, 1507, King James IV. granted to William Ker of Yare, 
and his heirs and assignees, six husband-lands in the town and territory of 
Boithill, in the shire of Peblis, which previously belonged to John Lindesay 
of Covingtoun and William Cokburne of Henderland, and were of the king 
by service of ward and'relief. The lands had been recognosed in the king’s 
hands, on account of alienation of them without the consent of the superior. 
It is mentioned that the laird of Covingtoun renounced in favourof William 
Ker, but nuthing is said of Cockburn’s action in the matter—whether he 
acquiesced or not (Id. No. 3157.) 

Cockburn seems to have been disposing of his lands pretty freely, as on 
10th October, 1508, King James IV. granted to John Murray of Fallowhill, 
and his heirs, two husband-lands of Bold in the shire of Peblys, extending 
to a twenty shilling land, old extent, which belonged to William Cokburne 
of Hendirland; and the reason given for these lands being thus taken from 
Cockburn and given to Murray, is that the greater part of them had been 
sold by Cockburn without consent of the king, the superior. (Id. No. 3267.) 

At Edinburgh 4th January, 1508-9, William Cokburn of Hendirland 
witnessed charter by David Lindesay of Wolfchild to William Murray of 
Schelilaw of the land of Erlisorchart, in the shire of Peblis. (Id. No. 3315.) 

On 29th January, 1522-3, the lands of Brumelaw of the annual rent of 
20 merks, and also the 7 merk 16 sh. and 4d lands of Brigend, in the shire 
of Peblis, were apprised from William Cokburn of Hyndirland, by William 
Lauder of Haltoun, for the sum of £363 13s—being the price of a bargain 
of sheep sold to the latter by the former, and £18 of Sheriff-fee. Following 
on this Lauder had crown charter of the abovelands on the 6th May, 
1524, but with the express provision, that Cockburn, on payment of 
the above sum, any time within seven years, should have his lands 
back again. (The Register of Great Seal, 1513-1546, Edinr. 1883, 8vo. 
No. 262.) 

On 4th April, 1532, King James V., granted to James Flemyng, one of 
his pages (‘‘uni puerorum suorum ab honore’’) and his heirs, for service 
rendered and to be rendered, the lands of Hinderland and Sunderland, ex- 
tending to £20 lands, with tower, and patronage of churches and chapels 
of the same, in the shire of Peblis and Selkirk. It is added that these 
lands, &c., belonged to the king by reason of the forfeiture of the deceased 
William Cokburn of Hindirland, for several crimes of lese majesty perpe- 
trated against the king, and of which he was accused in presence of the 
king, and convicted and condemned to death (Id. No. 1155). 

1540. Annexation to the crown of ‘‘all and haill the lands of Cromar 
and bray of Mar, all and sindry the landigy of Hinderland with the toure 
and fortalice of the samin and yair pertinentis, advocationis and donationis 
of Kirkis and chapellanryis.””—(Records of the Parliament of Scotland, p, 
636.; and Acts Parl. Scot. 1., p. 376.) 

James V., 18th June, 1541, granted to Malcolm Lord Flemyng and hig 
heirs the half of the lands of Sonderland with tower, fortalice and mills in 


416 Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy. 


the shire of Selkirk ; which had fallen to the king by the forfeiture of the 
deceased William Cokburne of Hendirland for treason and lese majesty, 
and had in the king’s minority been granted to the deceased James Flemyng 
brother of the said Malcolm ; which grant the king had revoked on coming 
of age. (Reg. Gt. Seal, 1513-46, No. 2379.) 

The same king, on the 21st Oct. 1541, on payment of a composition, 
granted to John Johnstoun son and heir apparent of Thomas Johnstoun of 
Cragaburne, the lands of Smailgillis in the stewartry of Annandale, which 
belonged to the predecessors of the said Thomas, and were held by them 
of the deceased William Cokburn of Hendirland. These lands had been 
permanently apprised for sums of money owing by the said William 
Cokburn to King James the IVth. (Id. No. 2486.) 


The same king, the same day, granted to John Ewart of Bodisbeck (also 
for payment of a composition) the lands of Skiftenholme in the stewartry 
of Annandale, which belonged to the predecessors of the said John, and 
were held by them of the deceased William Cokburn of Hendirland, and 
had been permanently apprised for sums of money owing by the said 
William to King James the IVth. (Id. No. 2487). 

In 1542, William son of William Cokburne petitioned for the restoration 
of his father’s lands; result not known. 

Sir Walter Scott of Branxholm and Buccleugh remarkably signalized his 
valour and courage at the battle of Pinkie, 1547 ; upon which he got from 
the queen the estate of Henderland, upon the forfeiture of Sir John 
[ William ] Cockburn, and was made warden of the west marches towards 

England (Douglas’ Peerage, p. 102.) We can see a reason for this in Buc- 
cleugh’s kinship to the disinherited Cockburn. 


That there were still heirs of line of Cockburn of Henderland either hold- 
ing part of the property, or otherwise keeping up their claims, we learn 
from the Retours. Oct. 16th, 1623, William Cokburne de Henderland, is 
retoured heir of William Cokburne de Henderlande, the father; in the 3 
merk lands of Brymmelaw, and the 23 merk lands of Brigend [of Peebles | 
EH. 7} merks (Retours, Peebles, No. 60). This appears to have been a 
fraction of the lands pledged to the Laudersof Haltoun, 29th Jan. 1522-3,— 
see previously ; who still held the greater proportion, for on May 18, 1625, 
Master Richard Lauder, heir of Alexander Lauder, fier of Haltoun, his 
brother, is retoured in the lands of Brumelaw, extending to 10 merks of 
land; and the 7 merks 6sh. and 4d, of the land of Brigend, old value, 8 
merks ; new value, 27m. 6s. 4d. (Retours, Peebles, No. 67). The laird of 
Henderland was absent from the weapon-shaw on the Burrow Moor of 
Peebles, 15th June, 1627. (Hist. of Peebleshire, p. 149). June 22nd, 1630, 
Samuel Cockburne de Hinderland, is retoured heir of William Cockburne 
de Hinderland, his great grandfather. (Inq. Generales, No. 1718.) 


Henderland next is acquired by the Earls of Southesk, who appear to 
have bought up the Peebles pendicle also. May 11th, 1658, James Earl 
of Southesk, lord Carnegy of Kynnaird and Leuchars, is retoured heir male 
of his father David, earl of Kinnaird, &c., among others in the 
lands of Henderland within the parochin of St. Bryd, with other lands in 


Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy, 417 


Selkirk: O. EH. £5. N. H. £20; and at the same date in the lands of 
Broomelaw and Brigend—with the lands of Hendertoune in Peebles, O. H. 
£5. N. EH. £20 (Retours, Peebles, No. 144, Selkirk, No. 75). Oct. 17th, 1661, 
Anna, Countess of Buccleugh, appears to have had a lien over Henderland, 
(Retours, Peebles, No. 147). May 5th, 1669, Robert, Earl of Southesk is 
retoured heir of his father Harl James, in the lands of Hinderland and 
others, (Ib. No. 157) ; and also Broomelaw and Brigend (Retours, Selkirk, 
No. 85). He appears tohave sold Henderland, as his heir Charles, May 
8th, 1688, is not retoured in it; but still holds Broomlee and Brigend. 
(Peebles, No. 193, Selkirk, No. 97.) The lands had then been acquired by 
the Traquair family. Charles, fifth earl of Traquair, suffered various 
misfortunes, and was reduced to such straits, as to be obliged, soon after 
1750, “to sell to Lord March the lands of Nether, Horsbrugh, Caberstone; 
Gaithopeknowe, and Henderland, for which he got £12,000 sterling.” 
(Chambers’ Peebleshire, p. 386). 

The subsequent history of the estate is given in the ‘‘ History of Peeble- 
shire” by William Chambers, pp. 361-2. Alexander Murray, son of 
Archibald Murray of Murray-field, advocate, succeeded his father as 
sheriff-depute of the county of Peebles in 1761, became Solicitor General, 
24th May 1775, and M.P. for Peeblesshire in 1780. He was promoted to 
the bench, 6th March, 1783 (Haig’s Senators of the Court of Justice, p. 
537), ‘‘ when he adopted the title of Lord Henderland, from the estate of 
the same name in Megget, which had already become a possession of the 
family. [He died at Murrayfield, 16th March, 1795.] The wife of Lord 
Henderland was a daughter of Sir Alexander Lindsay of Evelick, bart., 
and neice of the first Earl of Mansfield. By this lady he had two sons— 
William, who inherited his brother’s property of Henderland, and John 
Archibald.”” This second son, who lived to inherit his brother’s patrimony, 
was appointed Lord Advocate in 1834, and after being M.P. for the Leith 
Burghs, was knighted and raised to the bench in 1839, as Lord Murray. 
“William Murray, who predeceased his brother, left Henderland to the 
representative of the main line of the family, James Wolfe Murray of 
Cringletie, subject, however, to some arrangements, on the part of Lord 
Murray. On the death of Lady Murray, the estate was handed over, 
free, as originally destined.” 

“ Henderland was but a short fime in possession of Mr Murray. In 
1862, he excambed it with the Karl of Wemyss for Courhope and Cloich, 
which his lordship bought that year for £25,100; Mr Murray giving, in 
addition, the sum of £1550 to adjust the exchange.” 

The drawing made by Mr Currie gives the appearance of the 
slab as it appeared to him, in a gloomy December day, when 
disfizured with dirt and encrusted with lichens. After it had 
been engraved, and this paper written, Mr James Shaw, of 
Megget Public School, volunteered his aid to clear away the 
parasitic vegetation that concealed the figures cut on the face of 
the stone, by piling earth over it to rot out the lichens, ete. 
This effectually cleaned the surface, and revealed a cross of a 

2A 


418 Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy. 


peculiar shape, where there is an entire blank in our figure ; 
which I could not account for the absence of, since it is given in 
the figure in Chambers’ ‘‘ Hist. of Peebleshire,” p. 418, and in 
the ‘Scottish Journal of Topography ” &c. 1. p. 413, from which 
Dr. Chambers’ cut is derived. Neither of these is an exact 
representation, according to the drawing sent by Mr Shaw. The 
cross which Mr Currie fancied he faintly saw traced on the shield 
does not appear on the new drawing. Another drawing of the 
cross and its accompaniments is therefore desirable. The cross 
has a calvary base (of 6 steps) and stalk, and the summit might 
be compared to a flame bursting out of a bowl, in three succes- 
sive tiers of lateral jets, the lower-most the most projecting, and 
an apical one. ‘The height of the basis or pedestal is 63 
inches ; length of cross 4 ft. 8 in.; breadth of stalk 2} inches; 
length of ornamental head, 83; height of surmounting shield 18 
inches ; whole length of slab, 6 feet 53 inches; breadth of slab 
at base, 182 inches. 

The inscription revealed by the cleansing process is nearly that 
given in Chambers’ Peebleshire, viz. ‘* Gere Iyis perps of Cohburne 
awd bys dyfe Marjory.” 

10, Antiquities of Megget-land. 

Mr Shaw favoured me with some replies to questions I had 
submitted to him about the remote district where he has spent 
many years. I cannot find a more suitable place to record them 
as a contribution to our scanty knowledge, and it is to be hoped 
that ere long he will be enabled to tell us more. 

“‘ After making enquiries of some of my neighbours, who have spent all 
their lifetime around St Mary’s Loch, William Richardson, son of the 
well-known ‘ Tibbie Shiels,’ says he remembers the finding of the horn of 
the Urus (Bos primigenius) at Kercleuch in the bottom of a moss-hag, 8 
feet deep. That happened some 40 years‘ago. The length of the horn 
was nearly 2 feet. When apart of the Megget road was made passable 


for about one half mile above Henderland, some bronze articles were 
found—now lost. 


Near the confluence of Winterhope burn and Megget there is a flat 
called the Bloody Moss, said to have been the scene of a fierce contest be- 
tween two bands of freebooters. In the moss several articles have been 
come upon at peat-casting time, which seem to give colour to the tradition. 
Some of these I have seen. One was a small horse-shoe circular in 
shape, with two cross bars; and the remains of what looked to have been 
a strong horse-comb. They were found deep in the moss. Mr Mitchell, 
the present farmer of Henderland, informs me that 14 or 15 years ago, an 
iron hammer, evidently of ancient manufacture, was found in the ruins of 
Cockburn’s Castle. Mr Mitchell regrets that it has fallen aside meantime: 


Donations from Scientific Societies, &c., 1883-84. 419 


Several mounds remain in Megget-dale similar to those out of which 
relics of former days were got at Catcleugh on Chapelhope farm, near 
Birkhill at the head of Moffat Water, and at Wolf-cleuch near Cramilt 
Craig. There is abundance of shale on the right bank of the Megget. 
Graptolites are found on Syart farm. Adders and blindworms are 
numerous in the lower part of Megget.”’ 


Donations to the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, from 
Scientific Societies, Exchanges, &c., 1883-4. 

Batu. Proceedings of the Bath Natural History and Antiquar- 
ian Field Club, Vol. v., No. 1., 1884, 8vo. The Club. 
Berrast. Annual Report and Proceedings of the Belfast Natura- 

lists’ Field Club, 1882-8, Ser. 11., Vol. 11., Part 111., 8vo. 
The Club. 
Boston, U.S.A. Proceedings of the Boston Natural History 
Society, Vol. xx1., Part 1v. ; Vol. xx, Part 1., 1882-3, 8vo. 
The Society. 
Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History, 
Vol. 11., No. vr. Some Observations on the Embryology of 
the Teleosts. By J. 8. Kingsley, and H. W. Conn; Vol. r11., 
No. vir. The Carboniferous Hexapod Insects of Great Britain. 


By Samuel H. Scudder, 1883, 4to. The Society. 
Carpirr. Cardiff Naturalists’ Society, Report and Transactions, 
Vol. xy, 1888. Cardiff, 1884, 8vo. The Society. 


CarListeE. Transactions of the Cumberland Association for the 
Advancement of Literature and Science, No. vitt., 1882-3, 8vo. 
The Association. 


EpinsureH. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scot- 


land, 1882-83, Vol. v., N.S., 4to. The Society. 
Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society, Session 

1882-83, 8vo. The Society. 
Transactions and Proceedings of the Botanical Society, 

Vol. xv:., Part 1. The Society. 
Essex, Satem, U.S.A. Bulletin of the Essex Institute, Vol. xrv., 

8vo., 1883, The Institute. 
Girssen. 22 und 28 Berichtsder Oberheissischen Gesellschaft fiir 

Natur-und Heilkunde, 8vo, 1883-84, The Society. 
Gtascow. Proceedings of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, 

1882-3, Vol. x1v., 8vo. The Society. 
--- Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Glas- 

gow, Vol. v., Part 11., 1881-2, 1883, 8vo. The Society. 


Lexrps. Transactions of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union, Part 
vit., May, 1884, 8vo. The Union. 


420 Donations from Scientific Societies, &e., 1853-54. 


Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society, Report for 
1883-4. The Society. 
Liverpoot. Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical 

Society of Liverpool, Vols. xxxv., XXXVI., XXXVIII, 1881-8, 8vo. 
The Society. 
Lonpon. Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great 
Britain and Ireland, Vol. x111., Nos. 11., 111., 1v., 1883-4, 8vo. 
Lhe Institute. 
— Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, Vol. viIt., 
Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 (with Annual Report), 1883-4, 8vo. 
The Association. 
Mancuester. Memoirs of the Manchester Literary and Philosoph- 
ical Society, 3rd Ser., Vol. vir., London, 1882, 8vo. 
The Society. 
Ibid, Vol. 1x. A Centenary of Science in Manches- 
ter. By R. Angus Smith, F.R.S., Ph.D., LL.D., London, 
1883, 8vo. Pf, he. Society. 
Proceedings of the Manchester Literary and Philos- 
ophical Society, Vols. xx., xx1., xx11., Manchester, 1883, 8vo. 
Ibid. 
Nortsampton. Journal of Northamptonshire Natural History - 
Society and Field Club, Feb., 1884, Vol. 11., Nos. 17. and 18., 


&vo. The Society. 
Perto. Proceedings of ee Perthshire Society of Natural 
Science, Vol. 11., Part 1., 1882-3, 4to. The Society. 


PLYMOUTH. eel Roport and Transactions of the Plymouth 
Institution and Cornwall Natural History Society, Vol. vut., 
Part 11., 1882-3, 8vo. The Institution. 

Wasurnaton, U.S.A. Annual Report of the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution for the year 1881. Washington, 1888. 

The Smithsonian Institution. 

Wasuineton, U.S.A. Second Annual Report of the United 
States’ Geological Survey to the Secretary of the Interior, 
1880-81. By J. W. Powell, Director, Washington, 1862, 
small folio. 

From the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C. 

WetsxHpoon. Collections, Historical and Archeological, relating 
to Montgomeryshire and its Borders, Vol. xv1., Parts Ir. and 
m1.; Vol. xvit., Part 1., London, 1883-84, 8vo. 

The Powysland Club, 


REGISTER OF RAINFALL AND SUNSHINE IN THE YEAR 1883, KEPT AT MARCHMONT. 


Elevation, 500 feet. 


Marchmont is 500 feet above the sea, well wooded, situated as near as 


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Total rainfall, 33°60 inches; No. of days °01 or more fell, 222, 


Total sunshine, 1577 hours. 


PETER LONEY. 


422 List of New Members. 


Rain Fall at Glanton Pyke, Northumberland, in 1882, 
communicated by Frepx. J. W. CoLtinawoop, Esq.; and 
at Duns, Berwick, communicated by CHas. Watson, Esq. 


GLANTON PYKE. DUNS. 
Inches. Inches. 
January .. ee levol danuary — 5% oa) eae 
February .. «» ) 2.22'5)Bebruary .. 2.7 eles 
March its -. 2.9070} March Je ee) 
April Eee .. 1.47°5| April og +i al el 
May Rs %, | 3.9805) May Be Shige 0 
June é43 .. 98.18'0] June aa nV) 
July ae .. 4,85'5| July be os, | 406 
August .e .. 2) '770| Bagust ote jsp ey 2798 
September .. .. 4.12’0| September .. wa’ A490 
October “ea .. 2.80°51 October Paz ou ae oO 
November .. ..  1.41°5| November .. bari EHO. 
December .. .. 1.73’0| December .. os 1°15 
Total a 81.6075 Total Be 30.08 


Rain Gauge—Diameter of Funnel,| Rain Gauge—Diameter of Funnel, 
8in. ; height of Top above ground, 8in.; height of Top above ground, 
4 ft 3hin.; above sea level, 517ft. 6in ; above sea level, 500ft. Lat. 

55°47 ; Long. 2°21. 


LIST OF NEW MEMBERS FOR 1883. 

ApmitTEp OctoBER 10TH, 1883. 
John Dunn, M.A , Newcastle. 
William Horsley, Chirton House, North Shields. 
James J. R. Storer, Alnwick. 
Matthew Culley, jun., Coupland Castle, Wooler. 
Thomas Grieg, Wooden, Kelso. 
John G. Winning, Branxholme Knowe, Hawick. 
James Thomson, Shawdon, Alnwick. 
James Thin, jun., South Bridge, Edinburgh. 
Robert Shirra Gibb, M.B., C.M., Boon, Lauder, 
Col. James Edward Forster, Sanson Seal, Berwick. 
William Robertson, Alnwick. 
Richard Burdon Sanderson, Budle House, Belford. 
Major Bryan Burrell, Broompark, Alnwick. 
James Brunlees, C.E., Westminster, London. 
I4hn §. Muir, M.D., Thorncroft, Selkirk. 
Henry Rutherfurd, Fairnington, Kelso. 
Rev, A. EH, Langston, Hebburn Vicarage, Newcastle. 


General Statement. 423 


Rev. John Edmunds, Kyloe Vicarage, Beal. 
Alfred Morall Appleton, Solicitor, 13, Elvet Bridge, Durham. 
James Nisbet, Lambden, Greenlaw. 
Edward A. L. Batters, B.A., LL.B., F.L.S., Crown Court Buildings, Old 

Broad Street, London, E.C. 
Rev. Robert Borland, Yarrow, Selkirk. 
Rey. Edward Arkless, Berwick. 
Blake Johnston Weatherhead, Berwick. 
Charles Purves, Alnwick. 

LADY MEMBER. 
Miss Sarah Dand, Morwick Hall, Acklington 
ASSOCIATE. 
John Aitchison, West Street, Belford. 
CORRESPONDING. 

C. C. Babington, M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S., etc., Professor of Botany in the 

University of Cambridge. 
Rey. Leonard Blomefield. M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S., etc., Bath. 


General Statement. 


Tur IncoME AND EXPENDITURE have been :— 


INCOME. 

£ > d. 

Arrears received .. wee 19 7% 6 

Entrance Fees fs ie 1A. 0 0 

Subscriptions ee bE 86 2 6 

LESS: 96 

Balance due Treasurer .. 2315 6 
————-£143 5 0 

EXPENDITURE. 

Balance due Treasurer from last account 5 18 8 

Gibb and Hay for Lithographing .. 715 0 

Banks and Co. do 8. 4:56 

Printing ee a 82 19 4 

Expenses at Meeting a we LOTS 0 

Postages and Carriages fic 22 15 2 

Berwick Salmon Company Be ae a Pak 


324 


ERRATA. 
Pace 226, line 34 from the top, insert during after than. 
Ae aos 430 OONOo *y remove the crochet from after dufonius, 
and place it after vulgaris. 
se DHSe. Os (BF 5 for Erythea read Erythrea. 
leon ecw ilige as for rugora read rugosa. 
OOO slits Pr for Nolanca read Nolanea. 
» 346, ,, 34, 3 for Plate V. read Plate V*. 
5 004, ,,. 24; af remove the period after Ahnfeldtia. 
Fe GO oa Gy, ae for Holme read Home. 
ye sy. oy BE i? for mulo read mul. , 
WH 55. Cn a for autograph read autotype. 
Se STS An, 5 a for Dumnogei read Dumnogeni. 
op alt age 16% 5 for Cassivelanni read Cassivellauni. 
Bata ih Ngnes Gels 3 for distinctly read distinctively. 
pea ag athe fe for Madubratius read Mandubratius. 
a OS) sy: ee as for Cassi-vellanus read Cassivellaunus. 
Soir HOOD see Gan Al’y 3 for Tuef read Tref. 
oy) (4045 55 224; e place a period after LIBERALI. 


ApprenpA.—I was not aware when the paper on the Plateof Coins was 
written, that the supposition that Camulus was a British name for Mars, 
rested entirely on an imperfect inscription ‘‘ DEO MAR:-CAMYVLO” 
found at Kilsyth on the northern wall, and, I believe, given in Gough’s 
Camden. According to my views, it should mean Mars of the Cymri, 
and I think rather confirms them.—H.J.M.R. 


Plate XIV., contributed by the Author, was received after- the Article 
p. 334-338, was printed off. 


erwickshire 


Naturalists’ Club 


FROM LUFFNESS LINK 


BRITISH URNS. 


io) 


Pinte Is 


LOWER-CARBONIFEROUS ENTOMOSTRACA. 


G.West & Sons, imp. 


— 
7 
~ 


Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club. Plate III. 


INCISED ROCKS AT MORWICK. 


| 


2 


Plate IV. 


Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club. 


4 


pd 
uo 
Oty mid f 


INCISED ROCKS AT MORWICK. 


Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club. Plate V. 


INCISED ROCKS AT MORWICK. 


* 


= 


yeh a 


——————SS——: 


SSS SSS 


Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club. Plate VI. 


all! Np i 
\y 


mn ; ma ( 
a 
wh 


Ma} 
i Ss 
VP Mle Set 


J.T.Dixon 1354. 


Ta GuyoT.Se. 


FLINT IMPLEMENTS, LOW FARNHAM, COQUETDALE. 


Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club. Plate VII. 


J.T. Dixon 1534, - 


FLINT IMPLEMENTS, LOW FARNHAM, COQUETDALE 


Berwickshive Naturalists Chub. Plate VII. 


E Batters del.etlith. West Newman & C°imp. 
PHLGSPORA - TORTIUIS, 


Berwickshire Naturalists Club Plate IX, 


E. Batters del. et lth West Newman & C? imp. 
NITOPHYLLUM REPTANS & ELACHISTA GREVILLII. 


Berwickshire Naturahsts Club. Plate X. 


E..Batters del.etlith. ‘ West Newman & C? imp. 
THAMNIDION INTERMEDIUM, 
PACH LARA emo ToLA & PHYLLIS FASCIA. 


/ 
q 
; 
7 
~ 


Berwickshire Naturalists Chib. Plate XI. 


E.Batters delet lith. WestNewman & C° imp. 
MELOBESIA CORALLINE & M. LERNORMANDI. 


: 


LBeruickshire Naturalists Clubs. Ltale XU. 


MACEDONIA GRE EK METAPONTOM 


Sinton AN Olmak “COUNS OLDER THAN WHE ee 


ROWAN CONQUEST OF BRIAN. 


Plate XITI. 


Berwickshire Naturalists Club. 


AND 


E 


ND 


fe MARGORY, © 


ae 


ee 


N AT HENDERLA 


E COCKBUR 
AUTOGRAPH OF ‘‘MUNGO PARK.” 


eae ii he 


B OF PIERS D 


TOM 


Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club. 


Plate XIV. 


SS 


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SS 


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Zz 


ZY) 


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SH 


i) 


ANN. 


SARS ee 
SSR 
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SSN 


SKETCH DIAGRAM OF STERNUM OF CYGNUS BEWICKII. 


Selig 
Rae 
ee aes 


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PROCEEDINGS 


OF THE 


BERWICKSHIRE NATURALISTS’ CLUB. 


Address delivered to the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, at 
Berwick, October 8th, 1884. By FRANcIS MARTIN NoRMAN, 
Commander, R.N., Berwick, President. 


GENTLEMEN : 


In proceeding by your leave, to address you at the close of 
my year’s tenure of your Presidential Chair, let me assure 
you how sensible I am of the honour which you conferred 
upon me when you elected me to fill it. 

To notice, even in the briefest manner, all that is doing, 
or has been done during the past year, in the vast sphere of 
scientific interest in which we have our little orbit, would 
be as impracticable as regards time, as it would be beyond 
my abilities and the objects of our Club. 

Nevertheless, before I proceed, in accordance with presi- 
dential custom, to give some account of our doings during 
the season which ends to-day; our “ close-time,” in language 
which will readily adapt itself to the comprehension of 
dwellers on Tweedside, beginning to-morrow, I will ask your 
indulgence for a few minutes in an exceptional direction. 


DARWINISM AND NATURAL RELIGION. 


There is one great subject which, for some years past has 
caused a wide and deep interest, not to say also, sensation, 
throughout the whole civilized world, not only on account 
of its immediate scientific value, and the light which it 

B.N.C.—VOL. X. NO. III. 2B 


426 Anniversary Address. 


claims to throw upon the puzzling question of the origin and 
identity of species, but on account of its bearings upon 
Religion and the Origin of Man. 

I allude, it seems superfluous to remark, to the Evolution 
Theory, which, having for long been more or less vaguely 
and intermittently advanced by various scientists, was taken 
up by Charles Darwin, who made the first truly scientific 
attempts to deal seriously with the conception, which he 
developed and made his own to such an extent, that it is 
now known everywhere as “ Darwinism: or the Origin of 
Species by Natural Selection.” 

So engrossing has been this theme, that a more or less in- 
timate acquaintance with it, may confidently be assumed in 
the case of many of our members; none are likely to be 
entirely uninformed about it, while all are certain to he in- 
terested in it. 

As far as I am aware, with the exception ofa brief allusion 
in the President’s address last year, the subject has not been 
once mentioned in the literature of our Club, but it surely 
seems but natural, right, anid proper, that there should appear 
in our Proceedings some record that we do not altogether 
ignore so important a matter, which is so intimately con- 
nected with the study of Natural History. 

There are two ways of accounting for the living world as 
we see it, The Darwinian System seeks to revolutionise the 
ancient belief that the first ancestors of every species of 
animal and plant came direct and fully formed from the 
hand of the Creator, and claims to show that all forms of life, 
animal and vegetable, visible and microscopic, that exist, 
or ever did exist, upon this globe, have been produced or 
evolved from a very few simple, primordial, created progeni- 
tors, by a process, carried on through a vast array of ages, of 
Progressive Development—a process of Natural Selection 
from slight variations from the parent stock, and “Survival 
of the fittest ” of them. 

Now to attempt, in a few minutes, to deal even in brief 
with this great subject would be simply impossible, so I 
shall confine myself, almost entirely, to an aspect of the 


Anniversary Address. 427 


question which is of high interest to all Naturalists, but 
specially so it would seem to ourselves ;—I mean the bearings 
of Darwinism on Natural Religion, or the recognition of 
Nature’s God in Nature’s Works. Not without significance 
was our motto selected, “ Mare et tellus, et quod tegit omnia 
celum.” On looking over the addresses of my predecessors, 
from the Club’s foundation to its 50th birthday, from Dr. 
Johnston to Mr Brown, and beyond, I cannot help noticing 
that the keynote of their utterances is the intimate, direct 
connection between Nature and God. 

Mr Brown indeed, in his eloquent Jubilee Address, which 
was quite worthy of the occasion, declared that he knew of 
no other learned or scientific society where one feature was 
more prominent—that is the desire which everywhere ap- 
pears of seeing the hand of God in all the works of nature, 
and of marking the traces of His wisdom, power, and 
goodness. 

It is often urged that science is one affair, religion another ; 
keep and treat them separately. I remember a German 
botanical lecturer, objecting in my hearing to the motto— 
“ Domini est terra et plentitudo ejus,” being impressed on 
the title page of an English Flora, ‘“'The English” said he 
“are always trying to mix up religion and science, which 
is a great mistake,” 

Well, as regards what may be called the business, the 
working out of natural science, it is, no doubt, quite distinct 
from theology or any religious considerations ; but not as 
regards its bearings ; for he who can long study nature and 
her wonders, without having their deeper meaning brought 
home to him, fails, as it seems to me, to get at the kernel 
of his nut at all. 

Gentlemen—If the foregoing considerations have any 
worth or weight—if the history of our Club appeals to our 
sense as well as to our sentiment—you would listen with 
impatience if you had suspicion that the tenant of this chair 
was likely to be the exponent of any attempts to eliminate 
Nature’s God from Nature’s Works, whether in her grandest 
aspect or her minutest details, To do so, you would judge, 


428 Annwersary Address. 


would rob our pursuits of their highest interests and their 
noblest aims. 

Now, in proceeding to consider how far, if at all, by ac- 
cepting Darwinism we must give up Natural Religion, we 
must notice at once, that the disciple of Darwin is neither an 
Atheist nor a Materialist, as some too hastily infer. 

He recoils, often as much as if he were not a Darwinite at 
all, from the utterances of the Materialists, and their creed 
of the spontaneous generation and evolution of all living 
beings. 

Invited by Tyndall to project his vision “ into the infinite 
azure of the past,” (whatever that may mean), he fails to 
discern with that distinguished Professor, “in nascent mat- 
ter the promise and potency of every form and quality of 
life.” 

He reads, as we read, with a smile of amused amazement 
the opinions of Haeckel, and other daring and advanced 
evolutionists, that all creation is derived from some one form 
or mere monad ; and that the body and soul (!) of the ani- 
mated world consist of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen,-and nitro- 
gen, with a small proportion of sulphur; which component 
parts, suitably nursed, become MAN. 

He does not opine, with Hualey, that the matter arises, 
as does the man (!) in a particle of “nucleated protoplasm ” ; 
nor is he inclined to decide with Comte—even if the utter- 
ance were intelligible, that “ Life is the potentiality of atoms, 
and mind a correlation of magnetic and psychic forces. ” 

He wearies his puzzled brain with a selection of erudite 
utterances of the same nature, whose meaning (if indeed 
there be any at all) he fails to extract from the tangle of 
verbiage in which it lies concealed ; and then he dismisses, 
as having no claim on serious attention, the creed of materi- 
alism, as being equally at variance with science, revelation, 
and common sense, and destitute of any foundation in fact. 

No, even the most advanced disciple of Darwin allows the 
existence of a Divine Creator, or to use his own language 
“ He must have a Creator to start with.” 

So far, then, there is nothing that need cause alarm ; but 


Anniversary Address. 429 


I have no intention at all of trespassing upon the domain of 
the theologian to enquire how far Darwinism and Revela- 
tion are opposed to each other; and whether a man may 
hold all that Darwin holds and yet be a perfectly orthodox 
Christian. Iam not for a moment going to bring Darwin- 
ism into competition with the Bible, to talk as if its truth 
at all depended upon the truth of that system ; to talk, for- 
sooth ! (as we notice a disposition to do in some quarters) as 
if we were only waiting for the final verdict for or against 
the Evolution theory, to decide whether we should retain 
our Bibles, or, at all events, regard them with the same faith 
and confidence as of yore. 

Many of the first men of the day have declared themselves 
to be fully convinced that between Scripture properly inter- 
preted and true Science, there is no real opposition; but 
even if there be, Darwinism hus not yet taken rank as a 
science. No: the point which we wish to bring out in relief 
is this :—Suppose Darwinism to be all true; admit for the 
minute that it hus attained rank as a science, and has 
established, beyond reasonable doubt, that each species of 
plants, animals, of living creatures of every sort including 
man, was not at the beginning created separately and inde- 
pendently, did not “flash into existence,” but has been 
slowly and gradually produced by evolution from few and 
simple beginnings; to what extent should we be impeded or 
hindered in the exercise of natural religion, or the looking 
up “through Nature’s works to Nature’s God?” Do we, by 
accepting Darwinism, eliminate God from Nature? Is there 
any @ priory inconsistency between the doctrine of evolu- 
tion and what we know or believe about God ? 

These are crucial queries which are troubling many devout 
minds among naturalists, who, hopelessly puzzled by the 
attempt to trace any satisfactory fixed lines of demarcation, 
dissatisfied with the semi-artificial character of our natural 
systems, distracted by the genera, sub-genera, species, sub- 
species, and endless varieties in fauna and flora which con- 
stantly are being altered by successive authors, have des- 
paired of finding any satisfactory answer to the question, 


430 Anniversary Address. 


“What is a species ?”—“ What is the true natural order ?” 
and captivated by the taking nature of this evolution scheme, 
which, it seems to them, is being generally accepted by the 
scientific world, and with their «imprimatur by the world 
at large, these naturalists are disposed to accept it as the key 
to their difficulties, if they can only do so without doing 
violence to their religious instincts. 

Darwin himself decane: that when he views all things, 
not as special creations, but as lineal descendants of some 
very few beings which lived long before the first bed of the 
Silurian system was deposited, thev seemed to him to become 
ennobled ; and his views are weightily endorsed ; for many 
very able men in pulpit, press, and platform have declared 
that not only does the Evolution Theory not interfere with 
Natural Religion, but that it even tends to raise our ideas of 
the greatness and powers of the Creator, if we suppose that 
by His omniscient omnipotence a few simple forms of matter 
were invested with powers capable of producing such mag- 
nificent results : if we suppose that a picture was formed in 
the divine mind, and ten or twelve organisms created, which 
were destined in course of time to clothe it with living 
reality ;and that whether the creative activity of God is 
manifested by sudden creations, or by the working out of a 
long chain of secondary results, it is still His Creative activ- 
ity, and all great questions beyond remain untouched. That 
seems just now the popular line to take up. On the other 
hand, there is a large number, and from the very first has 
always been a compact body of men of high light and leading, 
who have firmly maintained a contrary opinion ; who have 
insisted that the theory is altogether imaginative and im- 
probable, inconsistent with and derogatory to true concep- 
tions of God in relation to our world, and destructive of 
natural religion ; and that “ natural selection” is a mislead- 
ing expression to designate a force which has no real exist- 
ence; and the “adaptation of nature ” no more than a taking 
title for an imaginary factor in the glorious Scheme; who 
have refused, and do refuse altogether to bow down to 
the golden image which, they aver, Darwin set up, declaring 


, Anniversury Address. 431 


with Lord Bacon that they would sooner believe all the 
follies of the Talmud and Koran, than that this universal 
frame is without a mind, that this Order and Beauty should 
have been produced by an army without a Divine Marshal ; 
and who have endorsed with emphasis, and continue to en- 
dorse the words uttered long ago, with almost prophetic 
strain, by a man at Cambridge, one Isaac Newton, words 
which seem to have for us who live in these latter days, a 
yet fuller interest and importance—‘ The world was not 
made by spontaneous energy and evolution of self-develop- 
ing powers, as some have affirmed, but it was created by 
one Almighty, Eternal, Wise, Good Being, God. ” 

The important part of the question, then, which we are 
immediately considering, appears in a different light to 
different people, all anxious for the truth, but with differently 
constituted minds. Will you think it presumption, if, with- 
out committing any one else, I consider it suggestively from 
my own view point for two or thiee minutes ? 

I submit, first, as a postulate, that the God in whom Dar- 
winian and non-Darwinian both believe, intended to reveal 
himself in Nature. If He did not; if this glorious world 
simply exists for our use alone without ultimate and higher 
references ; if, in it all, there 1s nothing more than meets the 
eye, it loses nearly all its significance, most of its interest, 
and had better be handed over to the Materialist. 

If God, therefore, does intend to reveal Himself in Nature, 
it must be directly as the Designer and Inventor of her in- 
numerable wonders. In what other conceivable way could 
they have been designed? _ 

If you say “ by the adaptations of Nature ” and proceed to 
point out alleged instances, I urge that the blind, unreason- 
ing, unconscious process of adaptation, which originates a 
Darwinian species, cannot, without doing violence to the 
meaning of words, possibly be called Design at all, and my 
understanding recoils from the idea that the countless arti- 
fices, the astonishing contrivances, the refined perfections 
with which all Nature teems, can be anything else than the 
direct inventions of an Inventor. The more that I examine 


432 Anniversary Address. 


them, the more do I find that conviction foreed upon my 
mind ; and rising with bated breath from the study of them, 
exclaim with Pharaoh’s magicians, but with far profounder 
meaning, “ This is the finger of God!” 

Again, as a naturalist, I observe organic life, and am struck 
with the beauty, completeness, the exquisite finish of every- 
thing and its exact fitness for the part that it has to perform 
in the great scheme of Nature. 

My microscope reveals to me another world, equally teem- 
ing. with wonders, in which no less, but perhaps still more 
startlingly are displayed, 

“‘Contrivance intricate expressed with ease, 

Where unassisted sight no beauty sees, 

The shapely limb, the lubricated joint, 

Within the small dimensions of a point.” 
What is the effect on my mind if you assure me that any one 
of the objects which has so captivated me, which has called 
forth spontaneous expressions of wonder, love, and praise, is 
not the living representative of an original, but the half 
accidental result of a long course of natural development ? 

If this wondrous piece of mechanism, which we may call 
A, came from another B, which was improved from OC, which 
adapted itself out of D, which was differentiated out of E, 
which “ survived being the fittest ” at the death of F, and so 
on through many thousands of gradations, the practical 
effect on my mind is the removal of God to such an infinite 
distance, that it amounts to a virtual elimination of Him 
from the Natural World. His works under such conditions 
seem to have so remote a connection with Himself, that I 
may abandon any attempts to look up to Him through them. 
Could she speak to us with the eloquence which undisturbed, 
she did for so long, if we no longer were able 

“To trace in Nature’s most minute design 
The signature and stamp of power divine ?”’ 
To my mind, No! 

There is in my possession a picture of Linnzeus kneeling 
on the grass by the side of some plant whose beauties he 
had just been investigating, with uplifted hands, in the act 


Anniversary Address. 433 


of praise and adoration. Ifthe points in the plant which 
thus impelled Linnzeus to an act of worship, had been the 
results of a mere fortuitous concatenation of circumstances, 
if he could not have connected them directly with a Divine 
Intelligence, I fail to see how he could have recognised any 
call from Nature to worship in her Temple. 


THE EVIDENCE. 


But, after all, it may be urged, and it constantly with 
reason is, that when any scientific system is presented for 
our acceptance, it must be considered on its own merits, and 
judged by evidence swi generis. Science must be met by 
science, it may be insisted, and not all by religious or per- 
sonal considerations. If Darwinism, now or hereafter, can 
bring in its hand credentials in the shape of evidence which 
prove it to be true, we must accept it whether we like it or 
not. Magna est veritas, et prevalebit. It may be very un- 
pleasant to me to hear that I am descended from an ape; to 
believe it may clash with my most sacred religious convic- 
tions ; but if it can be shown that such is the case, the fact 
will have an objective existence of its own, and quite inde- 
pendent of, and unaffected by personal considerations. 

Now in order to understand the nature and strength of 
the evidence which is adduced in support of Darwinism, 
and of that by which it is confuted, a study of the literature 
of the subject is indispensable. 

To enter now into the extensive and important question 
of the evidence would be impossible; and you may have 
observed that I have purposely refrained from bringing it 
forward, but a subject which has so important a bearing 
upon our pursuits, will, I hope, be dealt with separately on 
another occasion. 

Some of our members, no doubt, as I remarked at the out- 
set, will already be conversant with much of the literature 
and will have formed some definite opinions of their own. 
I do not presume to advise such. But I do not think I am 
wrong in assuming that a much larger number, both in our 
Club and out of it, either have read very little or none, or 

B2 


434 Annwersary Address. 


find themselves considerably puzzled and bewildered by 
what they have; and as Darwinism seems so much the 
fashion just now, such multitudes being under its spell, they 
believe that it must be “all right” and tacitly acquiesce in 
it as virtually a settled affair. 

Certainly, from the tone of a portion of the press, of con- 
versation in some circles, and even of some pulpit utterances, 
one might infer that it was; and that we have no choice but 
to believe, for instance, that the Cetacea, the whales, por- 
poises, etc., are land mammals who have taken to a sea life, 
and soon. The truth is, that though the evidence in favour 
of Darwinism, thus far, presents many attractive features 
and carries weight at points ; though it often has a voice 
which seems to “ charm wisely ;” though it appears to offer 
to the puzzled naturalist a solution of many difficulties, for 
which he is inclined to give it an eager welcome; the system, 
on the other hand, is beset with so many and such serious 
objections, that in the face of them it seems impossible to 
advance it from the rank which it now holds, of a Scientific 
Hypothesis—however clever, ingenious, captivating—to that 
of a recognised Science. To all, therefore, who have not yet 
shown their colours in the contending ranks, I would earn- 
estly say, “ Suspend your judgment ; do not believe that the 
Evolutionist has yet proved his theory, or that it is within 
measurable distance of being a settled affair.” 


MAN. 


But if the contemplation of one of the simplest of Nature’s 
works, low down in the scale of Creation, lead up our 
thoughts directly to her God, how much more the study of 
her noblest, in the person of Man, with his complex and 
wonderful organization, linked as he undoubtedly is, as re- 
gards his animal nature, to the animal world, and as regards 
his spiritual, as surely to the Great Spirit! So, in conclusion, 
I should like to point out clearly that it was early seen, and 
still is well understood, that the great point of interest in 
Darwinism, is its bearing upon the Origin of Man, and of 
those moral issues of momentous import which are involved 


Annwersary Address. 435 


in the application of its principles to the human race, for it 
is as impossible, in the Darwinian scheme, to leave Man 
entirely out of the question, as it is to debate his physical 
without reference to his whole nature. 

People everywhere have been asking, “Oh! but do you 
think we come from apes?” and the reports of the alleged 
discovery of a man somewhere in America with a lusus 
nature in the shape of a two-inch tail, and of another with 
more hair on his body than usual, have been received by 
many with feverish interest and excitement, as if tremendous 
truths were at stake, as if we were only waiting for another 
such “ tale” or two to determine whether God created man 
in his own image, or whether natural selection improved 
him out of high class apes. 

To deduce that man and apes are closely related, and have 
a common origin, on certain homologous evidence, is to say 
the least, surely hasty, especially in view of the total absence 
of connecting links, a difficulty which in this case applies 
with special force ; because if man does come from monkey 
there must be hundreds of transition forms; for even ultra- 
evolutionists admit that between the lowest known form of 
man and the highest of apes, there 1s a wide gulf. We do 
not, in this instance at all events, detect those progressive 
variations on which the doctrine of evolution is expressly 
founded ; they may exist, but not a true trace of them living 
or dead has ever been produced. 

Did tine allow, it would be interesting, and I think not 
very difficult to throw some light upon the causes which 
have facilitated the extraordinary success of the evolution 
theory, especially among the rising generation of students, 
to whom, rather than to the older school, Darwin said that 
he looked for full acceptance of his views. But violent are the 
fluctuations of the barometer not only in the Meteorological 
but in other domains besides ; and if we feel unsettled, it will 
be wise to bide the time when the intensity of the Darwinian 
Cyclone shall have blown over, and when the atmosphere 
having fairly recovered its normal condition, people will be 
in a better condition to judge how much there is in it all, 


436 Anniversary Address. 


For myself, gentlemen—but with the distinct proviso that 
I do not commit the members of our Club, either individually 
or collectively,—for myself I do not hesitate to declare that 
I confidently anticipate the speedy advent of the day when 
those who now, so to speak, range about in the semi-ape-like 
nudity of differentiated Man will be found “sitting at the 
feet of Moses, clothed, and in their right mind!’ 


THE SALMON DISEASE. 


An allusion to salmon, and to still unsolved problems in 
local ichthyology in relation to the sea-going Salmonide, 
requires, I am sure, no apology in an address from a Presi- 
dent of this Club. I can readily indicate, though I have not 
time to enlarge upon several points which arrest the curios- 
ity of, and court investigation from the naturalist as well as 
the angler, and which have a commercial bearing also. For 
instance, are grilse young salmon, or a distinct species ; how 
long does it take for a salmon to arrive at maturity; how 
long do smolts stay in the sea; what, exactly, are black- 
tails—are they, as some allege, a separate species, if not, how 
many sorts of fish do they represent, and specially, are there 
any salmon blacktail among them ? 

Why salmon, instanced by the clean fish which in spring 
afford sport to the angler at Carham, Floors, and other well 
known waters, quit the sea and ascend the river months 
before they want to spawn, and whether they eat anything, 
or subsist on their own fat only, until they have spawned ? 

But all such questions, on which much difference of opin- 
ion prevails, sink into insignificance in view of the great 
ichthyological problem of the day—the Salmon Disease— 
which is so imperfectly understood, which has assumed such 
alarming proportions, which is as bad or worse than ever in 
the Tweed, and which is extending its baneful influence to 
other waters besides our own. 

The salmon-disease, it is well-known, is produced by the 
germination of the microscopic spores of the fungus, Sapro- 
legnia ferax upon various parts of the fish, and their rapid 
increase into a leprous-like fungoid growth, which gradually 


Anniversary Address. 497 


eats out itslife. For some time it was a moot point whether 
this fatal fungus was the effect or the cause of the disease. 
The latest observations by scientific experts show that fish 
do not necessarily fall into a morbid state before they are 
attacked ; that perfectly healthy fish may be affected; and 
moreover, that abrasions of the skin are not necessary, as 
was thought to ensure germination of the spores, though they 
no doubt facilitate that operation. 

It is very satisfactory to know that the Tweed Commis- 
sioners, at their annual meeting on the Ist Sept., 1884, voted 
the sum of £200 “to assist in a comprehensive and exhaust- 
ive enquiry into the origin, nature, development, and 
treatment of the Fungoid Disease.” The report shows that 
during the last five years, the enormous number of 37,969 
diseased fish, salmon, grilse, and sea-trout, were taken out of 
the river. But the chairman was of opinion that on account 
of the improbability of getting hold of, and withdrawing all 
the fish that were dead and diseased, the figures which I 
have quoted represent only one fourth or one fifth of the 
real number destroyed. Taking them as one fourth only, 
we find that the startling total of 151,876 Tweed fish have 
been lost to commerce, and to the nation as food, during the 
last five years, and the tables show that the majority of those 
fish were salmon. 

The diseased fish which were removed from the river were 
buried. Buried where? Most, if not all of them, in or near 
the banks of the river it is certain. 

Now what are the proved characteristics of the spores of 
Saprolegnia, and of Fungi of the same character? They are 
number and vitality. ‘They exist in countless myriads, and 
are extremely tenacious of life. Can any one doubt, then, 
that from these thousands of buried diseased fish, an in- 
numerable number of spores were carried back into the river 
by the action of rain percolating through the earth, by 
drains and streams, by the waters of the river itself occasion- 
ally overflowing the places of sepulture ; and that instead of 
destroying the germs of this alarming epidemic, or of re- 
moving them out of harm’s way, the course which has been 


438 Anniversary Address.. 


followed seems but too well calculated to assist in a regular 
supply along the whole course of Tweed. 

From a naturalist’s point of view, it seems clear that unless 
these diseased fish, each one of which may be regarded as a 
separate manufactory of spores, be thoroughly destroyed, 
little hope can be entertained of stamping out, or even of 
checking the scourge; and that which now seems impera- 
tively necessary, is the establishment of a series of cremating 
stations along the river, where that operation can be con- 
veniently and effectively performed, every diligence being 
used to extricate from the water as many affected fish as 
possible. 

The prudent farmer, who desires to prevent the spread of 
potato disease in his fields, is careful to burn all the haulms 
of an affected crop, so that no spores may find their way 
back into the ground and lie in wait for another crop. 

The prudent Tweed Commissioner, too, in dealing with an 
evil of exactly the same nature, would, one might not dis- 
respectfully suppose, be wise to deal with it in the same 
manner, so as to preserve as far as possible his future crops 
from contamination. 

We do not conclude, and must not infer, that the Tweed 
Commissioners have overlooked the importance of the scheme 
on which I am dwelling ; but they would probably urge that 
on account of the great extra expense involved, it is an 
impracticable one. 

I do not know whether any calculations have been made 
with reference to the best and most economical way of de- 
stroying the fish, for it is possible that some agent equally 
efficient, more manageable and feasible for the purpose than 
fire, may exist ; and I suggest that some member of our Club 
might experiment usefully in that direction. 

I think that you will be glad to hear that the Committee 
of this Museum are taking steps to secure a complete collec- 
tion of all the Salmonide of the Tweed, so that tne life of a 
salmon from the cradle to the grave in all its stages may be 
representea by verified specimens. 

That such a collection should be in the possession of the 


Report of Meetings. By the President. | 439 


Museum, and should be accessible to all who are interested 
is very natural, will be highly advantageous, and ought to 
be assisted by our Club in any way within our power. 


Report of Meetings of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club 
jor the Year 1884. By THE PRESIDENT. 


CORNHILL, 
FOR PALLINSBURN, FORD, DUDDO, ETC. 


Tue first Meeting of the year took place cn Thursday 29th 
May, for the sixth time since the foundation of the Club. The 
day had been postponed from the usual Wednesday to accommo- 
date the convenience of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle- 
on-Tyne, with whom we had a joint meeting. 

While breakfast and preparations were going on at the 
‘Collingwood Arms,” Mr Hardy and I walked to the Bathing 
Well Plantation, a short distance south of the hotel, where a 
small Bath-house was formerly situated upon the little stream 
which still wells forth, bright and cool. In May 1853, the Club 
visited the same plantation, when, in the words of the Chronicler, 
“it was flushed with a show of flowers which no horticultural 
society could emulate, ””— Myosotis sylvatica being specially 
mentioned. We were pleased to find, in tolerable abundance 
another of the plants noticed on that occasion, Al/iswm arenarium 
(or Scorodoprasum), and there was plenty of Myosotis; but the 
striking feature, botanically, was the Butterbur, Petasites vul- 
garis. This plant, which loves moist sandy localities near rivers, 
and may be seen to perfection near the mouth of the Whitadder, 
displays, in early spring before the foliage appears, its heads of 
pink flowers to attract bees. The large leaves and long stalks 
at first sight so much resemble Rhubarb, that they might easily 
be mistaken for it by an inexperienced housekeeper. In ex- 
tent, abundance, and luxuriance, the show of this plant in the 
Bathing Well Plantation transcended everything which had be- 
fore come under our notice. Lateron in the season many of the 
leaf stalks, measured by me, were 5 feet high. That, in the 
1853 Report, there should be no mention of this plant, at the 


440 Report of Meetings. By the President. 


same time of year, seems somewhat odd, as it now chokes up 
the whole plantation, It may, however, be a subsequent intro- 
duction, and have driven out most of the flowers which made 
such a display before. 

Believing that every thing in Nature has its uses, we cannot 
help being struck with the numerous and enormous leaves of 
this rank-growing plant, which hide the ground, and prevert 
smaller plants from flourishing ; and ask-——for they are useless for 
fodder—whether they were designed to delight the eye, or as a 
natural mulching, or both? Or are they just examples of the 
‘‘survival of the fittest”? to delight the Darwinian? 

We went on to the Medicinal Well in the Haugh below the 
Plantation. This Well, having no connection with the ‘‘ Bath- 
ing Well” stream, and now nearly obscured by neglect and 
marshy overgrowth, is mentioned in County Histories as being 
well known to possess medicinal properties ; and it is more than 
a tradition among old people of the neighbourhood, that invalids 
used to stay at Cornhill, or Coldstream. for the purpose of drink- 
ing its waters. Not being able to find out that they had ever 
been analysed, I sent samples to my friend Dr. A. P. Aitken, 
Analytical Chemist to the Highland Agricultural Society. 

The ditch near the Well contains many sorts of plants, among 
which I noticed Solanum Duleamara, or Bittersweet, which many 
or most people believe to be Deadly Night-shade, and call it so. 

Returning to the hotel, our party, about 45 in number, set 
out in conveyances for Pallinsburn. 

The first object of interest which arrested attention was a Toll 
Collector, one of the last of his race, specimens of which although 
observed during most Club excursions during the last 50 years, 
must hereafter be sought for among the fossils of the Victorian 
epoch. 

Having reached Pallinsburn, we were courteously received by 
Mr Watson Askew, and proceeded to examine the great gravel 
bank upon his estate, one of those remarkable ridges known as 
Eskers in Ireland and Kaims in Scotland; which, with a general 
course from Kast to West, are abundant in parts of our Border 
Counties especially Berwickshire; which have long puzzled 
geologists ; and about which our Proceedings contain several in- 
teresting notices. 

Our distinguished member, Mr David Milne-Home of Milne 
Graden, wrote.a valuable essay upon them and the high-water- 


Report of Meetings. By the President. 441 


marks in the valley of the Tweed, which, with its plans and 
diagrams, should, if possible, be studied by all who wish to un- 
derstand the subject. In proof of the numbers of these Kaims 
in Berwickshire, and of the popular interest excited by them, the 
author has pointed out that several farms and estates were 
named after them, from one of which, Lord Kaims, celebrated 
as a Scotch lawyer of last century, took his title. 

Typical examples of convenient access may be observed near 
Lucker Station on the North Eastern Railway, as about a mile 
from it the Bamburgh road cuts through the chief of a set of 
famous ridges called ‘‘The Bradford Kaims”; and at Wark, 
where a Kaim extends for more than three quarters of a mile 
between the road and the Tweed, near the Castle, on the 
Northumberland side ; in both instances, excavations revealing 
the nature of the interior may be seen. 

The word Kaim, Scotch for Comb, is said by Jamieson in his 
Dictionary, to denote the crest of a hill, or those pinnacles 
which resemble a cock’s comb. 

An examination of the contents of one of these detrital ridges, 
for such they are, show that they consist of stones of all sorts, and. 
sand. Both inside and out, at first sight, they bear a great 
resemblance to Moraine-heaps, or the accumulation of rubbish 
left by the movements of glaciers ; besides which, they are often 
associated (as at Bradford and North Charlton), with the boulder- 
clay, and sometimes contain a few glaciated stones. Moraines, in 
fact, they were supposed to be; but that opinion is no longer held. 
If we examine the contents of an undoubted moraine-heap—any of 
those, for instance in the Highlands, which in parts are so abund- 
ant—we find that the stones of which they are composed are sharply 
angular, or sub-angular ; while we may easily satisfy ourselves 
that the stones of a Kaim are rounded and water-worn more or less. 
Besides which, the evidences of stratification are often very 
distinct, and in some, the fact of marine origin seems to be 
rendered certain by the presence of marine shells. 

‘‘ He wiil be a lucky observer,” wrote Professor Archibald 
Geikie in 1865, ‘‘ who succeeds in harmonizing the difficulties 
and presenting a satisfactory explanation of these remarkable 
ridges.” 

The explanation which I believe to be now generally ac- 
cepted, is, that both ice and water have contributed to 
their formation. They are supposed to be made up of water- 

2C 


442 Report of Meetings. By the President. 


worn glacial fragments that were deposited as a detrital bed, 
which either then was, or at some subsequent period became, 
the bottom of the sea. The sea afterwards retired, leaving, 
except for a subsequent growth of vegetation, many of the 
Kaims pretty much as we see them now, having formed them by 
the action of its currents in heaping up its bed into ridges, 
or in scooping out the intervening spaces. Or the latter 
operation may have been affected by river currents alone after 
the elevation of the old sea bottom, and clearly often has been, 
as we may observe in many localities on the Tweed and its tri- 
butaries. Now we know perfectly well, that sea at one time 
covered a large area of our Border Counties; and Mr Milne 
Home believes that in all probabilty the central parts of the 
Tweed valley were at one time filled with detrital matter at 
least 300 feet in thickness. By a plan and section of sub-marine 
banks between the English and the Belgian coast, he shows 
very interestingly, that were the English Channel to be raised 
out of the sea at the present time, it would most likely 
present a series of Kaims very similar to those which we observe 
in the north here. 

The components of the great gravel ridge at Pallinsburn 
are chiefly rolled shingle formed from rocks of the Silurian 
series of greywacke, such as now strews the banks of the Tweed 
and its tributaries in their upper courses. 

Driving to Brankston, we inspected the Church. The ancient 
structure that was in view of the combatants of Flodden, 
especially of that heroic band that fought round the Scottish 
King when he fell on Piper’s Hill, was taken down to its 
foundations about 50 years ago, except the chancel arch, which 
is Transitional Norman. The doorway is a reproduction of 
the ancient one. Here a short rapier or single-edged dagger, 
broken at the hilt, found near the rectory, was presented to 
the Secretary. Passing ‘the little fountain well, where water 
clear as diamond sparks in a stone basin fell’? whence Marmion’s 
dying draught was brought by the Lady Clare, we ascended 
Marmion’s Hill, from which Mr Askew kindly pointed out the 
points of interest in connexion with that oft-described and historic 
ground. 

“Deep drank Lord Marmion of the wave.” It would be 
coldly hypercritical to pause to enquire whether the celebrated 
‘‘ Sibyl’s Well” existed in his day. What a power is fiction 


Report of Meetings. By the President. 443 


when wielded by a Great Wizard of the art! In our minds, as 
we surveyed the celebrated scene, how much more closely were 
the famous sites identified with the fictitious than with the real 
dramatis persone. 

To Ford Church next, where the Rev. H. M. Neville, rector, 
was waiting to receive us, to show us énter alia, his Church 
Registers dating back to 1683, and his communion plate, which 
is not antique. He also pointed out a newly discovered frag- 
ment of a recumbent effigy, which, until lately, had been one of 
the paving stones of the west end of the Church. Two words 
of the inscription 

QUONDAM DNATRIX, 
are still visible. 

Ford Castle was next examined, and, it seems needless to say, 
the room, in the uppermost story of the N.W. Tower, which King 
James occupied when his army was encamped at Flodden—with 
its secret staircase to the room below, which was discovered 20 
years or so ago, while repairs were being carried out. 

The unfortunate monarch, as is well known, was at that time 
troubled with a ‘‘kind o’ dizziness,’’ which would not let him 
‘¢ wang aboot his business.” 

From the large windows, which are a subsequent insertion, a 
magnificent view of the luxuriant vale of the Tweed backed by the 
bold rounded outlines of the Cheviots is obtained, and the nearest 
ridge, which though now covered oy highly cultivated fields and 
plantations, is the identical locality where raged the famous 
‘battle of the warrior with confused noise.” 

Under the refined taste of Lady Waterford, Ford has become 
one of the loveliest places in the county, and with real pleasure 
we proceeded to walk through the grounds, and to inspect the 
School, with its beautiful mural frescoes by her Ladyship’s own 
hand. 

Our drive was next to Etal, which at various times, as well as 
Ford and Flodden, has been so often visited, and so amply de- 
scribed by members of our Club, that it seems unnecessary to 
dwell uponit. The Etal property has seen many changes, is now 
the property of the Earl of Erroll, and is in the market. 

Some of us having entered the public room of the little Inn at 
Ktal, Dr Frank Douglas remarked that he well remembered 
attending a Club Meeting in that very room exactly 40 years ago. 
I was interested, of course. at hearing that, but afterwards, on 


444, Report of Meetings. By the President. 


looking up the records of the day in our 2nd volume, discovered 
an excellent reason for that Wednesday morning being specially 
impressed upon our worthy Secretary’s memory. 

There was no breakfast! ‘ Notwithstanding’ records the 
president in his address for 1844 ‘‘ notwithstanding that there 
had been a week’s previous notice, we found an ill assorted board, 
with such a paucity of provisions as visibly affected the stoicism 
of many of the assembled members. ”’ 

It is satisfactory, however, to know that by perseverance, and 
by repeated applications of the bell, ‘‘ sufficient provender of a 
homely nature was at length procured to satisfy the cravings of 
the appetite, and the ruffled equanimity of the party was re- 
stored.” 

A short inspection of the castle sufficed, and we had no time to 
spare for the Mansion House of the Fitzclarences, so re-mounting 
our vehicles we drove towards Duddo. 

‘‘At Broomridge’’ observed I, innocently quoting from a 
county history for the information of my companions in the car- 
riage ‘“‘at Broomridge, one mile south of Ford, are the lines 
and entrenchments of the brave Saxon King Athelstan, who here 
defeated a combined force of Scots and Danes.” 

The defiant flash of the eyes, the prompt, loud, and unanimous 
chorus of ‘‘ Never!” which arose from the lungs of the brave 
sons of Caledonia who heard me, seemed to revive the memories 
of Flodden, and almost threatened, had I persisted in my history, 
a repetition of it on a small scale. Surely the amor patrie isa 
grand ingredient in a man’s as well as in a national character. 

The next halt was at Duddo—the name being derived from 
Dod a round topped hill, and foe-a height. The Club has no 
records of former visits to this place. We clambered up a rocky 
eminence, admired the magnificent view, and inspected the Tower, 
which is the remains of a little fortress, the ancient Peel of the 
Lords of Tillmouth, that was destroyed by the Scots a few days 
before Flodden. It is in a very decayed condition, and though 
buttressed up in parts, the structure to the south has long been 
cracked, and the breach is becoming wider. Dr. Thomson, in 
a Paper on the Strata of Berwickshire, which appears in our 
Proceedings for 1835, incidentally notices this condition of 
Duddo Tower—‘‘rent from top to bottom in consequence of 
being undermined by the subterraneous working of the neigh- 
bouring coal seams.” 


Report of Meetings. By the President. AAS 


The building stands on a hard red and white freestone escarp- 
ment, well known in the district by the name of the ‘‘ Ten Quar- 
ter Freestone,’ which at the point where the tower is situate is 
from 36 to 40 feet thick. There are four seams of coal which 
underlie the Berwick road at about right angles, and abut 
against the basaltic dyke on the other side of it. The ‘ Cooper 
Hye” is the chief of these seams. It is about 100 yards from the 
Tower, to the west, the ‘‘ Bulman” seam being to the east, and 
nearest. 

The old parish church, but still of quite a modern character, 
(there was no ancient one) and quite disused, is close to the 
Tower, the road separating them. ‘The new church consecrated 
in 1880 by the Bp. of Durham is visible about a mile to the east. 
We were obliged to content ourselves with a distant glimpse of 
what are called Druidical remains, on Grindonrig, a miile to the 
N.W., the exigencies of time not permitting a closer examination. 
They consist of an ancient burial place of four large stones, set 
up similarly to Druidical Cairns. ‘The belief in Druidical circles, 
has I fancy, rather gone out. 

Our route back to Cornhill lay over “The Till by Twizell 
Bridge ;” from which famous locality, we viewed, not .without 
reoret, the remains of the recently dismantled castle crowning 
the rocky steep, at whose foot, ‘‘so many a chief of birth and 
rank, Saint Helen! at thy fountain drink.” 

The exact identity of Saint Helen’s well is at present much 
obscured by accumulations of earth and marshy overgrowth. 

Nothing special in the way of Natural History came under 
notice during the day. Of course we observed our old friends 
the Black-headed Gulls at Pallinsburn. 

These birds do not breed on the Farnes as some have supposed, 
nor are they seen there, except as temporary and occasional 
visitors. 

Their inland breeding places were formerly more numerous 
than now, but the drainave of lochs and mosses causes them to 
desert ancient places of resort. At Pallinsburn Mr. Askew 
considers that they hold their own. 

I have to thank Mr George Bolam, of Berwick, for the follow- 
ing interesting note concerning these sprightly and favorite birds. 

The Black-headed Gull is a permanent resident with us, and some 


individuals may be seen at any time throughout the yearabout the mouth 
of our river; of course they are least numerous during the month or two 


446 Report of Meetings. By the President. 


in Summer when they are engaged in breeding—May and June—but even 
then there are always a few of them hanging about the quay; all through 
the Winter they are abundant, and the same may be said of Spring and 
Autumn. In Autumn after the breeding birds and their young have 
come down from the inland lakes they congregate in immense flocks at 
night to roost in company with other gulls—herring, lesser-blackbacked, 
common, &c., upon the sands at Goswick and Holy Island, and probably 
most of those that frequent Berwick Harbour during the day repair 
thither at nightfall. 

Some few of them doubtless migrate towards the South during winter 
but they are not perceptibly missed, their places being filled up by others. 

In winter of course they lose the black heads which render them so 
conspicuous during summer, and it is stilla point of much difference of 
opinion as to whether this change is caused by moulting or by actual 
change in colour of the feathers themselves. In the spring when 
changing from white to black I have never had much chance of investiga- 
ting the matter, but I have shot birds during the autumnal change, and 
then their heads invariably showed signs of moulting, the black feathers 
falling out and being replaced by white ones—and I see no reason for 
supposing that the heads do not moult both in spring and autumn at the 
same time as other parts of the body. 


During our drive through the country it was noticed that the 
foliage of the oak was distinctly in advance of that of the ash. 
It generally is; but the old adage 

‘‘Tf the Oak’s before the Ash 
Then you'll only get a splash ; 


If the Ash precedes the Oak, 
Then you may expect a soak,” 


was inevitably quoted, and the amount of credibility of which it 
is deserving, came in for discussion. 

It would seem ungracious to disseet so time honoured a proverb ; 
but is there any ‘‘reason in the rhyme,” anything in the habits of 
the two trees which enables them to indicate what sort of weather 
may be expected in the future ? 

The (ak sends its roots deep down into the soil, and therefore 
is not so dependent on a wet spring for the water supply which 
may be necessary for early leafing, as the Ash, whose roots are 
near the surface, and whose leafing, ceteris paribus, would be 
quicker in a wet spring. Rain, therefore, does not affect the 
Oak as much as it does the Ash; so if the latter is pushed for- 
ward quicker than usual, it merely shows that the “soak” has 
prevailed, or is going on, but cannot justify the investiture of 
prophetic powers. 


Report of Meetings. By the President. 447 


Statements and adages regarding the Common Ash should be 
received with caution ; for there are, perhaps, a greater number 
of superstitions connected with it than, with any other tree. 

The summer of 1884, however, will be adduced in support of 
the truth of the old saying; and also of the popular belief that 
when the oak leafs before the ash, there will be fine weather in 
harvest, and an abundant crop. 

After dinner, to which 60 did justice, in addition to the usnal 
toasts, the health of The Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-on- 
Tyne was drunk, coupled with the name of the Vice-chairman, 
the Rev. E. H. Adamson, who suitably responded. The 
President read a Paper on ‘‘Hmbedded Reptiles,” which was 
called forth by the recent discovery of a live frog in the 
Scremerston Limestone. 

Two photographs of three small urns and a cranium recently 
found at Amble, were handed round by Mr G. H. Thompson, 
Alnwick, who will give a notice of the discovery. 

Mr Muirhead exhibited a large number of flowers grown in 
his garden at Paxton. My Peter Loney showed a collection of 
Ozone papers—slips of paper, which when prepared with 
hydrate of potassium and starch, and exposed in a wire cage 
for 24 hours, show, by their difference in colouring, the amount 
of ozone in the air—the darker the colour, the more ozone. Thus 
it was pointed out that on a certain day, when a very heavy gale 
occurred, very dark paper resulted, much more air having been 
brought into contact with the paper in a given time, than would 
have been during a light wind or a calm. 

Mr Thomson showed two silver coins, one of James VI. of 
Scotland and the other of Elizabeth, found many years ago near 
‘Milfield ; a Rose and Thistle plack; and a copper abbey-piece or 
counter. This last was found a short time before beneath a large 
stone four and a half feet below the surface of the ground while 
the labourers were digging the foundation of a wall for the 
school playground at Kelso, close to the Abbey. 

Several new members were proposed at this meeting, who will 
be enumerated at the close. 


THE FARNE ISLANDS. 


Tue second meeting was held at the Farne Islands, on Wed- 
nesday 25th June, and was numerously attended. 
The Leith passenger steamer ‘‘ Fiery Oross’” had been char- 


448 Report of Meetings. By the President. 


tered for the occasion, and was in waiting off the Pier Head at 
Berwick, at half-past ten in the morning, as tne state of the 
tide—which inconveniently enough happened to be about the 
lowest in the whole year—would not admit of the embarkation 
inside the river’s mouth. On board of her, about 50 members 
were conveyed from the Crabwater Landing by the little steam 
ferry ‘‘ Susan.” 

With a pleasant breeze from the west which ensured a smooth 
sea, and freedom from the attacks of an enemy who had surely 
to be reckoned with by many of us, before finally deciding to take 
part in the expedition ; with a clear sky, and the prospect of so 
interesting and celebrated a locality for our excursion ; with Mr 
Cuthbertson, the Pilot, on board, to guide us safely through its 
intricate channels and clear of its hidden dangers ; the elements 
of a successful and enjoyable day were certainly not wanting; 
and every one seemed in good spirits. 

The Club had only twice before visited the Farnes. 

The first occasion was on the 21st June, 1854, when ten mem- 
bers were present,* among whom was our late lamented Secretary, 
Mr George Tate, whose long, interesting, and fairly exhaustive 
Monograph on the Farnes, which appeared in our Proceedings 
for 1856, (vol. iil. pp. 222-250,) testifies of the learning and 
ability of the author, and of the importance which he attached 
to the Farnes from a Naturalist’s point of view. 

The record of the 1854 visit is very short, but it alludes to the 
gratification which was felt at seeing, at the Longstone, the 
father of Grace Darling, and several members of the family. 

The only other record is of the date of 26th July, 1866, when 
a detachment from the main body: of the Club, which held its 
meeting at Beadnell that day, sailed from the harbour there, 
and visited the principal Islands. 

But to return to ourselves. 

With the wind astern, and the flood tide in our favour, 
passing between the islands and the mainland, we arrived off 
North Sunderland before one o’clock, where we were re-inforced 
by about 20 more members and friends, who found it more con- 
venient to join the steamer there, in the five boats, with three 
boatmen in each, which had been engaged for our use, and 
which we forthwith took in tow. 


*Dr. Johnston, Revds. T. D. Clark, Geo. Walker, S. A. Tyler, W. 
Darnell, L. 8S. Orde, Messrs. Selby, Boyd, Embleton, and Tate. 


Report of Meetings. By the President. 449 


The nearest point to the mainland is Monkshouse, near 

* Bambro’; but North Sunderland, though half a mile further 
distant, is the natural and most convenient, and for more reasons 
than one, the recognised port of embarkation. 

Being aware of the rarity of the earlier volumes of our Pro- 
ceedings, with all their valuable contents, no complete series of 
them being accessible for the use of members in any central 
place (the Berwick Museum for instance); so that in all 
probability, not one member out of twenty would have been 
able to consult Mr Tate’s Paper, and desiring that to no one of 
our party should they be entirely a terra incognita, I had pre- 
pared for the occasion, and had the pleasure of reading on the 
deck of the steamer during the voyage, an outline Sketch of the 
Farnes and of the chief points of interest which they present. 

We often notice that the islands are erroneously designated 
the ‘‘ Fernes” or the ‘‘ Fern Islands” —indeed as such they appear 
on a recently published map of Northumberland. If this 
appellation is connected with the supposed abundance of ferns, 
itis singularly inapplicable; for as a matter of fact there are no 
ferns whatever on any of the islands. 

The etymology of the title ‘‘Farne”’ is still rather obscure. 
There are several explanations. The popular one, derived 
from Grose and perpetuated by Raine (North Durham, p. 50, 
note), is that it is derived from the Celtic fahren, signifying 
a place of retreat, and that the appellation was bestowed when 
St. Cuthbert and other saints and hermits of old utilised it as 
their place of retreat. Mr Raine, elsewhere, forgetting (l.c. p. 340) 
his original reference, makes the word fahre German, adopting 
Grose’s explanation of the supposed Celtic term. 

But however ungenial it may be to interfere with long- 
accepted popular beliefs, especially with one so pretty and 
natural as this, it is necessary to state that no such word as 
fahren can be found in Celtic, nor has Mr Rhys, Professor of 
Gaelic in the University of Oxford, any knowledge of such a 
word; which, too, has been sought for in two modern Gaelic 
dictionaries, and is not recorded. The word that approximates 
nearest to the meaning attached to it by Grose, and with some- 
thing of sound, is fraon, shelter in a hill. 

In German, it is true, the word fahren does exist, but certainly 
does not mean a retreat. It means to move, go, &c., is used a 
great deal idiomatically, but always with the idea of movement. 

2D 


450 Report of Meetings. By the President. 


Secondly, in the current No. of our Proceedings, there is a 
spirited little posthumous paper by the late lamented Mr Carr- 
Ellison, in which he seeks to demonstrate that in Anglo-Saxon, 
the mother tongue of our vernacular English, the islands were 
called ‘‘ The islands of the Pilgrims” ; and that ‘‘ Lindisfarne ”’ 
signifies ‘‘ Pilgrims or Travellers of the Lin.” 

Next comes the theory of our learned and esteemed member, 
the Rey. William Greenwell, which, to my mind, appears to be 
so likely, that at first sight it appears to carry conviction with it, 
and I beg to introduce it as ‘‘ Greenwell’s Glory.” * 

The two streams which flow into the sea at Beal and Budle 
respectively, are the Lin and the Waren, or as it uow appears 
on the map, the Warn, which discharged itself on Warnham 
Flats. 

These are the ancient names of the streams; and what is 
more conceivable and likely than that the islands lying off the 
mouth of the river or brook Waren should be named the Waren 
Islands? The ‘“w” easily became ‘‘f,” producing Faren 
Islands, because it is well known that ‘‘f’’ and ‘‘ v’’—the latter 
being practically the same as ‘‘ w’’--were interchangeable 
between Anglo-Saxon and cognate languages. From Faren to 
Farne the transition is easy enough. 

As regards ‘Lindisfarne,’ Dr Greenwell suggests that it 
may simply have been “ Lindisfarnensis Terra,” or the land 
adjoining the streams Lin and Farne. This may have superseded 
the ancient British title which it is known to have possessed. 
An inspection on the map, of the relative situations, -will, I 
think, strengthen our disposition to receive the reverend gentle- 
man’s simple explanation as a very likely one. 

Lastly, we have the interesting hypothesis of our learned 
secretary, Mr Hardy, which is the result of his latest investiga- 
tions. It is quite as likely as the others. 

‘‘We can sometimes conjecture the position of some of the 
settlements of the Celtic monks of the old Scottish Church by the 
names of localities still embodying Gaelic elements, or by the 
names of the saints to which their sacred edifices or kills were 
dedicated. In the name Lindisfarne there is at least a presump- 
tion that some Celtic ingredient might be identified. The small 
colony of monks from Iona, to whom the island was presented as 


* This is the name of a celebrated artificial fly, invented by Canon 
Greenwell, well-known to Border Anglers. 


Report of Meetings. By the President. 451 


a home by King Oswald in 635, probably found it without a 
name, the British Medicante or Medcaut having fallen into dis- 
use, while the name of the stream Lindis, which had to be crossed 
before firm land was reached, was still retained ; and the danger 
and difficulty of traversing it and the sands, would force it con- 
stantly on their attention as a source of solicitude. It might 
thus happen that they would speak of the shore towards which 
they had to journey through quicksands and an occasionally 
flooded rivulet, as emphatically in their language, Fearann (pro- 
nounced Fer-unn, McAlpine), (land, earth, country); or more 
fully as the Pearann-na-Lindis, the land of Lindis; which term 
afterwards, revised to suit the Saxon or English idiom, became 
Lindisfarne. They do not at this time call it an island, because 
it was dubious, as appears from Bede’s expression, whether it was 
an island or part of the mainland: ‘bis quotidie instar insulze 
maris circumluitur undis, bis renudato littore contiguus terre 
redditur.’ Equally, if the island was granted by charter, would 
the term Fearann apply to it, for Fearran signifies ‘estate, farm,’ 
as well as ‘land’ (M‘Leod and Dewar). We have no remain- 
ing evidence of such a charter having once existed, but it is 
within a century of Oswy, king of Northumberland (before 670), 
and his nobles giving the Church at Lindisfarne numerous 
donations of land on the river Bowmont, with stedes and 
hamlets, which, from the preservation of their names, appear to 
have been entered in a written deed (Hist. Sti. Cuthberti apud 
X. Scriptores 4 Twysden, col. 67, apud Morton’s Teviotdale, 
note, p. 3). If there was such a grant, the lesser islands in 
groups in the vicinity, which were also Church territory, would 
be included in it, and would likewise take the familiar title of 
Fearann, as satellites of the main possession.” 

Like so many localities in these Border Lands of ours, the 
Farnes are intimately associated with ecclesiastical history and 
ecclesiastical worthies; but chiefly with the name of St 
Cuthbert do we connect them. 

There are now no remains on the Farne or House Island of 
the famous habitation, half cell, half oratory, in which for 
more than nine years, lived the celebrated Northumbrian 
Saint; nor of the Hospitium which he built to accommodate 
the numerous visitors who arrived for advice and devotion. The 
latter, however, was in existence up to the 12th century. 

In later times there was on the island a monastic house, 


452 Report of Meetings. By the President. 


‘‘The House of Farne” in connection with the Convent at 
Durham, which existed till the suppression of monasteries in 
1536, and which was endowed by various individuals, among 
whose names appears that of Sir William de Scremereston, by 
which we are reminded of the antiquity of our parish of that 
name, and, maybe, of a very retired inhabitant of it, upon 
whose history I endeavoured at our Cornhill gathering to throw 
some light. 

The Farnes were among the most ancient possessions of the 
Church in Lindisfarne, and passed, in the course of time, to the 
Prior and Convent at Durham. At the dissolution of Monaster- 
ies in 1536, Henry VIII bestowed them upon the Dean and 
Chapter of Durham, who were in the habit of regularly leasing 
them, and finally sold to Archdeacon Thorp that part of them 
known as the Inner Farnes ‘‘together with one house or tenement 
called Monkhouse to the said islands belonging on the 28th 
September 1861 subject to the ground on which the Lighthouse 
and appurtenances stand and also a right of way to and from 
the shore.” 

As considerable misapprehension exists about the ownership 
of the Islands, and the extent of rights over them claimed by 
the Farne Island Association, by whose courtesy, I may say, we 
were enabled to carry out our expedition, I thought it desirable 
that the matter should be clearly explained, and towards that 
end Mr Robert Archer of Alnwick, the secretary of the Associa- 
tion, kindly furnished me with a map and extracts from the 
title-deeds. 

From them it appears that the Outer Farnes are under the 
control of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who have declined 
to renew the Association’s current lease, which expires in May 
1887; while the Inner Farnes are the freehold property of 
the representatives of the late Archdeacon Thorp, and which, 
until the above named date, are also leased to the Associa- 
tion. 

However bright and beneficent, however invaluable in their 
day, may have been the rays of spiritual illumination which 
emanated from the Farnes, there can be no doubt, that at the 
present time, though in a different sphere, the rays which they 
send flashing seawards in all directions for the guidance of 
‘‘those who go down to the sea in ships,’’ and who, on these 
dangerous and harbourless east coasts, were it not for those 


Report of Meetings. By the President. 453 


friendly and welcome warnings, would very much oftener than 
they do, go down 7” the sea in ships, are not of less utility. 

So, having en route landed at the chosen place the material 

necessary for the Club Dinner—that important factor in the 
day’s programme—we proceeded to view, in the first place, the 
celebrated Lonestone. We were skilfully piloted through the 
Piper Gut by our pilot, passing quite closely the 8S.W. corner 
of the Big Harcar, on which the Forfarshire was wrecked in 
1838, and having hove-to, to the N.W. of the landing place, 
our boats easily dropped down to it on the flood tide. Stepping 
ashore, we were received by the light-keepers, and under their 
guidance inspected the Lighthouse and saw how the flash was 
effected, being shown, as we ascended, the room into which a 
portion of the rescued crew of the Forfarshire was brought by 
Grace Darling and her family. 
' All English Lighthouses, together with the staff necessary for 
their management, are under the immediate administration of 
the Trinity House, subject to the control of the Board of Trade, 
the Scotch being managed by the Commissioners of Northern 
Lights. 

Few persons have much idea what the Trinity House is—beyond 
identifying it in their minds with occasional mysterious newspaper 
references to ‘‘ Elder Brethren”’ and ‘‘ Younger Brethren” and 
Banquets. The Trinity House was founded by a charter of 
Henry VIII in 1512, and, at first, its offices were of a religious 
character connected with the welfare of sailors, but gradually 
those functions were altered and extended, until they comprised 
the general control of the mercantile marine, especially the 
illumination of dangerous parts of the coasts. 

At the present day its members, called ‘‘ Trinity Brethren,”’ 
have very little to do with the mercantile marine, but they erect 
and superintend Lighthouses, examine and issue certificates of 
competency to pilots, and establish and keep in order all sea- 
marks and buoys. The first Lighthouse was put upon the 
Farnes in 1775, when coal fires were shown in open fire places. 
A comparison of this rude method of warning sailors of danger, 
with the powerful, scientific, elaborate, and highly finished 
systems now in use, strikingly illustrates the extraordinary 
progress, which, in those as well as in other scientific matters, 
we have made during the past century. 

The present number is three, namely: one on the Longstone, 


454 Report of Meetings. By the President. 


and two on the Farne. That on the Longstone was erected in 
1826, is 85 feet high, and is furnished with a Revolving Light 
on the Dioptric or Refracting System. The duration of each 
flash, which is visible 18 miles from a ship’s deck, is 7 seconds. 
It suddenly appears at almost full power, and suddenly dis- 
appears for 23 seconds,—thus there is only one flash every half 
minute. 

On the Farne the High Lighthouse was erected in 1766, is 43 
feet high, and hasa Revolving Light on the oa or Reflect- 
ing System, visible 15 miles. 

The duration of the flash at this lighthouse was the same as 
the Longstone up to August lst 1884, when it was changed, 
showing 2 white flashes and 1 red every 20 seconds, which 
gradually increase and decrease in intensity, only remaining at 
full power for a short time. It is interesting to know that at 
both lighthouses, during the period that the light is not visible, 
it is not lost to the mariner, but is concentrated in the beam 
that is seen, thus making it at the Longstone five times as 
powerful as a fixed light. 

The Low Lighthouse on the Farne is an octagonal tower, 27 
feet high, built in 1810, which shows a fixed light visible 12 
miles. Colza oil is used forall the lights. 

To the Lights a useful auxiliary is the Fog-horn, which, by 
special permission of the Trinity Board—through the kind appli- 
cation of Mr Benjamin Morton, Trinity Superintendent, Sunder- 
land, to whom I am indebted for much useful information—was 
sounded several times. 

To fog-enshrouded mariners, as I can testify from personal 
experience, any sort of noise is welcome save that of breakers on 
a lee-shore; but, intrinsically considered, the roar of this Fog- 
horn is of an unmusical, depressing, and unearthly character. 
It is managed thus: air is compressed by an air-pump worked 
by caloric engines, and delivered into a receiver at a pressure of 
25lbs. per square inch, whence it passes into the inner cylinder. 

The sound is produced by an apparatus of American invention 
called a Syren, which consists of two metal cylinders fitting 
closely one inside the other, the inner cylinder being fixed, and 
the other, which is about a foot high and nine inches in diameter, 
revolving round it. Both cylinders are pierced with 24 slits 
about 2 inches long by 2-10ths of an inch broad. The outer 
cylinder is made to revolve at the rate of 20 revolutions a second. 


Report of Meetings. By the President. 455 


As the slits or openings come opposite to each other the com- 
pressed air escapes through them, producing 20 x 24 = 480 dis- 
tinct shocks, vibrations, or sound waves a second—that is, 
28,800 a minute—which, following each other in such rapid 
succession, fall on the ear as a continuous sound, that is pro- 
jected seaward through a huge trumpet, which is always turned 
to windward when in use. Under favourable circumstances the 
trumpet can be heard 12 miles off. 

The Syren is the result of a long series of exhaustive experi- 
ments, which have proved it to be the form of instrument which 
can be heard at the greatest distance, though in the immediate 
vicinity sounds produced by other means may be louder. 

The Keepers observe a rule that as soon as they lose sight of 
the Pinnacles in thick weather they begin sounding the fog-horn. 

The Farnes present so much that is interesting that we all 
felt, with regret I believe, how little justice could be done to it 
all in the course of so brief and necessarily hurried a visit. 

We had no time, for instance, to examine the geological 
features in anything like detail. Geologicaily speaking, the 
Farnes are an outcrop of the Great Whin Sill, with remains of 
sedimentary rocks containing fossils, and boulder clay. There 
are marks of glaciation to be observed. 

The Great Whin Sill was a vast subterranean lake of melted 
Basalt, which, at some time during the Carboniferous Period, 
many long ages ago,—who can tell correctly ?—was forcibly 
intruded among the lower Carboniferous strata of Northumber- 
land. It never reached the surface, but cooled between the 
sedimentary beds; which, since worn away by denudation, have 
here and there exposed it to view, and it forms the surface or 
nearly so; as at Embleton whence we get whin-stone sent to 
Berwick for our road metal; at Spindlestone, where it forms 
the celebrated Craigs of that name; and at Dunstanborough and 
Bamborough where the Castles stand upon it. 

Now this enormous sheet of igneous rock which ranges from 
20 to 150 feet in thickness, is known to stretch across a great 
portion of Northumberland, and probably underlies the whole 
of the Southern and Eastern portions of the County, is not, one 
must note, an ordinary intrusive dyke, passing vertically through 
the strata as at Holy Island and other places. Neither is it a 
regular ‘‘interbedded trap,” or stratum which once formed the 
surface, and on which other beds were in due course deposited, 


456 Report of Meetings. By the President. 


as was for long supposed; but that it was intruded in the way 
that I have described, is now, according to Professer Lebour, con- 
sidered to be proved by two facts. First, the sedimentary 
rocks which immediately overlie the Whin Sill are altered or 
metamorphosed, especially when they consist of shales; and 
secondly, that it does not lie at one uniform level amongst the 
sedimentary strata, but frequently comes up in bosses, cutting 
through the rocks, and shifting its relative position amongst 
them to the extent of 1000 feet or more in short distances. 

Like all basaltic rocks, the Whin Sill has a tendency to be- 
come fissured and to split up into jointed columns, as may be 
observed in the detached rocks called The Pianacles, which, 
crowded as they are in the season—so that, apparently, not an 
inch of standing room is left— with guillemots, kittiwakes, and 
razor-bills, form one of what may be well called ‘the 
sights’ of the Farnes. The Pinnacles lie close to the south side 
of Stapel island, where Hider ducks and other birds breed; and 
on that island, with the exception of a few who preferred going 
off to the Crumstone to see the Seals, our party landed after 
quitting the Longstone, whence we had easily reached our 
steamer, for in the interval she had moved to the southward of 
the island and we dropped down to her on the last of the 
flood. 

While they were examining the interesting and, to so many 
of them, the novel features of bird-life there presented, I 
devoted the short time at my disposal to botany. 

The Botany of the Farnes offers nothing that is peculiar; and, 
as might be expected, its plants are of a maritime character. 
There are no trees, and, as I havé already mentioned, the fern 
order is wholly unrepresented. 

I had with me a complete list of the flowering plants, 62 
species, given by Mr Tate, and to which no one, I believe, has 
made any addition. 

I could not observe among the very numerous single, on the 
Brownsman and Stapel, any double flowered specimens of Silene 
maritima recorded by him. That, however, is not remarkable ; 
the double state of a flower being often a transient one, depend- 
ing on certain conditions favorable to luxuriance. 

The only other plant which calls for a word of notice is 
Cochlearia Danica, ‘‘ Scurvy Grass.” 

Cochlearia is a genus of smooth, sleek, shining cruciferous 


Report of Meetings. By the President. 457 


herbs, whose valuable anti-scorbutic properties were better 
appreciated in “the good old days” of scurvy than now. 

The same remark indeed may be passed with regard to the 
larger proportion of our wild plants, whose medicinal virtues, 
so well understood by our ancestors, are now eclipsed by mineral 
remedies, or used only in the shape of an ‘active principle” 
bought at the chemist’s shop. 

But Cochlearia is, besides, interesting as being a genus which 
has its habitat, like Armeria maritima ‘‘ Thrift” or ‘‘Sea Pink,” 
on sea shore and mountain top alike, but rarely at intermediate 
stations. The ordinary form, officinalis, which has the lower 
leaves roundish, cordate at the base, or reniform, is common 
enough at the Farnes, and can scarcely have been overlooked by 
any one who has wandered along our coasts, or penetrated the 
rocky glens and recesses of our mountain ranges. The variety 
Danica, however, belongs exclusively to the sea-coast, and is 
known by its deltoid, ivy-shaped lower leaves, whence the old 
name of the plant, ‘“‘Ivy Scurvy Grass.” Smith, in the English 
Flora, declares that it is unchanged by cultivation, and never 
alters; but our Dr Johnston, in his most charming of all books 
of the sozt, ‘‘ The Natural History of the Eastern Borders,”’ con- 
fesses that he was often puzzled to know to which species to 
refer his specimens. 

Indeed, whether Danica is entitled to take rank as a species, 
or whether it is merely a variaole state of the normal type of 
the plant, is uncertain, and is illustrative of the difficulty which 
is so constantly experienced of deciding what a species really is. 

At five o’clock we all gathered for dinner, which was well 
served, picnic fashion, on the grass on Farne Island, close to 
St Cuthbert’s Chapel—fifty years ago a medieval ruin, part of 
which was inhabited by the light attendant, but which sub- 
sequently was restored by Archdeacon Thorp with the double 
object of perpetuating the name of the famous saint and of pro- 
viding a place for divine worship, which is occasionally held in 
it, the Rev. W. F. Keeling, vicar of Holy Island, having a few 
days before visited it for that purpose. Within isa monument to 
Grace Darling, the popular heroine of the Farnes, who lived 
with her father on the Longstone, died in 1842, aged 26, and 
was buried in Bamburgh Churchyard. The tower on the brow 
of the hill is called Prior Castle’s Tower, having been built by a 
Prior of that name about 1500 as a place of security and defence 

2E 


458 Report of Meetings. By the President. 


—a sort of peel tower, in fact. The Archdeacon put it partly to 
rights, and fitted up some rooms for occasional residence. 

To dinner, grace having been said by the Vicar of Bamburgh, 
and at which the salmon of the Tweed occupied its usual posi- 
tion, seventy members and friends, bringing with them an ample 
supply of the optimum condimentum, did full justice, under the 
canopy of heaven, within sound of the surge, oft there so angry, 
but now hushed and gentle; while circling about them, or 
freshly impressed upon their delighted recollection, were the 
gulls, kittiwakes, guillemots, razorbills, puffins, cormorants, 
terns, eider ducks, oyster-catchers, divers, and the rest of the 
beautiful inhabitants of those bird-loving islets. 

And, certainly, it isto the Ornithologist that the Farnes offer 
the chief attraction. 

From time immemorial they have ben a noted breeding 
station for sea-birds, and still are, in spite of some adverse in- 
fluences; such as the indiscriminate destruction of eggs and 
birds both for commercial purposes and by visitors for amuse- 
ment, which was carried on to such an extent, that the rarer, if 
not the commoner sorts, were in danger of being extirpated. 

In illustration, I may say-that a picnic party have been known 
to kill and maim upwards of 150 birds in an afternoon, just for 
amusement, by stone-throwing; but chiefly I must instance, 
gunners afloat. Immediately after the 1st August, on which day 
the protection of the law under the “ Wild Birds’ Protection 
Act’ ceases, steamers have generally arrived, sometimes two at 
a time, filled with gunners, sometimes forty or fifty in each. 
Ranging up close to the Pinnacles, a fusillade commenced, and 
the work of wanton slaughter was carried out upon the birds, 
who would not leave their nesting places. Some were picked up, 
but hundreds floated uselessly away, staining with their blood 
not only the water, but the wing of time! This has been often 
repeated at intervals during the month. 

Under the management of the present lessees, there is every 
reason to hope that this ancient and interesting station may be 
preserved for the birds in comparative peace and safety. 

The Association, it is true, have no power to prevent persons 
who are on the sea from shooting birds; but still, they could 
touch the steamer-evil in two ways. Firstly, by not themselves 
taking, or allowing to be taken the first ‘‘clutches” or sittings 
of eggs; and secondly, by getting the close time extended, so 


Report of Meetings. By the President. 459 


that the birds might fly away before the gunners arrive; for, as 
it is, they fall victims to the parental instinct which prompts 
them not to desert their progeny,—an instinct implanted by 
Providence, which, surely, should be respected, and, in the 
interests of science as well as of humanity, not taken advantage 
of by man. 

But a combination of both methods seemed likely to be 
the more effective way; so, knowing that the Association had 
already entirely in their own hands the control of the eggs, it 
seemed to me, after due consultation with several of our mem- 
bers, that we might usefully signalise the visit of our Club to the 
Farnes, and strengthen the hands of the Association, by passing 
the following Resolution, which, after the usual toasts, was 
proposed by the President after dinner, seconded by the Rey. 
J. F. Bigge, and carried unanimously. 

‘‘In view of the great interest and value attached to the 
Farne Islands as a breeding station for many rare birds, it is the 
opinion of this Club that it is highly desirable, in the interests of 
science as well as of humanity, that additional effort should be 
made for the preservation and protection of the birds from the 
time of their arrival until the 1st of September; and that a copy 
of this resolution should be sent to the Chairman of Quarter 
Sessions of the County of Northumberland, and to the Farne 
Islands Association.” 

Members will, I think, be glad to know that in a short time, 
in answer to that resolution duly sent off to the officials named 
in it, our Secretary received certain documents from the Clerk of 
the Peace for the County of Northumberland which it is not 
necessary to reprint at length here, but whose substance is that 
upon consideration of our motion, the close-time under the Wild 
Birds’ Protection Act had been extended from the 1st to the 
11th of August for the whole county. I much wish, if possible 
under the Act, the extension could have been granted for the 
islands alone, without including the County, and Iam not without 
hopes that this may yet be done. 

The thanks of the Club are due to the magistrates for having 
so courteously and so promptly considered our communication. 

Among the phenomena of Natural History, the migration of 
Birds is one of the most curious, deeply interesting, and little 
understood. 

It may be known to many of our members, that in 1883 the 
British Association appointed a Committee for the purpose of 


460 Report of Meetings. By the President. 


obtaining observations on the subject from Light Houses and 
Light Vessels. 

It is obvious that the keepers of such institutions are specially 
well situated for the purpose, and the results already obtained 
are very valuable. 

In the current Report, which is published by West, Hatton 
Garden, London, price 2s,—and which I strongly advise all who 
are interested in the subject to get,—I observe, with satisfaction 
that special praise is bestowed upon Messrs Hall and Parsons, 
the keepers of the Longstone, and upon Mr Cutting of the Farne, 
for the excellence of their Reports. 

Among the birds in the act of migration which they noted, 
appear:—The common crossbill; missel thrush; ring-ouzel; 
redstart; brambling (Mvingilla montifringilla); snow bunting ; 
carrion crow; hoopoe; cuckoo; solan goose; 3 or 4 sorts of 
wild geese; king, eider, and other ducks; landrail and jack 
snipe (both killed against lantern); woodcock: skuas and 
black-headed gulls; great northern divers (fourteen at once) ; 
black and red-throated divers. 

For Mr Tate’s Paper in our 3d vol., the late accomplished 
Ornithologist, Mr Prideaux Selby (1856) supplied a ‘‘ Complete 
Catalogue of the birds which inhabit or resort to the Farne 
Islands.’ I am informed by Mr Arthur Evans and Mr George 
Bolam,—ornithological authorities of our Club who should know 
well,—that Mr Selby’s Listis still substantially correct. It does 
not of course include birds observed in the act of migration, such 
as the hoopoe. Mr Evans writes that the only additions which 
he can make are ‘the sheldrake,’’ one or two pairs of which are 
in the habit of breeding ; an occasional shag’s nest, and some- 
times the ringed guillemot—viz., the ringed variety of the 
common guillemot. But interesting as a bird-observing station 
as may be the Farnes, they sink into. insignificance as we read in 
the Report about Heligoland, which seems to be the focus on 
which the principai rays of bird-migration are concentrated. 
The scenes which occur there are indeed wonderful to read about. 
Golden-crested wrens filling the gardens every where by hund- 
reds of thousands, perching on the ledges of window-panes, 
preening their feathers in the glare of the lamps, ‘all the island 
swarmed with them, poor little souls’’—in a few hours all were 
gone! There, in that speck of sandstone half lost in the fogs of 
the German Ocean, have been caught birds from beyond the 


Report of Meetings. By the President. 461 


Atlantic, from China and from Greenland, from all the regions 
of Asia and Asia Minor, from Northern and Southern Africa, 
from the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, from the Antarctic Circle 
and the Arctic Seas; and specimens of all these are to be found 
duly classified and authenticated on the shelves of a naturalist in 
the island, Herr Giitke; and the great work that he has long 
been preparing on the migration of birds should be a valuable 
contribution to scientific knowledge. We are assured that the 
collection alone is well worth a pilgrimage, and that many have 
come from afar on purpose to visit it. . 

The tide did not favour the entry of the “‘ Fiery Cross”’ inside 
the mouth of the Tweed when we arrived there after dusk, after 
a quick and prosperous homeward voyage; so that, depending 
upon the services of small boats, which did not appear as 
quickly as we should have liked, it was past 10 o’clock before 
the last of the party had landed; but every one appeared highly 
pleased with the day’s proceedings, during which we were so 
conspicuously favoured by the elements. 


PRESTONKIRK, FOR WHITTINGHAM AND PRESMENNAN. 


[As I was unable to attend this Meeting, Mr Hardy has kindly 
furnished me with the following Report. ] 


Tue Third Meeting of the members of the Club for the season 
was held at Hast Linton on the 30th July, when twenty-nine 
assembled. The day was slightly obscured with mist from the 
hills, and a few showers fell; but the air was genial and en- 
joyable. The excursion was in four carriages furnished by Mr 
Sharp of the Railway Hotel, and two members who had ridden 
across the Lammermoors were on horse-back. Only Whitting- 
ham and Presmennan were on the oriyinal programme, but, 
after the circular was issued, Miss Nisbet Hamilton courteously 
intimated that members, if they wished, might see Biel House 
and the pictures there, a proposal which was cordially welcomed 
and taken advantage of. This curtailed the stay at the places 
visited more than was originally intended. 

The road to Whittingham is both steep and winding, but 
allows extensive prospects of the thickly wooded, highly culti- 
vated, and greatly varied country between Linton and the sea, 
with the Bass, North Berwick Law, the Garleton and Gullane 
Hills as extreme out-posts to the view; while the narrow vale of 


462 Report of Meetings. By the President. 


the Tyne, with the plantations upon its banks,.up to Hailes 
Castle, and the green grassy or grey rocky declivities, and 
massive bulk of storied Traprain were close at hand; and on 
reaching the elevation at Sunnyside, the woods of Whittingham 
appear, with the red-coloured church on the margin, and the 
roof and chimneys of the mansion house, environed by the screen 
of trees, which spread dark and heavily massed amidst culti- 
vated fields, variously divided and diversely hued according to 
their respective crops. The back-ground is occupied by the 
brown and green Lammermoors and the densely wooded Pres- 
mennan hill. - Stoneypath Tower could be caught in the distance 
in one direction, and in another an obelisk on the Blaikeyheugh, 


raised at the expense of the county yeomanry to the memory of 
the late Mr Balfour. The farms and hamlets passed were 


Traprain, Sunnyside, Luggate, Luggate village, and Whittingham 
Mains. Under the influence of recent rains the crops looked 
promising ; but on the heavy soils, with exceptional fields, the 
turnips were considerably in arrear of the general Kast Lothian 
crop. When Mr Archibald Hepburn occupied Whittingham 
Mains, besides being an ardent ornithologist, he paid consider- 
able attention to the Coleoptera, and the results are recorded in 
the late Mr Andrew Murray’s ‘“‘ Catalogue of the Coleoptera of 
Scotland.” His rarest capture was Lina populs at Whittingham. 
On one occasion I visited Traprain Law from his residence, and 
picked up under stones at the base, the following rarish beetles: 
Otiorhynchus monticola, O. scabrosus, Diacanthus holosericeus, and 
D. eneus ; Sunius angustatus and Agathidium atrum. Mr Hepburn 
likewise captured some good moths in the neighbourhood, and 
at Presmennan, the names of which are entered in the Club’s 
“Proceedings,” vol. 11. pp. 212-218. 

The modern church of Whittingham, built of red sandstone, is 
handsomely fitted up in the interior. The Rev. Mr Robertson, 
to whom the Club were much indebted for guidance, recounted 
its history, exhibited the church plate (silver communion cups of 
date 1683), and gave a synopsis of the contents of the old session 
minutes of dates from 1674 to 1690, and which are very legibly 
written. In the churchyard are curiously sculptured grave- 
stones of last century, and an interesting piece of architecture of 
last century (the Sydserff vault). On enquiry if there was any 
entry of where Andrew Baxter, the metaphysician, once tutor to 
the Drummelzier family, and author of ‘‘ An Inquiry into the 


Report of Meetings. By the President. | 463 


Nature of the Human Soul” (1730), and other writings, was 
buried, none had been found. The memoirs of his life affirm 
that he died at Whittingham, April 28, 1750, aged 63. It 
appears, however, that he and his wife (Alice Mabane, the 
daughter of a Berwickshire clergyman) and three daughters and 
one son lived at Old Haddington, a place now obliterated, which 
lay to the west of the present Whittingham church. Of this, 
apparently a farm place, we have one notice in the Session Book 
of Hutton parish of date April 26, 1663 :—‘* Collected 3 lib. 6 sh. 
for Wm. Wilsone in Old Haddingtoun, who had great losse by 
burning.” It seems also to be named in a Retour-of Sir Andrew 
Ramsay of Wauchton, of date May 19th, 1680 (Haddington, No. 
338), when he held the lands of Johnscleuch, the lands of 
Clints, the lands of ‘‘ Old Hadding et lie house,”’ the lands of 
Papill, called ‘‘Lauderlands and Haitlieslands, with the mill of 
Papill,”’ ete. ; 

Mr Robertson also pointed out that in the field below the 
present factor’s house there was a central space with much black 
soil, which was reputed to be an old churchyard; the field itself 
was known as the ‘“ Kirk-lands.” That it had been an ancient 
place of sepulchres was proved by its being on one occasion 
ploughed deeper than customary, when the tops of numerous 
slab graves were struck on, in which the bodies had been interred 
at full length. It may, from the character of the graves, have 
been a cemetery of the early Christians of the district, possibly 
Saxon descendants of those who settled under Hwite, the founder 
of the colony, afterwards called after him, according to the Anglo- 
Saxon usage, Whittingham, the dwelling place of the race of 
White. 

I subjoin Mr Robertson’s remarks from a more recent commu- 
nication on the subject. 


“The ancient cemetery I spoke of betrays itself by a black spot on the 
field of red soil just beyond Luggate-burn village. It was first shewn to 
be a cemetery by the following accident. A former farmer of Luggate 
employed a steam-plough, and one day in his absence, it laid open about 
200 graves consisting of unhewn stones for sides and tops, without any 
bottom except the soil. That the spot had been for Christian burial is 
rendered almost certain by the fact that the name of the field is the 
Kirklands.” 


It was stated by others of the company that another ancient 
burial ground with slab graves has been detected on opposite 
sides of the Tyne above Linton. In this instance the graves 


464 Report of Meetings. - By the President. 


were mostly short, which indicated an earlier people, who folded 
up the bodies of their dead, and probably also practised urn- 
burial. ‘To account for it, an imaginary battle had been suggested 
between tribes whose boundary was the Tyne. 

But the most extraordinary assemblage known of ancient 
graves in this immediate district, concerning which there remains 
not any tradition, is that at Knowes, which lies in the Parish 
of Tyningham, on the Tyne, a short distance below Linton. 
Knowes, anciently Cnolle, was one of the sites of early Saxon 
civilization, which King Duncan during his short reign (1094) 
annexed to Lindisfarne, probably because they had been Christian- 
ised by some of St Cuthbert’s disciples. Baltherus himself is said 
not to have been a disciple of St Mungo, but belonged to the 
Saxon school. There is a fac-simile of the charter in Raine’s 
‘‘North Durham,” facing page 373. The following six places 
were by it given toSt Cuthbert: ‘‘ Tiningeham, Aldeham, Scuc- 
hale, Cnolle, Hatheruuich, and Broccesmuthe, and all the service 
Fodauus the bishop had therefrom.” Fodan or Fothad IL, 
was bishop of St Andrews, 1041-1093—“ a cunnand,” i. e. known- 
ing, ‘‘man,” writes Wyntoun. This resumption by Lindisfarne 
occurs in the interval of ten years, between the demise of Fothad 
and the election of Turgot, his successor. In after times future 
bishops of St Andrews appear to have had a residence near 
Cnoile. Many ecclesiastical documents connected with the 
diocese of St Andrews were dated from Tyningham, which is 
within moderate proximity. ‘A field adjvining the present 
farm-house [of Knowes] is called the Bishop’s garden.” (Miller’s 
“‘St Baldred of the Lass,” p. 81.) I have met with two accounts 
of the discovery of the graves, one contemporary, from a news- 
paper, the other traditional, in Miller’s ‘“‘St Baldred of the 
Bass,” 1824. I incorporate the two. 


October, 1813. ‘‘ Lately, on trenching with the plough (giving a deep 
furrow) a field (south from the house) possessed by Wm. Hunter, Esq., 
at the Knowes, East Lothian, and belonging to the Earl of Haddington, a 
number of stone-coffins were uncovered, ranged in rows from S. to N., 
with the heads to the west, and, as far as discovered, covering an extent 
of ground, measuring in length 54 yards and in breadth 26. They are 
computed to exceed 500 (6 or 790, Miller),in number. Each coffin lies 
about two or three inches from the side of the other, with the heads in 
exact lines, and about two or three feet from each row. They are formed 
of fiat stones, neatly joined together on the sides, and the exact form of 
our present coffins, and covered on the top with flag-stones; some of 


Report of Meetings. By the President. 465 


them laid with stones in the bottom, others not. It appears that the 
stones have been brought from the adjoining sea-shore. [This was also 
the case with an old cemetery of a similar character in a field at Spring- 
field near Oldhamstocks—Club’s Proc. vol. vit. p. 409]. What were 
uncovered, were found full of sea-sand—[this has likewise occurred in a 
small group of empty slab graves in a field at the head of the Old Pease, 
parish of Cockburnspath],—which being carefully removed, a human 
skeleton was discovered, lying entire from head to foot. The bones, 
excepting the skulls, on being taken out, crumbled to dust, but the teeth 
were in complete preservation, not one wanting, and appeared to have 
belonged to persons dying in the prime of life. The coffins appear to 
have been formed exactly to the length of the different bodies; the 
longest measured 6 ft. 9 ins., the shortest 5 ft. 3 ins. [4 ft. 4 ins. 
to more than 6 ft.’’—Miller]. The thigh bones are of a great length 
and thickness, and one jaw-bone was discovered of a prodigious size. It 
seems certain from the regular positions of the coffins, and the skeletons 
having the appearance of adults, that they have been deposited in the earth 
at one time, and after having fallen in battle. In the neighbourhood many 
single stone-coffins have been found, and sometimes two or three together ; 
several long stones have also been erected, as it is thought, to the memory 
of some fallen chiefs; which renders it probable that the vicinity has 
been the scene of sanguinary battles, that are of so ancient a date, as to 
be either unrecorded in the page of history, or form the dubious tale of 
tradition.” (“Berwick Advertiser,’’ October, 23, 1813). Mr Miller adds 
that “in a park, about half a mile distant, on the farm of Kirkland hill, 
is one of those rudely sculptured” (query, wasit sculptured at all?) ‘ per- 
pendicular stones, which are commonly supposed to mark the scene of 
contention of an early period.” 


I have not brought together here all the known facts about 
the long East Lothian Slab-graves, which are worthy of greater 
attention being paid to them. Orania taken from one of them 
near Dunglass, which contained several skeletons, were pro- 
nounced by Professor Rolleston to have belonged to a Teutonic 
people. 

Writers of the date of this discovery had no other theory than 
that groups of graves beyond the precincts of modern cemeteries 
were indicative of a battle. But that the Knowes graves were 
the burial place of a race with peculiar burial customs may be 
suggested from the occurrence in the ancient burying places of 
south-west Germany of a similar system of burying the dead in 
rows, at full length with their heads to the west and their feet 
to the east, and in slab graves. The German archeologists 
distinguish in that district, “‘two kinds of ancient burying- 
places, one called Higel-grdber, ‘grave mounds;’ and one termed. 
Reiken-graber, ‘ grave rows,’ in which last the graves are arranged, 

25 


466 Report of Meetings. By the President. 


side by side, in long series, the feet of the corpse being commonly 
turned towards the east. Hach skeleton is usually buried in a 
sarcophagus formed of rough slabs of stone, or in a coffin con- 
sisting of a split trunk of a tree, the two halves of which have 
been hollowed out with axes, and so converted into a sort of 
rude box for the body. The dates of these burying-places 
appear to range, on the one hand, not earlier than the period 
of the Roman rule in these parts, and, on the other hand, as 
late as the eighth century. The ‘ grave-rows’ are more modern 
than the ‘ grave-mounds,’ and good reasons are given for as- 
eribing them to the Franks and Alemanni of the Merovingian 
period, between the fifth and sixth centuries a.p. The associated 
weapons are, in the main, ofiron.” (Prof. Huxley in Laing’s 
‘«‘ Pre-historic Remains of Caithness,’”’ p. 106). The crania are 
a variety of the dolichocephalic. Prof. Huxley goes on to shew 
that the ‘‘ grave-row ”’ skulls of south-west Germany are identi- 
cal with the Hohberg forms in Switzerland of Riitimeyer and 
His, and Prof. Ecker demonstrates that it is a type of skull 
predominant among the present Swedes, and what is called 
Scandinavian. ‘‘ Furthermore,” adds Prof. Huxley, 1. c. p. 129, 
(as was to be expected from the known relations of the people) 
there seems to be no character by which the crania of the Anglo- 
Saxons can be distinguished from those of the Scandinavians.” 
This reference furnishes not only an example of burial in rows, 
but likewise reveals a possible people who may have practised 
it here. 

In the charters of the property as granted to the Douglases, 
lairds of Whittingham, these ‘‘ Kirk-lands,” which have given 
rise to this digression, are connected with the glebe, they having 
the rectory and vicarage, as well as the advowson. Originally 
Whittingham church—the historical church—was the chapel of 
the lord of the manor. When Dunbar was erected into a col- 
legiate church in 1342, by Patrick, 9th Earl of Dunbar, the dean 
at the head of the establishment received as his prebend all the 
tithes and offerings of the parish of Whittingham, where he was 
to have a vicar. The dean had aright to the kirk lands. On 
the 17th of August, 1560, William Douglas, laird of Whitting- 
ham, obtained a charter of the ecclesiastical lands of Whittingham 
from Claud Hamilton, then dean of Dunbar, with the consent of 
the Duke of Chastelherault, his father. 

The Whittingham policies were now entered. These are 


Report of Meetings. By the President. 467 


spacious and well ordered and kept, and furnished with some 
fine ornamental trees. There are four good Araucarias, two of 
especial merit, intact by winter frosts; two cedars of Lebanon of 
different ages and sizes, but neither of them tall; two deodars of 
considerable size; Quercus lex, Fagus incisa, and Sorbus Aria, 
one of each, and all thriving ; Picea Cephalonica, a stately tree; a 
very leafy and well-shaped variegated sycamore, but not very 
large; a fair bush of weeping holly; and a weeping ash. The 
attention of visitors is particularly directed to a tall Eucalyptus 
viminalis, whose willowy offshoots ascend from a short thick bole. 
This tree was cut down by a severe winter in 1860 to six feet 
from the ground, and its vegetative power remained so long 
dormant that it was about to be removed, when sprouts appeared, 
and it has attained its present remarkable growth since. The 
circumference of the base is 9 feet 1 inch. 

The gardens were shewn by Mr Garret, the present skilful 
gardener. They are very extensive, as well as the range of 
greenhouses. The business of the Club is principally with 
flowers, and there is here an opportunity for examining a con- 
siderable variety in the herbaceous borders, which have been 
established for three years’ duration. Only a few things can be 
glanced at, chiefly because they are not everywhere :—Galega 
officinalis (Goat's Rue), white variety ; Hrodium Manescavi (purple 
Erodium), size of flower that of Geranium pratense; double 
potentillas, some very large flowered; a good plant of ZLychnis 
vespertina alba flore pleno, which Mr Garret had raised ; Campanula 
corontensis, a fine dark blue flowered standing-up plant ; Delphin- 
dum Cashmerianum (purple); Phyteuma Charmelit (blue); and a 
large orange sunflower, allied to Doronicum. Gooseberries are 
trained against a north wall, and, being covered with a net, can 
be kept long into the autumn. 

Among the associates of the Geraniums, Pelargoniums, Fuch- 
sias, Coleuses, Begonias, etc., the usual occupants and ornaments 
of the green and hot houses, the following may be mentioned :— 
Dicksonia Antarctica, tree fern in a pot; Coprosma Baueriana varie- 
gata, a green and yellowish white-edged foliaged shrub; Jman- 
tophyllum miniatum, a purple-flowered amaryllis-like plant; a 
yellow, partially double, large flowered Abutilon—Waverley. 
In another house are Zacsonia Van Volxemit, as a creeper; an 
excellent double begonia; a fine strain of Amaryllis, having 
from four to seven flowers on the spike, raised from seedlings, 


468 Report of Meetings. By the President. 


prize-takers. Then in a house of palms and ferns is an example 
of the screw pine, Pandanus orientalis, of New South Wales; and 
a fine display on the wall of the pink flowers of Bougainvillea 
glabra, which yields two crops of blossom in the year; “ Bird’s- 
Nest Fern” ( Onoclea struthiopteris); a few orchids; Diplosdeum 
Boliwianum, in flower ; two rather curious Crotons, one with odd- 
shaped leaves, ‘‘ D’Israeli,” is new; Lomarta gibba (fern) ; Lavorea 
Javanica, a well-known showy old plant, with a bricky-scarlet 
blossom. There are some good Todeas, which here stand 20 deg. 
of frost under a frame; Davallia Nove Zelandie (rare), and 
Goniophlebium appendiculatum, of the early polypody tribe, being 
their accompaniments. 

At the western end of the garden are preserved two fine gate 
pillars (of reddish sandstone) of the early part of the 18th cen- 
tury, and of Italian model, which formed the former entry to the 
grounds of the old mansion. Passing onwards again to the 
grounds, we have the tower of the old castle in front, the immense 
yew tree under which the conspiracy for the murder of Darnley 
is reputed to have been discussed by the conspirators, and on the 
left the ancient church-yard and site of the parish church. On 
this open space stands a monument to the Hays of Drummelzier 
and Linplum and a memorial cross for deceased members of the 
Balfour family. Two long slab graves, discovered in the Stand- 
ing-stone field at Cairndinnis, near Traprain Law, have been 
replaced here in the original form; their dimensions are 9 feet 
by 4. The great yew onaslight rise nearly in front of the castle 
had till recently much decayed wood in it, but has improved 
greatly since this was excised. It has still a clear top, but the 
under branches have fallen down, like those of the great beech 
at Newbattle Abbey, and spread their skirts widely round, and 
have rooted and continue to nourish the parent tree, and keep it 
in a growing condition. The stem at 3 feet up is 10 feet 9 
inches; at 5 feet, 11 feetin girth; and then it separates into a 
multitude of intertwisting and intergrafted shoots. The diameter 
of the free space in the inside is 40 feet 6 inches; the circum- 
ference of the tree outside, 99 yards. 

There is no record of the building of the tower ; the shield over 
the doorway is very puzzling; its quarterings are; two stars or 
mullets in the first and second, which may represent Douglas of 
Whittingham; a cinquefoil in the third; and a boar’s head 
erased in the fourth. It must be left for further inquiry. The 


Report of Meetings. By the President. 469 


tower is ascended by a turnpike stair. Dunbar and the adjoining 
coast can always be seen in aclear day; and the mansion-house 
stands exactly opposite. The ceiling of one of the rooms is orna- 
mented with stucco work in compartments. From the fat-faced 
.cherubs in some of these it was reckoned not to be older than 
seventeenth or eighteenth century. The apartment on the ground 
floor was omitted to be shown. The old bowling green at the 
base is now the washing green; the kennels are beyond. 

The company then crossed by the gentle-flowing rivulet called 
the Papana, winding through a greeu haugh, which shewed, 
before the grass was cut, a wealth of white ox-eye daisies, yellow 
buttercups, and common daisies in endless numbers; and great 
variety of panicled and spiked headed grasses. Ranunculus auri- 
comus is one of the wild flowers on the banks; and the lower 
stems of the older trees are decorated with the golden hues of 
the lichen, Caliciwm hyperellum. 

The house is very extensive both in length and breadth, built 
in the Grecian style, which permits of ample space in the apart- 
ments, and every convenience for cabinet collections or assemb- 
lages of objects of taste. The stone employed is a fine white 
sand-stone. The Club were kindly invited to partake of refresh- 
ments, and then Miss Balfour shewed her late brother’s museum 
of fossils and birds, where he had made his earliest essays in 
science ; and her own collection of Lepidoptera, which is very 
fine, well preserved, carefully set out, and sprinkled with rarities, 
having this further to recommend it that the specimens are mostly 
representatives of the Hast Lothian fauna. The birds also con- 
tain some scarce species, and are chiefly local. The greater- 
spotted woodpecker, a hoopoe, the water rail, a peregrine falcon, 
and several shore birds were noted. There was also a botanical 
cabinet, which there was no time to look into. 

The visitors were also fayoured with a sight of the public 
rooms, the family portraits, and valuable paintings, and the 
richly-stocked library of books, several of them with exquisite 
bindings. 

Once more outside, it was remarked that the holly hedges 
thrive exceedingly well here. There is not the same degree of 
frost in winter here as is experienced on the Tyne, to the great 
destruction of the evergreens. 

The drive to Stenton was uneventful. Ruchlaw house was 
passed on the left. Turning up towards Presmennan, another 


470 Report of Meetings. By the President. 


steep ascent had to be encountered. The Corn-bunting, now 
rather a scarce bird, was here heard trilling its monotonous song 
on a wall top; for stone dykes had now taken the place of 
hedges. The carriages halted at the farm-house. After examin- 
ing the two fine Spanish chestnuts and some stately oaks, the 
company descended to the shores of the lake, which very much 
resembles a placid broad river winding between high woodland 
slopes. The higher southern bank, with its oaken coppice, much 
reminded several of the Pease Dean woods, where the oak is 
such a predominant feature. A few glimpses were taken of 
successive reaches ; but there was no leisure to see anything like 
the whole. Cow-wheat (J/lelampyrum pratense) was common. 
Carex paniculata was noticed. It is frequented by a rarish beetle 
here, Cercus pedicularius. Near the lower end of the lake, 
Calamintha clinopodium (wild Basil), and Scutellaria galericulata 
(common skull-cap) grow; and the Spindle-tree (Luonymus 
Europeus) and the Bird-Cherry (Prunus Padus) are wild in the 
woods. By the shores of the lake, the Bull-rush, the Club-mace, 
and the Sweet-Sedge have been planted. Capt. Norman reports 
that recently along with Mr Evans he obtained Potamogeton com- 
pressus, and Anacharis alsinastrum, amongst the water-weeds; and 
saw a close green growth at the bottom of either a submerged 
state of Littorela lacustris, or Subuiaria aquatica, uncertain which 
for want of the flowers. It is the same thing that occurs 
at Cauldshiels Loch, and in some of the deep moss pools on 
Coldingham moors; in both these instances associated with 
Iittorella on the shore line. In regard to the Coleoptera on one 
visit I obtained among the swamps, Zuchyusa flavitarsis, Uyllena 
dubia, Quedius peltatus, and Q. umbrinus, Er; and Mr Hepburn 
obtained Lndomychus coccineus and Polydrusus undatus. Mr Hepburn 
found. Levstus rufescens, Fab., plentiful on oak and birch; not Z. 
spinilabris, as Mr Murray credits him with, for that is got under 
stones. In those days, Mr Robert Logan, Dr James Howden, 
now of Montrose, and I sometimes met at Mr Hepburn’s for 
entomological research. Subsequent to that in 1850, Mr Logan 
paid a visit to Whittingham alone. He furnished me with a 
copy of the results, in a newspaper slip, as he had reported them 
to the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh. The following 
extract is to our purpose at present. 


On the evening of his arrival, May 31st, Mr Logan “‘ in company with Mr 
Hepburn, found Emmelesia albularia and Phowopteryx Lundana in profusion 


Report of Meetings. By the President. 471 


in the haughs of the Whittingham water, among Petasites vulgaris, etc., 
where they also found asingle specimen of the singular Elachista testaceella, 
and one of the new species of Hupithecia which Mr Doubleday has named 
palustraria. On the following day, June~lst, they visited Presmennan 
copse, and Deuchrie Dod wood, on the side of the Lammermoors, and in this 
fine old ground, found the beautiful Lithocolletes spinolella not scarce in 
some dwarf sallows, along with Grapholita campoliliana, and one specimen 
of Tinea bistrigella. Phleodes frutetana was abundant in the birches, and 
Tortrie ministrana, Ephipiphora scutulana, Nematopogon Panzerella, Adela 
viridella, etc., etc., occasional among the underwood.”’ 


T understand that some of the rare or critical species that Mr 
Logan obtained at Presmennan among the MMuicrolepidoptera are 
not yet wrought out. 

Only a few water-hens and coots were observed on the lake, on 
the day of the Club’s visit, the broods of ducks not being visible. 

After a view of the lower section of the lake from the farm 
garden, and an examination of two very large sweet Bays 
(Laurus nobilis) which have escaped the frosts, the company re- 
turned to Stenton to inspect the admirably-earven granite monu- 
ment to the Right Hon. R. C. Nisbet Hamilton; the Belhaven 
aisle, the old stone font of Stenton pre-Reformation Church; and 
the well-finished interior of the new church. The Rood Well, 
the property of the Duke of Roxburghe, was pried into, and its 
water pronounced to be none of the purest. 

Biel has many attractions to the Club. In the interior is a 
treasury of art and taste, every room shewing perfection of 
decoration and arrangement ; out of doors there is a triumph of 
the bedding-out system of floral ornamentation, combined with a 
perennial border ; and the dark-hued conifers, singly disposed 
upon a smooth tender-hued grassy lawn, are pictures in them- 
selves. 

More rooms were open on this occasion than when the Club 
last visited Biel House, and a new erection, a chapel, has since 
then been attached to the western end. The pictures and other 
objects of interest have been previously described in the Club’s 
annals. The visitors were charmed with what they saw; to 
most of them everything was new. ‘The Rev. George Marjori- 
banks, of Stenton, pointed out what was most worthy of attention 
amidst so much that was exquisite. Refreshments were here 
again presented. The lengthened drive, ornamented with lines 
of yew trees, between the house and the post road, was much 
admired. On the return to Linton, the carriages passed within 


472 Report of Meetings. By the President. 


view of Ninewar, Kirkland Hill, Knowes and Phantassie. The 
whole excursion was one of great enjoyment. 

Twenty-five dined in Mr Smellie’s public room, Hast Linton—- 
Dr F. Douglas, Kelso, in the chair, and Dr Stuart, Chirnside. 
and Mr John Hood, Oldeambus Townhead, officiated as croupiers. 
In addition to the usual toasts, the health of the chairman was 
proposed by Mr Turnbull of Abbey St Bathans, the day of meet- 
ing being the anniversary of the fiftieth year since Dr Douglas 
joined the Club, at the head of whose membership he now stands, 
and so worthily represents as senior secretary. ‘The health was 
drunk with all the honours, and was acknowledged by Dr 
Douglas in brief but well chosen terms. 

- Captain C. Lisle Cookson, Berrywell, Duns; Mr David W. 
B. Tait, W.S., Edenside, Kelso; and Mr John Storie, East Lin- 
ton, were nominated for membership. 

Notices of the papers received and of the objects exhibited 
were then given. 


1. On Whittingham and its Owners. By James Hardy.—The facts em- 
bodied in this paper were :—From George, Harl of Dunbar, Whittingham 
passed by the marriage of his sister Agnes, daughter of Earl Patrick and 
the celebrated “‘ Black Agnes”? Randolph—to James Douglas of Dalkeith. 
Their charter is dated 21st Nov., 1872, and was confirmed by Robert II. 
James, second Lord Dalkeith, had a charter of Whittingham in 1439. For 
his second wife he had Janet, daughter of Sir William Borthwick of that 
ilk ; and got from James II. another charter of Whittingham, to him and 
his spouse and their heirs, 13th Oct.,1441. Their son, Sir William Douglas, 
was the first of the Douglases, lairds of Whittingham. Both the Harls of 
Morton and the lairds continue, in a manner not explained, perhaps as 
baron and feudal tenant, to hold Whittingham. James, third Earl of Mor- 
ton, got charters in 1541 and 1543 from James V. of Whittingham and 
other lands. He died without male issue, and the descent passed to 
collateral branches. In Oct., 1562, Queen Mary granted to James, Harl of 
Morton (afterwards Regent Morton), the representative of the Douglases 
of Dalkeith, all his estates, with the barony of Whittingham, with the 
castle (which shews its existence then) and mills, and the advowson of the 
church ; and the grant, which was neither owing to his merits nor demerits, 
but his rightful claim, as a renewal in conveyance, was ratified by Parlia- 
ment, 19th April, 1567. In Morton’s time, the laird and occupant of the 
mansion or castle was William Douglas, one of the heirs of entail to the 
earldom of Morton. William Douglas joined the Lords of the Congrega- 
tion, was a man of great business capacity, and a leading elder in the 
Reformed Church of Scotland. He was implicated in the slaughter of 
Rizzio, but was pardoned 24th Sept., 1567. He was appointed a senator 
of the College of Justice, and resigued previous to Aug. 1st, 1590 and was 


Report of Meetings. By the President. 473 


M.P. for the constabulary of Haddington 1605-6. He was succeeded in 
office by his son, Sir Archibald Douglas of Whittingham, a favourite of 
James VI., whom he accompanied to Denmark. He resigned his seat on 
the Bench in May, 1618. He sat in several Parliaments. He obtained a 
Crown charter of the lands of Whittingham of date 3rd July, 1616, which 
was ratified in Parliament, July, 1621. His son, Archibald, died 28th Nov. 
1660, leaving his sister, Elizabeth, Viscountess Kingston, his heir. She 
had been married to Sir Alex. Seton, second son of George, second Harl of 
Winton, a steady friend of Charles I. By her he had two sons and one 
daughter. His sons, Archibald and James, successive viscounts, died 
without issue, and the honours became extinct. The estate devolved on 
Elizabeth Seton, the daughter of the first Viscount, who had married 
William, only son of John Hay, eighth Lord Yester and first Harl 
of Tweeddale, by his second marriage with Lady Margaret Mont- 
gomery, daughter of Alexander, Harl of Eglinton, for whom he 
purchased the lands of Drummelzier in Peeblesshire. He was 
succeeded by Alexander Hay, Esq., and he again by Robert Hay, 
Esq., who was for 38 years in the East India Company’s service. 
His eldest son, the late William Hay, Esq., of Duns Castle, sold the estate 
of Whittingham in 1817 to James Balfour, Esq., second son of John Bal- 
four, Esq., of Balbirnie, co. Fife, who died in April, 1845. His son James 
Maitland Balfour, Esq., was father of the present owner, Arthur James 
Balfour, Esq., M.P.—a nephew of the Marquis of Salisbury—whose mental 
and political abilities are acknowledged by all parties. His third son, 
Francis Maitland Balfour, Professor of Morphology in Cambridge Univer- 
sity, was cut off, in the outset of a most promising scientific career, by 
an accident on the Alps. 

2. Bibliographical List of the Books and Pamphlets printed at Alnwick, 
with Biographical Notices of the Authors and Printers. By George Skelly, 
Alnwick.—The main interest of this paper lay in its classifying the publi- 
cations of Mr William Davison, printer and publisher, Alnwick, many of 
which were illustrated with the cuts of Thomas Bewick and his disciples ; 
and also by the list of topographical prints and engravings which this 
enterprising publisher had issued, which are now much valued by collectors. 


3. On a Funeral Slab fownd at Alnwick Abbey.—Mr W. T. Hindmarsh 
made some observations on a photograph, which was handed round, of the 
monumental sculptured grave-cover recently discovered within the pre- 
cincts of Alnwick Abbey, in which he had a share in eliciting the proper 
reading of the name, and the Latin hexameters of the inscription, which 
is, ‘‘Hac iacet in meta vivat redimita q: leta -+ obruta loreta de botry 
per fera leta,” that is to say, ‘‘Loreta de Botry overthrown by cruel death 
lies in this grave, may she live and have a crown of joy.” 

Lora or Loretta del Butterie or Boterie has already been commemorated 
in the Club’s “ Proceedings,” vol. viii. p. 242 (in Mr Tate’s History of 
Alnmouth, parish of Lesbury), there misprinted ‘‘ Boteric.’’ Raine’s 
History of North Durham, pp, 182-5, contains her pedigree and all that is 
known concerning her and her descendants. She was the iad gar ih 

G 


ATA Report of Meetings. By the President. 


of Galfrid de Goswyck, one of the ancient owners of Goswick in Island- 
shire, who died in 13833, when his daughter Lora or Loretta de Goswick 
was 15 years old. She married an inhabitant of Alnmouth, surnamed 
Butterie, and died in 1396. In the Inquisitio post Mortem, she is termed 
Loretta del Butterie of Almemouth. She was possessed of lands in Fram- 
lington, for on 15 Jan., 9 Ric. II. (1885-6) Loreta del Boterie de Alnemouth 
granted to John de Warton all her lands in Framlington. She livedin the 
reign of Edward II., Edward III., and Richard II., and outlived the second 
and third Henry Percies, barons of Alnwick, who were both buried in 
Alnwick Abbey ; and she was alive when the battle of Otterburn (1387), 
was stricken, and Sir Henry Percy (Hotspur), was ‘“‘lede awaye into cap- 
tivity.” The Lady Mary Plantagenet, daughter of the Earl of Lancaster, 
and Baroness Percy, had been buried in Alnwick Abbey, four years before 
the remains of Loreta de Buterie were deposited there. It is evident that 
Loreta when alive was a personage of wealth and consequence, and after 
her decease well thought of by survivors, in whatever rank she moved. 
Alianora her daughter and heir was of full age 1396, and died 6 July, 4 
Henry VI. (1425). Two days before her death she infefted Edward 
Manners in 180 acres of land in the vill of Goswyk. Her husband John 
de Midelham died before 1412; and their son Thomas died before 14338. 
Her grandson John was of full age in 1433. The male descent continued 
till the reign of Elizabeth (see Club’s Proc. ubi sup.) Anne the heiress, 
not Agnes as Mr Tate calls her (who was two years old in 1597), of the 
Midlehams of Ailmouth, married 1. William Swinhoe of Goswick, and 
through her of Alnmouth, who died 5th Noy. 1607, and by whom she had 
four daughters, co-heiresses ; see Raine pp. 185, 158. And 2. Ephraim, 2nd 
son of Francis Armorer of Belford, Esq., who had landsin Cornhill. They 
had two children, Ephraim aged one year in 1615, and Margaret, (Raine, 
p. 188. Dickson, Ber. Nat. Club’s Proc. IV. pp. 23, 24.) Ephraim Armorer 
of Alemouth, gentleman, appears in the county-rate book of 1628, and in 
the ‘“‘Survey”’ of the fishings in 1649. Two of the daughters of William 
Swinhoe of Goswick and Alnmouth were married, but nothing is heard 
of them after 1638. Dr Bruce, in the Archeologia Aliana, vol. X., n.-s., 
pp. 193, 194, has given a notice of this discovery to accompany a plate 
of the Slab. He has not, however, told anything about the lady who was 
so honourably commemorated. Mr Skelly was, I believe, the first to 
detect the connection between the inscription and Loreta de Botry. 


4. Fagus incisa, with foliage of Fagus sylvatica.—This had been sent by 
the Rev. W. I. Meggison from South Charlton Vicarage; F. incisa was 
the tree, and it had sported leaves of F. sylvatica. It was suggested that 
the former had been engrafted on a common beech stock; and Mr John 
Boyd mentioned that this was the common practice. 

5. Portion of a Human Cranium found near Dunbar.—This was an under 
human jaw of very powerful frame, with the teeth all perfect, and the 
frontals markedly projecting above the rest. It was forwarded by Mr 
P. H. Hume, who stated that it had recently been discovered in digging a 
foundation for a wall which is to be raised on the town of Dunbar’s pro- 


Report of Meetings. By the President. 475 


perty near Mrs Filleul’s boarding house, Queen’s Road. No reason could 
be assigned for its occurrence there. 

6. Capture of the Small Spotted Dog-Fish (Squalus canicula) on the Coast 
of Berwickshire.—A specimen of this shark was got ina salmon net at Red- 
heugh, 18th July, 1884. It was 26} inches long, and weighed 2 lb. 6 oz. 
It is scarce at Berwick and in the Firth of Forth, where it has been caught 
occasionally in salmon nets at Queensferry, It is common in Cornwall 
where it is called Morgay and Rough Hound. Of its skin shagreen was 
wont to be prepared. Its curious egg was exhibited. It is oblong, honey 
coloured, pellucid, terminated at the corners with very long slender 
filaments, by which it is attached to sea-weeds and corallines. 

7. Redshank Sandpiper (Totanus Calidris) from Rawburn in the Lam- 
mermoors.—This was a bird in the plumage of the first year which had 
been observed in August, 1882, by Mr Wilson, now of Wellnage, Duns, 
frequenting the side of a pond in company with a lapwing. It was after- 
wards shot by the gamekeeper, and the skin was preserved. It had pro- 
bably lost its way during the autumnal migration, and joined the lapwing 
for company. 

8. Examples of the Porphyries of the District—A very good collection of 
specimens of the porphyries, agates, &c., of the neighbourhood of Linton 
was exhibited by Mr Laing and other friends in the town. A fine speci- 
men of selenite, or pure sulphate of lime, from Mr Sharp, the landlord, 
had been found fifty years ago at the bottom of a pump-well at Whitsome 
Hill, Berwickshire. The porphyries can be dressed into excellent building 
stones, of which there are good examples, with sandstone lintels, in the 
range of houses at the east end of Linton Bridge. Some of the harder 
stones (for they vary greatly in this respect) take a good polish, and can 
be formed into ornamental slabs : in a rougher state they can be dressed 
into durable door steps. The clinkstone porphyry of Traprain is broken 
for road metal. 

Both Dr Stuart, Chirnside, and Mr Muirhead, Paxton, brought 
collections of rare flowers then in bloom in their gardens, 
Iris Kempfert and Mecanopsis Wallicht were wuch admired. 

Those present at this meeting were—Dr F. Douglas and Mr 
J. Hardy, Secretaries; Captain Forbes, R. N., Berwick ; Revs. 
Canon Ilderton of Iiderton; P. G. M’Douall, Cosgrove Rectory, 
Stony Stratford ; Geo. Marjoribanks, Stenton; Thomas 8. Mar- 
joribanks, Prestonkirk; Robert Nimmo Smith, Haddington ; 
William Snodgrass, D.D., Canonbie; Beverley Wilson, Duddo; 
R. H. Willianison, Whickham; Drs Charles Douglas, Kelso ; 
Charles Stuart, Chirnside; Messrs George Bird, Edinburgh; J. 
B. Boyd of Cherrytrees; William Crawford, Duns; Thomas 
Darling, Berwick; Mr Fraser, Stenton; W. T. Hindmarsh, Aln- 
bank, Alnwick; John Hood, Townhead; Mr Kennedy, Edin- 


476 Report of Meetings. By the President. 


burgh; Mr Laing, East Linton; George Muirhead, Paxton ; 
John Storie, Hast Linton; Richard Stephenson, Duns; John 
Turnbull of Abbey St. Bathans; John Turnbull, Selkirk; Thos. 
Turnbull, Lilliesleaf; and Matthew Young, Berwick. 

The Rev. Thomas 8. Marjoribanks has, at Prestonkirk, a very 
varied collection of conifers, not very old, but growing vigorously. 
This was visited by members after dinner, who also had the 
pleasure of seeing his collection of roses, and well-stocked bor- 
ders. In the manse are some good family portraits of his 
ancestry, the Marjoribanks of Ratho. The church, which has 
been renovated and rendered every way becoming in the interior, 
came in for a share of attention. 

In a former visit of the Club to Prestonkirk an amusing mis- 
take occurred, a grotesque sculpture built up into the outer 
church-wall, being taken for a portion of the pseudo-effigy of St 
Baldred, that lay long in the churchyard, after being turned out- 
side during some alterations, and was at length smashed by a 
mason. This alter ego, it may be remarked was also a misnomer, 
and had no title to be called ‘‘ Baldred’s Statue.” James Miller 
comes nearer the truth: ‘‘ An old intelligent carpenter told me, 
that this statue was similar to the one now lying in Tyningham 
church. It was called St Baudron’s, but was supposed to be the 
figure of some one who had left large endowments for ecclesias- 
tical purposes.” (Notes to St. Baldred, p. 86). I would rather 
say that it was the funeral slab of some ancient knight or land- 
owner interred within the church. He was not necessarily a 
benefactor, as any local magnate, could claim this distinction. 


SELKIRK FOK ETTRIOK. 


The fourth meeting of the year was held at Selkirk on Wed- 
nesday 27th August. The Club had only twice before met at this 
station, on neither of which occasions was the famous vale of 
Ettrick explored ; so the gathering, to whom new and interesting 
ground was promised, was a numerous one, local members 
mustering in force. 

I may premise that as Mr Hardy is contributing a separate 
paper on the Ettrick to the Proceedings, my own Report of the 
day’s doings need be but in outline. 

At 10 min. past 9, our conveyances left Hoge’s Railway Hotel, 
the weather being fine, as, indeed, it fortunately was throughout 


Report of Meetings. By the President. 477 


the day. We chose the route through the battle field of Philip- 
haugh (see Proceedings for 1882, p. 57, and for 1876, p. 43) and 
-across the Yarrow and the Ettrick over Collins’ Bridge, through 
the Bownhill Grounds, thus reaching the road on the right bank 
of the river. Philiphaugh House, which is not ancient, is a 
combination of the Scotch-baronial and Italian styles. Not far 
from it was pointed out to us Carterhaugh, the scene of the cele- 
brated Football match, which took place on the 4th December, 
1815, between the Sutors or Souters of Selkirk and the men of 
Yarrow, at which was present among other notables ‘“‘ Mr 
Walter Scott, Sheriff of Selkirkshire” (for particulars see Lock- 
hart’s ‘‘ Life,” p. 327, and ‘‘ Border Minstrelsy,” p. 78.) Near it, a 
field remarkably full of common Ragwort (Senecio Jacobean) elicited 
from an agriculturist of the party the remark that cattle had 
evidently grazed that field; for sheep being very fond of the 
plant, would have kept it nibbled close down. 

The Scotch and local names of this plant, besides Ragwort, are 
Yellow-weed ; Yellow or Stinking Elshinders; and in the Merse, 
Fizz-giggs.* The genus Senecio , represented in this country by 
the well known groundsel and ragworts only, is perhaps the 
most extensive in point of species in the Vegetable Kingdom. 
Nearly 600 different kinds are known to botanists, which are 
spread over all parts of the globe, but found in the greatest pro- 
fusion in temperate climates. The name of the genus is taken 
from the Latin senex, in allusion to the white pappus hairs which 
crown the achenes. 

Oakwood Tower, “home of Michael Scott, Wizard,’ next en- 
gaged our attention, but we took more interest, perhaps, in a 
distant view of Howebottom, the scene of an interesting experi- 
ment by the late Duke of Buccleuch, about which the Revd. 
James Farquharson supplied a paper to Proceedings for 1878, p. 
473. Howebottom used to be a bare and treeless hill-pasturage, 
all of which since 1829 has been ‘‘hained,” left to itself, pre- 
served from either being cut down or pastured. As to what it 
is now, Mr Farquharson’s paper supplies full details, from 
which it disappoints one to learn that the native oak has not 
made its appearance. That it was indigenous in Selkirkshire we 
have abundant documentary, as well as ocular demonstration ; 
in fact as we drove along, Fauldshope Oaks were pointed out 


* Dr Johnston, 


478 Report of Meetings. By the President. 


to us, a stunted relic of the original forest, on the slopes of the 
hill of that name. In the neighbourhood the Witch of Fauldshope 
lived, and on its summit is a cairn erected in honour of one of 
the Dukes of Buccleuch having attained his majority. 

Many hundreds of golden plovers with afew green in company 
were seen in a flattish meadow on our left. 

Having passed the Catslack and crossed Ettrick Bridge, we 
had our attention directed to Kirkhope Tower, an old Peel, but 
dating back to the 12th century; to Kirkhope Linns, a deep 
gorge below the Manse, where salmon do love to congregate; to 
some particularly fine old Scotch firs on the crest of the hill above 
the Manse; and that a mile above the Linn, the river takes the 
odd shape of a double horse shoe. 


About a couple of miles above the Linn, we passed amid a fine 
show of natural wood, such as Rowan, Thorn, Ash, Alders and 
Birch. There was also plenty of indigenous Hazel, which, we 
were told, fruits fairly well, much to the delectation of school 
excursionists. 

A spot in the river below the farm house of Single, nine 
miles from Selkirk, was visible from the road. A melancholy 
interest attaches to it, as 4 young ladies, 2 of them being visitors, 
were drowned there in 1800, while bathing. 

The geological formation of the district through which we 
were driving was entirely Greywacke of the Lower Silurian 
series. Every where ancient ‘‘ high water marks,” were evident 
in the vicinity of the river—indeed the Estuary of the Tweed is 
supposed to have at one time been situated where Ettrick Bridge 
at present stands, which is not at all unlikely, as it is indisput- 
able that the sea formerly covered the valleys of the Tweed and 
its tributaries, and the evidences of its action and of the rivers 
having cut their way gradually down to the present level are 
abundant and clear. In the river-bed we saw many good speci- 
mens of Kaims, or Kaim-like ridges, which, there, (whatever 
may be thought about them in other localities,) were clearly 
formed by the action of the river scooping out hollows and 
leaving the ridges in its detrital bed. 

Leaving our carriages we rambled up the hill side to see the 
remains of Tushielaw Tower and the famous ‘‘ Hanging Tree,” 
an old Ash, but in good preservation, with its ancient branches 
still intact, and of most convenient form and situation for the 


Report of Meetings. By the President. 479 


uses to which they were put by Adam Scott of Tushielaw, who 
was beheaded in Edinburgh in 1530 [see ‘ Pitcairn’s Criminal 
Trials’; ‘“‘ Chambers’ Gazetteer of Scotland.” | 

The scenery, as we drove up the valley, was that of a retired 
hill district, hill pasturage the main feature, with wood enough 
to give contrast. Here and there the devastating influences of 
some of the great gales were still visible in trees lying prostrate 
where they could be ill spared. In many of the woods and 
plantations of the Lowlands, however, ‘thinning out’ has been 
so much neglected, that the effects of a violent storm, if the fine 
old trees escape, are rather beneficial than otherwise. 

We reached Kttrick Church at a quarter before one, inspected 
the monuments of notable persons; Boston; Hogg; Will o’ 
Phaup; TibbieShiel; etc., in the well kept churchyard ; noticed 
that about the oldest thing to be seen was a monumental stone 
built in to the wall of the church, inscribed 


t 8 g MEMENTO MORI 
. 1619; 


read with interest an inscription on a tombstone recording the 
fact that two persons named Beattie, father and son, had held 
the post of schoolmaster for 102 years consecutively; passed 
on to the manse to inspect some articles laid out for us; and, 
retracing our steps for a short distance, we reached Thirle- 
stane Castle, whose gates we had driven past on our way to the 
Church. Lord Napier and Ettrick, Lady Napier, and the Hon. 
Mark Napier [well known as Arabi’s counsel] kindly received 
and hospitably entertained us to a sumptuous luncheon, at the 
conclusion of which, the President, in suitable terms, proposed 
the health of the noble host and hostess, and expressed the 
warm thanks of the Club for their kindness. Lord Napier replied 
in a genial, interesting and amusing speech. The rest of the 
short time at our disposal was spent in viewing the garden and 
grounds, and in a necessarily too brief examination of the many 
objects of interest which our distinguished host had prepared 
for our inspection, a description of which, I shall leave to Mr 
Hardy’s flowing pen. I will not, however, omit to note that 
among them was an original sketch of the farm and grounds of 
Abbotsford by Scott’s own hand. 

Thirlestane Castle is modern. It is 870 feet above the sea, 
and is situated close to the remains of Thirlestane Tower, a large 


480 Report of Meetings. By the President. 


double Peel. The grounds are well wooded, and in beautiful 
order, but there are no old, or large, or notable trees—all having 
been planted not more than 60 or 70 years ago. In the garden 
two fine beds of Hyacinthus candicans attracted attention. The 
origin of the name Thirle-stane, has reference to the ancient 
custom of ‘thirlage’ or jurisdiction attached to a particular mill 
to which all tenants were bound to bring their grain to be 
ground. Our drive back was devoid of particular interest, but 
all were delighted with the beauty of the scenery, which was 
altogether much greener, and less rugged than most of us, 
who were strangers to the district, had expected. On many of 
the hill sides was a glorious flush of heather. 

Dinner took place at the County Hotel at five o’clock, the 
President in the chair, to which forty-four members and their 
friends did justice. 

Among the local members who joined the excursion, were the 
Rev. J. Farquharson, ex-President; Dr H. 8. Anderson; Dr 
Anderson of Shaws; Messrs J. B. Brown, Thos. Craig-Brown, 
John Turnbull, Michael Muir, and Sheriff Spittal as a guest. 
Mr T. Craig-Brown very kindly and opportunely supplemented 
the rather too limited conveyance accomodation, by sending 
his own carriage for the use of the party. 


NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE. 


The fifth meeting took place at Newcastle-on-Tyne on Wed- 
nesday 24th September, when the President and Secretaries, 
accompanied by above 30 members, assembled in the hall of the 
Museum, Barras Bridge, at 10 o’clock, where they were received 
and formally welcomed by Dr Philipson, president of the Tyne- 
side Naturalists’ Club, Mr Richard Howse, curator of the museum, 
and other officials, with several members of the Antiquarian 
Society. The scientific and learned: Societies in Newcastle who 
extended their welcome to us were: 

1. The Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle, formed 
January 24th 1793. 

2. The Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, founded 
in 1813. President the Right Hon. the Earl of Ravensworth. 

3. The Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, 
and Newcastle, founded in 1828. President, the Bishop of Dur- 
ham. The Museum belongs to this Society, and it publishes 


Report of Meetings. By the President. 431 


Transactions in combination with the Tyneside Naturalists’ 
Field Club. 

4, The Tyneside Naturalists’ Field Club. Membership upwards 
of 600. 

Our Secretary, Mr Hardy, was one of its first members and 
was present at its institution on the 15th April, in 1846. Several 
of our members are connected with all four institutions. 


THE MUSEUM. 


The project of erecting a new building for the large collection 
of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and 
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, originated with Mr John Hancock, and 
has been carried out under his direction. 

The Society is also indebted to him for the splendid collection 
of British and other birds formed by himself, and presented by 
him to the Museum. The setting up of these birds is the work 
of his own hands, and whether they be regarded in a scientific 
or an artistic point of view, they are equally unrivalled. 

The Society has also received, from time to time, various 
important gifts which render its collections in other branches of 
natural history exceedingly complete. The geological depart- 
ment is remarkably rich in the fossils of the Coal-measures, and 
of the adjacent formations, and it is especially distinguished by 
a unique collection of coal-measure fishes and amphibia, worked 
out of the black shale of the Low Main seam of this district with 
great skill and discrimination by the late Mr Thomas Atthey. 
This valuable collection was secured and presented to the Society 
by Lady Armstrong. 

The Society has also been presented with a valuable collection 
of original drawings by Thomas Bewick, the celebrated wood 
engraver, who was a native of this district: also of original por- 
traits of this artist, and a fine series of early impressions from 
his blocks. These have been presented to the Society by J. W. 
Barnes, Esq., and Joseph Crawhall, Esq., the executors of his 
last surviving daughter, Miss Isabella Bewick, under a power 
contained in her will. These Bewick relics are arranged in the 
gallery of the first room. The large room over the entrance hall 
is designed for a Library of Works on Natural History; and a 
considerable number of books on this subject have already been 
bequeathed to the Society. 

The New Building, when furnished, will cost £42,000. Of 

2H 


482 Report of Meetings. By the President. 


this sum about £38,000 has been raised by public subscription, 
the greater part of which has been contributed by the personal 
friends of Mr Hancock. 

Important and unique collections of Minerals and Fossils from 
the Coal-measures and other formations have been contributed 
by Sir W. G. Armstrong, CB., Lady Armstrong, Norman 
Cookson, Esq., and the Committee of the Mining Institute. 
Mr James Kirkby presented an extensive collection of fossils 
from the Magnesian-limestone of the district, and of fossils from 
the Carboniferous rocks of Fife. Fine collections of fossils have 
also been given to the Society from the Secondary and Tertiary 
formations by M. R. Pryor, Esq., and Dr Dew-Smith, of Cam- 
bridge. Mr Hancock has also presented a large collection of 
eges and nests of British and Foreign Birds; and Mrs Laws 
contributed a collection of eggs and nests made by the late John 
Laws, of Breckney Hill, a pupil of Thomas Bewick. 

The Museum contains, likewise, the Entomological collections 
of Mr John T. Bold, rich in types of rare species, and in some 
orders fully illustrative of the insect fauna of the district ; also 
the botanical collections of Mr Winch and other local botanists of 
note. Conchology and Zoophytology have been brought up to 
the present state of science. 

H.R.H. the Prince of Wales formally opened the Museum on 
the occasion of his visit to Newcastle, 20th August, 1884. 

Under guidance of the heads of departments, our members 
carried out a tour of inspection of the splendid Museum, and its 
valuable and beautifully arranged contents, which excited our 
admiration. Of a collection so extensive, so varied, so inter- 
esting, I shall not be expected, nor shall I attempt to give a 
detailed account. ‘The arrangements are not yet fully carried 
out, but under Mr Howse’s careful and hard-working supervi- 
sion, a state of order is gradually extending itself; and we were 
struck, not only with the character and completeness which the 
Museum has already reached as a whole, but with the facilities 
which are available for students of special branches. 

As might be expected, the specimens of the Carboniferous 
Series are valuable and abundant. 

Perhaps Ornithology is more strongly represented than any 
other branch, the specimens of birds being very numerous, 
beautifully set up, and in capital order. 

Among tie miscellanea, our attention was arrested by a block 


Report of Meetvngs. By the President. 483 


or slab of red pine or cedar, about 3 feet by 2 feet, and 3 or 4 
inches thick, which was perforated over the whole extent of its 
surface on one side with deep circular holes or pits, nearly an 
inch in diameter, at the bottom of many of which was seen an 
acorn, or the remains of one. The general appearance of the 
piece of wood, which had been accidently recovered from a 
marine store dealer’s, was that of one at which the Zeredo navalis 
had been at work. Jt is known, however, that the holes were 
made by the Red-headed Woodpecker (Delanerpes) of North 
America. 

I learn through a gentleman who has seen red pines in 
California nearly covered with holes, that the acorns that are 
found in them are generally inhabited by maggots. The 
interesting question is suggested, whether the acorns are de- 
posited in the holes by the birds simply to be kept till wanted, 
or for the purpose of breeding maggots. Woodpeckers subsist 
on acorns and nuts as well as on insects and larvee, Melanerpes 
being the most frugivorous genus of any. 

After spending more than two hours in the Museum, members 
again assembled in the Hail, where a vote of thanks to Dr 
Philipson, and to the other officials and authorities who had so 
kindly received us and conducted us through the Museum, was 
moved by the President, and heartily accorded. 

A move was then made for Jesmond Dene under the guidance 
of our member Mr C. M. Adamson. Passing under the splendid 
iron bridge erected by Sir W. Armstrong, we walked up the 
Dene, which has been beautifully and tastefully planted with 
trees and shrubs, flowers and heaths. The plan of planting in 
masses has been generally and very effectively adhered to. The 
Dene is traversed by a burn or stream of varying width and 
depth, which is inhabited by many beautiful ducks of different 
species, for whom, however, we wished a purer and clearer 
water than that of the much polluted burn. Sir William having 
been good enough to send special permission through Mr Adam- 
son, we proceeded to inspect the Banqueting Hall, with its fine 
paintings. 

After that, Sir William’s own private residence, with its 
beautifully kept garden, lawns, glass-houses, and ferneries, in 
the latter of which a large and luxuriant Selaginella (caesium 
arboreum) and asplendid growth of Zrichomanes radicans delighted 
us, 


484 Report of Meetings. By the President. 


In the Dene our attention was directed to a fine example of 
the cut-leaved beech, on which were displayed numbers of forms 
of the leaf in course of reversion to the original type, which in 
some instances had been completely attained, a few branchlets 
displaying without variation the normal oblong-ovate entire or 
obscurely toothed leaves of Fugus sylvatica. 

On leaving, the party divided into two sections, the President, 
Messrs. Hardy, Muirhead, Hindmarsh, and George Bolam, 
accompanying Mr Adamson to his cottage, Upper Jesmond, after 
viewing Capt. Noble’s residence, Crag Hall, at the upper end of 
the Dene, to see his splendid collection of Burmese Lepidoptera, 
collected and sent home by his son, and set up by himself; as 
well as to inspect his collection of British Birds, which, though not 
very numerous are perhaps, in the way in which they are pre- 
served and set up, as near perfection as possible, the life-like 
appearance, attitudes, and peculiarities of the specimens, having 
been secured and retained with a remarkable degree of fidelity 
and success. Mr Adamson is well known as an observer and 
delineator of bird life, about which he has printed some clever 
“Studies.” He also showed some apples from his garden which 
had been battered in a remarkable way by a severe hailstorm. 

The more numerous party returned to Newcastle, and under 
the guidance of our co-member, Mr Lyall, Librarian of the 
Literary and Philosophical Society, who pointed out and explained 
the various objects of interest, made a survey of the Castle and 
its adjuncts, and inspected the Museum of the Antiquarian 
Society, which had been opened for the occasion to the Club. 
To Mr Lyall for this attention, and for making arrangements for 
holding the meeting, the Club is greatly indebted. 

Dinner took place at the Royal Turf Hotel, at 5 o’clock. 
Twenty six members sat down. After dinner, while proposing 
‘Success to the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club,” the President 
observed that though this was their first visit to Newcastle as a 
Club, it must not be supposed that Newcastle was devoid of 
interest. On the contrary, as they had seen, lines of interest 
intersected and radiated from it in all directions. But it was 
rather distantly and inconveniently situated for a large number 
of members. 

Several new members were proposed, and cordial votes of 
thanks were proposed to Sir William Armstrong; to Mr Lyall; 
to Mr C. H. Adamson, for his trouble and hospitality; and to 


Report of Meetings. By the President 485 


the officials of the various Institutions, who had so kindly received 
us, and facilitated our progress during the day. 

The President being obliged to leave early, the Chair was 
taken by Dr F. Douglas, and Mr Dixon read his paper on a 
British Urn found near Screnwood, Northumberland. 

Then part of the company adjourned to the Library of the 
Literary and Philosophical Society, the oldest in the city, where 
they viewed. the Lecture and Reading Rooms, and where Mr 
Lyall gave explanations, and exhibited some of the rarest books. 

In the evening, a few members attended by invitation a 
meeting of the Newcastle Antiquarian Society, when Dr Bruce 
read an interesting Paper on the Roman Station at South 
Shields, for which Mr W. T. Hindmarsh thanked him on behalf 
of our Club, and Dr Bruce genially replied, remarking he should 
be always glad to welcome our Members among them. 

The following is a List of the more valuable contents of the 
Natural History Museum.— 


1. John Hancock’s Collections: British Birds, Eggs, and Skeletons. 

2. Albany Hancock’s Collection of Ascidiz and Clione. His drawings of 
Nudibranchs are also here. 

8. Alder’s Collection of Zoophytes, British Shells, Books and Drawings. 

4. Atthey Collection of Coal Measure Fishes and Amphibians. 

5. Loftus Collection of Fossils and Shells. 

6. Winch Collection of Plants. 

7 


. Robertson Collection of Plants, including Pallas Collection of Russian 
Plants. 


8. Tankerville Collection of Sponges and Corals. 
9. Abbs Collection of Coal Plants, ete, 


10. Hutton Collection of Coal Plants, containing many of Lindley and 
Hutton’s Types in “ Fossil Flora of Great Britain.’’ 


11. Kirkby Collection of Fossils, and Carboniferous Fossils from Fife. 

12. Pryor Collection of Upper and Lower Greensand Fossils. 

13. Hutton Collection of Minerals. 

14. Cookson -* 

15. Charlton oe Me 

16. Trevelyan Collection of Carboniferous Fossils and Coal Plants (local). 

17. Russian Collection of Minerals from Siberia. 

18. Bold Collection of Insects: Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Hemiptera, 
and Lepidoptera. 

19. Wasserman Collection of Lepidoptera. 

20. Bewick Collection of Drawings and first impressions of Prints. 

General Collection: Mammalia (small); Fishes (chiefly local) ; Foreign 
Birds (not arranged) ; Fossils from all formations, 


”? 


486 Report of Meetings. By the President. 


BERWICK. 


The Annual Meeting was held in the Museum at Berwick on 
Wednesday, October 8th, at 12.30 p.m., Captain F. M. Norman, 
R.N., President, in the chair. Among those present were—The 
two Secretaries; the Treasurer; Col. Milne Home, M.P.; the 
Revs. Dr Leishman, J. F. Bigge, Thomas Brown, F.R.S.EH, 
Canon Edmunds, W. Darnell, R. H. Williamson, D. Paul, E. 
Arkless, R. F. Proudfoot, Dr Morgan (Humberston, Great 
Grimsby) ; Capt. Forbes, R.N.; Col. Forster; Alderman Purves ; 
Drs Paxton, Charles Stuart; Messrs William B. Boyd, M. T. 
Culley, Robert Gray, F.R.S.E., A. R. Lowrey, W. T. Hind- 
marsh, A. L. Miller, Wm. Weatherhead, Blake Weatherhead, 
K. Willoby, jun., R. C. Weddell, C. M. Adamson, EH. A. L 
Batters, W. Maddan, James Heatley, Wm. Green, R. B. Bolam, 
John Dunlop, Geo. Muirhead, Charles Watson, &c. 

Colonel Milne Home, M.P., in the name of the Museum Com- 
mittee, welcomed the Club in a brief but genial speech. Then 
the President, having announced that on succeeding to office he 
had appointed his predecessor, George Hughes, Esq. of Middle- 
ton Hall, to represent, and not for the first time, the Club at the 
1884 meeting of the British Association in Canada, delivered his 
Address, at the conclusion of which he nominated as his succes- 
sor the Rev. Thomas Leishman, D.D., F.S.A., Scot., who was 
duly elected, and returned thanks. 

The following gentlemen were then elected to membership— 
the names including those who were provisionally elected at the 
various meetings of the year.— 

Rev. Owen Charles Carr, M.A., Newcastle; Rev. Charles 
Blackett Carr, Norham ; David Robertson Dobie, M.B. and C.M.., 
Coldstream ; John Hunter, H.M. Inspector of Schools, Alnwick ; 
Robert Amos, Oaklands, Alnwick ; Charles Percy, solicitor, Aln- 
wick; Rev. J. G. 8. Napier, Kelso; John H. Haliburton, Mel- 
bourne, Australia; Dr Peter White, Yetholm; Samuel Mason, 
Clive Terrace, Alnwick; Robert Govenlock, Teindside, Hawick ; 
Evan Geo. Sanderson, The Elms, Berwick ; John Brown, Ancroft, 
Beal; Dr C. C. Brown, Thirston, Felton ; Dr Thomas Anderson 
of Shaws, Selkirk; James Logan Mack, Coveyheugh, Reston ; 
Delaval Knight Gregson, Berwick; William Green, Berwick ; 
Rev. A. O. Medd, M.A., Bamburgh, Belford ; John H. Bell, Aln- 
wick; George Henderson, Shidlaw, Coldstream; Charles S. 
Romanes, C,A., 46 Hanover Street, Edinburgh ; Robert Watson, 


Report of Meetings. By the President. 487 


Eccles Newton, Coldstream; Capt. C. Lisle Cookson, Berrywell, 
Duns; David W. B. Tait, W.S., Edenside, Kelso; John 
Storie, East Linton; James Blaikie, M.A., Edin. and Can- 
tab., H.M. Inspector of Schools, 14 Viewforth Place, Edinburgh ; 
The Right Rev. the Bishop of Newcastle; Michael Muir, Sel- 
kirk; Dr H. R. Gatley, Ayton; Alexander F. Roberts, Selkirk ; 
Dr J. Thomas, Selkirk ; D. Carnegie Alexander, solicitor, Selkirk ; 
Edmond J. J. Browell, J.P., East Boldon, Sunderland; Robert 
Y. Green, solicitor, Newcastle; G. H. Philipson, M.D., D.C.L., 
Newcastle; David Herriot, Castle Terrace, Berwick; Joseph 
Oliver, Eslington Park, Alnwick; Sir William Ramsay Fairfax, 
Bart., of Maxton; Alex. C. M‘Intyre, F.S.A., Scot., 99 Renfield 
Street, Glasgow; Col. John Sprot of Riddell. Corresponding 
member—Richard Howse, Secretary of the Tyneside Naturalists’ 
Field-Club, Newcastle. 

The following members have died since last annual meeting :— 
Ralph Carr Ellison, Esq., of Dunstan Hill and Hedgeley; Mr 
William Cunningham, Coldstream; Rev. Aislabie Proctor, Dod- 
dington; Professor J. H. Balfour, M. D., Edinburgh; Mr 
Robert Luff Peploe, Manager of the Commercial Bank, Edin- 
burgh ; also within the year, Mr John Gordon Maitland, advocate, 
Procurator Fiscal of Berwickshire; Sir John Marjoribanks, Bart. 
of Lees; and Mr George Heriot Stevens, Gullane. 

The Treasurer’s accounts were then audited. They showed a 
‘‘ Balance due to Treasurer” of £23 12 93.—but that would be 
to a great extent covered, if all arrears were paid up. 

The amount of subscription for the current year was fixed at 
seven shillings and sixpence. 

Some discussion took place with regard to the mode of pro- 
cedure in the case of members who did not pay their dues; after 
what period, for instance, should their names be struck off. The 
Treasurer and Dr Douglas gave some explanation, and eventu- 
ally it was agreed to leave the matter in statw quo for another 
year. 

The places selected for meetings for the season 1885, were ;— 
1. Oxnam for May; 2. Rothbury for June; 3, Aikengall near 
Oldhamstocks, in July; 4. Weststruther, and Wedderlie, in 
August; 5. Chipchase and Haughton Castles in September; 6. 
Kelso in October. 

Votes of thanks were proposed to the Berwick Museum Com- 
mittee for the use of their room; to Mr E. A. L. Batters, F.L.S., 


488 Report of Meetings. By the President. 


Mr Leather of Middleton Hall, Miss Russell of Ashiesteel, and 
Dr Anderson of Shaws, for contributing plates free of expense 
to the last number of the Proceedings ; to Mr Douglas, publisher, 
Edinburgh, who permitted the reproduction of a plate of an 
inscribed stone; to the Scottish Society of Antiquaries for 
allowing the Club to have replicas of three of their cuts; to Mr 
J. T. Dixon of Rothbury for pen and ink sketches for two plates, 
and to Mr John Turnbull of Abbey St Bathans, Miss Dickinson 
and Miss Sarah Dand for drawings. 

The President then proceeded to call attention to the state of 
the Club, with special reference to some suggestions, copies of 
which had been sent out to every member with the last circulars. 
He congratulated the Club upon its success and prosperous con- 
dition ; for the small but devoted band, eleven in number, who 
constituted the Club in 1831, when it was founded by Dr John- 
ston, of whom the Rev. Thomas Brown (whom he was very glad 
to see present, and to welcome at the meeting that day) was the 
only survivor—was now represented by upwards of 400 members 
in direct dynastic line. That must be considered gratifying, as 
far as it showed the popularity of the Club, and the readiness 
which it had displayed in welcoming with open arms those who 
had any interest in the object for which it was established, or 
those even, whose taste for such objects was likely to be awak- 
ened or developed. Most Societies, however, were limited in 
numbers, and it seemed to him wise that a regulation of that 
sort should exist. 

It had for some time been apparent that the Club, steadily in- 
creasing as it was in numbers, (the average yearly increase for 
the last ten years, including those that day elected, being 
27,°;), was assuming unmanageable—or at least inconvenient— 
proportions, having regard to the organisation and conduct of 
the expeditions; to the convenience and comfort of members 
taking part in them; to the demands upon the generosity 
of those who so often and so hospitably entertained them; and 
lastly, to the danger, which should not be overlooked, that their 
excursions seemed to be assuming too much the character of 
mere pleasure excursions. 

Again, owing to the want of a sufficiently definite and formal 
plan, a good deal of hurry, uncertainty, and confusion, often 
occurred when names of candidates for membership were 
announced ; as it was, a discussion being too much a matter of 


Report of Meetings. By the President. 489 


course to any one whose names were read out after dinner. He 
thought that this state of things was unsatisfactory and incon- 
sistent with the Club’s position and prestige; and with a view to 
rectifying it, he begged leave to invite discussion upon the 
suggestions, disclaiming, however, any idea of pushing any 
thing which might not commend itself to the judgment of 
old and experienced members, and especially to that of the 
permanent officials, to whom, he was sure, that they were all 
greatly indebted for their valuable and continued exertions, 
particularly to Mr Hardy for his able editorship of the Pro- 
ceedings. [applause ]. 

The members then proceeded to consider Suggestion I.— Capt. 
Norman explaining that the clause about allowing power to the 
President to ‘‘nominate independently in special cases,” was 
intended to meet the contingency of there being no vacancy, and 
a distinguished visitor, a naturalist of eminence, a noble host, 
&c., being desirous of admission, or being asked to join. 

Dr F. Douglas bore testimony to the unmanageable proportions 
to which the Club had reached, and approved of the limitation 
of members. Considerable discussion followed in which Col. 
Milne Home, the Rev. J. F. Bigge, Messrs. Hindmarsh, Muir- 
head, and others took part. Eventually it was proposed by the 
Rey. J. F. Bigge, seconded by Col. Milne Home, M.P., and 
carried unanimously, that the following suggestion become a 
Permanent Rule of the Club. 

‘‘That the number of Members exclusive of Honorary* Mem- 
bers shall not be allowed to exceed 400; and that names 
for Candidates for election shall be brought forward in 
priority of application, power being reserved tothe Presi- 
dent to nominate independently in special cases, irrespec- 
tive of the number of members then in the Club.” 

*By which is understood Lady and Corresponding Members, and 

Associates. 

The second suggestion, namely :— 

‘‘ That in future the names of gentlemen who may desire to 
be admitted to Membership can be brought forward by 
the use of the (submitted and approved) Form only, which 
in each case, the Secretary is requested to see properly 
executed,”’ 

having been proposed asa Rule by MrR. G. Bolam, and seconded 
by Mr Heatley, was also carried nem. con. 


21 


4.90 Report of Meeting. By the President. 


The usual dinner took place at the King’s Arms Hotel, at 3 
o’clock, and was attended by 35 gentlemen, the President in the 
chair. 

In proposing ‘‘ success to the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club,”’ 
he expressed his satisfaction that the Club had adopted as new 
Rules the suggestions which that day had been submitted, that 
the discussion upon them had been so amicable, and sincerely 
trusted that they would be found to act beneficially. They 
desired for the Club as an institution what they desired for every 
member of it, the ‘‘mens sana in corpore sano”’; they desired 
that the investigation of the Natural History and Antiquities of 
our Border Land should be carried on with spirit and interest. 
They should not imagine that because so much work had been 
done, because their Proceedings showed such ample records, that 
there was nothing more to do. The new railway would open up 
‘‘fresh fields and pastures new”’; but the book of Nature had 
endless leaves. Many could observe something, could write a 
short paper for the Club, and so on, and there were always indi- 
vidual tastes to be cultivated and improved, and knowledge to be 
acquired, by the opportunities and the associations and the 
companionships which the Club afforded. 

During the day Mrs Barwell Carter, with her accustomed 
courtesy, received members at her house in Woolmarket, where 
her distinguished father, the founder of the Club, lived and died. 
Many very interesting records of him and of Mrs Johnston, and 
of their joint labours in the cause of natural science, are, on these 
occasions, always on view, which are supplemented by the beau- 
tiful paintings of wild flowers by Miss Dickinson of Norham, 
whose delineations of our Flora have secured for her a place in 
the very first rank of floral artists. _ 

Several members brought to the meeting objects of interest 
for inspection. 

Mr Walby of Alnwick: a beautifully preserved collection by 
Mr A. Amory, of 4lge¢ from the Northumbrian coast. Rey. David 
Paul: a very perfect celt of indurated slate, about 53 inches by 
24 and 1 inches broad, turned up ten or twelve years ago, by a 
ploughman on the farm of Marlfield, 2 miles from Morebatitle, 
Roxburghshire. The President: a good specimen of Filograna 
implexa, Berkl., one of the Serpule ; and a specimen of the car- 
boniferous Limestone fossil-Polyp, Lithostrotion probably bas- 
altiforme, both of which were fished up off the Berwick coast, 


Embedded Reptiles. By the President. 491 


the former by Mr Evan Sanderson; also a silver penny of Edward 
I., found by Mr E. H. Greet in the earth thrown up when the tank 
was made for the Norham water-works. 


EMBEDDED REPTILES, with special reference to the 
discovery of a Live Frog in the Carboniferous Limestone 
at Scremerstone. By F. M. Norman, Commander R. N., 
President. (Plates I and II). Read at the Cornhill Meet- 
ing, 29 May, 1884. 


Srortss of the discovery of frogs and toads found embedded 
in solid wood, stone, or coal, occasionally appear in newspapers ; 
and many are to be found in local records, and in various works 
on natural history. 

These excite our curiosity, awaken our interest, and tend to 
indulge, maybe, any superstitious tendencies which we may 
happen to possess; but as the evidence is never quite conclusive 
to show that the creatures were entirely enclosed in the substance, 
and absolutely cut off from the possibility of air, water, and food 
supply, or that they were not, some mystery seems still to sur- 
round the question, which tends to deepen, rather than allay our 
desire to have the whole subject fully and satisfactorily explained. 

Unfortunately, there is no record of a single instance where 
the details are sufficiently authenticated for us to determine, 
beyond all doubt, whether the confinement was absolute; or 
whether or not there existed some communication by hole, crack, or 
erevice with the outer world. The mass out of which the animal 
is liberated is broken up by workmen, or its position altered, or its 
essential features obliterated, and thus an examination by a com- 
petent observer of the exact original situation, which alone can be 
accepted as satisfactory, is never made, 

The example, which recently came under notice in the neigh- 
bourhood of Berwick—the subject of my Paper to day—is, I 
confess, not exempt from the incomplete conditions which seem 
to be inseparable from such discoveries. Still, I think that its 
occurrence so near at hand, in the very centre of our district, is a 
matter for congratulation ; for surely every Naturalists’ Club of 
standing ought to possess, if no Megalosaurus, at least some 
respectable reptile embedded in its annals, much more ought one 
holding the honourable position of Parent Club. 


492 Embedded Reptiles. By the President. 


Hitherto, however, we have been entirely without one; though 
I learn from Mr Hardy that Dr Johnston (claruwm et venerabile 
nomen /), had turned his attention to the matter, and was collect- 
ing general instances. 

But we have no time for the enumeration or consideration of 
mere general instances, however interesting. The main thing 
for us is to get them local or sub-local; and chiefly through the 
kindness of my friend, ourmember, Mr R. G. Bolam, of Berwick, 
who afforded me facilities for search among his valuable store of 
books relating to our Border Counties, and for a personal ex- 
amination of the Chillingham relics, I am enabled to bring 
forward a few examples, which in addition to their general, have 
a more immediate interest for us—though it must be remarked 
that they nearly all belong, as far as this Club is concerned, to 
pre-historic times. 

They seem to form a natural introduction to the story of our 
own Frog. 

First then, we have the famed Chillingham Toad, of which 
the earliest notice is found in the ‘‘ Athenian Oracle,” Vol. 11., 
published in 1704, where a translation of the inscription (see 
further on) is given; in the 2nd part of which there is an allusion 
to Harvey, in a context which makes it tolerably certain that the 
famous discoverer of the circulation of the blood is meant: 

OG e ° e 

Here forsooth you may see a shell 
The Produce of a white Hen, 

How a Chicken shall be formed from it 
Harvey will tell you.” 


Now Harvey died in 1658, and we may certainly infer that the 
inscription was written during his life time, and during the 
latter part of it when he was known to fame; but how long the 
toad was found before the writing of the inscription, we cannot 
discover. 

The next notice appears in “The Gentleman’s Magazine” fer 
1756. 

‘A living toad,” writes the historian (but he does not state in 
what year) ‘‘ was found in the body of the freestone which was 
used for the Chimney Piece of the great Hall in Chillingham 
Castle. It is said to have exactly filled the cavity where it lay, 
as a figure of metal fills a mould.” 

The discovery of this creature, declared by the historian Wallis 


Embedded Reptiles. By the President. 493 


in 1769, to have been liberated from his nidus while the block 
was sawn in two, evidently produced a great impression; and 
whatever others might have thought, it is clear that Mr Hutchin- 
son, another eminent Northumberland historian, had no mis- 
givings about the genuine antiquity of the example, for he writes 


in 1776; with more faith than accuracy, for the stone is certainly 
not marble, ‘‘ How wonderful are the works of Providence, how 
incomprehensible is the existence of this animal, shut up in the 
bosom of a mountain, cased in a rock of marble, perhaps 100 feet 
from the surface, living without air, or only such as should per- 
vade the veins of the stone, without light, without liberty, 
deprived of animal consolation,” and so on. 

A picture or large heraldic device in a frame, was painted in 
commemoration. 

It consists of the resemblance of a coat of arms, displaying a 
large toad on ashield, supported by two frogs, and the motto :— 
“Hist Et A Jove Buro.” 

There is alsoa fungus or toadstool, with a smaller toad upon it. 
The Shield is flanked by a Latin inscription in two parts by 
an unknown author, * thus rendered into English by a late 
Lord Ravensworth. 
FIRST PART. 
Ho! Stagyrite, 
“Tf you wish something more wonderful than your own Huripus, 
Come Hither! 
Let the tides flow and ebb; and he be Iunatic 
Who robs Trivia of her Honours. 
Lo, for you something novel, which Africa bears not, 
Nor Nile on his Sandy Shores. 
(To wit), fire and pure flames. 
Yet without Vital Air, 
Out of the dark recesses of the split rock 
As much as you see, the hands of the Midwife Stonecutter gave light 
To a Living Toad. 
[ARcH. ANLIANA, I1., 2. | 
The picture, which was hanging at Chillingham in 1756, may 
be seen there to this day. 


* Bishop Cosin, Bishop of Durham 1660-1673 was considered by Lord 
Ravensworth to have been the author of the inscription; but a writer in 
““ Archeeologia Alliana,’’ III. 278, thinks that there is very strong internal 
evidence that he could not have been so. A number of people were sug- 
gested, but the name of the real author is buried in obscurity. 


494 Embedded Reptiles. By the President. 


So, also, may be the slab of freestone, carefully preserved, 
and containing the nidus of the toad, or more accurately a seg- 
ment of it, an irregularly shaped hole about 7 inches by 5, the 
interior being slightly encrusted or ferruginously discoloured. 
I cannot, I regret to say, after inspection endorse the statement 
of the writer in the Magazine, that the figure of the hole plainly 
corresponds to the parts of an animal. 

The second example is from Hutchinson, and is of so interest- 
ing a character, that the want of corroborative evidence seems 
especially provoking. He says :— 

‘‘ In the newspaper of 1776 (the date of the publication of his 
History), a letter from Sunderland mentions, that a few days 
ago, ina coal mine, under the place, a large toad was found 
alive in the solid coal, 190 feet under-ground. On being exposed 
to the air it instantly died.” 

My third is extracted from the ‘‘ Historical Record of Remark- 
able Events” published in Newcastle :— . 
1797, June— 

‘‘This month, in working a slate quarry at Barnard Castle, 
was discovered in a large stone, solid excepting the spot occupied 
by the incarcerated animal, a toad, which died immediately on 
being exposed to the air.” 

My others are from the same source. 

1809, November 22nd— ~ 

‘“‘On opening a gap in a wall near Bamborough for the 
passage of carts, a toad which had been incarcerated in the 
_ centre of the wall, was found alive and set at liberty. A mason, 
Geo. Wilson, when building this wall 16 years before, had 
wantonly immured the animal in a close cavity formed by lime 
and stone, just large enough to contain it, which he plastered so 
closely as seemingly to prevent the admission of air. When 
discovered, it was torpid, but quietly recovered animation 
and activity, and hopped away to a neighbouring heap of 
stones.” 

1812, Oct. 21— 

“Some workmen employed at Bykerhill, near Newcastle, on 
splitting a large block of freestone, nearly 3 tons in weight, 
found a living toad in the middle of it. 

The cavity that contained the animal, to which there was no 
passage, was the model of its figure, and was lined with a black 
substance, suffused with moisture.” 


Embedded Reptiles. By the President. 495 


1828, July— 

‘‘In removing the old battlements of Framwellgate Bridge, 
in the City of Durham, a large living toad was found in the 
very middle of the wall, where it must have been confined for a 
number of years. The bridge was built by Flambard in 1120, 
but the date of the erection of the battlement is not known.” 
1849, July— 

‘Whilst workmen were engaged on sinking Seaton and Sea- 
ham Colliery, Durham, they found a large toad embedded in the 
solid limestone rock, 183 feet from the surface, The reptile, 
which was of a very curious shape, died soon: after being extri- 
cated, and was afterwards exhibited at Seaham.” 

And, lastly, our own example. On the 15th February, 1884, 
I was informed by Thomas Johnson, Esq., that on the previous 
day a live frog had been liberated from the solid rock of his 
Scremerston Quarries. 

I lost no time in proceeding to the spot, where I received all 
the information and assistance which Mr Richardson, the intelli- 
gent and obliging foreman of works, was able to give. 

The stratum of carboniferous limestone at Scremerston, in 
course of excavation in the open air, of marine origin, and almost 
certainly an altered coral reef, is locally known as the ‘‘ Lowdean 
Workings”; and underlies, at the place where the discovery 
was made, a bed of shale and a covering of surface earth, together 
about 23 feet thick. 

But this 23 feet of superincumbent strata had been removed, 
nearly two years previously; so that for that period the top of 
the limestone stratum was in reality, the surface ; and the distance 
from that surface to the level of the frog’s abode, was eight feet 


plumb. 
_ The limestone has naturally a perpendicular cleavage ; so that 


the stratum is divided into a series of long rows or ranges, later- 
ally continuous, but separated from each other before and behind 
by the fissures of cleavage, which are sometimes so narrow that 
they would with difficulty be noticed, but at others one-half an 
inch, one, or even two inches wide. 

These fissures, called on the spot ‘ backs,” and when they 
run completely from the top to the bottom of the stratum ‘ open 
backs,” are occasionally empty or nearly so; but in most cases 
full of wet earth or clay, and small stones mixed together in 
various states of consistency. 


496 Embedded Reptiles. By the President. 


The two workmen who made the discovery, no one else having 
been present at the time, pointed out the exact place whence was 
hewn the block from the interior of which it came. 

They stated that in course of work, they had partially separ- 
ated from the stratum a block measuring about 5 feet by 4 feet ; 
and an inspection showed me that the separation from the con- 
tiguous portion of the stratum behind was an ‘‘open back” 2 
inch wide, and almost entirely filled with ‘‘ rain wash ” as already 
indicated. 

The men went on to explain that on striking heavily with 
their picks on the top of this block, some large fragments were 
separated, suddenly disclosing a full grown frog in a torpid state, 
with closed eyes, who fell over on his side as if dead, but in a few 
minutes opened his eyes, and in a few more moved his legs, soon 
assuming a normal squatting position, as if nothing particular 
had happened. 

The foreman took charge of it, providing it with a congenial 
home on damp earth and moss, and giving it a daily bath. 

I saw it there two days after its second birth into this world, 
and I saw it again a few days ago. Under Mr Richardson’s 
care it is alive and well, and though supplied with food, has not 
eaten any, as far as can be observed. It has not grown, and 
though healthy and bright, is now emaciated. It was a healthy 
looking, fairly plump, full grown frog, three-and-a-half inches 
long, olive brown above, yellowish white below, an ordinary, 
common-place frog, not at all ‘‘an antediluvian-looking customer,” 
differing in no respect that I could detect from other frogs of my 
acquaintance; but still commanding a certain amount of respect 
because of the rather mysterious nature of its surroundings and 
antecedents. 

Tf good old King George found it difficult to account for the 
apples inside the pudding, what would he have thought about 
our frog; for both workmen emphatically declared and persisted, 
and do so to this day, that between the small cavity in the interior 
of the block which contained it, and the ‘‘ back,’ a distance of 
two feet, there was no visible chance of communication of any 
sort or size, nor was there one in any other direction. 

Unfortunately, as I have already intimated, but too inconsistently 
with general experience in kindred cases, I was too late to find 
any other relics of the block than a fragment of irregular shape, 
roughly speaking 18 inches square, which displayed a portion of 


Embedded Reptiles. By the President. 497 


the roundish waterworn cavity, which had formed froggy’s home, 
which we judged to have been about twice the size of an orange, 
all the rest having been sent off to the kilns. 

Asked why they did not keep part of the block back and send 
for the foreman, one of the men answered, ‘‘ D’ye think we were 
going to lose two hundred weight of stone for a puddock ?” 

Now in considering and trying to account for the presence of 
incarcerated reptiles, we shall find it convenient to separate them 
into two groups. 

(1) Those which are really and truly embedded. 

(2) Those which are enclosed in cavities large enough to move 
about in. 

The members of the former group claim our first chief atten- 
tion—those reptiles I mean, which have been found, or are 
alleged to have been found, so firmly and completely embedded 
in the rock or coal, that they fit into it as closely as a casting, or 
a bullet in its mould; so that, on removing the living (if torpid) 
body, an exact figure of it is seen in the enclosing substance. 

Such instances I have already quoted as being recorded to 
have occurred at Bykerhill and Chillingham; and there is 
another from Bathgate in Linlithgow, where the niche in the 
middle of a large piece of coal was reported to be quite smooth, 
and of the exact shape of the liberated frog. 

The great feature of interest in connection with an animal 
discovered under such circumstances is the startling, but ap- 
parently legitimate inference, that it must perforce be contem- 
poraneous with the rock which enclosed it. 

Now, I will say at once that if the discoverers have been right 
in only one of the numerous recorded instances, that an animal 
was actually, and beyond all question, found under the conditions 
which we are now considering, I do not see how we can escape 
that inference, marvellous and incredible as it may appear. 

‘‘There are,” it is true ‘stranger things in heaven and earth 
than are dreamt of in our philosophy,” and may be in the coal 
measures particularly. 

There are many marvels in natural history which have only 
recently been disclosed; the reviving powers for example of 
some creatures, notably of the Rotifers, being now known to 
exceed anything that was thought credible. There is the 
important recollection, that a peculiar and leading characteristic 
of toads and frogs is their power of sustaining vitality in a 

2k 


498 Embedded Reptiles. By the President. 


dormant state. There is the consideration which claims not to 
be overlooked, that the evidence of the discoveries in many 
crucial cases, though unsupported by experts, has never been 
disproved. There are all those points to which due weight must 
be allowed ; and then having made ourselves aware, if we were 
not already aware, of the vast number of years which have 
elasped since the formation of even one of the most ‘recent’ of 
the Tertiary strata, and how much is involved in the supposition 
that an incarcerated living being can be contemporaneous with 
any of them, and how much more with any of the ancient strata, 
we had better, should doubt remain, invoke the arbitration of 
Common Sense. Will not Common Sense rebel at being asked 
to believe that a creature thus situated could retain vitality, and 
not suffer decay, or atrophy of the organs, or become fossilized, 
or mummified, during the millions of years which have rolled on 
since the Carboniferous deposits, the formation of which, alone, 
it is estimated took more than half amillion years, and in which, 
or in adjacent systems, most of these cases occur :—that such a 
creature could, by any possibility, be a direct living link with 
times so remote that human ken is incapable of forming any 
distinct idea of the /iatus of ages which separates us from them ; 
of times so remote, that compared with that interval, the 6000 
years or so of the life of Adamite man on the earth, are, so to 
speak, but a tick of the geological clock ? 

It certainly will rebel, and entirely refuse ; and on that account 
alone, without much pausing to consider other salient obstacles 
to the survival of living organisms thus situated, which easily 
present themselves; and undeterred by a possible accusation of 
“begging the question’? (which in this instance can have no 
real force) will decide without hesitation, as a moral certainty, 
that no genuine instance of a really embedded reptile has ever occurred 
in any of the stratified rocks. 

In spite ofall that, however, some persons may not be fully 
convinced; there may with some remain a lingering disposition 
to trust too much to deceptive appearances. To such I would 
say ‘‘nimium ne crede colori.” 

To such I would quote a story recently told in the paper ‘‘ The 
Workman and Engineer,’”’ of the breaking up of a casting, and 
the leaping out from it of a full grown frog. There was in the 
casting a small hole, but in this case at least ‘‘ would anyone be 
so foolish as to fancy that the frog had been introduced with the 
molten metal ?”’ 


Embedded Reptiles. By the President. 499 


That was the writer’s sensible remark, which is totally un- 
answerable, unless indeed the beast were a Salamander! To 
such I would urge attention to the conditions under which 
stratified rocks were founded by deposition under water, during 
which slow and gradual process, the animal must have quietly 
maintained its position at the bottom; and in the case (like our 
own,) of fresh water animals being found in marine formations, 
must have wandered into the sea and remained living at the 
bottom of it. There are also alterative influences, as heat, 
pressure, dislocation of strata, which have affected such large 
portions of the earth’s crust. But, surely, enough! 

Still, after all, it is not to be denied that there are curious 
features connected with many of these discoveries, on which it is 
desirable that more light should be thrown, and which, there- 
fore, demand the careful attention of naturalists. 

Next, we have to consider cases like our own, and like the 
majority of such discoveries, where reptiles are found alive in 
cavities, to which present communication may or may not exist, 
or have been observed. 

In the case of rocks near the surface, and in quarries, reptiles 
find ready admission to holes and fissures. 

In the case of coal pits, wells, deep shafts or excavations, a 
reptile young or full grown, accidentally falling down, would 
seek a retreat in the first cavity that it could find; and the miner 
or explorer in the course of his work of dislodging it, might 
hastily conclude that it was co-eval with the stone out of which it 
made its appearance. 

Thus Dr Schliemann, during his excavations on the site of 
Homeric Troy, found large live toads among ruins 50 feet below 
the surface, of which he says ‘‘ they must have spent 3000 years 
in these depths—it is very interesting to find in the ruins of Troy 
living creatures from the time of Hector and Andromache.” 
(‘‘ Troy,” 1875, p. 157.) Cavities are common enough in sand- 
stone and limestone. In the latter they are often caused by the 
percolation of water which holding carbonic acid decomposes the 
rock, carrying off in solution much of the carbonate of lime, 
thus making ‘hard water ”’ for us to drink. 

So, the floor of the cavity thus formed in which our frog lived, 
was composed of a damp earth, made of a decomposed limestone, 
stained rust colour owing to the presence of much iron in the 
water; and all over his floor were visible, until obliterated by 
the fingering of visitors, the prints of the animal’s toes. 


500 Embedded Reptiles. By the President. 


The important point—what communication existed (if any) 
between the cavity and the “back,” two feet distant, must, as a 
physical certainty, for ever remain unsolved—unless, indeed, we 
are satisfied to accept as final, the express and reiterated declara- 
tion of the men that there was none whatever. 

The men no doubt are honest enough, there may be no inten- 
tion to deceive, but they may have overlooked the presence of 
one, or of the evidences of a former one. To establish a fact in 
natural history, especially in the life or surroundings of an 
animal, requires the most careful and experienced observation. 

But after what has been said, we shall, I think, assume as a 
moral certainty, the existence of a communication with the outer 
world, probably in the shape of a water-worn channel, through 
which, possibly years ago, but most probably in the spring of 
1883, after the removal of the overlying shale and earth, an 
ovum, a tadpole, or much more likely a very young frog, 
wandered, or was washed in by rain or stream. 

I am not inclined to support the ovum or tadpole theory, for 
the reason that tadpoles are aquatic creatures, and, like fish, 
cannot respire air except that contained in the water in which 
they swim, not being able to live in the air until they cease to 
be tadpoles. 

Inside the cavity it must have grown up into the adult stage , 
for my opinion, after careful examination in which the foreman 
fully agreed, was, that the passage of any but the very smallest 
young frog down the ‘‘ back” was impossible. 

At certain seasons there is no lack of small frogs. After 
emerging from the tadpole stage, they wander in the vicinity of 
their parent waters in such vast numbers, that sometimes they 
are taken up by local whirlwinds, carried to a distance by strong 
currents, and fall in the shape of the proverbial ‘‘ shower of 
Frogs.”’ 

Moreover, the first effort of the juvenile frog is to seek a 
secure retreat, for it has numerous enemies; so that an individual 
who had entered, when young, willingly or forcibly, by some very 
narrow aperture, would soon increase in bulk, could he get 
suitable food, sufficiently to render escape impossible, and then 
might become torpid, and live on for years. 

Our interest is thus chiefly centered in the enquiries— 

‘How long may our frog have been shut in; how did he get 
food ?” 


Embedded Reptiles. By the President. 501 


Well, it is evident that he must have been there at least for 
about nine months, but he may have been there much longer. 

We have records of many interesting experiments for the 
purpose of finding out how long such creatures will remain 
alive, either simply buried in the earth, or entirely cut off from 
visible access to air and food. Mr Jesse, the well-known 
naturalist, relates that a gentleman put a toad into a small 
flower pot, and having secured it so that apparently no insect 
could penetrate, buried it in the ground beyond the influence of 
frost. At the end of, how many years do you think ?—twenty 
years! he took it up, and found the toad increased in size, and 
quite healthy. Then we have careful series of experiments by 
Dr Edwards of Paris, and by Dean Buckland, the latter being 
recorded at length by his son, the late Mr Frank Buckland, in 
his ‘‘ Curiosities of Natural History,” where toads were confined 
in holes cut in blocks of wood, sandstone, and limestone, 
hermetically sealed by covers of glass ; the conclusion being that 
toads cannot live a year totally excluded from direct access to 
air, or more than two years without food. 

Now, on this I must insist, that no experiments on animals in 
a state of nature can be considered satisfactory or conclusive, 
unless the natural conditions of their lives are exactly repro- 
duced or imitated ; and the conditions in these experiments were, 
in more than one particular, so confessedly imperfect, that Mr 
Buckland admits that they are not decisive to show that a state 
of torpid, or suspended animation, may not be endured fora 
much longer time by toads which are healthy and well-fed up to 
the moment of natural retirement. 

In many cases, notably those at Bamborough and in the 
bridge at Durham, it is obvious that, owing to the porosity of 
the plaster or the stone, a portion of air sufficient to maintain 
life in the torpid state, foundits way. It is noted that the great 
majority of instances of imprisoned reptiles have occurred in 
stone or wood of a not very dense character. Under such 
circumstances the power of cutaneous respiration is obvious, and 
is, in fact, the key to the secret of the retention of life by frogs 
and toads during the torpid state for whatever periods. 

This power possessed by the skin of Batrachians, of effecting 
the same changes in the blood as do lungs or gills, is one of the 
most interesting features in the economy of these marvellously 
constructed animals ; and it has been proved that their pulmon- 


502 Embedded Reptiles. By the President. 


ary respiration alone is not sufficient to support life without the 
help of the cutaneous surface. 

As regards the food supply :— 

The frog lives on animal food, small worms, snails, slugs and 
insects, to secure and retain which its tongue is beautifully 
adapted. 

Full grown frogs and toads as we have seen, can support a 
long abstinence even when not torpid, and require but a small 
supply of air; and while those animals with whose habits we are 
best acquainted take in their principal supplies of liquid by the 
mouth, frogs and toads take in theirs through the skin alone. 

The mouth of a frog or toad is never opened except for the 
fraction of a second occupied in capturing its prey with its 
tongue. For that reason frogs kept in confinement are some- 
times supposed to have no mouths, or what comes to the same 
thing, none that they can open. Until I easily proved the con- 
trary, the mouth of the Scremerston frog was reported to be 
closed with a membrane. 

It was found by Dr Townson in his experiments on the 
respiration of the Amphibia, that a frog when placed upon 
blotting paper, well saturated with water, absorbed nearly its 
own weight of fluid in an hour and a half. That the moisture 
thus imbibed is sufficient to enable some of the Amphibia to 
exist for a long time without any other food, cannot, Dr Townson 
thinks, be reasonably doubted; and taken in conjunction with 
the cutaneous respiration, explains toa great extent the fact that 
Batrachians live and often thrive under apparently very adverse 
conditions. P 

But for a full grown frog to exist without food for a time, is a 
very different affair from ours, whom we believe to have grown 
from the infant into the adult stage, making bone and skin and 
flesh, which could not have been done without a continuous 
supply. 

I am not able to suppose that an aqueous solution of food 
adapted for such a purpose existed, or was available. 

I therefore conclude that nourishment was provided in the 
form of minute insects brought by the trickling water. 

I have purposely delayed to answer till now, in order that I 
might with more prominence notice, the pertinent question, 
having regard to the possible age of the frog, which has often 
been asked me—‘“‘ Is he of the same species as ours, or of any 


Embedded Reptiles. By the President. 503 


ancient sort ?”” Certainly he is our own, the veritable Rana 
temporaria, and no other. 

Even had he been found under much less accountable condi- 
tions, we could not, for the following sufficient reasons alone, 
allow him to be co-eval with the stone—unless, indeed, we were 
to decide that he isthe most ancient Batrachian ever discovered ; 
unless ‘he was the first that ever burst into that silent sea.” 
The facts are these— 

The Scremerston limestone is near the base of the Carbon- 
iferous series which are Primary, during which epoch there are 
the earliest, but scanty indications of reptiles; and although it 
is true that during the succeeding Secondary era reptiles were 
very abundant, no Batrachian (with one notable and rather 
hybrid exception) has ever been found in any strata older than 
the Tertiary ; while Rana does not make its appearance till we 
come to the Pleiocene or newest Tertiary, which was laid down 
many millions of years after the Carboniferous limestone ; and 
nothing is known of our species, Rana temporaria, till the Post- 
Pleiocene, which, geologically speaking is yesterday. The 
exception to which I alluded is the Labyrinthodon order of reptiles. 

Labyrinthodon giganteum, ‘a frog-like reptile as big as an ox,” 
is found in the Kiiper, or Upper New Red Sandstone, the oldest 
Secondary, and was a Batrachian except in one important par- 
ticular, that being, that he breathed air, like crocodiles, lizards, 
and other Saurians, and did not swallow it like frogs; and so, 
having affinities to both families, he is generally termed a 
“‘sauroid-batrachian.”’ | 

The commencement of the existence of this family of Sauroid- 
batrachians is, however, of greater antiquity, as their relics occur 
in formations of the Carboniferous epoch, fossil evidence of the 
existence of more than one member of it having been afforded 
by the coal of Germany and Nova Scotia. 

About this famous Labyrinthodon, Frank Buckland tells us 
that he used to make frogs walk on plaster of Paris, to shew the 
similarity of their foot-prints with those of their supposed ances- 
tors in his father’s museum at Oxford. 

I may mention that the honourable position of ‘‘ the most 
ancient reptile known” was for some time held by Telerpeton 
LElginense ; because the sandstone wherein it was discovered, was 
supposed to be Old Red, older than the coal measures; whereas 
it is now known to be Triassic or New Red, which is newer. 


504 Embedded Reptiles. By the President. 


In conclusion, with direct reference to the incident which gave 
rise to the observations for which I am asking your kind attention 
this afternoon—are we, then, reduced to the exclamation— ‘‘ Par- 
turiunt montes, nascetur ridicula Rana ?”’ 

By no means; for although we cannot admit the claims of our 
frog to antiquity; although, under as much common sense 
criticism as we have deen able to command, much of the imagi- 
native, the improbable, the superstitious has been dissipated, 
there still remains much that is curious, and not fully explained. 

If the men were right in the declaration that no channel of 
communication existed when the frog was disclosed, then the 
channel which certainly did exist at one time since the cavity 
was formed, must have become stopped up since his entry, 
perhaps by stalactitic incrustation, or by the accumulation of debris. 

In that case, although we may not with the discoverer at Bath. 
gate fancifully ‘‘feel inspired with a kind of awe at being 
brought into contact with a living being that has, in all proba- 
bility breathed the same air as Noah, or disported in the same 
limpid stream in which Adam bathed his sturdy limbs,” still, we 
may allow the possibility of the animal’s having been there in a 
torpid state for many years; and that, connected with other 
‘‘ secrets of his prison house” how he grew up, how he got food ; 
the connection of the case with so many others of a similar nature, 
but far more difficult to explain ; the incidental scientific topics 
which open out as we think over the affair, all that supplies 
pregnant matter. 

But the occurrence will not be thrown away, if it does no more 
than incite any of us to a more attentive observation of the mar- 
vellous structure and curious habits of the Amphibia, fish at one 
period of their lives, and land animals at another, in which 
family, in all their intricate organization, the evidence of Design 
in Creation as an Expression of Mind, as opposed to Darwinian 
substitutions, much the fashion of late, seems to stand so strongly 
out in relief. 

I trust, therefore, that though our members may think that I 
have dwelt upon my subject at inconvenient length, they will not 
be of opinion that I have invested it with undue importance; for, 
as I have more than once remarked, it is one of much interest, 
and calls for more complete and educated, and therefore, more 
conclusive evidence before it can be entirely extricated from the 
regions of the Mysterious. 


Embedded Reptiles. By the President. 505 


Besides, a recognition by us of cases like the present, which 
always make astir, a careful examination of the details, and a 
record of them in our Proceedings, is but the legitimate fulfilment 
of one of the principal objects for which our Club exists. 


The Frog died on the 3rd May, 1885. 


ADDENDUM. 


I have to express my thanks to the Rev. Dr. Gordon, Birnie, Elgin ; and 
more particularly to my old friend the Revd. Robert Boog Watson, Card- 
ross, Dumbarton, for kind and interesting communications on the subject 
of Embedded Reptiles. 


[Since the foregoing Paper was read to the Club, Mr Hardy found the 
following notice of an imprisoned Toad among the scientifie USS. 
left by Ur George Tate, which will be read with interest. | 


On a Toad in a Limestone Rock at Whittle. By the late 
GroRGE Tats, F. G. S. 


At Whittle, in the parish of Shilbottle, is an extensive Lime- 
stone Quarry, having a direction of N.N.E. to 8.8.W. The 
limestone is the same as Tate’s Quarry at Shilbottle and as that 
worked at Newton-on-the-Moor. It appears at Framlington, 
west of Brinkburn, Rothley, Kirkharle and other places south- 
ward, and it is said torun near to Stagshaw Bank. The thickness 
of it varies. 

In April 1856, a living Toad was said to have been found in 
limestone rock at Whittle. It was in the middle of a large block 
which was blasted with gunpowder. When the rock was 
shivered, the Toad was exposed. It was in a cavity, just large 
enough for the Toad’s accommodation. The Toad breathed a few 
times, stretched out its feet and then died. It was larger than 
any my informant ever saw, and he had seen many, and of a 
very dark colour approaching to black. 

The workmen had no doubt of the animal having lived in the 
middle of the stone, but how came it there? Geology at once 
scouts the idea of its having been enclosed in the rock at its 
formation; for the limestone is of marine origin, and Toads 
lived not then. Nor will physiology sanction the notion that it 
had been generated there by electrical or other merely physical 

2L 


506 Memovr of Ralph Carr-Ellison, Esq. 


laws. Itmust come from an egg; but how the egg entered into 
the cavity, and how the animal lived in it, are questions not so 
easily solved. 

Limestones have two sets of joints at right angles to each other, 
called backs and joints, and they divide the layers into rhomboidal 
masses. Now there seems no difficulty in ova passing down 
through these joints and entering between the layers, carried 
thither by currents of water. But the animal was not ina joint, 
nor between the strata but in the stone, for in course of quarry- 
ing the block had to be blasted. There are however what work- 
men call ‘‘drys’’ in limestone, which are in effect fractures along 
which the stone breaks more easily than in other directions. 
How these have been occasioned it is not easy to say—probably 
they are the result of the strain on the beds when they were ele- 
vated and disturbed. Now although those ‘‘drys” cause very little 
apparent separation of the rock, yet they must admit moisture ; for 
on the planes of ‘‘drys”’ we freouently find dendritic impressions, 
which are metallic deposits out of the stone on the surface of the 
“drys.” I think, therefore, that along the line of the “‘ dry”’— 
where perhaps it has not been so close as in,other parts—the 
ovum of a Toad has been washed into the cavity. And this con- 
clusion is strengthened by the fact that moisture was observed 
within the cavity when the toad was first exposed. [Mr Tate 
subsequently adds ‘‘ very doubtful this about the Toad.” | 


Memoir of Ralph Curr-Ellison, Esq.,of Dunston Hill and 
Hedgeley, J.P., F.S.A., Scot. 


[A melancholy interest attaches to the following memoir, as 
coming from the pen of the Rev. J. F. Bigge of Stamfordham. 
A few alterations which he had intended to make in it, he was 
prevented from inserting by his own very unexpected and 
lamented death. | 

It is a painful duty to record the death of one of the oldest 
and most valued members of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ 
Society, Mr Ralph Carr-Ellison. He was born on November 
28rd, 1805, and was the son of Mr John Carr of Dunston Hill, 
in the County of Durham, and of Hedgeley, in the County of 


Memoir of Ralph Carr-Ellison, Esq. 507 


Northumberland, in which County he was also owner of Prend- 
wick, Byegate Hall, Lounges Knowe, Makendon, and Lumsdon 
farms. His mother was Hannah, the eldest daughter of Mr 
Henry Ellison, of Hebburn Hall, in the County of Durham. My 
first acquaintance with him was made in 1833 at Geneva, where 
he and Mrs Carr were spending the winter with their second 
child, then an infant. Having been ordained to the curacy of 
Eglingham in 1840, at which time Mr R. Carr was living at 
Hedgeley in the same parish, I had frequent opportunities of 
meeting him and enjoying his most cheerful and agreeable 
society. He was extremely fond of Natural History and espe- 
cially of the study of birds and trees. He was admitted as a 
member of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, October 18th, 
1843, and contributed many valuable papers, particularly on the 
Anglo-Saxon element of our Northern dialect with which he was 
well acquainted. 

In our conversations we often lamented the circumstance that 
Newcastle had no Naturalists’ Club similar to that of Berwick- 
shire, and after much consideration we determined upon making 
an effort to found one. A meeting was held with this view on 
April 25th, 1846, the then Vicar of Newcastle, the Rev. Dr R. C, 
Coxe, being in the chair. It resulted inthe formation of the 
Tyneside Naturalists’ Field-Club, of which Mr Ralph Carr was 
elected the first President. This Club has now grown into 
gigantic proportions, containing, as it does, about 700 members. 
Its first meeting was held on May 20th, 1846, at Ovingham, 
where I then lived as Vicar. It was a very suitable spot for 
such a meeting, inasmuch as Thomas Bewick spent the earlier 
part of his life, and was also buried in that place. But it wasa 
personal gratification to our excellent President that the Club 
should assemble there for the first time, inasmuch as he had 
been a pupil in the vicarage of Ovingham, under the tuition of 
the well-known Rev. James Birkett. Mr Carr always expressed 
the warmest affection for Ovingham, and one of the last of his 
manifold and varied acts of kindness was to offer a splendid 
metal cross to be placed on the top of the church tower. 
The cross was ready, but the giver passed away before the 
necessary arrangements could be carried out for erecting it. 
On leaving Ovingham, Mr Carr, who at the early age of 12 had 
lost his father, went to Harrow, where he was for some years, 
and then to Christ Church, Oxford. In 1830 he married 


508 Memoir of Ralph Carr-Hllison, Esq. 


Elizabeth, second daughter of Major Werge of the 38th Regi- 
ment, and by her had anumerous family. In 1870 he succeeded 
to Hebburn Hall and the entailed portion of the Hebburn 
estate, assuming the name of Ellison, in addition to and after 
Carr, in accordance with the will of his cousin, Lieutenant- 
Colonel Cuthbert George Hllison of the Grenadier Guards. He 
died at Dunston Hill after a short illness on February 4th, 1884, 
in his 79th year. By his death the poor lost a sympathizing 
benefactor, his intimate acquaintances a stedfast friend, and the 
scientific world a useful and devoted seeker after knowledge. 


J. F. BIGGE. 


Of memorial notices of our venerated member the following 
may be appropriately quoted here. The ‘“‘ Sixtieth Report of 
Alnwick Scientific and Mechanical Institution, 1884,” thus speaks 
of him: ‘In the death of Mr Ralph Carr-Ellison, we have lost 
a valuable and long-tried friend. For a period of forty-four 
years his name has appeared on the roll of vice-presidents of this 
Society, and during that time he has ever taken a deep interest 
in all matters relating to its usefulness and prosperity. He was 
an eminent scholar, and possessed a mind fully imbued with 
much that related to history of the ‘North Countrie’; and this 
trait in his character will be best exemplified by the many 
admirable papers on different subjects that have emanated from 
his pen, and which will be found among the printed Transactions 
of several of our local societies. In addition to this, Mr Ellison’s 
memory will be cherished for his many charitable and philan- 
thropic acts, and his great delight in helping forward any 
project that tended to the advancement of education, and the 
amelioration of suffering humanity.”’ 

Mr Carr-Ellison was one of the Council of the Society of 
Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and the Rev. Dr Bruce, in 
commemorating him, justly characterises him as ‘a country 
gentleman of seemly presence and great mental ability.” 
‘Karly in my career as an antiquary,’’ says Dr Bruce, “I was 
induced to seek the assistance of our friend. He invited me to 
Hedgeley, and I had the advantage, on more occasions than one, 
of examining, under his guidance, most of the objects of anti- 
quarian interest (chiefly ancient British) in that part of North- 
umberland. Mr Ralph Carr-Ellison, in addition to a knowledge 
of the classics, and an acquaintance with the Saxon tongue, was 


Memoir of Ralph Carr-Ellison, Esq. 509 


well versed in several modern languages. This gave him con- 
siderable advantages in discussing ancient inscriptions of doubt- 
ful reading. . . . . Mr Carr-Ellison frequently attended 
our meetings, and was a warm supporter of every plan devised 
for increasing the usefulness of our Society. When a committee 
was formed for making excavations on the site of the Roman 
station at the Lawe, at South Shields, Mr Carr-Ellison was at 
the expense of providing a qualified person to overlook the 
excavators, in addition to subscribing handsomely to the funds. 
His extreme kindness and generosity to all who were in distress 
is well known to every one in the north of England. On the 
day that his remains were carried to their last resting-place, the 
ordinary observer could not help noticing how generally and 
how sincerely his loss was mourned by those who knew him 
best. We shall see him among us no more, but his memory 
will be ever green and fresh among the older members, who 
were best acquainted with him.” (Proc. Soc. Ant. Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne, vol. 1. pp. 125-6). 

Two years ago, in the pretorium of the Roman Camp at Chew 
Green, on Makendon Farm, Upper Coquetdale, Mr Carr-Ellison 
was at a considerable expense in excavating, but unfortunately 
without result. In former years he had taken great interest en- 
tailing much personal exertion, in the exploration at Greaves Ash 
onthe Breamish, and latterly had purposed to make application 
to his Grace the Duke of Northumberland, to have a systematic 
search instituted among the camps and tumuli on Beanley Moor ; 
a project which was talked over during a visit I had the pleasure 
of paying to him at Hedgeley in the summer of 1883. But he 
never re-visited his favourite seat among the Cheviots. 

His great affection for forest and ornamental trees and shrubs, 
and for flowers and wild birds remained unimpaired to the last. 
During the visit just alluded to some additions were made to the 
Flora of Hedgeley, which, along with the names of several old 
garden flowers, still preserved in the borders, were noted down 
as fondly as if he had been a juvenile student, and which I am 
informed he afterwards got transcribed, and laid the list away in 
his favourite book, Dr Johnston’s ‘‘ Flora of the Eastern 
Borders” and there it remains. This little incident will be ap- 
preciated by those whose peaceful pleasures, when relaxed from 
business, were like his ‘‘in wild fields gathered.” He had 
assembled here, along the winding walks by the triple deans, 


510 Memovr of Ralph Carr-Ellison, Esq. 


each intersected by a trickling burn, within the private grounds, 
many a garden outcast, as well as 
““Chosen plants and blossoms blown 

Among the mountains, flowers and weeds.” 
as adjuncts to the native growths; and had embellished the 
environs and open spaces with ornamental shrubs, and “ fair 
spreading trees,” 

“Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching” elm ; 
brought from distant lands, and the banks ot famous streams, 
where he had seen and admired them in their aboriginal habitats. 
During the visits of his latter years, he delighted in his walks to 
speak of his trees, dwelling—as the shifting scene suggested—— 
on the graceful or majestic features, decorative effect, ages, bulk 
or stature of the several kinds ; their value as timber, as nurses 
or sheltering screens; their disposal, combination, or treatment. 
For he was skilled in forestry, as is well exemplified in some of 
the happiest of his literary sketches. No less objects of his pro- 
tective care were the feathered tribes and wild quadrupeds, which 
(though not all alike harmless, received merciful consideration 
for such good qualities as appeared to be their predominant dis- 
position) sought their summer home here, and took advantage of 
the inducements and provisions—not always effective—that he 
contrived for their nestling in comfort, and in beloved security. 
The rich variety of bird music at Hedgeley in the summer morn- 
ing-—‘‘the charm of earliest birds ”’—is not one of the least of 
its attractions ; and must have been deeply gratifying to him who 
was its chief promoter. 
‘Tt is the spirit of paradise 

That prompts such work, a spirit strong 

That gives to all the self-same bent, 

Whose life is wise and innocent.” 

He was an earnest improver of his landed property by plant- 
ing, draining, and fencing ; by levelling and reconstructing the 
rough and ill-contrived country roads; by aiding the erection of 
bridges ; providing more convenient cottages and steadings; and 
subsidising schools in the remote hill districts within the sphere 
of his ready benevolence. 

Mr Carr-Ellison was one of the Council of the Natural History 
Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
- He qualified as J.P. for Northumberland in 1888, and was High 
Sheriff for that county in 1846; and was J.P. of long standing 
and a Deputy-Lieutenant for Co, Durham. 


9) 


Some Reminiscences of Mr Carr-Ellison. 511 


Mr Carr-Ellison took much interest in the ancient pastime of 
Falconry. Between the years 1840 and 1843 he kept several 
Peregrine Falcons with which he had excellent sport on his own 
estates at Hedgeley, and with his neighbours flying the hawks 
at partridges, pheasants, rooks, and wood-pigeons, and occa- 
sionally at grouse and wild duck, and one Tiercel was very good 
at snipe. Mr Carr-Ellison then went to reside at Dunston Hill 
and gave up keeping hawks as they could not have been flown 
with safety in that populous neighbourhood. But in 1855, while 
again residing at Hedgeley, he once more took to Falconry, by 
employing for a year with his hawks, the afterwards well known 
Scotch falconer, Barr, then a young man, this being his first 
engagement. 

Some of the older members of the Club may have had the rare 
pleasure of being actual participators in some of these right royal 
field sports, but to those who had not, the first paper Mr Carr- 
Ellison wrote for the Club, of which this was the theme, may be 
recommended as full of interest not only to sportsmen but to 
naturalists. J. H. 


Some Reminiscences of Mr Carr-Ellison. By the Rev. 
CaNon Tristram, D.D., F.R.S., Durham. 


A pay at Hedgeley, was the red-letter day of my boyhood. 
An invitation from Mr Carr to go round the covers with him was 
enough to make books and lessons mere holiday work during the 
week of anticipation. I was but 8 years old when he first 
settled at Hedgeley with his bride. Methinks I hear now those 
soft, gentle tones, and see that quiet, winning manner of the 
polished gentleman which won the heart, and at once set at ease 
every one whom he addressed. Iu an old woman or a child 
alike he at once inspired confidence, and dispelled all sense of 
their widely differing positions. 

I have often wondered since, how the man of culture and of 
wide and varied learning could so completely win a boy’s con- 
fidence, and draw out questions on every subject, which it was 
his delight to answer in such a way as to elicit further enquiries. 
I never met any one who had in such a degree the power of 


a1 Some Reminiscences of Mr Carr- Ellison. 


attracting and interesting a child. It seemed to be his delight to 
draw out the power of observation in his boy companion, and to 
suggest the generalizations which might be drawn from the facts 
observed, and this not on one, but on every subject of human 
culture. 

As we walked through the woods, he would draw attention to 
some plant or flower, and ask where I had seen that before, and 
then notice the soil in which it was found. Not a bird was in 
sight, but he asked its name, and told of its habits, He held 
his gun that the boy might have his first shot at a rabbit. By 
the banks of the Coquet, he would tell the life-history of ring- 
dotterel or black-headed gull, and then as we watched the trout, 
explain the various species of Salmo and their different habits. 
If we passed the ruins of Brandon Chapel, there was sure to be 
a story of the Great Rebellion, and the march of Cromwell to 
Dunbar. Well do I remember a walk to Percy’s Cross and to 
the Percy Leap—how he rehearsed the ballad of Otterburn, and 
sent me happy home, with Scott’s ‘‘Tales of a Grandfather,”’ which 
I was not to return till I could say I had read them through. 
A visit to the British Camp at Old Bewick was a text for a 
lesson that could never be forgotten, on the difference of British 
and Roman remains, and’ on the primeval inhabitants of 
Northumbria. 

Yet the man who could thus enjoy devoting himself to interest 
boys, was one of the most generally accomplished and widely 
read men I ever met. There was hardly a subject he did not 
treat, and in none was he a mere dabbler. At a time when 
Anglo-Saxon was hardly known even by its University Professors, 
he had acquired no mean knowledge of the language, and applied 
his knowledge to the elucidation of many local names, a very 
favourite amusement with him. He had searched out all the 
known Saxon remains in the north, and was the discoverer of 
some inscriptions. Anglo-Saxon led him to investigate the struc- 
ture of all the Gothic and Scandinavian developments; and he 
carried researches even further. Once when I had been visiting 
Livonia, and produced a Lettish Grammar, I found he knew 
some of the characteristics of that language, and he gave mea 
Lettish Bible, with various notes of his own, as a souvenir of our 
conversation. His continental visits, which had been leisurely, 
had enabled him to become familiar with the ethnographic 
features of Europe, from the Basques to the Magyars. 


Some Reminiscences of Mr Carr-Ellison. 513 


His antiquarian knowledge, on which I need here add nothing 
to what has been said by others, was quite equalled by his 
architectural; and few amateurs were more at home in detecting 
at once the original form and state of a church from the frag- 
mentary remains left by churchwardens and restorers. Few 
men were more thoroughly master of the various links between 
the Byzantine, the Lombard, and the Norman; and though many of 
his theories might be questioned, no one could question his 
knowledge of the facts. This knowledge rendered him a most 
valuable counsellor in all cases of Church restoration ; and many 
a deed of vandalism he prevented, though sometimes, as at 
Whittingham, he was too late. But with his love of every Saxon 
relic, he combined the thoroughly practical spirit of the sanitary 
reformer, and had no idea of building modern churches unsuited to 
modern requirements, any more than of building cottages with- 
out any modern improvement. 

In the old church of Jarrow he delighted, and the connexion of 
the Venerable Bede with his own estate at Hebburn was a topic 
of much interest. One of his first cares after he succeeded to 
the property, was to direct the attention of the Dean and Chapter 
of Durham to Bede’s Well, on the confines of the two domains, 
and to take measures that it should be reverently cared for. 

But of all his many tastes, the love of nature perhaps predom- 
inated over that of art, though his love of antiquities could 
colour his love of nature. It was the two combined which led 
him to be the first to resuscitate the ancient sport of hawking, 
which he did long before the days of Brodrick or Salvin, while 
golden eagles, eagle owls, and many other birds of prey, enjoyed 
ease and plenty in his aviaries 50 years ago. 

His interest in natural history was scientific as well as 
practical, and he was one of those thoughtful observers who 
could have given many a hint to Darwin, For instance he once 
remarked tome: Why is it that while no plant appreciates a rich 
soil se thoroughly as the hawthorn, you never see a hawthorn 
growing wild or spontaneously except in the very poorest soils ? 
The answer is, because the hawthorn as a seedling is a very weak 
and feeble plant. Seedlings in good soil are soon choked by the 
luxuriant growth of grasses and weeds. In a poor and barren 
field the grass is so thin and weak at the bottom that the 
hawthorn can get up a few inches without being choked, and thus 
it is safe.—An admirable instance of the struggle for existence. . 

2M 


514 Papers written by Ralph Carr-Ellison, Esq. 


Mr Carr-Ellison’s love of trees has been mentioned. The 
citizens of Durham will have cause to be grateful for this. One 
of his latest acts of generosity, only two years ago, was, after he 
had in vain suggested to the North Eastern Railway Company 
that they should plant with trees the hideous slopes from the 
Station to the North Road, to obtain permission to plant at his 
own expense. To him we are indebted for the promising young 
plantation which will soon relieve the monotony of the bank. 

I cannot close these few words of reminiscences of my earliest 
and best friend without mentioning his unstinted munificence in 
support of every effort for the welfare of the bodies, minds, and 
souls of those in any way connected with him. One of the first 
duties of a landlord he always held, was to see to the proper 
housing of the labourers ; and in this respect he set an example. 
He was also unsparing in his eleemosynary gifts, sometimes in a 
way which might shock the Charity Organization Society. 
There were few donors in the two counties more liberal to 
Elementary Education. The Church Schools have lost in him one 
of their best supporters. In Church building and restoration he 
was ever zealous and foremost, from the time when, on his 
arrival at Hedgeley, he started the enlargement of Eglingham 
Church, to the last day of his hfe, when he so nobly promoted 
the efforts for supplying the spiritual necessities of the south 
bank of the Tyne. 

A genial, learned, rarely-accomplished Christian country gen- 
tleman of the highest type—such was Ralph Carr-Ellison. 


PAPERS WRITTEN BY RALPH CARR-ELLISON, ESQ. 
History of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club. 


1. On THe FLIGHT oF THE PEREGRINE FALCON IN PURSUIT OF PREY. Vol. 
li. pp. 88-98. 

2. AppreEss delivered to the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club at Whit- 
tingham, Sept. 13th, 1860. Vol. iii. pp. 157-183. 

3. WHAT IS THE USE OF THE LARK’s Lone HEEL-ctaAw? Ib. pp. 209-210. 

4. On THE PRESENT PARTICIPLE IN THE NORTHUMBERLAND DIALECT; and on 
the VERBAL Nouns, oR Nouns or ACTION, TERMINATING WITH “ING.” Ib. pp. 
3056-365. 

5. THe NoRTHUMBRIANS BETWEEN TYNE AND TWEED. Vol. iii. pp. 141-142. 

6. How CERTAIN SECRETED STORES AND CERTAIN EXUDED PROVISIONS OF 
MoIsTURE SEEM TO EXIST, WHEREBY YOUNG GALLINACEOUS BIRDS ARE ENABLED 
TO SUSTAIN LIFE IN DRY SEASONS. Ib. pp. 386-388. 


Papers written by Ralph Carr-Ellison, Esq. 515 


7. On Fire-BiicuT, or the Minor Effects of Lightning on the Foliage of 
Trees, and the valuable lesson which it affords to the Arboriculturist, by 
teaching him how to curtail the extremities of lofty hyenenes by aid of 
Torch-flame. Ib. pp. 388-389. 

8. OsiruaRy Memoir of THE Rev. GrorcE Rooks, M.A. Vol. vii. pp. 
185-188. 

9. On THE VALUE oF THE HorsE-CHEstNUT (Asculus Hippocastanwm) as 
A TiMBER TREE IN PLANTATIONS. Ib. pp. 213-215. 

10. On THE SIGNIFICATION of SOME PLACE-NAMES IN NortH NoRTHUMBER- 
LanpD—Greaves Ash, Hedgehope, Cunion Crag, Hedgeley, Yevering, and 
Yevering Bell. Ib. pp. 237-245. 

11. On Tue Errecrs or tHE WINTER oF 1878-9 ON VEGETABLE LirE AND 
Birps, at Hep@piEy, NORTHUMBERLAND. Vol. ix. pp. 150-151. 

12. On Tue Errects or THE WINTER oF 1879-80. Ib. pp. 330-3382. 

13. Names oF THE FaRNE IsLANDs AND LINDISFARNE. Vol. x. pp. 373-374. 


Transactions of the Tyneside Naturalists’ Field-Club. 


14, Presmpent’s Apprgss, 1845-7. Vol. i. pp. 6-23. 

15. On Extensive FIsSURES IN THE STEMS OF TWO LIVING SPRUCE Firs. Ib. 
p. 285. 

16. OBSERVATIONS ON THB Composite NAMES OF PLACES, CHIEFLY IN NortTH- 
UMBERLAND, OF ANGLO-SAXON DERIVATION. Ib. pp. 338-348, Vol. ii. pp. 98-103, 
714-163. 

17. Nores on BRINKBURN Meetine. Vol. ili. pp. 6-9. 

18. On THe Hrrects or tHe Severe WINTER oF 1854-5 UPON HVERGREEN 
VEGETATION IN NortH or HNGuAND. Jb. pp. 58-63. 

19. On THE HFFECTS OF THE SEVERE WINTER oF 1860-61, ON HVERGREEN 
VEGETATION IN NORTHUMBERLAND. Vol. v. pp. 65-74. 


Natural History Transactions of Northumberland and Durham. 


20. ApprEss to the Members of the Tyneside Naturalists’ Field-Club, 
May 5, 1875. Vol. v. pp. 162-189. 

21. On THE EFFECTS oF THE SEVERE WINTER, 1878, on Birps at Dunston 
Hint. Vol. vii. pp. 356-357. 


Archeologia Atliana. 


22. Corrupr OrTHoGRAPHY OF Loca Names. Vol. v. pp.172-3; and Vol. 
vi. pp. 5-11. (1861-1865.) | 

23. On THE DEDICATIONS OF THE TWO NOTABLE ALTARS FOUND AT CONDERCUM. 
Vol. vii., pp. 260-262. 

24. On THE Rupee Cup. Ib. pp. 262-265. 

25. On THr ALTAR DEDICATED BY THE SPOUSE oF FABIUS TO THE N YMPHS ; 
found at Risingham, and now at Alnwick Castle. Ib. pp. 265-267. 

26. Tur ANGLO-SAxon STONE FOUND AT FALsTONE IN 1813. Ib. pp. 272- 
2738. 

27. On Two InscriBeED Stones Founp At JARROW IN 1782. Vol. viii. pp. 
243-246. 


516 =©Papers written by Ralph Carr-Ellison, Esq. 


Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. 


28. OBSERVATIONS ON ‘SOME OF THE RuNIc INSCRIPTIONS AT MAESHOWE, 
ORKNEY. From Proc. Ant. Soc. Scot., 1865; Edinburgh, 1866; small 4to, 
16 pages. — 

29. On THE INSCRIPTIONS UPON THE STONE aT NEWTON INscH, ABERDEENSHIRE, 
and on the Inscriptions on a Sculptured Stone at St. Vigeans, Forfarshire. 
Vol. vii. 11-23 : and separately in large 4to, 20 pages, plates, Edinburgh, 
1868. 


30. Note on No. vit. oF MR PETRIE’S Copy oF THE MAESHOWE RunzES. Ib. 
vol. viii. pp. 139-142. 


Border Magazine, Edinburgh, 1563. 


31. ARBORICULTURE IN THE CoUNTIES NEAR THE HAsTERN BORDERS, pp. 222- 
226 ; 365-369. 


Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. 


32. On THE Sitver ALDER: its value and importance as a Nurse-plant to 
Oak.—(Silver Medal)—June 1867. 


Journal of Forestry, edited by Grorce HEATH. 


33. TITLES OF ARTICLES NOT KNOWN; believed to be anonymous. 


Miscellanea. 


34. THE SYMBOLISM OF THE SCULPTURED STONES OF HASTERN SCOTLAND ; 
An ecclesiastical system of Monograms and Decorative Characters.— 
Meanings of the several Symbols; Revised Edition, 1877, Edinr. 8vo. 32 
pages, figures. 

35. AncGio-Saxon EpitaPH AT BEeckERMONT: Cumberland.—Leaflet, 8vo., 
1866. 

36. ON A NEW METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE RAMPANT SIDE-GROWTH OF 
tHE Scotch ELM IN MIXED PLANTATIONS OF HarDwoop TREES. 4 pages, 8vo. 

37. CoNGRESS OF THE SaniTaRY INSTITUTE of GREeat Britain: held at 
Newcastle-upon Tyne, 1882. Papers on the influence of the Purity or 
Impurity of the External Air on Public Health, Public Comfort, and on 
the Domestic Habits of the People. [Read for his father by Edmund Carr, 
in the section of Chemistry, Meteorology, and Geology. | 

d= He 


517 


Notes on the early Literature of Flodden Field. By 
Witii1aAm WIxson, B.A., late Scholar of Trinity College, 
Cambridge. 


Tue object of the writer in drawing up the following paper 
is to give a very short account of such early prose and verse 
accounts of Flodden Field as have fallen under his own notice, 
and to furnish some intimations regarding other contemporaneous 
descriptions of an event which some may possibly think has 
already received a more than due share of literary attention. 

Perhaps the earliest published account of the battle is a 4to 
black-letter pamphlet of four leaves, entitled ‘‘ Hereafter ensue 
the trewe encountre or Batayle lately don betwene. Englade and: 
Scotlande. In which batayle the Scottshe Kynge was slayne.” 
Then follows a wood-cut representing a camp-scene. The 
colophon is as follows: ‘‘ Emprynted by me. Richard. Faques 
dwellyng In Poulys churche yerde.” There is no date, and 
only one copy is known to exist, which is in the possession of Mr 
S. Christie-Miller of Craigentinny, and Britwell, Bucks. The 
curious in such matters may be interested in learning that at the 
White Knights Sale in 1819 it brought 13 guineas. It was 
reprinted in facsimile in 1809 ‘‘ under revise of Mr Haslewood,”’ 
and in 1828, at Newcastle, by Wm. Garrett, undvr the auspices 
of the Newcastle Typographical Society, but with this latter 
reprint the writer is not acquainted. There can be no doubt that 
this tract was written’ immediately after the battle. There are 
no speculations in it as!to the supposed fate of King James, 
whose name and that of his natural son appear first in the “ roll 
of names” of the slain, in this fashion: Firste ye kyng of 
scotoes / The Archelysshop of / seynt. Androwes. We also 
find ‘“‘ The. bysshop of. Thyles, / The bysshop of. Ketnes,’’ and 
among the others ‘‘Therle. Arell. Constable.” It remains to 
add that this tract is a fragment, two leaves in the middle being 
missing; and Mr Haslewood’s ‘‘revise”’ is calculated to cause 
some perplexity to anyone who possesses a copy of it. For he 
ends the 2nd leaf thus: ‘‘ George darcy, sone and heyre to the 
lorde Darcy say/”—- the 3rd leaf commencing ‘‘—de beynge 
Capitayne of the first batayle of the Scotths’’/, the fact being 
that the word ‘‘sayde” belongs entirely to the 8rd, or more 
correctly the 5th leaf. The missing portion has now been re- 


518 Notes on the Early Literature of Flodden Field. 


covered. In his ‘Collections and Notes,’ W. Carew Hazlitt 
remarks, ‘‘In 1867 Dr. Laing fortunately met with an early 
M.S., also defective, but supplying the /acuna in the text, and 
communicated it to the 7th volume of the Scottish Antiquarian 
Society’s Transactions, introducing from the printed text what 
was wanting.” It is, however, not the Transactions but the 
Proceedings to which reference should be made, vol. vir. pp. 141- 
162, where a facsimile of the title page of the black-letter tract 
and of the wood-cut is given. 


Next in order comes ‘‘A Ballade of the Scottyshe Kynge,”’ 
reproduced in facsimile by Mr Elliot Stock, in 1882, with a 
copious introduction by Mr John Ashton, to whom the reader is 
to consider himself indebted for whatever information he may 
receive on this portion of the sudject. The British Museum 
Catalogue describes this ballad as being ‘‘included in ‘a 
treatyse of the Scottes’ published later among ‘ Certayne bokes 
cOpyled by Mayster Skelton,’ but with many variations. It is 
believed to be the first printed English Ballad.” It seems that it 
was found in the inside of the cover of the French Romance 
‘Huon of Bordeaux,” printed at Paris by Michel le Noir, in 1518, 
and bound in oak after its arrivalin England. And luckily, in 
the other side-cover of this book were found the two missing 
leaves of the above-mentioned tract on Flodden Field. The 
whole has now been reprinted verbatim by Mr Ashton in his In- 
troduction to the ‘ Ballade” ; but it is to be hoped that the 
disjecta membra may be united in a more befitting manner, and 
given in facsimile to book-lovers. 

The chief literary interest attaching to this Ballad is that 
John Skelton, its author, enlarged or rather re-wrote it some 
years afterwards under the title of ‘Skelton, laureate, against 
the Scottes,’ most assuredly ‘with many variations,’ whereof the 
length is not the least important. The reader will find it, in its 
expanded form, as Appendix u.to Weber’s Floddon Field. 
Of the original the following description may suffice. 

It is in 4to., four pages, black letter. On the first page is the 
title ‘ A ballade of the Scottysshe Kynge,’ then a rude wood-cut 
representing two knights, then these four lines ;— 

Kynge Jamy / Jomy your. Joye is all go 
Ye sommnoed our Kynge why dyd ye so 

To you no thynge it dyde accorde 

To sommon our Kynge your souerayne lorde. 


Notes on the Early Literature of Flodden Field. 519 


The second page contains thirty-one verses, the third page also 
contains thirty-one, the last being 
It is not fyttynge in tour nor towne, 
and the fourth page contains the close of the ballad, as follows— 
A somner to were a Kynges crowne 
That noble Erle the whyte Lyon. 
Your pompe and pryde hath layde a downe 
His sone the lorde admyrall is full good. 
His swerde hath bathed in the scottes blode 
God save Kynge. Henry and his lordes all 
And sende the frensshe Kynge such another fall / 
(Amen / for saynte charyte= 
And god save noble. 
Kynge / Henry / 
The. vilj. 

It is to be noticed that Skelton in this Ballad sneers several 
times at King James for’being a ‘sumner’; a calling which was 
held in low estimation from the time of Chaucer. For example, 

A kynge a somner it is wonder 
Knowe ye not salte and sugar‘asonder 
In your somnynge ye were to malaperte 
And your harolde no thynge experte 
Ye thought ye dyde it full valyauntolye 
But not worth thre skppes of a pye /. 
The allusion of course is to the letter which James sent to Henry, 
and which the latter monarch received in his camp before 
Terouenne. Indeed, the early date of this ballad is evident 
from the fact that Skelton believed James to be still alive and a 
prisoner in Norham Castle. He says, 
For to the Castell of Norham 
I understonde to soone ye cam, 
For a prysoner there now ye be 
Hyther to the deuyll or the trinite. 
In what may be termed the second edition this passage is 
modified thus :— 


Unto the castle of Norram 
I understand to sone ye cam 


The white Lyon, there rampannte of moode, 
He raged, and rent out your hart bloude. 


Thus for your gurdon quyt are ye, 
Thanked be God in Trinite. 


520 Notes on the Early Literature of Flodden Field. 


‘‘That noble Erle the white Lyon” was the Earl of Surrey: a 
white lion being the badge of the Howard family. 

Next to be noticed is the fine alliterative poem called ‘‘Scotish : 
Ffeilde’’: contained in the famous folio M.S., of Bishop Percy, 
which was published a few years back —in 1867—under the editor- 
ship of Messrs Hales and Furnivall, A very short description 
must suffice. Itis in two “ ffits,” containing in all 422 lines, all 
of which, after the 130th line, are devoted to a description of 
James’s ill-fated campaign; and the editors inform us that 
‘this piece is, with the exception of the imperfect copy lately 
printed by the Chetham Society, now for the first time printed.” 
This imperfect copy, having been printed from a M.S. found 
among the muniments at Lyme, is referred to as the Lyme M.S. 
From this poem Bishop Percy gives some quotations in his Essay 
on Alliterative Metre, in Vol. 11. of his ‘Reliques,’ and remarks 
that ‘‘the author seems to have been present at the battle from 
his speaking in the first person plural”’ e. g. 

‘Then we tild downe oner tents : that told were a 1000.”’ 

‘We blanked them with bills: through all their bright armor.” 

““ We mett him in the Midway: & mached him full even.”’ 
North-country expressions drop now and then from his pen; for 
instance, ‘ peertly,’ in line 121; ‘they fettled them to flye,’ in 
lines 183, 388; ‘fettered in a-ray’ in line 234, for ‘ fettled in 
a-ray,’ in Lyme M.S., and ‘there company was clemmed’ in line 
253. That he was a devoted adherent of the Stanleys the poem 
itself is sufficient evidence; as to his estimate of himself and his 
place of abode, we are informed in the concluding lines that 

he was a gentleman by Iesu: that this jest made, 

which say but as he sayd: forsooth, & noe other, 

att Bagily that bearne : his bidding place had. 
Bishop Percy offers a very probable correction of the above quo- 
tations, ‘ which sayth but as he sawe,’ and it is to be hoped that 
the shade of the ‘ gentleman by Jesu” acquiesces therein. 

A note by Mr Furnivall on the above passage is as follows :— 

‘“‘ Baggily Hall is situated about three miles from Stockport in 
Cheshire, but on the borders of Lancashire. It is believed to be 
the most ancient of the timber houses of Lancashire and Cheshire, 
and the remains of it are in a very dilapidated state. The only 
part of the old house now remaining is the hall,” of the interior 
of which (of the 14th century) a view is given in Domestic Archi- 
tecture of the Middle Ages, vol. 11. opp. p. 286, whence the extract 
above is taken. On p. 237 it is stated that the village of 


Notes on the Early Literature of Flodden Field. 521 


Baggily, or Baguleigh, had belonged to the ancient family of 
Legh for two centuries before the battle of Flodden. 

There is also found in the Folio MS., a version of the Ballad 
of Flodden Field printed by Weber, and in Vol. 111. of Evans’s 
‘Old Ballads.”’ In this version, however, the verses from 422 
up to 507 ‘do not appear elsewhere, and are here printed for 
the first time. They were certainly written after 1544, as they 
confuse the expedition made that year into France, with the one 
of 1513.” The poem in the Folio MS., concludes thus :— 


“Now god that was in Bethlem borne, 
& for us dyed upon a tree, 
save our Noble prince that wereth the crowne, 


19? 


& have mercy on the Erles soule of derbye! 
ffins. 


No doubt “ princes” should be read; i.e. most likely Elizabeth. 
It is presumed that Weber’s volume is accessible to the reader, 
and therefore further reference to its contents is unnecessary ; 
but in the introduction to ‘‘Scotish Ffeilde” is a list of early 
accounts of the Battle which may be not unacceptable. 


1. A M.S., in the Herald’s College, London—“ the Gazette of 
the Battle of Flodden, Sept. 1513” printed in Pinkerton, 
Vol. 11., p. 456. 


2. The account given by Hall. 


8. A contemporary report in Jovius’ ‘‘ Historize sui Temporis.” 

4. A letter from Dr. William Knight, the English minister at 
the Court of Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy, to Cardinal Bain- 
bridge at Rome; printed by Ellis in his “ Original Letters.” 


' 6. The pamphlet re-printed by Haslewood. 


6. A Document among the State Papers, corresponding almost 
exactly to the Gazette, entitled ‘‘ Articles of the Bataill betwix 
the Kinge of Scottes and therle of Surrey in Brankstone Feld, 
the 9 day of September.” 

The following is from W. Carew Hazlitt?s Handbook: s.v. 
Flodden Field, La Rotta de Scocesi. [This title over a cut of the 
Royal Arms of England.| No printer’s name or date, 4to. A 
poem in ottava rima. 

Bright, 1845, in lot 2900. This tract was reprinted by Earl 
Spencer from Mr Bright’s copy, for the Roxburghe Club. 

2N 


Lad 


522. On the occurrence of the Diving Spider. 


In conclusion, the following interesting account may be con- 
sulted with advantage :— 

On the Battle of Flodden. 

“Letter from Thomas Ruthal, Bishop of Durham, and Secre- 
tary of State, to his Right Honorable and Loving Brother, 
Thomas Wolsey, Almoner to the King. Date, 20th September, 
1513.”’—by Robert White. 

It is to be found in Vol. v. of the Archzologia Aliana; and, in 
addition to its merits as an historical document, may be described 
as a tribute of admiration and respect to Saint Cuthbert, to 
whose influence the discomfiture of the Scots is largely attributed. 

[To these Bibliographical Notes add: ‘Ballad of Flodden 
Field: a Poem of the XVI Century. Edited with copious 
Notes, by Charles A. Federer, L.C.P.” 4to., H. Gray, Man- 
chester, 1884. £D.| : 


On the occurrence of the Diving-Spider (Argyroneta 
aquatica) in Haddingtonshire. By ARCHIBALD GRAY. 


In September last, when collecting water-plants at Luffness 
Marsh, near Aberlady, I gathered a quantity of Utricularia 
vulgaris amongst which on my return home I found a specimen 
of Argyroneta aquatica. 

On a subsequent visit to the same place in November, I 
obtained other four specimens eee are still alive in my 
possession. 

In this locality they appear to frequent beds of Chara hispida 
which grows in large quantities in the pools, and amongst which 
their webs are woven. 

This spider has already as a Scottish species been recorded by 
Professor Trail, who found a single specimen in Aberdeenshire, 
It has likewise been found in Possil Marsh, near Glasgow, which 
so far as I am aware, is the only West country habitat. 


523 


Notes on Urns and Cists found at Amble, Northumber- 
land, in 1883 and 1884. Plates 11. andiv. By GEORGE 
H. THompeson, Alnwick. 


In the month of February 1883, while the workmen were 
baring the top of the rock at a quarry at Amble, situated on the 
sea shore and to the south of the village, they came upon a Cist 
containing a human skull and a quantity of bones. ‘The latter 
crumbled away rapidly on being exposed to the air, but the 
skull, owing probably to its having been nearly covered with 
sand which had drifted into the grave, was in a fairly good state 
of preservation, except the left side, the lower part being nearly 
gone, and having a gash in it which might have been mistaken 
for a wound received in battle, but which had been caused by 
the point of the labourer’s shovel. Not being aware of the im- 
portance of what had been discovered, it was more from accident 
than design that the skull was preserved, and that I became 
aware of it some months afterwards. I found that the Cist had 
measured somewhere about six feet in length, by two feet in 
width, and the same in depth. Two slabs formed the sides, two 
more the ends, and one the cover. They had been procured from 
the sandstone beds on the sea shore, the edges being worn and 
rounded off by the action of the water. They rested on a bed of 
clay lying on the sandstone, and were covered to a depth of eight 
feet, by, first a large quantity of boulder stones also gathered 
from the sea shore, then by the sea sand which had drifted over 
them, and lastly by a thin mould bearing the usual sea-side 
vegetation. The size of the bones indicated a very tall man, 
and were lying together in the middle of the grave, shewing 
that the legs had been drawn up towards the body in the way 
in which such remains are frequently found; and also that it 
had been laid on its leftside. A few pieces of the ribs from five 
to six inches in length, and what had apparently been finger 
joints, were also found. ‘The skull (Plate tv. fig. 1.) is of the 
brachycephalic type and corresponds very nearly to one found 
at Ilderton in 1863, and described in the Natural History Trans- 
actions of Northumberland and Durham, Vol. I. part 1. p. 145, 
by Dr Greenwell. Allowing for the imperfection before men- 
tioned the circumference is twenty-one and a-half inches, the 


524 Notes on Urns and COists found at Amble. 


length seven and a-quarter inches, the breadth six inches, and 
the height five and seven-eight inches, and is very thick. The 
under jaw was thrown away among the debris. In the upper jaw 
the first molar on the right side is wanting, and where the socket 
should have been, is quite grown up with the bone of the jaw, 
indicating either that the want of the tooth was congenital, or 
‘that it had been lost at a very early period. 

The lessees of the quarry, Messrs Green and Douglas, readily 
agreed to inform me if anything else snould be discovered, and 
some months after in further baring the rock, more cists were 
found, and in two of them were the urns, Plate m1., figs. 1 and 2. 
On the first visit I made after this, I could not ascertain that 
anything else had been noticed. ‘There was only a little dust in 
one, and a small piece of bone in the other, probably the re- 
mains of cremation. The urns were stated to have been 
standing at the west end, and on the south side of the cists, not 
the most usual position for such articles. The urn, fig. 1. 
measures 153 inches in circumference at the widest part; the 
internal diameter at the top is 3} ins. and the height 3} ins. 
The rim, or lip, is 2 of an inch broad, and is ornamented with 
transverse strokes. On the lower part of the urn are six long 
irregular oblique strokes, lying in different directions, and some 
of them crossing, more like scratches than the work of design. 
The other Plate 111. fig. 2, measures 18 inches in circumference 
at the widest part; the internal diameter is 4} inches, and the 
height 42 inches. The lip is 3 of an inch broad and is orna- 
mented with the cable twist, or thong pattern running round it 
in three aud four lines. 

On a second visit, another cist was apeacds and in it, standing 
at the east end was an urn, Plate m1., fig. 3. This has, what is 
not very common, three perforated ae jections or ears, and is 
more carefully and artistically decorated than the others. It 
measures 16 inches in circumference; the internal diameter 
33 inches, and the height 3} inches; the lip hardly so broad as 
the others, but carefully ornamented, as shewn in the engraving. 
There was nothing else found in the grave except a small bronze 
article, every trace of its former occupant having disappeared. 
The dimensions were 3 feet 9 inches in length, 2 feet in width, 
and 1 foot 9 inches in depth, formed of the usual water-worn 
slabs, but covered with two unusually heavy stone slabs, lying 
‘one upon the other, the under one broken right across, and 


Notes on Urns and Cists found at Amble. 525 


only prevented falling into the grave by the weight of the 
upper one. The only apparent reason for having two slabs may 
be that the first one had been broken in putting it in its place, 
and that the second had been deemed necessary for the security 
of the remains. 

Close to this grave, and at the east end we opened a very 
small cist of an irregular shape, protected by a light stratum of 
boulders. One side measured 15+ inches, the other 11 inches. 
In it were the bones of a very young child, as shewn by the 
fragments of the skull, ribs, and limbs, which were very much 
decayed, and mixed with a good deal of soil, in which a careful 
examination failed to detect anything of an ornamental kind. 
Up to this time, the foreman of the works reckoned that about 
twenty cists had been found, with fragments of skulls and 
bones. Only a few of the latter were to be seen, the rest having 
been thrown away among the soil, or crumbled away on exposure 
to the air. The direction in which they all lay was east and 
west. In one grave there was a very large quantity of remains, 
‘quite a barrowful”’ the man said, indicating that two persons 
at least had been laid together in it. Some of the larger flat 
stones bore evident traces of fire, the cremation having probably 
taken place on them, and then they were used to cover up the 
grave. Some of the bones bore traces of burning, the thicker 
portions, such as the joints only remaining, indicating that the 
calcination had only been partial. There were no remains of 
broken pottery, or domestic utensils found in the covering of the 
mound. 

An urn of much ruder workmanship was afterwards found, 
during further excavations when Dr Greenwell was present; 
and this, with the bronze weapon before mentioned are now, I 
believe, in his possession. Since then further baring of the rock 
has taken place, but apparently the whole of the barrow has 
been laid open. It is remarkable from the number of cists 
found in one place. In all Mr Green reckons that there will 
not have been less than thirty burials. The space occupied by 
them would measure about sixty feet in length, by the same in 
breadth. The labour ‘bestowed in covering them up must have 
been very considerable, judging from the immense quantity of 
boulders which the workmen had removed in clearing the spot. 
When finally covered up it would present a rounded eminence 
of about two feet in thickness of boulders in the centre, and 


526 Notes on Urns and Cists found at Amble. 


gradually sloping down to the edges. Over this in the slow 
course of centuries, the sand had drifted to a depth of five to six 
feet, and then on this had accumulated a thin bed of mould, 
mantled o’er with turf and flowers, that give no indication that 
beneath it was ‘‘ fraught with the relics of humanity.” 

I afterwards heard that a very large urn had been found 
during the earlier excavations, and was fortunate enough to 
discover a fragment of it. It had been crushed by the falling 
in of the covering stone, and the pieces thrown away as useless, 
excepting one which had been taken home by one of the work- 
men. It is sufficiently large to determine the size when whole. 
(Plate tv. fig. 2.) The segment is 14 inches, giving a diameter 
of 102 inches, outside the lip; the height 7 inches, gives a 
probable total height of 11 inches. The inside from about two 
inches from the top is blackened by the action of fire, and the 
clay which is half an inch thick, is burnt black through half its 
thickness. Evidently it had been used for cremation. The 
ornamentation is exactly like that of Plate 11. fig. 3, except that 
the top of the lip has the zig-zag markings, the same as on the 
sides. 

I also learned that a sword-shaped weapon had been found, 
and was in the possession of a blacksmith in the place. On 
making enquiry about it, it could not be found. It had been 
left lying about as a thing of no importance, and it was supposed 
his children had carried it off and lost it. From the description 
he gave me of it, it had evidently been bronze. The length of 
it was about 18 inches, by 2 or 2} inches in width; ridged down 
the middle, and having thus a double edge. The point was 
lancet shaped, so that it had probably been aspear head. There 
was nothing to shew how it could have been fastened to a handle. 

The urn, Plate 1. fig. 4. was the last found. Mr Park, by 
whom it was disinterred, has furnished me with the particulars 
as follows. The grave, unlike the others, lay North and South, 
and was of the usual character, about 4 feet long, 2 feet high 
and 2} feet broad, one large flat stone forming the cover. The 
bottom was formed of flat stones, in this respect also differing 
from the others, which had the natural clay or rock as a bottom. 
The urn embedded in sand which had drifted in, was at the 
north end, and nearly in the middle, and in an inverted position. 
It measures 20 inches in circumference, 5 inches diameter inside 
of the mouth, the lip being 2 of an inch broad, with a single 


Notes on Urns and Cists found ai Amble. 527 


cable twist line in the middle, and diagonal impressions of the 
serrated instrument with which the zig-zag ornament of the 
neck had been made. The height is 6 inches. The lower por- 
tion of the cup is perfectly plain and seems to have been carefully 
smoothed over with some hard instrument, as it has quite a 
glossy appearance. No large bones were found, only some 
small pieces of what had apparently been a skull. They were 
however very much decayed, and crumbled into dust when 
handled. 

In connection with this subject it may be of interest to note 
that when this barrow was formed, the seashore must have been 
at a considerable distance from where it now is. The quarry at 
high water is not more than sixty yards inland. Between the 
quarry and the sea, at low water, the shafts of the old coal mine 
which used to be worked here are to be seen. There are at 
least seven that are visible, three having been found in the 
quarry itself. They are circular, about four feet in diameter, 
and lying about thirty yards apart; the pick marks are as plain 
and distinct as though they had been hewn out a year ago 
instead of centuries. On Coquet Island, which lies exactly 
opposite, there are similar shafts, piercing the sandstone, which 
is the same as that of the quarry. The bed of coal has been 
about 2 feet 4 inches thick, the quarrymen having come upon 
the old workings. With high tides, the sea finds its way 
through these into the quarry. In exploring one of the shafts 
on the shore, about five feet below the top of the rock, it 
was found to have been closed up with old ship timbers, the 
trenail holes shewing their former use. How far off the old 
shore was to the east of the present it is impossible to determine ; 
but there is a tradition that the ‘“‘ Bridge” rock which is now 
fully half a mile from the shore was once connected with the 
mainland. What makes this probable is the fact that on a fine 
day, with low tide, and clear water, the remains of masonry are 
visible upon it. Of the encroachments of the sea on our eastern 
shores we have another example in the submerged forest at 
Howick, a few miles to the north. 

At Druridge bay, about five miles south of Amble, there can 
be seen at low water the remains of an old oak forest; and in a 
bed of peat moss about 3 feet thick, lying between the Amble 
quarry and the salt pans remains of trees are found. Even 
during the experience of Messrs Green and Douglas the sea 


528 Notes on Urns and Cists found at Amble. 


seems to be still advancing as on one occasion it broke into the 
quarry covering everything up. Old salt pans, which had been 
cut out of the rock, can be seen at low water, to the east of the 
present ones. 

The Priory of Tynemouth had the tithes of ‘‘ Ambell” among 
other places in Northumberland, granted to it by Earl Robert 
(ante a.D. 1093.) and confirmed to them by Henry I. In 1292, 
as appears from the Tynemouth Chartulary ‘‘ Ambell” was of 
the annual value of 105s. After the Reformation, Dudley, Earl 
of Warwick, and first Duke of Northumberland, obtained a 
grant of the site, demesne lands and possessions of the monks of 
Tynemouth. The coal mines were valued at 41s. per annum ; 
the site of a salt pan at 4s. per annum. (See ‘‘ Gibson’s 
Monastery of Tynemouth.’’) 

Coals are now exported from Amble in large quantities from 
the neighbouring collieries, and salt is still manufactured. 
Half way between the villave and the ancient British barrow, 
is the modern Cemetery, or ‘‘ God’s acre” for the parish, pro- 
bably in it there may be found stone ‘‘ Cists” or ‘‘ Vaults”’ as 
they are now termed; and thus the instincts of to-day and two 
thousands years ago are found to harmonize. The Pagan 
refused to believe in annihilation, and the Christian has the 
‘sure and certain hope” that is derived from Revelation. 


@ Bet! 


The first three figures in Plate 111, are from photographs fur- 
nished by Mr Thompson, which, however, were not sufficiently 
distinct in the minute features; but it served as a foundation 
for the lithograph in which the artist has very exactly re- 
produced the photos. Fig. 4 is from the pencil of Mr Middlemas 
who also supplied guiding drawings of the other three. Plate 
Iv. is an example of an Ink-photo. In any future discoveries, 
if there-is no one present to take a sketch, the first step should 
be to secure photographs, as accurate drawings can be taken 
from them. 

Already at p. 288 of the present vol. of ‘ Proceedings’ a 
reference has been made to an account of Ancient Graves near 
Amble by the late Rev. J. W. Dunn, contributed to the ‘‘ Arch- 
eologia Ailiana,” vol. 11. pp. 36-38. On re-examining the 
paper, to which I had not then access, I find from the figure 


Notes on Urns and Cists found at Amble. 529 


that the urn found was not a ‘‘ Food-vessel,’”’ but a ‘‘ Drinking- 
Cup.” Three at least of Mr Thompson’s series are of the 
‘‘ Food-vessel,” type. Mr Dunn’s plate is badly drawn, and on 
comparison with the chromo-lithograph of the illustrated 
Catalogue of the Alnwick Castle Museum, far from exact. It is 
Plate 14a, fig. 1, of that Catalogue, described at p. 12, and is 
No. 19 in the series. 


The circumstances detailed in Mr Dunn’s paper are consider- 
ably different from the much more important recent overturn 
of another cemetery in the immediate vicinity ; apparently those 
of the first belong to a prior age. To bring the facts together I 
shall extract some particulars from Mr Dunn’s notes, which are 
not readily accessible to the majority of the Club’s members. 
This first discovery happened in the middle of April, 1858. 


“ About 50 yards N. E. of the Cliff-House, Amble, and about 20 yards 
from the end of what is called Warkworth South Pier, the pilots came 
upon a long upright stone, standing out of the shale to the height of 12 or 
14 inches, which had been laid bare by the recent heavy gales, but which, 
‘from its rude appearance, did not afford the idea of anything beyond a 
mere accidental tilting. Alongside this upright stone was a large un- 
wrought slab, which, on being raised, was found to be the covering of a 
cist or sepulchral chamber, containing a perfect skeleton. The figure 
was lying on its left side, with the head to the south-west, having the 
knees much doubled, and with the right arm thrown back. By its side 
stood an urn of unbaked clay. It contained a small quantity of dark 
earth.” 

“The cist or chamber containing the remains was composed of four 
slabs, inserted edgeways in a cavity which appeared to have been dug out 
of the friable shale which lies upon the harder rock in this locality. It 
ranged §8. HE. and N. W. and measured as follows :—Depth 18} inches ; 
width 26 inches; length at bottom, 4 feet, at top, 3 feet 4 inches; the 
difference between the top and bottom measurement being accounted for 
by the shrinking of the ends. The cavity in the shale was much larger 
than the cist, and the space between the slabs and the shale was closely 
filled in with stones, roughly broken, commingled with earth and larger 
stones. The side slabs projected somewhat beyond the ends. The bottom 
of the cist was covered, to the depth of about half an inch, with dark, 
unctuous mould.” ; 

“Amongst the rubbish composing the filling up of the space above 
mentioned, was found an angular piece of silex, probably an unfinished 
arrow-head ; and in the south-west corner of the cist lay a large, smooth, 
cobble stone (different from any that one may pick up on the neighbour- 
ing shore), which, when considered in conjunction with the flint flake, the 
imagination may easily construe into the club of this ancient denizen of 


20 


530 List of Fungr. By the Rev. David Paul. 


our shores. The slab which constituted the cover of the cist was of great 
size, and extended in every direction considerably beyond it; and the up- 
right stone was set up, not at one of the ends, but along its length. In 
order that the cover might lie level, pieces of shale, flags, &c., were laid on 
the uprights which formed the cist, wherever an irregularity presented 
itself.” 

“The skull (which was afterwards smashed), must have been very 
characteristic, having attracted general observation from the extraordinary 
lowness of the frontal region, the great development of the occipital 
portion of the head, and the width and length of the lower jaw from its 
anterior junction to the articulation of the temporal bone. The teeth 
(which were all carried off) are said to have been very beautiful and 
regular, and quite sound. With the exception of a front tooth, which 
was missing in the lower jaw, they were perfect. The thigh-bone 
measured 193 inches, indicating a man of large size; whilst the porous 
internal organization of the bones gave probable evidence of comparative 
youth. 

“The urn is unbaked, of a light clay colour, and measures in height 
8 inches, in depth 7} inches, and in diameter 53 inches. It is ornamented 
with zig-zag scorings, alternating with dotted lines, and upright, and 
sometimes slanting scorings, which appear to have been made by some 
rude instrument while the clay was moist. The scorings are continued 
over the edge of the rim.” 

“It appears that, afew years ago, in the immediate proximity of the 
present discovery, two or more tumuli were found, which contained urns 
and bones ; and flint arrow-heads of elaborate finish have been occasionally 
met with.” ooet. 


List of Fungi found in 1884, and not hitherto recorded 
from the Border District. By the Rev. Davip Paut, 
M.A., Roxburgh. 


1. Agaricus (ARMILLARIA) MucipUS, Scurap. On Beech, 
Rutherford—October. This and Ac. MELLEUs are the only 
two Armillariz that have been found here. 

2. Ac. (TRicHotomMA) aLBus, ScHAEFF. I have seen this only 
at Faldonside, among grass under trees, but there in 
abundance—October. 

3. Ac. (CLyTocyBE) FuMosus, Pers. Bowhill—October. Occurs 
in considerable variety of form. 

4. Ac. (Myczmna) acicuna, Scparrr. At Roxburgh Manse— 
October. A very pretty Fungus. 


List of Fungi. By the Rev. David Paul. 531 


5. Aa: (PLevrotus) sponciosus, Fr. At Sunlaws—October. 
On wood. A most beautiful species, apparently not hitherto 
found in Scotland. 

6. Ac. (PLEUROTUS) LiIGNATILIS, Fr. On Beech, Sunlaws— 
October. 

7. Ac. (CHAMAEOTA) EcHINAaTUS, Rorn. On Mr William B. 
Boyd’s rockery at Faldonside—October. A most interesting 
species, new to Scotland. Fries and Berkeley place it 
among the Psalliote, Cooke in Worth. Smith’s subgenus 
of Chameota. Fries, Monogr. 1. 409, says :—‘‘ Sporee 
uormaliter fusco-purpurez, sed e fundi colore vibrant in 
fusco-virentem, et (in nigro) ochraceo-albicantem.” 

Berkeley notes: ‘‘Spores sometimes colourless.”’ Accord- 
ing to my observation they were at first creamy white, 
but after lying for a time, decidedly pinkish. The sooty 
flocculence obscuring the bright colouring is very character- 
istic. 

8, Aa. (PHoLIoTA) suBLUTEUs, Fit. D. Identified by Rev. M. 
J. Berkeley. New to Britain. Fries says, non vidi. Found 
a good many specimens in a grass field at Faldonside with 
Mr W.B. Boyd. Unfortunately a figure of this Fungus 
was not secured. 

9. Aq. (HEeBEtomA) Fastisitis, Fr. At Rutherford—October. 
In a wood. Not common here. 

10. Ac. (HEBELoMA) eGLUTINosUS, Linper. October. Ruther- 
ford plantation. 

11, Aq. (FLAmMMuULA) scamBus, Fr. On chips and bare soil in 
woods. Frequent. 

12. Aa. (Creprporus) atveotus, Lascu. On willow trunk, 
Sunlaws—October. 

13. Cortinarius cyanopus, Fr. Roxburgh—October. 

14. CorTINaRIUS EVERNIUS, Fr. Faldonside—October. 

15. Potyporus aprposus, B. and Br. Roxburgh and Stichill— 
October. 

16. Potyporus virrevs, Fr. Roxburgh—October. 


532 


On Lepidoptera in Roxburghshire. Part II. By ADAM 
ELLIOT, Caverton, Jedburgh. 


I HAVE now, by request of Mr Hardy and in continuation of 
former Notes and List of Lepidoptera occurring in Roxburgh- 
shire, and contained in vol. x. pp. 149-158 of the Club’s Proceed- 
ings, made out a Supplementary List of Species, some of these 
having been omitted by mistake from the former list, and others 
taken since then, and I may preface it by a few observations. 

The past summer having been a more seasonable one than we 
have been accustomed to of late years, with more sunshine, and 
a higher temperature throughout, we have, whether as a conse- 
quence or not, had an advent of a few species of our Rhopalocera, 
which usually are only seen in any abundance in occasional 
years, and frequently at long intervals of recurrence. One of the 
species I refer to is the Scotch Argus, Hrebia Blandina, which I 
saw abundantly in the beginning of August in the eastern district 
of the county, but apparently confined within a very limited area. 
Vanessa Atalanta, another insect worthy of note, being one of the 
finest species of the Family Vanessidee, appeared in considerable 
numbers during September and October, the earlier specimens 
being strong in flight and difficult of capture, but when near 
hybernation are more easily taken, and I secured a series of 
specimens, principally during the latter month. The sap from 
an oak tree, from which a large branch had been cut, formed a 
special attraction for Atalanta, and early in October I frequently 
observed six or more of these fine insects settled on the branch, 
or in its immediate vicinity. Vanessa lo, a congener of Atalanta, 
is a very scarce insect in Roxburghshire. Itis many years since 
I took two specimens in the western district, and I have not seen 
another since. They were on flowers of the common Knapweed 
in the glade of a fir plantation. 

In former notes I mentioned the occurrence of a peculiar 
variety of the larvae of Smerinthus Populi feeding upon the leaves 
of Populus nigra. From these I have since bred the perfect 
insect, but in no way have found it to differ from ordinary 
typical specimens, and so in this instance the variation in the 
- larvee does not appear to have a like effect upon its imago or 
perfect state. 

Of the rarer species of the Heterocera I was fortunate in taking 
a fine male specimen of Letocampa Dicteoides at night early in 


On Lepidoptera in Roxburghshire. 533 


July, and in August and September, Zriphena Fimbria, including 
the dark mahogany coloured var.; and on September 16th a 
perfect specimen of 7. Janthina, being unusually late for this 
species. In September Agrotis suffusa was more plentiful than 
usual, and the specimens of Anchochelis Lunosa occurring during 
this month included a singular variety of a pale reddish-brown 
colour. 

Of the group Geometrina, I bred several specimens of the 
genus Oporabia from larve on birch in May, a large silvery var. 
of these closely resembling the species Autumnaria, and of which 
Mr Barrett says: ‘‘ your Oporabie astonish me; Nos. 1 and 4% 
must be Ftiigrammaria I suppose, but if No. 1 ¢s that species 
what becomes of Autumnaria ? This is just its size and shape. 
I begin to wonder whether those who consider Autumnaria to be 
a var. of Pihgrammaria are not right.”—-I was fortunate in 
finding a locality in this district for the scarce Hupethicia Togata, 
and took three specimens in the finest condition during last 
June. The insects occurred in the glade of a rather large fir- 
wood on the farm of Crailing-hall, and near to its southern 
aspect. I expected to find the larvee of Zogata which feed on the 
fir-cones of the spruce, but I found the trees had not fruited and 
were coneless, and so Zogata may be still scarcer in another year. 

In the division of the Micro-Lepidoptera I bred Penthina 
Picana (P. Corticana, H.) from larvee on birch in this locality in 
May. It isa rather local insect and Mr Stainton mentions for it 
the two English localities of West Wickham and Epping Forest. 
I also succeeded in rearing TZortrix Forsterana from larve in 
rolled up leaves of honeysuckle. They are very active when 
exposed, and resemble the young larvee of Scopelosoma Satellitia, 
but are of a dull olive brown colour. I have found Gelechia 
Confinis, a species only discovered a few years since, to be moder- 
ately common in this district—its nomenclator being Mr 
Stainton. It frequents the sides of the dry stone dykes, and 
as you.move alongside of them in July, the moths rise and settle 
again a few yards forward, but being a small, dull coloured 
insect are not easily followed. Hudorea Murana is much more 
conspicuous and being partial to like situations may be fre- 
quently taken along with Confinis. 

Before closing these notes, I may mention that with regard to 
the time of emergence from the chrysalis of Lepidopterous 
insects, it is curious to note the regularity in time, I mean 


~ 


534 On Lepidoptera in Roxburghshire. 


certain periods of the day, in which different species emerge. I 
cannot say whether or not there is a general rule, but I have 
found this to be the case with several species that I have re- 
peatedly bred ;—thus the time of emergence of Bombyx Quercus 
var. Callune is from 8 a.m. to12 p.m. ; of Harpyia Furcula about 
2.30. p.m.—Lerocampa Dictea 6 p.m. to 8.30 p.m.—-Wotodonta 
Dromedarius and N. Ziczac from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturnia 
Carpint 9.45. a.m. 'These instances might be extended, but they 
are sufficient to show the apparent rule of certain periods of 
emergence. 


Supplementary ‘List of Species. 


Sus-Kinepom—ARTICULATA. 
Crass—INSECTA. 
OrpER—LEPIDOPTERA. 


Sub-Order I., HwreKocerRa. 
Growp, GEOMETRINA. 
Fam. LARENTIDE. 
Hupethicia Togata. 


Sub-Division, Micro-LEPIDOPTERA. 


Growp, PYRALIDINA. 
Fam., Botypm™. 
Scopula Prunalis, 8.V. 
Fam., CHOREUTID. 
Simaethis Fabriciana, L. 
Fam., EUDOREIDZ. 
Scoparia Atomalis, Db. 
—_———-Ambigualis, T. 
Murana, C. 
Growp, TORTRICINA. 
Fam., ToRTRICIDE. 
Penthina Picana. 
(P. Corticina, H.) 
Tortrix Heparana, S.V. 
Fam., PLICATH. 
Halanota Cirsiana, Z. 
Fam., ANCHYLOPERIDE. 
Hemerosia Rheediella, L. 
Fam., PERONEIDE. 
Peronea Caledoniana, S. 
Fam., CNEPHASIDA. 
Aphelia Pratana, H. 
Fam., LozoPERIDz. 
Eupeecilia Atricapitana, Ss. 
Cochylis Straminea, Hw. 


Growp, TINEINA. 
Fam., TINEIDE. 
Tinea Pellionella, L. 

Fam., HYPONOMEUTID™®. 
Swammerdamia Ceesiella, H. 
Cerasiella, H. 

Fam., PLUTELLIDA. 
Plutella Cruciferarum, Z. 
Cerostoma Radiatella, Duv. 
Fam., GELECHIDA. 
Depressaria Heracliana, Degeer. 
Gelechia confinis, Stn. 
Acuminatella, Sircom. 
_ Fam., GicoPpHoRIDA. 
Cicophora Subaquilea, Stn. 

Fam., GLYPHIPTERYGIDA. 
Glyphipteryx Thrasonella, S. 
_ Fischeriella, Z. 

Fam., ARGYRESTHIDE. 
Argyresthia Retinella, Z. 
Goedartella, L. 

Fam., COLROPHORIDE. 
Coleophora Troglodytella, Z. 

Fam., KLACHISTIDA. 
Hlachista Atricomella, Stn. 
Rufocinerea, Hw. 

Fam., LitHocoLLETID™m. 
Lithocolletis Coryli, Nicelli. 

Growp, PTEROPHORINA. 
Aciptilus Tetradactylus, L. 


Notes on the Marine Algae of Berwick-on-Tweed. 535 


I took a beautiful male specimen of Pterostoma Palpina here 
on the 28th inst., and as I have observed no notice of its 
occurrence so far north, I think it worthy of mention, besides 
adding a good species to the local list. The moth belongs to 
the family of the Notodontid, and is the only representative of 
the genus Pterostoma. 


June 1885. 


Notes on the Marine Alga of Berwick-on-Tweed. By 
Epwarp A. L. Batrsrs, B..A., LL.B., F.LS. 


Since the publication of the last volume of our Proceedings, I 
have had the good fortune to make several important additions 
to my former lists of the previously unrecorded Algze of Berwick 
and its neighbourhood. 

The specimens from which the following supplemental list has 
been compiled, were collected in the summer and autumn of 1884, 
during a series of botanical excursions, in some of which I was 
accompanied and assisted by my friend Mr E. M. Holmes. 

All the species recorded below are I believe, new to Berwick, 
and three of them, namely—lachista Areschougwt, Cladophora 
arctiuscula and Codiolum longipes, are additions to the flora of 
Britain. 

1. Nodularia Harveyana. Thuret, Class des Nostoch. (Spermo- 
seira Harveyana, Thwaites, Phye. Brit. pl. 173. c¢.) 

On the mud at the mouth of the river Tweed, usually mixed 
with species of Oscillatoria. Very rare. 

2. Lyngbya majuscula (Dillw.) Harv., Phyc. Brit. pl. 162. 
Kutz. Spec. Alg. p. 283. Crouan, Alg. Finist., No. 387. Lloyd, 
Alg. de ?Ouest, No. 135. Le Jolis, Aly. Mar. Cherb., No. 94. 
Liste, p. 29. 

On the sands crossing to Holy Island. Very rare. 

3. Symploca Harveyi. Le Jol., Alg. Mar. Cherb. No. 139. Liste 
p- 29. (Calothrix semiplena, Harv. Phye. Brit. pl. 309). 

Caves near the Needle’s Kye and Farthing Bay, H. M. Holmes. 
Greenses, Dodd’s Well and Scremerston, E. A. B. Rare. 

4. Calothrix erustacea (Schousb) Born et Thur. Notes Alg. I. 
p- 18. pl. 1v. (Schizosiphon fasciculatus and lasiopus, ués. 
Oscillatoria crustacea, Schousd.) 


536 Notes on the Marine Alge of Berwick-on-Tweed. 


This plant grows in little tufts of a bright green colour, cover- 
ing whatever it grows on with its minute fronds. The intercalary 
heterocysts are a great guide to its identification. It was found 
at Salcombe near Teignmouth by the late Rev. R. Cresswell in 
1880, and was then new to Britain. 

The Greenses Harbour, on rocks and Ralfsia verrucosa. Very 
rare. 

5. Calothriz pulvinata, Ag. (C. hydnoides, Harv). 

Burnmouth; ‘‘Greenses,”’ Scremerston, &c. Rare. 

6. Cladophora arctiuscula. (Kutz.) Crn. Alg. Mar. Finist. No. 
376. Desmaz, Exs. No. 475. Conferva arctiuscula, Crn. FI. 
Finist. p.127. Crn. MS. Spongomorpha arctiuscula. Ag., Tab. 
Phyc. IV. pl. 75. 

Caves near the Needle’s Eye and further northward. Rare. 

This species resembles a miniature form of Clad. arcta, but 
forms a continuous cushion over the rock and does not appear 
ever to grow in tufts like the other species of the genus. Crouan 
remarks (Fl. de Finst., p. 127) that when growing it has the 
appearance of a Vaucheria. This plant which has also been found 
at Dunbar and Joppa is new to Britain. 

7. Codiolum longipes. Foslie. 

Scremerston, E. M. Holmes and EK. A. L. B. Greenses. 
kK. A.L.B. Very rare. 

This very curious plant forms a velvety coating over rocks, 
and unless looked for closely may easily be passed over for 
Ulothriz fiacca or some species of Calothriz which it much re- 
sembles to the naked eye. Under the microscope however the 
oblong fruit head borne on a transparent stalk much longer than 
the head itself renders its recognition easy. 

The surface of the growing plant is peculiarly soft and velvety 
to the touch. Berwick specimens exactly correspond in all 
respects with American specimens of Codiolum longipes kindly 
sent me by Mr F. Oollins of Malden near Boston, U.S.A., 
who has also compared our plant with American specimens. If 
this plant be preserved on fragments of rock, as it grows it fades 
to a yellowish colour, but if scraped from the rock and set out on 
paper it keeps its colour to a much greater extent. 

8. Ula Ralfsii (Harv.) Le Jol. Liste des. Alg. Mar. de Cherb. 
p. 54. Enteromorpha Ralfsii. Harv. Phyc. Brit. pl. 282. Le Jol. 
Alg. Mar. Cherb., No. 230. 


~ Notes on the Marine Alge of Berwick-on-Tweed. 5387 


On the sands crossing to Holy Island usually mixed with 
species of conferva, &c. Very rare. 

9. EHetocarpus crinitus, (Carm.) Hook. Brit. Fl. Harv. Phyc. 
Brit. pl. 330. J. Ag. Sp. 

Scremerston. Very rare. 

I was fortunate enough to find this rare species near Scremer- 
ston in the autumn of last year. The specimens which were 
well fruited were hardly an inch long and covered the rocks near 
high water mark. 

10. Hlachista Areschougii. Crn. Liste des Alg. Mar. Fl. de Finist. 
p- 160. Gen. 157. 

Burnmouth, Berwick, and Scremerston. Very rare. Always 
parasitical on the thongs of Himanthalia lorea. 

This very minute parasite is new to Britain. I first found it 
at Dunbar in the summer of last year, and have since found it 
on several occasions near Berwick. 

11. Dictyosiphon mesogloia. Aresch. Obs. Phyc. ILI. p. 33. Exs. 
No. 106. 

The sands crossing to Holy Island about midway across. 
Rare. E. M. Holmes. 

This also is one of the newer British Alge. Mr Holmes 
remarks of it ‘‘D. Mesoglowa has probably been mistaken in the 
North of England and Scotland for Mesogloia virescens from which 
it is only distinguishable when seen growing by the acute apices 
of the fronds.” Grevillea, vol. XI. p. 142. The microscopical 
characters of D. Mesoglova and Mesogloia virescens are however 
very different. 

12. Aglaozonia parvula, (Grev.) Zanard; Kutz, Sp. Alg. p. 566. 
Zonaria parvula, Grev. J. Ag. Spec. Alg. I. p.107. Harv. Phy. 
Brit. pl. 341. Aglaozonia reptans, (7z. Spec. Alg.p.566. Crn. FI. 

de Finist. p. 169, Gen. 152. Zonaria reptans, Crn. Alg. Finist. 
No. 74. 

Berwick Bay on the stems of Laminaria Cloustoni. Very rare. 

13. Dermocarpa prasina. Bornet, Notes Algologiques II. p. 76. 
t. 26. fig. 6-9. 

Parasitical on Catanella opuntia, Barwa Bay. Rare. Mr 
Holmes in “ Grevillea”’ vol. XI. remarks that Turner seems to 
have mistaken this species for the fruit of Catanella. 

14. Porphyra leucosticta. Thur. MS. Le Jol. Alg. Mar. Cherb. 
No. 156. P. laciniata, Crn. Alg. Finist, No. 397, (Non Ag.) P. 
vulgaris, Lloyd, Alg. de Ouest, No.7. Erbario critto, Hal. No. 

2P 


588 Notes on the Marine Alga of Berwick-on-Tweed. 


278 (specimen Mediterranea). Rabenh. Alg. Sachs No. 900 (speci- 
men Adriatica) non Harv. nec Crouan. Le Jolis Liste, p. 100. 

Berwick Bay. Rather rare. 

15. Calithamnion roseum. (Roth.) Harv. Phye. Brit. pl. 230. J. 
Ag. Spec. Alg. II. p. 36. Crouan, Alg. Finist, No. 135. Le Jol. 
Alg. Mar. Cherb. No. 162. Conferva rosea, Roth. Cat. II. (non 
Cat. III.) Phlebothamnion roseum, A?z. Spec. Alg. p. 653? 

Berwick Bay. Rare. This plant grows at extreme low water 
mark at the mouth of the river Tweed, it is very seldom left 
exposed by the receding tide and then only for a short time. 
All the specimens I have found have been parasitical either on 
Cladophora rupestris or Ceramium Deslongchampstt. 

16. Calithamnion granulatum. (Ductuz.) Ag. J. Ag. Spec. Alg. 
II. p.61. Crowan, Alg. Finist, No. 155. Ze Jol. Alg. Mar. Cherb. 
No. 62. Rabenh. Alg. Eur. No. 1898. Calith. spongiosum, 
Harv. Phye. Brit. pl. 125. Lloyd, Alg.de Ouest, No. 67. Phle- 
bothamnion granulatum et spongiosum, A7¢z. Spec. Alg. p. 658. 

Burnmouth at extreme low-water mark. Very rare. 

17. Ceramium Deslongchampsti. (Chauv.) Alg. Norm. No. 85. 
Harv. Phye. Brit. pl.219. J. Ag. Spec. Alg. II. p.122. Crouan, 
Alg. Finist. No. 169. Zloyd, Alg. de ’Ouest, No. 238 !—Gongro- 
ceras Deslongchampsii, Az. Spec. Alg. No. 677. 

Berwick at the mouth of the river Tweed at extreme low-water 
mark. Rare. Found in company with Calithamnion roseum, and 
like that species only uncovered at very low tides. 

18. Ceramium strictum. (Ktz.) Harv. Phye. Brit. pl. 334. 7 
Ag. Spec. Alg. II. p. 123. Crouan, Alg. Finist. No. 170. Gon- 
groceras strictum, Az. Spec. Alg. p. 678. 

Burnmouth, Berwick, &e. Rare. 

Ceramium Deslongchampsii has been recorded by Mr G. Brady 
in his Catalogue of Northumberland and Durham Marine Alge, 
but not from the northern side of the Tweed. 

I have omitted from this list several species which appear new to 
Berwick owing to their identity being at present a little uncertain. 
Most of the synonyms and references used in this list are taken 
either from Crouan’s ‘ Florule du Finistére”’ or the ‘Liste des 
Algues Marines de Cherbourg” by M. Auguste Le Jolis. 

In last years ‘‘ Proceedings” page 354 line 15 from the bottom 
a ER should be Thamnidium; on plate vu. ‘‘ Phlos- 


spora” should be Phieospora; on plate x. ‘‘Thamnidion” should 
be Lhamnidium. 


539 


Alnmouth Inst of Marine Algae. By ANDREW AmorRY, 


Alnwick. 


CHLOROSPERMS. 


Cladophora rupestris. 


Porphyra leucosticta (rare). 


a leetevirens. Ulva latissima. 
Conferva melagonium (rare). Ay) dhbavAeyp 
a tortuosa. yn wactuca. 
Bryopsis plumosa (rare). Enteromorpha compressa. 
Porphyra laciniata. = erecta. 
5 vulgaris. Be intestinalis. 
MELANOSPERMS. 
Chordaria flagelliformis. Fucus canaliculatus. 
Elachista fucicola. »,  nodosus. 
Leathesia tuberiformis. »  Serratus. 
Mesogloia virescens. vesiculosus. 


Asperococcus echinatus. 
Dictyota dichotoma (rare). 
Dictyosiphon fzeniculaceus. 
Litosiphon pusillus. 


Punctaria plantaginea (rare). 


Halidrys siliquosa. 
Himanthalia lorea. 
Alaria esculenta. 
Chorda filum. 
Laminaria digitata. 


Cladostephus spongiosus. Be flexicaulis. 

Kctocarpus littoralis. 5) fascia (rare). 

o siliculosus. 5 saccharina. 

33 tomentosus. » phyllitis (rare). 

- sphzerophorus. Desmarestia aculeata. 
Myriotrichia claveeformis. i viridis (rare). 
Sphacelaria cirrhosa. 

RHODOSPERMS. 

Callithamnion arbuscula. Gloiosiphonia capillaris (rare). 
i Hookeri. Phyllophora membranifolia. 
xs floridulam. Ay rubens (rare). 

Ceramium diaphanum. Schizymenia edulis (rare). 

iM rubrum. Chylocladia clavellosa (rare). 

a acanthonotum. Dasya coccinea (rare). 

Deslongchampsii. Odonthalia dentata. 


Griffithsia setacea (rare). 
Ptilota plumosa. 

Ptilota elegans. 
Lomentaria articulata. 
Laurencia pinnatifida. 

“ hybrida. 
Corallina officinalis. 
Melobesia pustulata (rare). 
Ahnfeltia plicata. 
Callophyllis laciniata (rare). 
Chondrus crispus. 
Cystoclonium purpurascens. 
Dumontia filiformis. 
Furcellaria fastigiata. 
Gigartina mamillosa, 


Polysiphonia byssoides (rare). 


Ay fastigiata. 
3 nigrescens. 
Reet parasitica (rare). 


Brodizi (uncommon). 

Rhodomela lycopodioides. 

a subfusca. 
Maugeria sanguinea. 
Plocamium coccineum. 
Rhodymenia palmata. 
Delesseria alata. 

54 sinuosa. 
Gracilaria confervoides (uncommon). 
Nitophyllum laceratum (rare). 


540 


On the Finding of Shells in the Boulder Clay near Berwick- 
on-Tweed. By Wittiam Gunn, F.G.8. of H. M. Geo- 
logical Survey. 


Most people who have been to Berwick-on-Tweed will know 
the pleasant path called ‘‘The New Walk” which leads along 
the north side of the river from the end of the old bridge, past 
Castlehills, towards New Water Haugh. At the Grove House 
the path enters a wood where the river bank is a mass of glacial 
deposits, mainly clay, with some sand and gravel bands. The 
ground is very uneven and insecure, in fact little else than a 
series of slipped masses of drift, which is constantly being under- 
mined by the stream, and the paths are often changing. Here 
after wet weather fragments of marine shells may be seen 
occasionally lying on the surface of the clay. I cannot remember 
when I first began to notice them, but in the spring of 1882 I 
determined to make a collection of them and see if any of the 
fragments were large enough for the species to be made out. 
In this object I was assisted by one of my sons, A. E. Gunn. 
Of course none of the fragments we first observed and collected 
were in situ in the clay, but we eventually succeeded in tracing 
them upwards till we found them zm situ in the clay itself, and 
in gravelly bands in the clay at heights of from 75 to 90 feet 
above the ordnance datum line. The part where the shells are 
most abundant is near the east end of the wood, and is distant 
from the sea-shore at the end of Berwick Pier, about a mile and 
a-half in a straight line. From the fine old bridge it is a walk 
of about a mile and a-quarter along the river side. My best 
thanks are due to my colleague, Mr G. Sharman, who kindly took 
the trouble to go over the fragments, when he was able to make 
out the following list of species :— 


Ostrea. Tellina Balthica, Linn. 
Pecten. Cyprina Islandica, Linn. 
Astarte borealis? Chemn. Turritella communis, Risso. 
Astarte sp. Littorina littorea, Linn. 
Cardium edule, Linn. Buccinum ? 


Saxicava rugosa, Pennant. Dentalium abyssorum? Sars. 
Mya truncata, Linn. Fragments of Belemnites, derived. 


On Finding of Shells near Berwick. By W.Gunn. 541 


It is not likely that the foregoing list is an exhaustive one, and 
diligent and continued search would prooably make considerable 
additions to it. The most perfect shells are Littorina littorea 
(almost entire) and entire valves of Zellina Balthica, but all the 
shells are much worn, many are smoothed, and some of the thick 
fragments of Cyprina Islandica are glacially polished and 
striated. There seems also an undoubted mixture of littoral and 
deeper sea forms, and taking all the facts together it cannot be 
supposed that the shells were inhabitants of the banks of the 
Tweed during the glacial period. It seems more probable that 
they were swept off the sea bottom and carried along by the 
great ice sheet which moved down the east coast of Scotland and 
the north of England, and which had its origin about the Moray 
Frith according to Professor James Geikie and Dr Croll. The 
shores of the Moray Frith have patches of Oolitic and Liassic 
Strata from which the Belemnites may have been derived. 

The only references I can find to shells, in glacial drift any- 
where between the Tyne and the Forth, are the following :— 

Professor J. Geikie, my late colleague, inhis ‘‘Great Ice Age” 
Ist edition 1874, at p. 208 gives a section seen in the cliff at 
Berwick-on-Tweed, and on p. 209 mentions that broken shells 
occur in the upper Boulder Clay there, but that they appear to 
be rare. 

Sir A. C. Ramsay, late Director-General of the Geological 
Survey, in the 5th edition of his ‘‘ Physical Geology and Geo- 
graphy of Great Britain” pp. 385-386 (1878) gives an account 
of some observations made by him and others along the coast at, 
and south of Berwick-on-Tweed, in which he says :—‘ The 
beach-like sands and gravels that overlie the Till are charged 
with large blocks of limestone and porphyry at the base, and 
many broken sea shells.” 

No attempt seems however to have been made to collect and 
identify any of the fragments, and both the examples cited refer 
to places on the sea-coast, while the one described in the paper 
is 14 miles from the sea, so that at all events the locality is a 
new one, 


542 


The Duddo Stones and the Urns fownd in their vicinity. 
By the late GEorGE TATE, F.G.S. Plate V. 


From Duddo extending northward by Felkington is a high 
sandstone ridge; to the west is the vale of the Till, which is 
covered over with gravel hills. On one of those rounded mounds 
near Duddo is a circle of five stones. There is no pepular legend 
regarding them, but they have been called by many a “‘ Druidical 
Temple,” probably because former Antiquarians have represented 
all such monoliths as of Druidical origin. But as stones have 
been set up around tumuli which are undoubtedly sepulchral, 
and moreover even in Northumberland, as at Rayheugh and 
Matfen, monoliths are placed near the barrows, I apprehend that 
the Duddo stones encircle the barrow which covers the remains, 
it may be, of a distinguished warrior or priest. The circle is 
about 40 yards in circumference; the stones are from 5 to 10 
feet high, are rel in colour, and have been brought from the 
neighbouring hill; one of them lies prostrate. Their great 
antiquity is attested by their deeply furrowed surface, and their 
wasted forms at the base. ; 

No. 1. stands N. 20° W.; No. 4. 8.S.E., and No. 2. S.W. 
There are 27 feet between 1 and2; and 4and 5. Between Nos. 
5 and 1 are 14 feet; between 2 and 3, and 3 and 4 respectively 
are 10 feet. 

[Mr Raine (North Durham, p. 318) says, ‘‘ the remains of an 
outer circle were a while ago @. e. before 1852, discovered at the 
usual distance.” | 

[A letter from the Rev. Dr Gilly to Mr Tate, dated Norham, 
August 18th, 1852, informs us that ‘‘no human bones were 
found among the stones called ‘The Druid’s Temple’ in Duddo ; 
but, urns taken from a cairn within sight of these stones, 
contained what appeared to be small portions of bones.” | 

On high ground on the farm of Duddo near to Felkington, a 
cairn of stones and earth was opened out. It was about 2 feet 
high, and 10 feet in circumference ; there was no cist-vaen, but 
at the base of the cairn were found three urns—two of them were 
reversed, and one of them on its base. 

1. One of these urns was large—20 inches in height, 4 inches 
at the base, and 15 inches at the mouth, jar-shaped, rude made, 
zig-zag or chevron work on the upper part, the lower plain. It 


The Duddo Stones and Urns. By George Tate. 548 


was red in colour, and beneath it was fine dark earthy matter. 
It was placed on its mouth. 

2. Another urn, which was broken into fragments; similar to 
No. 1 but smaller ; placed on its mouth. 

8. Urn small, and placed on its base, is very remarkable in 
shape. It was oval, swelled out in the middle, and contracted a 
little in the mouth; not unlike a cocoa nut cup, or like an oval 
sugar basin. [The Rev. James Raine compares it to the shape of 
astanding-pie.] Itis longer than it is broad, and the section of the 
mouth is oval.—It is 2} inches high, but the diameter in one direc- 
tion is 3 inches, and in another 32 inches ; the bottom is rounded; 
diameter of the base 13 inches; circumference 14inches. Itisofa 
light whitey-brown clay colour. The clay of which it has been 
formed has been of a blue colour, such as is occasionally seen in the 
neighbourhood. It has been so well burnt, that it is partially vitri- 
fied. Itis unornamented, but towards the narrow end, equidistant 
from the base and the mouth, are two holes 13 inches apart, 
pierced through the side of the urn; nearly opposite to them 
are two punctures which do not quite pass through that side of 
the urn. The rim of the mouth slopes inwards, thickness 3 of 
aninch. This urn was full of soil, ashes, and bones apparently 
burnt, 

The information about the urns was communicated by Mr 
Chrisp. They were in the possession of Dr Gilly. 


[The Urn, No. 3,is here figured from a lithograph which has the 
name of Dr Gilly attached toit. The plate of the Duddo Stones is 


544 British Urn found at Screnwood. By D. D. Dixon. 


taken from drawings by a skilled draughtsman, perhaps from 
the same source. Mr Tate described this small urn from No. 13 
of the Catalogue of the Alnwick Castle Museum, where it 
appears to he preserved. In noticing this urn, the Rev. James 
Raine, states, ‘‘an immense collection of vessels of this latter 
description, more or less filled with bones, was discovered a few 
years ago at Broomridge, near Ford Castle.” Mr Tate else- 
where mentions another cup-shaped urn, but not of the same 
appearance as the one from Duddo, with two holes one below 
the other under the brim, which was found at Broomridge; and 
another was said to be found at Ford. They have been called 
‘incense cups’’ from their analogy to similar vessels still sur- 
viving in the funereal ceremonies of the middle ages. Mr L. 
Jewitt (‘‘ Grave Mounds and their Contents,”’ p. 105,) conjectures 
that they were ‘‘small urns to receive the ashes of an infant, 
perhaps sacrificed at the death of its mother.” | 

[Mr Raine mentions that a small barrow at the foot of the 
hill on which the Duddo stones stand, on the north side, much 
levelled by the plough, has never been opened (‘ North Durham’, 
p- 318.) Mr Tate also refers in his notes to this barrow. Were 
it not that statements in County Histories are apt to be firmly 
believed, it is almost needless to correct the opinion that these 
rude stones were erected in commemoration of a victory obtained 
by the Earl of Northumberland and his brother Sir Henry 
Percy in 1558, over a party of marauding Scots.—See Mackenzie’s 
Hist. of Northumberland, 1. pp. 342-3. Richardson’s Table 
Book, tv. p. 116, where there is a figure. J. H.] 


British Urn found at Screnwood, near Alnham, Northum- 
berland, with remarks on other Antiquities in that 
neighbourhood. By D. D. Drxon. 


A FEW years ago while some quarrymen were clearing the 
‘‘yedd”’ from the bank top of a quarry at the east of Screnwood, 
in the parish of Alnham, Northumberland, they struck upon a 
stone lined grave containing the urn shewn in the accompanying 
pen and ink sketch, but it was not until the summer of the 
present year that the news of its existence reached the ears -of 


British Urn found at Serenwood. By D.D. Dixon. 545 


our vigilant and energetic Secretary, Mr Hardy, when he at 
once took measures to have it sketched and described for the 
inspection of the members of the Club. 


The urn, now in the possession of Mr Chisholm, innkeeper, 
Netherton, who kindly lent it for the purpose of sketching, 
measures 5 inches in height, and 43 inches diameter at the top. 
It is rudely made of coarse unburnt clay, ornamented near the 
top with the characteristic zig-zag marking, which has evidently 
been done with a knotted thong and notched stick; and it 
appears to belong to what is usually called the ‘‘food vessel” 
type. Itis to be regretted that when this cist-vaen was dis- 
covered no person interested in such matters was present, to 
note its position or other articles contained therein. 

No camp now exists near the spot where this urn was found, 
but there are several in the district, besides other interesting 
remains. On the Castle Hill near Alnham, two miles distant, 
there is a fine circular camp with double ramparts. The church 
of St Michael at Alnham, of early transitional foundation, stands 
on the site of a small Roman camp, “‘ which most probably has 

2aQ 


546 Further Notes on Alnham, By James Hardy. 


been for a Centurion’s guard to protect the herds of cattle when 
grazing during summer, in the rich pastures on the banks of the 
river Aln, above Whittingham.” (John Smart, Arch. Aliana.) 

The vill of Alnham (Yarwell), as well as Screnwood (Screven- 
wood), and Netherton were, 37 Hen. III. A.D. 1253, part of the 
lordship and estate of William de Vesci. Traces of an extensive 
castle, which was once burnt by the Scots, are yet visible on a 
green knoll opposite the church;. while incorporated in the 
present vicarage house is the stout Pele Tower of later times. 
In 1542, Bowes and Ellerker report—‘‘At Alnane be two lytle 
towres whereof thone ys the mansion of the vycaredge and 
thother of the inherytaunce of the Kinges Matic p’cll of the 
late Erle of Northumblendes’ landis being scarcely in good 
reparacons.”’ 

At the adjoining village of Netherton there are numerous 
mounds, hollow ways, and entrenchments, relics of an early race, 
unexplored as yet; and on an eminence at the southern border 
of the township called ‘‘ Robert’s Law,” the late Mr Smart found 
an ancient camp in which were a number of querns or hand- 
mill stones. Tumuli also exist on the west side of the Wreigh 
or Rithe Burn, opposite Trewhitt House. In 1538 all the able 
men with and without horses and harness were mustered on 
Robert’s Law, along with the other able inhabitants of ‘‘Coke- 
dale,” and the thieves of Redesdale, as they were politely called in 
those unruly times. A little south of Robert’s Law, a Roman 
Road from Watling Street on the west to the Devil’s Causeway 
on the east, crosses the turnpike. 


Further Notes on the Antiquities of Alnham and Neigh- 
bourhood. By JAMES HARDY. 


As we are very imperfectly acquainted with the extensive tract 
of country sweeping down from the hills (Hogden Law, 1797; 
Hazelton-rig hill, 1655; Northfield head: hill, above Alnham, 
1018; Coldlaw near Biddleston, 1287 feet), to the lowlands 
which terminate in the ‘‘core of the Coquet,” I subjoin a few 
fresh incidents to Mr Dixon’s contributions, which enlarge the 
observations of the Club into comparatively new territory. If 
the Club could afford by degrees to print Mr Tate’s geology of 


Further Notes on Alnham. By James Hardy. 547 


this part of the district, we should be placed in possession of an 
important array of facts of permanent value. While prosecuting 
his favourite pursuit here, he kept his eyes also on the archeo- 
logical features, and Alnham was one of the localities where he 
opened out his note-book and made some enquiries, which I am 
enabled here to specify. 

In 1861, Mr Tate visited Alnham Church. He remarks: 
‘‘This Church is cruciform. The architecture is transitional and 
Early English. The chancel arch is round—the piers are round, 
but the capitals are Karly English. The south cross is separated 
from the nave by an Early English arch. Against the wall of 
this cross are four monumental stones to: 

1. Percival Horsley, late of Screnwood, died April 2, 1694, ete. 

2. Robert Horsley, at Alwinton, 1765, aged 56. 

8. Cath. Horsley, 1746, aged 16, and children of Robert 
Horsley of Clennell. 

4. Mr Collingwood of Prendwick, 1763, aged 43. 

On the floor of the chancel is a stone to John Emmerson, 1662, 
and another with a sword and another with a cross. <A recess 
with an arch above marks probably an interment. 

The Church is in a sad state with damp; the walls and pillars 
are covered in places with green confervz.” 

This has now been remedied, and a thorough repair, under the 
superintendence of Mr F. R. Wilson, was undertaken in 1870. 
‘On the Chancel floor,’ writes Mr Wilson, ‘‘are inlaid six 
tomb slabs, on which are sculptured floriated crosses of much 
gracefulness.”” (‘‘Churches of Lindisfarne,” p. 104). These 
Mr Wilson figures in his plate. 

Subsequently, Mr Tate makes another entry. ‘July 22nd 
1864. Castle Hill Camp. Visited the camp to-day. Itis on a 
lofty hill with an extensive view all round, ranging along the 
hills south of the Coquet, Simonside and others, sweeping round 
by Alnwick Moor, Beanley, Bewick, Ross Castle, and the Cheviots. 
It is very strong, with many ditches and rampiers. There are 
circular and other enclosures within, and several larger en- 
closures on the east side. The entrance is eastward.” 

In 1850, the Rev. George S. Thomson, the vicar, had observed 
to Mr Tate, that at a place near to Alnham, a cutting had been 
made, which shewed under the surface in descending order, 
‘* peat bog, 9 inches ; paved stones of an ancient road, 8 inches” 
lying on a peat bog of unascertained depth. 


548 Further Notes on Alnham. By James Hardy. 


A large black bead, probably jet, found on the Castle Hill, 
was in the possession of Mr William Coulson, Corbridge. It is 
figured here of the natural size. 


The large circular camp at Robert’s Law, mentioned by Mr 
Dixon, is remarkable for the preservation of a tradition respect- 
ing it, which also still lingers near Bolton and Lemington. It 
is said that ‘‘ the Saxons, on an invasion of the Danes, marched 
from this encampment, and encountered the invaders at Battle 
Bridge near to Lemington; but were defeated with great 
slaughter.” [Mackenzie’s Northd. 1. p. 44.] Two small silver 
coins were found in the camp, but the impressions were illegible. 

Some years ago, continues the historian, ‘‘a large tumulus 
was opened between Netherton and Biddleston. It contained 
an urn with ashes and charcoal, placed, after the manner of the 
Britons, within 4 stones and a cover.”’ 

Burradon is about a mile 8S. W. of Netherton. Here some 
interesting discoveries were made by Canon Greenwell. 1. A 
flint celt, of narrow, lengthened, oblong wedge form, ‘‘ a beauti- 
ful implement, of a very rare form. It is of ochreous-coloured 
flint polished all over.” It is 8} inches long; 24 inches across 
the broad end, and 1} inches at the narrow end. Figured in 
Evans’s ‘“‘ Flint Implements,” p. 94, fig. 47. 2. Another fine 
polished celt, found with No. 1, is of a dark-coloured porphyritic 
stone, and has the angles of the flat sides slightly rounded. It 
is wedge-shaped about 44 inches long, by 2 inches at the broad, 
and 1 inch at the narrow end. It is Evans’s figure, No. 58, 
p- 105. 1.c. Both are in the Greenwell Collection in the British 
Museum. 

A stone axe from a cist at Burradon, is preserved in the 
Alnwick Castle Museum. (Mr Tate’s Notes, 1863). 


Further Notes on Alnham. By James Hardy. 549 


I have passed through and been among these places, but 
never actually set my foot on them, except at Burradon, in 1868. 
In the beginning of August 1867, I had an opportunity of 
botanising in Hazelton-rig Wood above Alnham, reaching it 
from Prendwick, and there found Carex muricata. (Club’s 
Proc. v. p. 382; and vi. p. 54). It was the Prendwick lamb 
sale, an extremely cold day, after a thunderstorm accompanied 
with hail. A dead chimney swallow, perished by the blast, was 
picked up on the public road between the plane-trees avenue at 
Prendwick. On this occasion I had not time to descend to the 
Castle Hill at Alnham, or ‘‘ Yilldam,” as the people call it. Two 
years ago I was close behind Hazelton-rig hill, and also Hogden 
Law, but my walks pointed in an opposite direction. I then, 
however, picked up a few scattered notices, which may serve as 
way-marks for more minute investigations. My information was 
obtained from three different parties. 

A shepherd found two gold coins, said to be of Queen 
Anne, in ‘‘the neck of Hogden Law’’; the Duke of North- 
umberland obtained one, and Dr Scott of Yetholm the other. 

At Castle Hill near Hazelton-rig, in 1881, in erecting a new 
sheep enclosure,a silver buckle prettily ornamented was turned up. 

Pigdon’s Leap at Hazelton-rig is a wide chasm, which Pigdon 
a thief, when pursued by a convocation of the country people, 
cleared at one bound, and so managed to escape while his pur- 
suers lost time, being checked by the obstacle. 

A blue-coloured stone celt or axe was found of recent years on 
Clennell by a young man. 

At Sharperton Edge some one found a crook conjectured to 
have been used in a brewery or distillery. 

At Hepple a man found what was called an Elk’s horn, as 
thick as one’s arm: probably a Red-deer antler. Other antlers 
of the kind have been obtained there in ‘‘ redding” a limestone 
quarry. Mr Dixon has some of them. They are fragments of 
Red-deer antlers; but not particularly large. 

The largest fossil Red-deer antler of the large ancient type 
ever seen in the neighbourhood was got at the bottom of a 
drain, while it was being cut at Alwinton, in or near the field 
belonging to Mr Burn. 

This miscellaneous collection, inclusive of news about the urn 
now fortunately figured, from a drawing by Mr J. T. Dixon, 
was all the information that I could obtain on the Kidland side 
of the hills. 


550 


Notice of Serenwood. By JAMES Harpy. 


Screnwoop or Scranwood is first mentioned in the Testa de 
Nevill (pp. 383-4), when it belonged to William de Vescy, the 
second. As he died in 1252, this is an early document of the 
reign of Henry III]. For a lengthened period it was combined 
in feudal ownership with Burneton (now Brunton) in Embleton 
parish, and Preston in Ellingham parish. The feodatary of 
William de Vescy, Walter Bataill, held Burneton and Preston 
by one knight’s fee of the ancient infeftment of the reign of 
Henry I. There had probably been a sub-division of the 
Burneton property, for the estate held under the De Vescies was 
called Burneton Batayll from its occupants, apparently to dis- 
tinguish it from another place of the same name. The same 
Walter Bataill along with Thomas Bunte, was co-occupant of 
Se’venwood, under the obligation of rendering feudal service 
equivalent to the third part of a knight’s fee, of the same ancient 
infeftment (Ibid, p. 384). Contemporaneously, as the same 
document indicates, Walter Bataill held from Gilbert de Umfram- 
ville, the moiety of Linesl’ (Linnshiels) by the tenth part of the 
service of one knight (1. c. p. 393). But previous to this there 
is mention of the Batailes or Bataills. William de Vescy, the 
first, who died in the year 1184, had under him in 1168, a 
Walter Bataile, holding from him [the extent of the fee omitted ], 
on the day when King Henry II. was dead and alive (Liber 
Niger Scaccarii de Northumberland, 1168, Hodgson’s Hist. 
Part 11. vol. 111. p. 306); and he might then be part possessor 
of Screnwood ; and we have in 1182, a Walter Bataille, possibly 
the same, occupying a position of high trust over the Umfraville 
property.—Ann. 1182, 28 Hen. Il. The land of Odinell de 
Unfranville. Walter Bataille, and William, son of Walter, 
render account of £29 7s. 4d. from the proceeds of the land of 
Odinell de Humfranville in Northumberland for a half year. In 
the treasury £22 7s. 4d.; and to Robert de Umfranvile, heir of 
Odinell, 100 shillings to maintain him in the service of the king 
by the king’s writ, and in clothing of the children of Odinell 40s. 
by the same writ; and is quit (Pipe Rolls, Hodgson, Part m1. . 
vol. 11. p. 35). Odinell was incompetent to manage, and Walter 
Bataille appears to have had the lands and family under his 
guardianship. 


Notice of Screnwood. By James Hardy. 551 


I am unable from the fragmentary notices to trace the regular 
descent of the family. Inthe remains of the Placita of Richard I, 
from the 7th year and of King John in the 9th year, we have 
the early history of the Bataills who owned both the Umfravilles 
and the De Vescies as their superiors, revealed by a complaint 
of Richard de Umfravill that Eustace de Vescy (1191-1216), had 
seized the custody of the heir of Henry Bataill, which from the 
land held from the Umfravills by the Bataills pertained right- 
fully to him. He pleaded that his ancestor, Robert with the 
Beard, when Gilbert Batail, the ancestor of the heir, came with 
the foresaid Robert de Umfravill to the conquest of England, he 
was infefted by Robert with Fawdon and the moiety of Nettertun 
(Netherton) to hold of him and his heirs by one knight’s service. 
This land he held for his life time, and Walter Batail his son 
followed him, and then Henry Batail father of the heir, about 
whom the dispute arose. We are not informed how this affair 
terminated, but it was alleged on the other side that there was 
no legal precedent for wardship in the instance of either Walter 
or Henry, as they were of full age, and knighted before the 
decease of their fathers. (Placitorum Abbreviatio in Hodgson’s 
Hist. Part 111. vol. 1. p. 341). 

To this Henry Bataille and his widow, the following entries 
may be applicable: (1). 1204, 6 John, Henry Bataille renders 
account of 100 merks and 2 palfreys for having patent letters of 
the king that he should not be impleaded outside the shire of 
Northumberland for any of his tenements within the county, 
and that he should not be placed upon any assises or under 
- recognisance out of the shire. In the treasury 100 merks, and 
10 merks for two palfreys. And he is quit. (Pipe Rolls, Ib. 
Part 11. vol. 11. p. 88). (2). 1207, 9 John. Constancia who 
was the wite of Henry Bataille, rendered account of 1 merk for 
having a writ for her reasonable dowry. She has paid into the 
treasury and is quit. (Pipe Rolls, Ibid, p. 98). 

It will be obvious that William, son of Walter, is omitted in 
the above summary of heirs, and it ig also observable that Henry 
is not called the son of Walter Batail; perhaps William pre- 
deceased his father. One William Bataille, who also held of 
the Umframvills or Umfravills, has left his name attached to 
Battleshield on the Usway, which is called in a charter of Gilbert 
de Umfravill to the Monks of Newminster, the ‘‘logiam quondam 
Willelmi Bataill,”? which John de Letelwell then held (Chart. 


552 Notice of Screnwood. By James Hardy. 


de Nov. Monasterio, p. 78). Walter de Bataille as we learn 
from the Testa de Nevill, p. 385, was the contemporary of John 
de Letelwell. William Bataill, who may or may not be the 
same personage, witnesses a charter of Robert de Umframvill to 
William Bertram, of Great Bavington (Hodgson, Part 111. vol. 
Ir, p. 25). We also find Bataills elsewhere of this name, 
William Bataill having married one of the heiresses of William 
Flamavill of Whittingham (Testa de Nevill, p. 393). His wife’s 
name was Constance, and her son and heir, Robert occurs in the 
Pipe Rolls from 1262 to 1272. (Pipe Rolls in Hodgson, and 
Dickson’s Pipe Rolls). The race appears to have become extinct 
as landowners. 

By the inquisition on the death of John de Vescy, 17 Edward 
I. 1289, the heirs of William de Middleton held Burnetone, 
Prestone, and Scranewoode, by the service of one knight’s fee, 
and payment during the year of 13s. 4d. The annual value of 
the lands was £40. (Hartshorne’s Feudal and Mil. Antiq. of 
Northd. Appendix, p. exx). The names are not given, but 
among them was the predecessor of the Belsay family; as John 
de Middleton about 21, Edward I. 1292, was summoned to show 
cause why he had warren in Belshow, Burneton, Preston, 
Thorneburgh. (De quo Warranto in Hodgson, 1. p. 146). 

When the old Northumbrian family of the Middletons rose 
in open rebellion against Edward II. in 13817, Sir John de 
Middleton was involved in the catastrophe that ensued, and died 
the death of a traitor with all its forbidding penalties; and his 
estate was forfeited. By an Inquisition ‘‘ad quod Damnum,” 
12 Edward II., 1318, John de Middleton, a rebel, held Belshowe 
villa, Burneton manor, Preston villa, Scranewood manor, Beche- 
feld manor, &c. (Apud Hodgson, 1, p. 398). In that same 
year this king granted to John de Crambewell, constable of the 
tower of London, in special entail, viz., to his heirs male, the 
manor of Bruneton in Emeldon, with the moiety of the vill of 
Preston, and the moiety of the vill of Belshow, lately pertaining 
to John de Middleton adhering to the Scots, for the services due 
(Cal. Rot. Pat. pp. 84-86). He died 7, Edward III., 1382-3, 
possessed of Burnetone manor, Preston, Scranewood, Belsow, ete. 
(Inq. p. M. u. p. 58). The Middleton property was thereafter con- 
ferred upon Sir John de Strivelyn, who was of Scottish descent. 
His father was of Moray (Documents Hist. Scot. (Stevenson) 11. 
p: 66), and was restored to his lands in Scotland in 1296 (Rot. 


Notice of Screnwood. By James Hardy. 553 


Scot. 1. p. 28). The charter in the Patent Rolls, bears the date 
of 9 Edward III., 1334-35. In the grant were included all the 
lands that belonged to Sir John de Middleton (Cal. Rot. Pat., p. 
123). This grant was renewed, 33, Edward III., 1858-9 (Ibid. 
pp. 170, 171). , 

When Henry Percy, the second baron of that name, died, 26 
Edward III., 1353, Sir John de Strivelyn held the ‘ villate”’ of 
Burneton, Prestone and Scranewood, of the said Henry by 
homage, and by service of one knight’s fee, and the third part 
of a knight’s fee, and by the service of paying annually on the 
15th July, 138s. 4d. ob. for castle ward, and the subjects were 
worth £20 annually ; having become depreciated one half since 
1289. (Ing. p. M. apud Hartshorne, 11. Appendix, p. exxvii). 
In the Inquisition on Henry Percy, the third baron, surnamed 
“(le Pier,” who died on Ascension day, 1368, Sir John de 
Stryvelyn still held Burneton, Preston, and Scranwode in de- 
mense, by homage and fealty, and by the service of the third 
part [so that the property had become sub-divided | of a knight’s 
fee, and suit of court at Alnwick ‘‘de tribus in tres,” and by 
the service of paying annually on the 15th July, 17s. 9d. ob. for 
castle ward, and the annual value of the property was £20. 
(Attested MS. copy of Inquis. 42 Edw. IIT). 

Before this date, Scranwood had in part at least obtained a 
new owner or new manager. Roger de Horsley who died 33, 
Edward III. (1358-8) held Seranwood manor, and lands and 
tenements at Horsley * (Ing. p. M. m1. p. 218). His son Thomas 
however had not adopted a procedure quite legal to obtain the 
succession. In the same year, an entry in the “ Originalia” 
states, that the king for a fine of £20 has pardoned Thomas, son 
and heir of Roger de Horsley, deceased, his transgression of 
occupying the manor of Scranwode and certain tenements in 
Horsley in the county of Northumberland, held of the king and 
his heirs, and with other capital demesnes of that fee by services, 
&e. And that the moiety of the said manor holding of the king 
in capite for homage and fealty, by the service of the sixth part 
of one knight’s fee, and by the service of 8 pence or one pair of 
gilt spurs by the year, being by reason of the fiefs which per- 


* Roger de Horsley was captain of Bamburgh Castle, 12 Edward II., 
1337-8,—Abbrev. Rot. Orig. 1. p. 241; and one of the keepers of the truce 
between the English and the Scots in 1320. Ib. p. 258. He may have 
obtained Scranwood in reward of his services. 


2 


554 Notice of Screnwood. By James Hardy. 


tained to John de Midleton lately adhering to the Scots enemies, 
etc., in the hand of the king; and that the other moiety of the 
said manor, and the said tenements of Horsley, hold of others 
than the king, and therefore, etc. (Abbrev. Rot. Orig. 11. p. 255). 
What portion of the manor was held of the king im capite, there 
are no documents to explain. 

When Sir John de Strivelyn died, 2 Ric. II., 1378, he still 
held along with Jacoba (Jane) his wife, daughter of Richard de 
Emeldon, among other lands: Burneton manor, entire; at 
Preston a tenement and 80 acres of land, and the advowson of the 
chantry *; Belshowe manor, half the extent; Shanewode (Scren- 
wood) villa. (Ing. p. Mortem, 11. p. 18). His wife died in 
1392; she held Burneton manor and the advowson of the chapel 
(Ib. p. 126). 

‘Through his marriages, Sir John Strivelyn became allied to 
the families of Middleton and Swinburn, and when he died many 
of his possessions passed by virtue of a settlement to John de 
Middleton [descended of Sir John de Middleton], and his wife 
Christiana.” (Tate’s Hist. of Alnwick, vol. 1. p. 147). John de 
Midleton died in August 1896, possessed of the half of Belshowe 
(Belsay) and still retained Brunton manor in Bamburghshire, 
with a mill (Ing. p. M. mm. p. 207); and when his wife 
Christiana died, 9 Henry V., (1420-21) she still held Burneton, 
Preston, and Screnewode vill, as of Alnwicke manor. (Inq. p. 
M. tv. p. 61). Sir John Middleton of Belsay succeeded. 

At the commencement of the reign of Henry VIII. (1509), an 
official return was drawn up of the fortresses in the northern 
district of Northumberland, the names of their owners and 
occupiers, and an estimate of the number of horsemen which 
they could severally bring into the field. The computed miles 
are very different from the measurements of the present day. 
Screnwood was then in the possession of the Horsley family— 
‘«Skyrnwood—Thomas Horsley, owner and inhabitant, 20 men ; 
from Tevedale 6 miles; from the Mers 16 miles.” (J. Hodgson 
Hinde’s fist. of Northd., p. 340.) In a similar return a few 
years later than 1526, we have another occupant :—‘ John 
Horsley of Screnwood, from Scotland 4 mile, and from Riddisdale 
3 mile, may dispend of his father’s land 10 pound by the year, 


* The Chantry was at Burneton, and was licensed (by the King) 14 
Edward III., 1339-40. (Cal. Rot. Pat., p. 136). 


Notice of Serenwood. By James Hardy. 555 


and in fee of my Lord of Northumberland 10 pound by the year. 
He may serve the king with 30 horsemen, and is a true wise 
borderer.”” (Ib. p. 348.) In 1542, “at Screynwood is a toure 
and a barmekyn of the Inherytance of John Horseley, Esquire, 
kepte in very good repacons.” (Bowes and Ellerker’s Survey, 
Hodgson, Part 1. v. 1. p. 211.) 

In 1551-52, when the Border watches were instituted, ‘‘ the 
Hogdon Law was to be watched by two men daily of the 
inhabitants of Cramwood (Screnwood) and Elnane (Alnham); 
setters and searchers of this watch, Thomas Horsley and Cuthbert 
Horsley.” (Border Laws, p. 182, Appendix). Sir John Horsley 
was one of the overseers of the watch. He had been knighted 
for his bravery at Musselburgh fight, 1547. (Mackenzie’s Hist. 
11. p. 152.) He was captain of Bamburgh. Thomas Horsley 
of Skyrnwood was a Commissioner for Enclosures upon the 
Middle Marches, in 1553. (Hodgson Hinde’s Hist. p. 360.) 

In the Liber Feodarii, 10 Eliz., 1568, the heir of Cuthbert 
Horsley was seized of and in the manor and ville of Screnwood 
and of and in the moiety of the manor and ville of Horsley, 
Brenkheugh, Thristlehaugh, Feeldheed, Lynehirste, Crawysfelde, 
and of and in Weldon and lands in Tharneham (Farnham. ) 
(Hodgson’s Hist., Part ur. v. 1. Pref. p. Lxiii.) 

In 1660, Sir Thomas Horsley, Knt., was one of the Royalists 
on whom Charles II. intended to confer the honour of “ Knight 
of the Royal Oak.’ The annual value of his estates was 
reckoned at £1000. (Hodgson Hinde, p. 392.) In the Book of 
Rates, 1663, Sir Thomas Horsley is the proprietor of Scarnwood, 
of which the annual value was £100. His name occurs among 
a list of the gentry of Northumberland published in Blome’s 
Britannia, 1673, of Long Horsley, Knut. (Ib. p. 395.) 

John G. Riddell, Esq. of Felton Park and Swinburn Castle is 
the representative in the female line of the Horsleys, and holds, 
I believe, at least the family did lately, Screnwood. 


556 


Record of the Migration, Local Movements, and Occurrence 
of Birds on the Borders, for 1882-83 and 1884-85. By 
James Harpy, Joint-Secretary of the Berwickshire Natu- 
ralists’ Club; Corr. Memb. of Nat. Hist. Society of Glasgow ; 
Hon. Memb. of the Literary and Philosophical Society of 
Newcastle-upon-Tyne; and of the Tyneside Naturalists’ Field- 
Club. 


OLDCAMBUS, 1882. 


JANUARY. 


Jan. 3, About 12 Black-headed Gulls flying inland from the sea. A 
large number do not leave the coast during winter, 1.e. do not migrate 
farther. Jan. 20, Rather a large flock in winter dress, following the 
ploughs, and at sea. 2 on the coast on Feb. 2.—Snow-bunting seen. 
Jan. 29, 1 Raven abroad, flying high and croaking and tumbling through 
the air. 

FEBRUARY. 

Feb. 7, 14 Grebes on the coast, and a male and female Eider. Feb. 9, 
about 25 Black-headed Gulls feeding among sea-weed. Feb. 11, 16 Snow- 
buntings in field. Feb. 20, 8 Hiders feeding off coast, 3 Herons; Redshanks 
left early this year. Lesser Black-backed Gull seen, and again on 21st. 
Feb. 24, 10 Curlews on shore. Feb. 25, Lapwings returned. Stone-chats 
remained in dean all winter. 

MARCH. 


Mar. 1, Grey Wagtail at mouth of Penmanshiel Tunnel. Mar. 3, 50 
Curlews in a flock on shore, previously only a scattered few. 19 Lesser 
Black-backed Gulls on coast; new arrivals, young and old. Mar. 4, 1 
Grey-backed Crow. A pair of Greater Tit seen in the Pease dean; the 
male of the ordinary colour; but the female is of a yellowish green, like a 
dark-coloured Canary or a Green-finch; the black of the head is fawn- 
coloured; belly mostly white, with yellow sides; a short brown streak 
in centre of the breast; wings greenish, quill feathers yellow and black 
lined; back greenish, with paler tints. It remained all the spring. The 
female was a great alarmist. Mar. 6, Black-headed Gulls still at Skateraw 
in fields. Lapwing, Curlew, and Plover came to Beaumont-water (Kelso 
Chron.) Mar. 9, Lapwings still in lower fields; 5 or 6 Wild Geese near 
Cockburnspath. Mar. 11, 1 Grebe on the coast; 5 Curlews and 4 Cor- 
morants. Herons have left the coast. Stonechats continue. Large 
flock of Snow-buntings on Dowlaw heights; have been numerous there 
this season. Large flock of Wild Geese on Penmanshiel Moor. Mar. 12, 
4 or 5 Lapwings. <A pair of Grey Wagtails near Mowhanugh School, 
Beaumont-water (Kelso Chron.) Mar.13, A pair of Marsh Tits obtenred 
in Pease dean. 1 Coot has returned to Townhead pond. Mar. 12 and 18, 
Lapwings came to Penmanshiel for the second time; on the 27th Feb. 


The Migration of Birds. By James Hardy. 557 


they arrived there, but soon after the weather became cold and stormy, 
and they decamped in a body before snow fell. Mar. 14, Pied Wagtail at 
Penmanshiel Tunnel. Mar. 15, 4 Hider and 32 Wild Ducks at sea; 4 or 5 
Curlews; Redshank heard ; a female Wheatear on Beaumont-water (Kelso 
Chron.) Mar. 17, Pied Wagtails arrived, several, mostly males; one pair, 
male and female; a male Grey Wagtail arrived on coast; Lapwings 
becoming dispersed. Mar. 18, 4 Redshanks; 2 Herons remain. Mar. 20, 
2 Pied Wagtails in dean; from 30 to 40 Snow-buntings passed with rapid 
flight, in a compact body, along the sea-side fields, about 11 a.m.—they 
appeared to be migrants going northwards ;—2 Herons and 2 Redshanks 
seen; 22 Hiders in a lengthened band off coast, mostly young birds; Wild 
Geese seen. Mar. 25, 1 Pied Wagtail; no Curlews; 5 Cormorants. Mar. 
26, Curlews going and returning, between coast and inland moors; 2 Cocts 
in Townhead pond. Mar. 28, 1 Curlew on shore. Mar. 29, 6 Redshanks in 
a body; 5 Cormorants; 16 Wild Ducks; 1 Snow-bunting crossing the sea, 
in direction of May Island. Mar. 30, Lapwings mostly settled and breed- 
ing on the moors. Mar. 31, Water-Hen returned to inland pond. 


APRIL. 


Woodcocks mostly left about the beginning of April. On the previous 
year they remained till first week in May. Apr. 4, 1 male Pied Wagtail ; 
10 Hider Ducks. Apr. 5, 3 Pied Wagtails. Apr. 6, 1 Pied Wagtail; 7 
‘Redshanks on coast; pair of Wheatears, male and female, arrived on coast. 
Apr. 7, 4 Pied Wagtails; several Wrens heard in Pease dean,—their 
numbers are recruiting; Cuckoo heard at Glanton, N. Apr. 8, 4 Coots in 
Townhead pond; they arrive one by one; a fight takes place among the 
males before pairing. Dabchicks arrived also there; numerous Moor 
Pipits had just arrived all over the moors; 2 Black-headed Buntings on 
the moors. Apr. 10, Oyster-catcher on rocks at Bilsdean; 2 Redshanks 
there ; no Wheatears along that part of the coast, and only 1 Pied Wagtail ; 
several Thrushes. Swallow seen at Felton, N. Apr. 11, 2 Wheatears, and 
2 male Wagtails. Apr. 12, Small flock of Dotterels at Dowlaw. Apr. 13, 
Two pairs of Wheatears seen at different places moving inland. No 
migratory birds noticed at Hast Linton. Apr. 16, Sand Martin on Beau- 
mont water (Kelso Chron.) Apr. 18, After severe weather a pair of 
Wheatears and a male Wagtail remain; Grey Wagtail arrived at Pease 
Mill; Swallow came to Marchmont. Apr. 19, House Martin at Beanmont- 
water (Kelso Chron.) 4 Swallows at Marchmont (Mr Loney.) Apr. 21, 
Milder. Sylvia trochilus arrived ; 3 Swallows (Chimney) and 2 Sand Martins 
on sea-banks where the cold wind does not strike; a single Heron left on 
coast. Apr. 21, House Martin came to Penmanshiel, visited its nest at 
a window, and did not return till May. Between 40 and 50 Dotterels 
in a flock on Redheugh fields near the moor-edges at Blakelaw ; Sandpiper 
returned to Beaumont-water (Kelso Chron.). Swallows at East Linton 
(Scotsman.) Apr. 22, Willow Wrens numerous in Pease dean; Thrushes 
scarce. Apr. 23, Ring Ousel on Beaumont-water (Kelso Chron.) Apr. 24, 
A small party of Willow Wrens, and a pair of Redstarts—new arrivals— 
at Oak brae, Oldcambus; had left next day. Cuckoo in Duns Castle 


558 The Migration of Birds. By James Hardy. 


woods; a specimen of Pied Flycatcher in that vicinity, a week before May 
2 (Ber. News.) Swallow at Duns (Kelso Chron.) Apr. 25, 1 Whinchat 
arrived; 4 Sand Martins at 9.30 a.m.; but no Swallows at coast; 5 Hiders 
and 4 or 5 fresh Wheatears; a few Thrushes and Missels. Apr. 26, Went 
to Harpertoun. Willow Wren widely diffused; Pied Wagtail settled at 
Edenmouth; thousands of Sand Martins on the Tweed, with 5 or 6 
Swallows playingamong them. Black-backed and Black-headed Gulls on 
the Tweed. Apr. 27 and 28, Redstart in two different localities, at 
Harpertoun. Apr. 29, Whitethroat just arrived near side of Tweed at 
Edenhall; more on 30th, extending inland along the hedges; Redstart 


near Highridge-hall. 
May. 


May 1, Tit Lark at Leitholm; no Swallows at the farm-places in that 
vicinity or Eccles; Cuckoo on moor at Penmanshiel. May 2, Swallows at 
Sisterpath Mill; Willow Wren generally diffused; Whitethroat and 
Swallows near Marchmont; Corncrake and Cuckoo at Kelso (Kelso Chron.) 
May 3, Cuckoo at Marchmont, and Swallows numerous (P.L.) May 4, 
Again at Oldcambus. 3 Whitethroats in hedges, and others in thickets ; 
3 Martins arrived at Siccar Point. Marsh Tit scooping ont a nesting-hole in 
a decaying oak stump near Pease bridge; the male did the work, and carried 
the chips; the female played about a tree in front, and gave the alarm at 
my approach. Wheatearat the coast. May 5, Several Whitethroats have 
left, and Willow Wrens have become scarce; 5 Martins, 1 Sand Martin, 
and 3 Swallows passing along the coast northwards; other 2 Swallows at 
coast; 1 Martin left behind. In afternoon 10 Martins and a pair of 
Swallows seen near Cove shore; also a Whitethroat and Wheatear there. 
A Heron and 5 Curlews on rocks near Dunglass Mill, and 2 Swallows there. 
May 5, Corncrake at Duns (Kelso Chron.) Swifts at Kelso (Ib.) May 6, 
Corncrake at Beaumont-water; and on 12th at Jedburgh (Ib.) May 6, 
Whitethroat continues; no Swallows. May 7, 2 Swallows near Ewieside, 
and 2 Whitethroats. May 10, Female Redstart; Sedge Warbler in full 
song: several Whitethroats ; 2 Martins and 2 Swallows at coast; Swallow 
at onstead; Cuckoo heard and seen. May 11, only 1 Wood Wren as yet 
in Pease dean wood. It came out on the bare boughs and twigs of tall 
oaks and ashes, opening its bill and holding it upwards, but at times 
scarcely able to emit a whispering trill. Cuckoo again heard; 2 Wheat- 
ears passing inland; 3 Swallows, 1 Sand Martin, and only 1 Martin at 
coast. Wind has been blowing chill on the coast-line. May 12, Milder. 
Sandpiper, a straggler, at burn, Oldcambus. Wood Wren just arrived 
near the coast; new arrivals of Wheatears, scattered birds; Whitethroats 
and Swallows present. May 13, At Haddington. Pair of Swifts at 
Dunbar; no Martins visible on the journey. At Haddington, Swallows 
and Sand Martins visible, the latter build in the river banks below the 
town. May 14, Blackcap at Pease bridge. No Swallows nor Swifts at 
Dunbar; 2 or 3 Sand Martins at coast there—air cold. May 16, Blackcap 
at Pease bridge, only one; a few Martins at coast—cold and clear. May 
17, Wind EH. and then N. Calm and bright sunshine. Went up to the 
moors. Blackcap at Oldcambus; 10 to 15 Martins at pond, and a pair of 


The Migration of Birds. By James Hardy. 559 


Swallows at onstead; Sedge Warblers in the willow-scrub on the Red- 
heugh, Dowlaw, and Lumsdean mosses; Heron flew out of the moss; pair 
of Stonechats at Dowlaw moss; and on two other furzy spots on the moors. 
Pipits thinly spread along the bog edges; Larks were not scarce. 4 Black- 
headed Gulls nest in Lumsdean moss; and 5 or 6 Curlews frequert 
the adjacent heath; 4-Wild Ducks; and 2 smaller Grey Ducks—with 
bullet-like heads and white patches on the wings—frequent this moss; 
and the Sedge Warblers were in every willow thicket; and there were a 
few Reed Buntings also. Grey Linnets build in the thickets of furze on 
the rocky ridges of the Lumsdean leas; Cuckoo heard; 4 Whinchats near 
Lowrie’s Knowes (Dowlaw) ona grassy and whinny dry and rocky ground, 
sloping to a bog, the males singing a constant song; then other 3 were 
seen on Redhengh Hill, one male singing very sweetly; appeared to be 
shifting ground; still nearer Oldcambus a Whinchat was crossing a 
ploughed field passing inland—these were probably all new-comers. At 
Dowlaw-dean, while two masons were building a dyke, 2 Cuckoos alighted 
on the string they used for guidance in their work, and had a fight 
together. May 18,2 male Wheatears, migrating across cultivated ground, 
flew up and perched in an ash tree; Sedge Warblers in the hedges. About 
a dozen Martins settled at Swallow Craig. Swallows at onstead. May 20, 
2 Sedge Warblers; one hovered in the air, and then perched and sang. 
On the 21st they were pretty well inland; and Martins were collecting 
clay for nesting. May 22, Wood Wrens in four different localities in Pease- 
dean woods; and Blackcaps in four localities; but there were no Sedge 
Warblers there. Spotted Flycatcher had arrived at a planting border at 
5 o’clock p.m.; departed before next day. May 23, Stonechats breeding 
in dean. May 24, Blackcaps singing; female Redstart; Swift seen with 
other Swallows. May 25, More Sedge Warblers arrived. Martins are 
much augmented in numbers; from 40 to 50 on the coast; many of them 
engaged in carrying clay to nests; again thus employed on 26th. May 
29, Sedge Warbler in Tower dean, only one. May 30, Same nesting at 
Oldcambus; Martins continue numerous. May 31, Corn Bunting near 
Cockburnspath Station; Swifts plentiful at Hast Linton. 


JUNE. 


June 2, Swifts at Cockburnspath. June 14, Jackdaws carry out dead 
young and drop them. Carrion Crows fly off with young chickens at 
Pease mill, pouncing on them early in the morning. June 21, Young 
Jackdaws have flown. June 22, Curlews on coast for first time. Grey 
Linnets numerous in dean. 

JULY. 

July 8, 3 Curlews and 1 old Black-headed Gull on coast. July 11, 
Visited Skippath and Fairy Castle deans above Oldhamstocks; Pied 
Wagtails on the gravel above Oldhamstocks as far as the Fairy Castle; 
Chaffinches old and young were particularly numerous by the stream-side, 
as if in search of food. These upper glens are great summer breeding 
places for these birds. Grey Linnet seen. A breeding place probably 
near Ewieside Hill is one of its resorts. Great numbers of the Sand or 


560 The Migration of Bords. By James Hardy. 


Bank Martin up to the Fairy Castles ravine; a few pairs of these breed 
in a sand pit at the Kinniegar (Coneygarth) near Chapelhill; and I am 
told that House Martins more than usual frequent the farm house there. 
A pair of Whin-chats below Aikengall; and several Wheat-ears in the 
gravelly stream near that upland farm place ; Sedge Warbler in a willow 
bush there; Stone-chat on furze near the Fairy Castle; Water Crow in 
Skippath, but birds scarce there ; only one Thrush visible; Wren in song. 
July 14, went from Penmanshiel, across the country by Abbey St. Bathans, 
Burnhouses, Rigfoot, and Whitchester to Longformacus. The carcass 
of a dead horse at Penmanshiel near a wood-side has attracted fully a 
score of Blackbirds, old and young, a Thrush, several Chaffinches, and a 
Robin for maggots. My brother, in spring, saw on the post-road near 
Grant’s House, two Blackbirds fighting. One had quite disabled the other 
by tearing the feathers out one of its wings, so that it could not fly. It 
would have been killed by its rival had he not carried it half a mile and 
then freed it. There were Whinchats in the river Hye in the haugh at 
Quixwood gate; a flight of young Whinchats was seen, beyond Abbey at 
head of Allerburn; and another on Windshiel ground behind Cockburn 
Law; Stone-chats appeared on furze on the same ground; and great 
number of young Chaffinches on the road before the horse, possibly antici- 
pating food from the horse-droppings. Near a wire-fence a Curlew was 
chasing a Corbie from its young or eggs. The Corbie sat down on the 
watch, and the Curlew put it up, and when the Corbie flew the Curlew 
went in pursuit, two or three times. Then the Curlew made a determined 
attack, attended with considerable wheeling in the air, and the thief find- 
ing himself overmatched made off; Water-crows had been scarce on the 
Dye this year. There was once a heronry at Longformacus; the Herons’ 
pool is still known on the Dye. Swallows were seen at Longformacus, 
Whitchester, and Burnhouses; there were two flights of young Whinchats 
between Whitchester and Rigfoot, in a rough grass field not pastured; a 
Pied Wagtai) at Whitchester was hunting like a swallow for flies, in a zig- 
zag manner over the tops of the tall grasses, and then alighting on the 
twigs of some shrubs. At Rigfoot there were great flights of young 
Chaffinches among the brackens near the Mill Cottage; another similar 
assemblage has been previously noted. These young birds probably all 
leave the hills in autumn. Towards sunset the Rooks were resting in a 
body on a hill pasture near Windshiel; and another company at the 
Retreat above the Whitadder banks. There were Pipits on the Windshiel 
Moors and at Whitchester, but not many. July 17, at Fast-castle across 
the moors; Whinchat on Penmanshiel Moor; Young Wheat-ears were 
observed at Oldcambus and above Headchesters, and quite a company on 
the post road above Upper Moorhouse; probably all making for some 
centre of assemblage farther south; Pipits few; a few Curlews left on 
moors; 5 seen flying towards the coast. Salmon fishers appear to have 
frightened the Peregrine Falcon from Fast-castle ; absent this year there; 
Cuckoo seen at Dowlaw mill; Only a few White-throats remain in the 
dean at this date. July 18, some new Redshanks come to shore, one had 


The Migration of Birds. By James Hardy. 561 


a constant note of chip, chip, chip, chip; perhaps a call to its young, as I 
have heard the same call at Gullane Links, where it seems to breed; no 
Curlews on shore. July 22, one Curlew at shore; and afew Black-headed 
Gulls. July 23, Whitethroat in garden at currants; Curlews flying 
between hills and shore. July 24,a number of young Willow Wrens 
among garden flowers, and examining the box-edgings; at times flying 
at each other in contention. July 25, Martins very numerous this year at 
Swallow Craig; 2 young Herons at the rocks; Whitethroat brought 
young brood to garden to feed on red currants. The young were active 
and playful, chasing each other; some of them uttered a continuous in- 
ward chirm; in appearance and attitude not unlike Linnets, hence their 
popular name, “‘ Lady Linty White.” 


Aveust, 

Aug. 3, a Wheatear on top of one of the out-honses in afternoon—a 
bewildered pilgrim ; Wood-wren at Oak-brae, on its passage south; Black- 
headed Gulls following plough. Aug. 4, to Fast-castle. Wheatear on 
Redheugh hill; 3 young Whinchats at nesting place at Soldier’s Dyke 
near Dowlaw; several pairs of Martins at the cave mouths below Fast- 
castle ; Grey Linnets on Dowlaw Hill. Aug. 9, Pease dean, several young 
Redbreasts and Wrens; also young Whitethroats and Willow Wrens ; 
and young Water Crows; Blackbirds, old and young, at wild rasps and 
geans. Aug. 11, afew Lapwings appeared on fields in forenoon. Aug. 
24, young Pied Wagtails at Cove, on road, rushing and snapping up flies. 
Aug. 28, Whitethroats in garden. 


SEPTEMBER. 

Sept. 3 to 7, afew Whitethroats visible; but have left the hedges. A 
party of young and old Stonechats in the dean. Sept. 5,a few Herons, 
Curlews, and Redshanks on the shore. Sept. 8, 12 Herons on the coast ; 
10 Grey Linnets at seeds of Carduus lanceolatus, mostly young; no Willow 
Wrens seen for some time; 1 Wheatear; Redbreast began singing on the 
out-buildings. Sept. 9, 10, and 17, White-throat still here. Sept. 12, 
Pipits still on the moors. Sept. 13, two young Pied Wagtails ; Martins 
here and also on 15th. Sept. 18, many Wagtails on roof of Pathhead 
granary chasing flies along the slates or leaping into the air; Swallows 
there, but no Martins. Sept. 22, Swallows still at steading; Martins 
have deserted all the coast stations; Lapwings more numerous in fields. 
Sept. 23, 1 Swallow only ; Swallows left Milne Graden, same date as last 
year. Sept. 25, 1 Martin left at Swallow Craig, and a pair of Swallows 
still remain. Sept. 26, at Harpertoun. Swallows were very numerous at 
Grant’s house near the station, as if assembled for departure ; none seen 
at Marchmont station; still continue at Wormerlaw; none on the Tweed, 
near Edenhall; (Swallows numerous at Marchmont, P.L.) Sept. 27, 
numerous Swallows about Berryhill and on the Kelso race course. The 
morning was raw and damp; the congregation of Martins in Kelso was 
something worth beholding ; they appeared as if they had been strung row 

28 


562 The Migration of Birds. By James Hardy, 


above row on the telegraph wires, while others occupied the house-ridges 
in compact lines. Sept. 28, Swallows continue at Wormerlaw: these were 
the last I saw for the season. 


. OCTOBER. : 

~ Oct. 1, Swallows left Marchmont, P. Loney. Oct. 5, many Pipits in 
dean, Rock and Moss Pipits intermingled, all left the place before 6th; 
Stonechat in dean. Oct. 10, a single Pipit on top of Three Brethren Hill, 
Selkirkshire ; no other bird of the kind over a great expanse of moor 
traversed. Oct. 24, Cormorant returned to Scart Rock; 7 Herons on the 
tocks, several of them young birds. Oct. 26, 10 Herons on sea-rocks; 
stretch out their necks when they fly off and continue in alarm. The 
drawo up neck marks the sedate flight; pair of Stonechats in dean. Oct. 
9 and 16, Woodcocks on Oldcambus hill and dean. 


NOVEMBER. 


Noy. 2, Grey-backed Crows arrived on coast. Nov. 3, about 20 Missel 
Thrushes passed in a flock northwards; alighted on some hedges of a sea- 
side field. Nov. 14, Highland hills visibly white with snow. A large 
flock of Wild Geese, 40 at least passed over Penmanshiel, and a great flock 
of migrating Wood Pigeons passed south on the same day; a flock of 
Snow-buntings arrived in the moor fields there. Frosty on 15th. Nov. 21, 
2 Redshanks in a ploughed field ; Golden Plover heard at evening for two 
nights: pair of Ring-ousels seen about this date in a quarry on hill above 
Headchesters. ae 


Grey FrycatcHer. This summer a Grey Flycatcher’s nest was placed in 
a tin tankard suspended inside the window of an out-house in the garden at 
Milne Graden. It allowed the tankard to be taken down, and the young 
to be examined. It first reared 5 young; and then 2 of a second laying. 
The nest and the ‘‘tin”’ are preserved in Milne Graden House. 


DECEMBER. 


’ Dec. 11, during snow, the hips were cleared off the wild-rose bushes in 
the dean, perhaps by Black-birds, which were numerous. 6 Grebes at 
sea; a pair of Stonechats perched on thistle tops at Siccar point, the male 
was very solicitous that the female should move on, flying foremost, and 
then returning to urge her forward; a Rock Pipit having approached too 
near, he attacked it; Redshanks of which there are very few on the coast 
thig year, at inland pond, and later at cracks in a pooliced over. Dec. 13, 
One Snow-bunting in stackyard among Finches. Dec. 14, three Snow- 
buntings passing; 1 Grey Linnet at thistle—down on sea-coast; Song 
Thrush feeding on Helix aspersa; large numbers of Wood Pigeons have 
gathered into a flock, and are feeding on Swedish turnips; apparently from 
a different district. Having overfed themselves they sat moping till 
roused up by anyone passing. They left when the snow disappeared 
shorily after; one Fieldfare by a burn side; 3 Snow- bunnies 2 large 
Groves a: sea. Dec. 31, 3 Fieldfares. 


The Migration of Birds. By James Hardy. 568 


. 1883. 
JANUARY. 


' Jan. 1, Grey Waetail at Penmanshiel Tunnel. Jan. 2, 5 or 6 Cole Tits in 
Bowshiel dean; and 2 Tree Creepers: no other birds. Jan. 3, Redheugh 
moors; a Reed Bunting the only small bird visible on the open moors. 
Jan. 4, 17 Grebes of medium size off Siccar. Jan. 10, Two parties of 
Wild Ducks at sea. Jan, 22, Black-headed Gulls in winter dress at 
ploughed fields, and again on 23rd near Dunbar. Jan. 25, Nearly 100 
Ducks at sea; the first great company seen this winter. Jan. 27, Lap- 
wings arrived at Penmanshiel, but left when snow fell; Grey and Pied 
Wagtails at Tunnel mouth in end of January and beginning of February,. 


FEBRUARY. 


Feb. 1, Frosty. Ploughs stopped. 90 Wild Ducks in three bands at 
sea; 3 or 4 Redshanks; 5 or 6 Curlews; and 24 Grebos.. Female Stone- 
‘chat in dean. Feb. 5, One Black-headed Gull. Feb. 6, One Heron at sea, 
and 14 Wild Ducks. Feb. 3, About 100 Sea-side Pigeons feeding on a field 
of young clover. Hider Ducks (2) at sea for first time this year. Feb. 16, 
‘A few Wild Geese at Penmanshiel crossing country. Feb. 18, About 100 
‘Ducks at sea; Rooks attacked young wheat, induced by the presence of 
Sea Pigeons on it, which are difficult to scare. Feb. 19, 4 large Grebes at 
sea, and no Wild Ducks. Yellow-hammers seldom crowd, but to-day I 
counted 16 on one furze-bush. Feb. 23, 5 or 6 Lapwings appeared; Rooks 
‘again attacking spring wheat. Feb. 24, Greater Tit, called ‘‘ Black head,” 
active among hive-bees out airing; Water-hen returned to pond. Feb. 28, 
‘Rooks picking holes in turnips that had been eaten across by feeding 
‘sheep; very active and greedy all day on young wheat, along with Sea 
-Pigeons. A Rook flying with its mouth open emitted sounds from its 
throat like nuts being cracked. A Jackdaw that had been left behind, 
when its neighbours fled, quite overjoyed to regain its companions, flew 
-wildly zig-zag downwards till it landed among them. Pied Wagtails in 
cattle-folds at Reston. 


Marcu. 


- Mar. 1, 4 Wild Geese, Mar. 2, Lapwings in parties of 28 and 14 hover- 
‘ing, uncertain of a fixed locality. Mar. 5, One Black-headed Gull near 
Dunbar; Lapwings very numerous in Hast Lothian fields. Mar. 10, Rooks 
azain attempted young wheat, and began to rob from stacks standing in 
‘fields; 1 Fieldfare on sea-banks; Water-hen frozen out of pond in dean, 
in crossing fields for some open ditch, found its way through a‘ close wire- 
fence into the garden. On 11th it was feeding on corn-with the poultry at 
the barn-door ; and flew off, the poultry screaming as if a hawk had mani- 
fested itself. Mar. 19, Jackdaws attacked young wheat. Mar. 20, Snowy 
weather. Lapwings in sheep-folds. Mar. 27, Guillemot cast ashore; 1 
‘Heron on coast only; 4 Redstarts and 6 Curlews; and 10 Eiders at sea. 
‘Mar. 31, After a thaw, a male Pied Wagtail arrived at sheep-fold. 


564 The Migration of Birds. By James Hardy. 


APRIL. 


Apr. 1, Grey Wagtail at Tower burn and castle; Lapwings at nesting- 
places. Apr. 2, 16 Wild Ducks at sea; Stonechats in dean, resident pair. 
Apr. 3, 4 Wild Ducks only; 10 Hider Ducks; 5 Grebes; 1 Heron; Com- 
mon Linnet in dean. Male and female Pied Wagtail. 2 Water-hens now 
at pond. Apr. 4, 26 Wild Ducks, and 4 Hiders at sea; Pied Wagtail flying 
northward along coast, 3 others inland; 2 Coots at Townhead pond. Apr. 
5, 10 Hiders and 6 Grebes at sea; no Cormorants, Curlews, or Redshanks ; 
female Wheatear; 26 Fieldfares roosting in some tall ashes and elms, 
rather restless; when alarmed flew up and circled round and round as if in 
search of other trees, and then they flew off. Apr. 6, Still a sprinkling of 
Wild Ducks and Curlews at sea; 2 pairs of Wagtails flying from coast 
inland ; pair of Grey Linnetsinfurze. Apr.7, no Wheatears nor Wagtails. 
Apr. 10, Only 1 Curlew and 1 Heron on coast; 3 Coots at pond. Apr. 11, 
6 Eiders; 2 Wild Ducks; 1 Cormorant (female) and 1 Grebe only left; 2 
Wheatears paired. Apr. 12, 13 Hiders in three parties, 6 of them males; 

_2 Wild Ducks and 2 Curlews only. Apr. 14, 3 or 4 Wheatears flying north- 
wards; 2 after an interval; and then 3 a mile to the east—these were all 
advancing along the coast and not going inland. 38 Cormorants, 2 males in 
summer dress; 4 Grebes and 6 Hider Ducks. Apr. 16, Pair of Swallows 
came to saw-mill at Cockburnspath, as if going to nest ; seen early in the 
morning. Apr. 15, From 20 to 30 Moor Pipits in a grass field near 
Tower; when they rose they directed their course northwards ; two others 
more to the west apparently stragglers from a migratory band ; 4 Coots in 
pond, no combats this year, as when 5 were present. Apr. 10, Two parties 
and stragglers of Rock Pipits making for the north along the coast; one 
of the parties of 10 to 12 crossed a field, and took the line of Oldcambus 
dean; 4 Kiders. Apr. 18, Ring-ousel on Bell Hill. Apr. 20, Cormorants 
have left, except a female. Upwards of 10 Wheatears crossing a wheat 
field and going inland in a south direction; alighting on clods and low 
bushes and paling, and stretching out long necks in alarm. Apr. 12, 2 
fresh Wheatears; rest gone. Apr. 22, Swallow flying high and singing. 
Apr. 23, Lesser Black-backed Gull at pond. Apr. 24, Solan Geese from 
Bass were numerous at Cove shore on 22nd; were “striking”? young 
Herrings; 3 seen to-day; 3 male Hiders. Apr. 25, 2 Herons at Green- 
heugh. These notes prove that there are solitary birds at the coast in 
most months of the year, which are augmented in autumn, by young 
broods and their parents. Apr. 26, Two pairs of Hiders; newly arrived 
Willow Wren associated with 3 Hedge Sparrows, in quest of insects among 
long grass near a sheltered drain mouth at hedgeside. Sand Martins seen 
_at 11 a.m. Has been cold and cheerless weather for some time. Only 1 
Dotterel seen this year at Dowlaw. 


May. 

May 1, A single Willow Wren at Oak-brae attempting to sing. Vege- 
tation suffering from cold north winds. May 3, 1 Wagtail seen. May 5, 
Willow Wren widely spread in Tower and Pease deans, preferring the 
outskirts of the woods; Redstart in song in Aikieside, a harsh challenge 


The Migration of Birds. By James Hardy. 565 


note, more objurgatory than melodious, followed by others better tuned, 
and terminating with thrush-like notes. May 6, Swallows near Cock- 
_burnspath. May 7, Wind E., milder. On the moors, a migratory rush of 
Pipits during the night; they sat by nines and tens about swamps on 
Earnslaw and Greenside hills, accompanied by several male and female 
Wheatears—the Wheatears were paired and very brisk ; a female Whin- 
chat was of the company, and 2 Stonechats on the furze; none of the 
Pipits were singing. After passing this cluster, none were seen for a long 
space; when a female Whinchat perched on a paling stob, from which it 
dropped down as if to pick up food, according to the habit of it and the 
Stonechats and Wheatears. Reed Bunting in Penmanshiel moss; 3 or 4 
Wild Ducks; Curlews seen coming from the coast to the moors; several 
spread over the moors, but not numerous; Ring-ousel on the dry ground 
east of the moors, and in Dowlaw dean. Numerous Lapwings nesting on 
new land on the moss edges; Pipits rather scarce on the rest of the moor. 
15 Wild Ducks in Lumsdean moss, and 4 in Penmanshiel moss—their sum- 
mer haunts. Only a pair of Black-headed Gulls at Lumsdean moss; the 
bare heathery ridges near it, a favourite resort of the Golden Plover; saw 
some half-dozen Cuckoos, 3 of them calling. Only 1 Willow Wren in 
Dowlaw dean, and another in a thicket on the moss; Redstarts seen and 
heard in the dean; 2 male Whinchats on Lowrie’s knowes (see last year). 
Cuckoo again seen at Piperton, at Penmanshiel moss, and on paling Dow- 
law dean. 4 or 5 Coots in Dowlaw pond; pair of Stonechats on Redheugh 
hill, and a few moving Wheatears. Thus the wild moors were becoming 
peopled, or afforded a resting-place for sojourners on their way to still 
‘more remote retreats. May 8, Sleety and cold. A male Redstart in gar. 
den, dropping repeatedly to the ground, and then seating itself on branches, 
thrilling its tail; very restless, settling nowhere, it continued till 8 o’clock 
in the evening, then tried to conceal itself in ivy, but fixed on a wall apple- 
tree for the night. May 9, Snowy. Redstart acts in the same manner as 
yesterday. May 10, prevented by Sparrows, it was every now and then 
glancing to and fro to escape their intrusion; left on 11th. May 11, Tit- 
lark near a ditch; a male Redstart associated in planting with Chaffinches 
and Greenfinches; 1 female Willow Wren; 2 newly arrived Wheatears. 
An unwonted number of stragglers (migrants) crossed the neighbourhood 
this spring. Swift and Swallow on sea-banks, and a Pied Wagtail; 2 Cur- 
lews left on the shore. May 12, Wind E. with considerable rain, and then 
shifted to W. and became milder after severe weather. Oldcambus dean 
is tortuous and capable of sheltering numerous birds among its furze, white 
thorn bushes, and black thorn thickets. In the afternoon at 2 o’clock I 
‘happened to enter it at the open western end where it terminates in flat 
cultivated ground. Here and all down the dean were a band of migrants 
‘resting in the shelter, after their long journey. At first there were about 
6 Whinchats, 2 Grey Linnets, 2 female Redstarts, and 5 or 6 Willow Wrens 
on the furze bushes; the Willow Wrens in search of food among the 
blossoms. More appeared as I went downwards, at one place nearly a 
‘dozen being in progress westwards; and then there were no more birds for 


566 The Migration of Birds. By James Hardy. 


a quarter of a mile, when 2 Whinchats appeared, perhaps left behind; 
Swallow seen. May 13, Swallow came to Penmanshiel. May 14, Cuckoo 
heard at Penmanshiel, and Swifts seen. Looked into Pease dean; Willow 
Wrens general; 1 Wood Wren, newly come, was very alert and bold, 
chasing Willow Wrens and Gold-crests; it had a fluttering motion in its 
short flights like a Lark or Pipit; alighted on slender twigs and trunks of 
tall trees; repeatedly hawked after flies. Its short wings project as it 
sits; tail short; bill long and slender. Another male perched on twigs 
and sung, shivering its tail and the tips of its wings, and then uttering its 
call-note—Twey ! Twey! It often wheeled round on its perch; there were 
a few also at North Cleugh and the forester’s cottage. Pair of Sandpipers 
at Pease burn; female Redstart at the cottage; Tit-lark seated on a drying 
post mounted aloft and wheeling suddenly returned to its perch; 1 Swallow, 
I again examined Oldcambus dean ; it was occupied by another migratory 
pand of small birds. There were a pair of Whinchats at the upper end, 
and 4 or 5 on the grass at the lower break in the dean, as if tired, and 
newly landed; they hid themselves among furze. There were also several 
Willow Wrens and 1 Whitethroat, which was in full song, but keeping well 
concealed. A pair of Swallows and a Martin were dipping, in flight, in a 
pool; then came more Swallows, and Martins, and Sand Martins, quite a: 
muster of new-comers. At the sea-banks the Swallows were numerous 
‘mixed with Sand Martins and Martins, and there was 1 Swift. Near 
Swallow crag from 20 to 30 Martins hovering about their nesting corners 
‘at the summit of the precipice. 3 Wheatears seen during the walk. In 
the middle part of the dean, near an old quarry, there was a crowded 
arrival of Willow Wrens, some of them small brown and grey birds, with- 
out the olivaceous tints, as if a distinct race; some were sitting on the 
‘grass, others on the gravel of a glitter; 5 were resting on one black thorn, 
like stuffed birds in a case, and 3 on another ; plumage out of order, weary 
and drowsy. A male Whitethroat was also among the reposing group, 
‘preening himself; and there was a larger bird hid in the grass, of the size 
of a Pipit, but paler in hue, and showing only its head at intervals (Grass- 
hopper Lark?) A male Stonechat was one of the band. Several of the 
‘Whinchats first seen had gone off before I returned about half-an-hour 
Jater; but Willow Wrens continued numerous among the furze, and there 
‘were several male and female Chaffinches also, which might or might not 
be travelling northwards. May 15, Calm and fresh. At 7 a.m. 2 Swallows 
lighted on Laburnum in garden fence and surveyed the situation ; nested 
shere; 2alsoat Linhead. Willow Wrens getting into hedges; Whitethroat 
at Pease mill; Sedge Warbler in Tower dean; common Wrens numerous 
in that dean; Blackcap at Pease bridge, only one; Whinchat moving 
inland ‘near Pease bridge; Whinchats and other birds had mostly left 
Oldeambus dean in afternoon; a Whitethroat and some Willow Wrens re- 
-maining behind; only 1 Martin on sea-banks. May 16, Dean cleared of 
Willow Wrens ; Swallows remain, playing across the fields; no Martins; 1 
Willow Wren in garden examining the leaf-buds; Sparrows following to 
‘pry into its proceedings. More Whitethroats arrived ; and on 17th became 


The Migration of Birds. By James Hardy. 567 


widely spread. May19, Martins at pond; Whitethroats passing inland, in 
hedges on the 20th, when Martins were very numerous with Swallows at 
Swallow Craig; 2 pairs of Stonechats breedingin dean. May 21, 1 Sedge 
Warbler; Corncrake heard; Grey Linnets numerous among some furze at 
Windylaws, near Redheugh. ‘They are said to be numerous at Ross, near 
Lamberton. Pair of Hiders at Scart Rock. Are they breeding on the 
coast? May 22, At Edrom. Swallows at Mid Edrom farm ; large rook- 
ery near Blanerne; 3 Pied Wagtails on Whitadder ; 2 pairs of Sandpipers ; 
Thrush at intervals; Blackcap singing at Edrom; Dr Stuart heard it 
to-day at Pistol plantings. Swifts occasional; Swallows few; only 3 
Sand Martins at Chirnside bridge; none at Kimmergham sand-pits this 
year; female Redstart at Todheugh; Tit-lark near Blanerne; Starlings 
numerous about old trees at Edrom. May 24, Martins and Swallows on 
sea-banks and at Pease mill; a few Sedge Warblers in Tower dean; pair 
of Stonechats on furze, banks above Pease mill. May 25, 1 Flycatcher at 
the Oak brae wood; not there on the 26th. May 27, Sedge Warbler in 
hedges at Chesterfield. May 31, from Kelso to vicinity of Hownam; Tit- 
larks calling in Beaumont forest ; Coots in pond at Kersknowe; Pied Wag- 
tails at Morebattle Tofts, and Hownam, and Ucatherhope; Black-headed 
Bunting at Mainside; Cuckoo and Ring-ousel scen when crossing the hills 
into Northumberland. 


JUNE. 


June 8th, returned to Hownam. Swift builds at Under Chatto; the 
Redstart frequents the tall hedge trees there, and has been seen in the 
Manse Garden; Long lines of rookeries on the Kale, and its adjuncts; 
Rooks feeding on Amaras and other travelling beetles, and a smooth grass 
caterpillar frequent in the hill pastures; Sand Martins by Kale; Cuckoo 
and Titling on paling ; Whinchats and Wheatears seen; Black-headed Gulls 
fishing in the open stream ; Corncrake heard here in the previous week; 
here last year’s Cuckoo lingered so long that the snow surprised it; Tit- 
lark at Bughtrig, and a bird like Sylvia hortensis; Rookery at Bughtrig ; 
Flycatcher at Hownam. June 22, first Curlew on the shore; Grey Lin- 
néts are numerous in the dean; Martins are numerous this year on thé 
coast. 


JULY. 


- In Northumberland from June 26 to July 5. July 12, a few Redshanks 
and Black-headed Gulls have returned to the coast. July 13, Coots at 
pond, utter cries in the evening like a spinning-wheel put in motion; 
Black-headed Gulls seen moving sea-ward; one of their Roxburghshire 
names is Bell-crake (Bell is bald, and Crake the land-rail) perhaps from 
this sound. July 19, Whitethroats come to garden; 3 Herons on the 
shore; and a young Wheatear. July 23, no Willow Wrens in dean; 
Flycatcher seen. July 24,4 Redshanks; 2 Curlews; and a few Black- 
headed Gulls at shore. July 26, Willow Wrens and Whitethroats in garden 
at red currants. 5 os ye we rere ee aren ee 


568 The Migration of Birds. By James Hardy. 


AUGUST. 


Aug. 3 and 4, Jackdaws for two days have flocked to fields where 
caterpillars and chrysalids of Diamond-moth were numerous on turnips, 
or concealed under clods, turning these over in search; but on the dth 
and 6th have returned to their mischief among the bean-pods; many 
Whitethroats as well as Willow Wrens, young Chaffinches, and a few 
Thrushes in bean fields. Aug. 6, Curlews with mellow notes flying between 
the sea and the hills. Aug. 7, 8 Herons on shore; Whitethroats in 
garden; many young Stonechats in dean. Aug. 14, several birds migrat- 
ing southwards ; there are a number of Wheatears on walls at the upper 
and lower part of the dean; and 3 or 4 Whinchats are associated with 
the Stonechats that breed there, and a young Wheatear. Rooks and Jack- 
daws ravenous on corn, especially ripening oats. They hover about it, 
and dive into it like sea-fowl into water; the Jackdaws more in number 
than the Rooks; young Rooks insensible of danger despise shots fired at 
them ; and Jackdaws associate with these bold unwary birds for a leader. 
When they fly off one young Rook will be attended by two or three Jack- 
daws; Lapwings appeared in numbers in turnip fields; Jackdaw again 
at the caterpillar-frequented fields of turnips. Aug. 15, Several migrat- 
ing young Wheatears on walls. Aug. 18, several Wheatears, young Pied 
Wagtails ; and several Sea Pipits have found out the Caterpillars ; Sparrow 
Hawk scattered them. Aug. 19, great band of Curlews at sea. It will be 
seen by Mr R. Renton’s report that during this month Curlews and Lap- 
wings were departing from the centre of Berwickshire. 9 Herons and a 
considerable flock of Redshanks at sea; numerous young Grey Linnets at 
thistle-seed on sea-banks, they pull out the seed, and let the down fly off 
like successive puffs of smoke: Swift last seen. Aug. 25,12 Herons on 
coast; 4 or 5 young Grey Wagtails at turnip-caterpillars; Linnets 
continue at thistles. 


SEPTEMBER. 


Sept. 4, Whitethroat at garden, all the small birds gone from the woods; 
Pied Wagtails among sheep at Blackburn; all the birds away from the 
banks of the Eye from Blackburn mill downwards to Quixwood; no 
Whinchats; Sand Martins or Sandpipers, or Moor Pipits; 5 or 6 Wild 
Ducks in Eye; Wheatears seen in crossing the country; 1 Curlew still 
on the uplands ; Black-headed Gulls were on the leas; and Lapwings in 
turnip fields. Sept. 6, family of Stonechats still in dean, with a Whinchat 
and Willow Wren among them; Wheatear on wall; Whitethroats in gar- 
den, and for a few days after. Sept. 11, Wheatears had all left Gullane 
Links; Grey Linnets frequented the links; numbers of Pied Wagtails 
near Cockburnspath Station, and in an oat field, all in movement south- 
wards; 12 Black-headed Gulls and Lapwings on the caterpillar-haunted 
turnips; the Gulls every now and then attacking the Lapwings, which 
nimbly eluded them. Sept. 14, 1 Wheatear. Sept. 17, went to Wooler. 
Swallows assembling on slated roofs at Belford; and a little party occupied 
in line a rail across a brook in view of the Park; no birds on Chatton 


The Migration of Birds. By James Hardy. 569 


moor. Sept. 18, Swallows still at Belford. Sept. 19, All Swallows and 
Martins appear to have left Oldcambus, etc., after a thick fog; and none 
seen at Penmanshiel after that. Sept. 25, again to Wooler. Swallows 
and Martins sporting together on Tweed at Berwick. Sept. 27, pair of 
Swallows still at Middleton Hall; numerous others at Tiptoe, along hedge | 
sides, during a thunder storm; Pied Wagtails on slated houses at Middle- 
ton Hall, and again at Etal, in chase of flies ; and again on Tweedside at 
Berwick. 
OCTOBER. 


Oct. 2, 4, and 5, bitter cold weather; Snow-buntings at Penmanshiel. 
Oct. 12,a Whinchat among bean stooks near coast. Oct. 13, at evening, 
4 or 5 Ring-ousels in the dean among the hips of the dog-roses, along 
with Blackbirds and Thrushes, making much chattering. They were 
pursued as strangers by Yellow-hammers, which were also pecking at 
Chaffinches. Oct. 16, vast numbers of Lapwings in fields at Skateraw, 
H.L.; as they rose the fields appeared to undulate with the flapping of 
wings; 16 Grey Linnets in dean. I am glad to see that in summer, by 
hedgesides, extracting the dandelion seeds, Grey Linnets are pretty general, 
Oct. 20, a Ring-ousel among turnips at Siccar; pair of Stonechats left 
in dean. Oct. 23,33 Ducks in sea at Siccar; 20 there a week ago; 1 
Cormorant only. The salmon fishing has disturbed their retreat, and they 
are now scarce. Oct. 25, 5 or 6 Ducks; few bred in the mosses this year. 
Oct. 26, Peregrine at Siccar, near the caves; 6 or 7 Wild Ducks. Oct. 
28, calm. A very large flock of Wild Geese at 4 p.m. flying to the north, 
towards the sea, upwards of 100; they rose from Howpark where they 
were feeding on stubbles; two days previously 24 had been seen at Pen- 
manshiel. Oct 29, 20 Wild Geese passed flying northwards. 


NoveEMBER, DECEMBER. 


Owing to the mildness and uniformity of the winter, very few birds 
have frequented the coast, and only of the ordinary kinds; the Stonechats 
remained all winter. 


1884. 


I have seldom had a poorer return of migrants than this season. Owing 
to the long continuance of cold north-east winds on the shelterless coast, 
birds on arrival either passed directly inland, the open weather offering no 
obstruction, or they preferred the warmer interior valleys in making their 
advances northwards or across the country. There were no marked 
“rushes ”’ or migratory associations of a variety of birds, as might have 
been expected from detentions by adverse weather on the passage, but for 
the most part the new comers were scattered or single, the vacant places 
in the woods and wilds being filled up, like the silent covering of the trees 
with foliage, without being the subject of observation. 

Jan. 20 and Feb. 23, Stonechats had continued all winter in last year’s 
quarters, in which 3 pairs bred during May, as they had done in 1883, 
Feb. 23, About 20 Curlews assembled on the shore, previously they were 

2T 


570 = =The Migration of Birds. By James Hardy. 


scattered; 14 or 15 Grebes in the sea; Herons, except one, had left the 
coast. Mar. 8, Lapwings returned to Penmanshiel; and on 15th, Curlews 
and Golden Plovers also; Grey Wagtail arrived. Mar. 16, Lapwings on 
breeding ground near Cockburnspath. Mar. 17, mild, Pied Wagtail arrived; 
Water-hen returned to inland pools; 22 Curlews still on sea-banks, and 7 
or 8 Redshanks ; Cormorants scarce this spring. Mar. 20, after great gales 
a strong party of Grey Linnets settled in a furzy dean here, and all along 
the furzy spots on the coast between this and Fast-castle, and many 
continued and bred; the bird is more generally diffused this spring by 
way-sides, feeding on dandelion seeds, than I have seen for several years ; 
pair of Eiders appeared on coast, and 3 or 4 Grebes at sea. Mar. 22, Pied 
Wagtails again. Sowing oats; Rock Pipits following the harrows. Mar. 
24, sowed barley. Mar. 25, no arrivals on the coast near Cockburnspath ; 
a pair of Grey Wagtails seen. N.B.—‘‘ Kitchen midden’’—broken bones 
of animals and numerous limpets and periwinkles discovered in rabbit 
holes at the Kip Rock, Cove Shore, Cockburnspath. Mar. 28, very cold, 
only 1 Curlew left on coast; Woodcocks have been very scarce during 
spring and last autumn, and only one or two at atime; 2 were seen during 
the week, and 1 for the last time to-day. The Coast near Fast-castle is one 
of the points for the arrival of Woodcocks, whence they become dispersed 
over the lower country between it and the Pease dean. Apr. 4, no Curlews, 
Redshanks, Wagtails, nor Cormorants on the coast ; 1 Wheatear and several 
Moor Pipits at Penmanshiel. April 11, dry, but cold. ‘ Chiff-chaff’’ in 
Pease dean, in two localities; Wheatears had been prevalent at Elsdon- 
burn in Cheviot in beginning of week; two male Pied Wagtails at night; 
Brown Owl has eggs. Apr. 15, 20 Hider Ducks off Siccar. Apr. 20, a 
single Wheatear on coast, passing northwards; 1 Redshank still left ; 
Wild Geese left Penmanshiel outer fields ; a week after another company 
succeeded, and they also left by May 1. Apr. 23, one Dotterel seen near 
Dowlaw. Apr. 25, continued cold up to date. At Bilsdean shore, near 
Dunglass, under shelter of the cliffs, a small party of Swallows and House 
Martins sporting ; 2 Oyster Catchers there, Grey and Pied Wagtails like- 
wise; Ring-ousel at top of Dowlaw dean. Apr. 27, very cold. A single 
Willow Warbler in hedge ; single Swallow visited an old nest at Penman- 
shiel. Apr. 29, milder, 2 Curlews on coast; 2 male Wheatears arrived ; 
same day a party of 18 of these birds crossed the fields at Penmanshiel, 
flying from clod to clod, and perching on walls; a single Swallow here. 
May 4, milder. A few Willow Wrens singing; 1 Whitethroat and a small 
crowded party of Willow Wrens arrived in dean; 2 Pied Wagtails and 2 
Wheatears, a Swallow, and 4 or 5 Martins seen on coast. May 6, wind N., 
cold, female Tit-lark (Anthus trivialis) on tree in Pease dean; several 
Willow Warblers ; 2 Wood Wrens arrived; no Blackcaps. May 7, Willow 
Warblers numerous; only 1 Whitethroat as yet. May 8-12, observations 
continued at Harpertoun and Tweedside. May 8, weather grey and cold, 
Redstarts calling in wood next Harlaw; Willow Warblers general ; 
Swallows present, but scarce. May 9, Corncrake heard near Kelso. May 
10, forenoon, walked between high hedges on roads and lanes between 
Hassington and Crosshall. Seldom have I seen so few small birds within 


The Migration of Birds. By James Hardy. 571 


so much covert; 2 or 3 Whitethroats haunted some furze bushes where the 
view was open, and a Willow Warbler or Chaffinch was heard at wide 
intervals, but no other bird; no Swallows. In afternoon Cuckoo heard 
twice ; Starlings were general, and Larks in the fields not scarce; Mag- 
pies visible. May 12, Whitethroat heard near Edenhall, where a newly- 
arrived Sedge Warbler sang, and also a Blackcap in a hedge near Harper- 
toun. At Kelso large band of Swifts playing among Martins; Swifts also 
at Cornhill, where a Corncrake was calling in a field; Swallows at Old- 
cambus on return. May 14, single Garden Warbler among currant bushes 
in garden singing at intervals. Left that evening. May 15, first Whin- 
chat at a drain along with a Pied Wagtail; 1 Sand Martin seen; several 
Whitethroats. May 19, Corncrake heard ; Swifts at Berwick. May 21, a 
single Lesser Whitethroat (Sylvia sylviella) seen near Paxton Honse. It 
had a feather in its mouth as if nesting. Two young birds had been got 
at Berwick in September, 1881, and the one preserved closely resembles 
the Paxton bird. May 22, Garden Warbler on ash tree at Oldcambus 
examining the flowers for insects; a single Spotted Flycatcher on coast 
near Redheugh seated on a dog-rose bush in a wild sequestered hollow 
below precipices; 4 or 5 Whitethroats there also, and a Ring-ousel. 3 
male Sedge Warblers more inland. May 26, Sedge Warblers advancing 
inland; Martins, Swallows, and Sand Martins general. May 27, 
Grey Linnets feeding on dandelion seeds. May 28, 3 pairs of 
Stonechats bred in dean this summer. May 29, Sedge Warblers near 
Duddo and Shellacres; and Grey Flycatchers ina wood. June 7, young 
Stonechats flying. June 28, Curlews and Black-headed Gulls on coast. 
July 2, young Whitethroats ont. July 4, young Stonechats out with old 
birds. July 10, young Whinchats. July 15, Fledged nestful of Grey 
Wagtails above Oldhamstocks; Wheatears numerous near Aikengall. 
Whinchats and Stonechats there also, and 2 Blackcocks. July 19, Sedge 
Warbler has nest in a field of barley, among the long corn; perches in 
song on the corn-tops, or rises from them singing in the open. July 24, 
Redshanks on the shore. July 25 and 26, At Duns Castle. Several Red- 
starts seen; Mr Ferguson said these birds were very common about the 
Castle woods, wherever there were heaps of stones; the Stock-dove there 
frequents some of the roots of blown-down trees; several Teals breed 
about the lake; the Coots seldom leave except during the very severest 
winters. July 27, Whitethroat commenced visiting garden for caterpillars. 
July 28, Wheatears on coast; brood of Chimney Swallows out; Pied Fly- 
catcher at foot of Pease dean. Sept. 1, Warblers and small migrants had 
disappeared ; numerous flocks of Grey and Green Linnets on stubble-fields, 
where wild mustard had abounded. Lapwings returned to turnip-fields, 
where the foliage was much hurt by the caterpillars of the Diamond Moth, 
which was very prevalent this season generally. Sept. 8 and 10, Meadow 
Pipits frequenting grass-fields; several young Pied Wagtails also, and a 
Wheatear. Sept. 7 and 13, Stonechats old and young continued on the 
coast; 11 Herons on coast. Oct. 1 and following week, Wild Geese came 
to Penmanshiel as harvest ended, and continued in great numbers. Seen 


572 The Migration of Birds. By Robert Renton. 


at Oldeambus on Noy. 6, when in the evening a great band passed over 
seawards. Oct. 13, a single Whitethroat on furze associated with Stone- 
chats; severe gales of wind for three days had perhaps diverted it from its 
course ; it was perched in the sun, and followed the Stonechats. Oct. 16, 
Larks numerous in small flocks for some time back; wind from the north. 
Oct. 18, 3 Grey-backed Crows passing across sea-side fields. Oct. 20, Wild 
Ducks returned to the sea; 14 or 15 going inland at night. Nov. 5, a 
single Fieldfare heard; on the 1lth there were many small flocks. Nov. 
6, an immense string of migratory Wood Pigeons passed overhead flying 
southwards; so numerous that one could scarcely imagine so many were 
left in the country. 


FANS BY EARLSTON, 1883. By Roper RENTON. 


Jan. 1, White Chaffinch shot at Fans, it was a very light cream colour. 
Two years ago there were 2 Albino Chaftinches seen here; both unfortu- 
nately shot. Feb. 6, a Sentine) Butcher Bird shot at Gordon. Feb. 12, a 
large flock of Fieldfares in the fields; 16 Lapwings seen. Feb. 22, 
plentiful. Feb. 19, Herring Gull still keeping inland ; Wood Pigeons, pair. 
Feb. 20, Rooks carrying sticks to their nests; Jackdaws in pairs. Mar. 3, 
Starlings building nests; Herring Gulls left; Black-headed Gulls have 
returned. Mar. 10, Wood Pigeons sitting on eggs at Fans moss. Mar. 
24, dead Mountain Finch; weather has been very severe of late. Apr. 1, 
Wheatear arrived. Apr.6, Black-headed Buntings seen in numbers. Apr. 
8, Curlews and Lapwings have nests but no eggs. Apr. 10, Snipes began 
to pair. Apr. 13, saw three nests of Lapwings with three eggseach. Apr. 
14, House Sparrows and Chaffinches preparing their nests. Apr. 24, young 
Rooks plentiful in Mellerstane woods. May 5-10, very cold weather. May 
13, Cuckoo heard; seen on 15th. May 14, Swallows seen. May 17, Land- 
rail heard; seen 19th. May 18, 2 nests of Thrush, this bird has not been 
seen here for the last two years; Field-lark nest with 4 eggs. 

Aug. 8, Lapwings in large flocks; young Curlews full grown; 1 white 
bird among them. They had nearly all left on the 8th; and the last was 
seen on 16th. Aug. 24, Lapwings all away. Aug. 25, Fieldfares arrived 
in flocks. Oct. 10,1 saw about 12 Swallows; 1 seen on 14th, and not 
again. 


CHIRNSIDE, 1882. By Dr Cuaries Stuart. 

Blackbird’s, Thrush’s, and Wood Pigeon’s spring notes first heard on 
Jan. 19; Partridges mostly paired from 15th Jan. At this time no Wrens 
visible. Mar. 23, saw Chiff-chaff among the bushes at Billie Brae. Mar. 
25, saw Pied Wagtail near Hastreston. Apr. 4, saw Willow Wren. Apr. 
16, first Swallows seen rear Allanton. Apr. 20 and 21, plenty at dam, 
above paper mill, Chirnside bridge. Apr. 27, Sandpiper at Bluestone 
ford. Apr. 28, saw Redstart at Todhaugh. May 1, Smaller Whitethroat 
seen. May 4, Corn-crake heard on Chirnside crofts. May 3, Cuckoo 
heard in strips of wood near Blackburn, Chirnside, The Thrush although 


The Migration of Birds. By Dr Chas. Stuart. 5738 


not plentiful is again here singing. May 14, Swifts seen in their usual 
haunts in old tenements, next Waterloo Inn, Chirnside. June 1, Wrens at 
Hutton hall, Grant’s house, and Edington mill. June 1, Redstarts plentiful 
in the village and near churchyard. July 16, Mr Millican saw a flock of 
Canadian Geese, feeding in his mill pond. Thinking they were tame birds, 
he incautiously disturbed them. They took wing and flew over Blackburn. 
Were they truly wild or naturalized ? from Gosford in East Lothian ? 
Aug. 18, Redstarts unusually plentiful, perhaps before migration; more 
fine covies of Partridges than for many years. At this date can hardly be 
distinguished from old birds. Aug. 21, Swifts left with a strong gale 
from west. Sept. 9, summer visitors mostly gone ; saw Whitethroat and 
Willow Wren at Fishwick Mains on Sept. 6. Sept. 10, family of Pied 
Wagtails flying about on crofts here; plenty of House Swallows still 
flying about ; Water-ousels and Wrens plentiful about Chirnside bridge ; 
Wheatears scarce in this neighbourhood ; saw one at Whitehall on Sept, 
6. Sept.12, a colony of Siskins and Redpolls have nested at Edington 
mill, among the alders, in the cover. They have been seen quite lately 
and seem to arrive in this country together. Sept. 24, at Peerbank stream 
near Edington, on the Whitadder, my sons saw a Kingfisher. None have 
been seen since great frost of 1880-1. Oct.6, the House Swallows left early 
in the month, but. stragglers still remain; saw 3 at Allanton bridge on 
Oct. 16; nests of young at New Mains, Foulden, on Oct. 3. Oct. 5, when 
gathering fungi in Pistol plantation, Blackadder, flushed first Wood Cock. 
Noy. 10, saw large flock of Golden Plovers, near New Horndean, and they 
have frequented the fields there all winter. Dec. 4, large flocks seen at 
Whitsomehill. Dec. 6, saw 65 Wild Geese flying south near Sunwick, day 
before the drifting Thursday. Dec. 7, great snow-storm, weight of snow 
broke the tops of the trees greatly. Hares and rabbits fed on the bark of 
the Scots-firs, being unable to get at other nourishment, the snow being 
hard frozen into the ground; Laburnums also. 


1883. 


Jan. and Feb. The Green Plovers have appeared in flocks at their usual 
time, viz., when the weather is fresh, at the end of Jan. and beginning of 
Feb. ; but we have had some stragglers all winter. No Wild Geese have 
been observed flying north. 

Mar. 5, in returning from Whitsome, I saw a bird resembling a Turtle- 
dove, in a young grass field. On stopping my conveyance, it rose, and 
proved to be an ash-coloured Blackbird. Being preceded by its mate in 
its flight, I had a good opportunity of having a good look ; and from its 
size it was evidently a male. It flew into the Pistol plantings. This bird 
has since been scen at the new fox cover at Canny Bank, by Tom Shiell, 
keeper to the Hon. HE. Marjoribanks, M.P. In the Berwickshire News I 
observed an account of a white Chaffinch having been seen near Swinton. 
A most beautiful specimen of the same colour was observed a few years 
ago in the strip of wood by the roadside between Allanton and the Free 
Church, The bird was a male.and very shy. 


574 The Migration of Birds. By Dr Chas. Stuart. 


April and May. I observed the Willow Wren on Apr. 27; and on Apr. 
28, great flocks of Sand Martins and House Swallows by the river. Sand- 
pipers have also arrived on the Whitadder ; on Apr. 30, saw Flycatchers 
at Blanerne bridge, hawking after insects from the boughs of the trees 
below the bridge, coming right upto the parapets. May 4, Land-rail 
heard at Harelaw by my son and the shepherd there. May 12, plenty of 
Swallows at Foulden New Mains, the afternoon being warm, although 
windy. May 10. a flock of 30 Swifts have arrived at their summer quarters 
below the inn at the lower part of the village, where they breed in the 
roof of a deserted old house. The weather being warm, they are flying 
about screaming in their flight, and evidently in great spirits. May 15, Mr 
Henry Craw heard the Cuckoo in the strips of wood above West Mains of 
Foulden near Edington hill. Weather delightful. May 17, saw Redstart 
on road leading to Blanerne. 


June and July. June 27, flushed young Sandpipers in the corn at 
Hutton and side of Bluestone ford. My spaniel set them up. Well able 
to take care of themselves, they flew for shelter to the river banks. July 
4, at Broomhouse in Edrom parish, while walking in the garden with Mr 
Clapham, he pointed out to me in a bed of sweet-scented violets, a nest 
of the Grey Wagtail, containing many young ones. The violet is named 
odoratissima, and its leaves are exceedingly large, and completely covered - 
the nest. The Whitadder is close at hand, and I saw the old birds on the 
top of the wallinnumbers. In a cold turf-frame, a little farther on, where 
a crop of the same violets had been matured, another nest exactly the 
same was known, the old birds flying off. Nothing could be more beautiful 
than the situation of the nests, the fine broad leaves of the violet covering 
them completely from observation, and we should have had a difficulty in 
identifying the species of the bird had the parents not flown off in sight. 
Flycatchers, and all summer visitors are plentiful, in this retired, well- 
wooded place. The Redstart is very plentiful this season on the Hutton 
side of the Bluestone ford, and many young broods of the Wren are 
flying about there also. July 6, saw large coveys of young Partridges 
strong on the wing, at Foulden Newtown and Clarabad. About 10 p.m. at 
this season, I observe the Herons flying high in the air over my house, 
coming from the river, and flying towards Blackburn and Billy Mire. 
The plaintive cry of the Curlew is also heard late in the evening when 
taking its evening flight from the bogs at Blackburn. While returning 
from Billy Mains, where I have been on duty at 2 a.m. on July 6, I heard 
the Blackbirds begin to sing almost in the dark at 2.15; immediately after 
the Lark rose from the corn, in full song, and the cry of the Green Plover 
was also heard. These I believe to be the earliest birds in the morning. 
The first notes of the Blackbird sound wild, as if he had slept too long 
and waked in a fright. The Thrush has been often heard to sing at mid- 
night, when his mate is sitting in her nest near, and in consequence has 
been mistaken for the Nightingale. July 8 and 9, the Blackbirds still in 
full song. They have sung beautifully this summer, I suppose owing to 
their increased numbers, since the inclement winters of 1879, 80, 81, 82. 


The Migration of Birds. By Dr Chas. Stuart. 575 


Aug. and Sept. On Aug. 23, our colony of Swifts left us for warmer 
quarters. Our cold summer must have proved a bad one for them, as there 
never were so few flies to be seen, consequently food must have been 
scarce. On Sept. 10, I saw the House Swallows congregating for a flight. 
Sept. 11, see no Willow Wrens, Flycatchers, or Redstarts ; Partridges are 
more numerous than usual, strong on the wing, and not to be distinguished 
from old birds. The wet weather was against Pheasants, which are not so 
strong nor plentiful as usual. No Swallows nor summer visitors seen here 
since Sept. 23; however there are still a few stragglers, as 5 Swallows 
were seen at Chirnside station on Oct. 1, and there were two nests in 
Broomdykes granary at the same time. 2 Kingfishers were seen at 
Blanerne bridge, and another pair at Ninewells, by Mr Ross Hume. 
Blanerne bridge is a fine locality for seeing rare birds. Flycatchers 
hawking for insects from the boughs of the beeches overhanging the 
river; Gulls, Herons, and Wagtails are there very plentiful, and summer 
visitors are also numerous. There is a great increase in the numbers of 
Thrushes and Blackbirds. They robbed the cherry trees and then took to 
gooseberries and currants. The crop of the last was so great that what 
was stolen was never missed. 

Oct. Nov. Dec. Oct. 16, Barometer falling. Large flock of Wild Geese 
observed over Harelaw, flying south. Oct. 18, Cheviot covered with snow. 
Oct. 29, large flocks of Missel Thrushes, and Fieldfares in the cleared bean- 
fields. Birds in flocks, especially Greenfinches which are very numerous 
here. The country is still green, and not like what is seen at the end of 
October. Still the birds are congregating; large flocks of Green Plovers 
and Starlings seen yesterday when out driving. Golden Plovers in flocks 
about Whitsome, where they constantly assemble every season. Nov. 3, 
after this date, the weather became fine, dry, and sunny. Green Plovers 
in flocks are still with us. A few Siskins on the alders at Edington hill. 
Noy. 19, cold wintry weather: snow right down on Cheviot. Dec. 1, 
Thomas Ainslie, Chirnside bridge, saw a single Swallow flying over the 
Mill dam there, and hawking for flies. Some repairs were being attended 
to on the roof of the Roaster house at the Paper Mill. This bird had been 
dislodged from snug quarters where I believe it had been hybernating. 
Dec. 8, Golden and Green Plovers in great flocks observed in many places. 
Dec. 9, saw two Bullfinches at Foulden-hag. These birds are now rare in 
this neighbourhood since the great frost two years ago. 


1884. 


Jan. 10, a spring-like chatter among the birds was to be heard to-day, 
and the Missel Thrush was in full song on the tree-tops at the manse. 
Jan. 12, a Sparrow Hawk in pursuit of a Thrush at Harelaw in this parish 
was on the point of being caught, when in despair it flew for protection 
to the shepherd, and lighted between his feet. The shepherd with his 
stick beat off the pirate, who flew in circles round his legs, quite closely, 
determined to seize the bird; all its efforts failed however, for the bird 
was set safely at liberty by its protector. When riding past Jardinefield, 


576 The Migration of Birds. By Dr Chas. Stuart. 


in Whitsome parish, a somewhat similar experience occurred to me. A 
Yellow-hammer was sitting on the top of the hedge by the wayside, trill- 
ing its well-known note, “ Lerry, Lerry, Kear!” when a Hawk flew past 
like a flash, and bore off the songster in its talons. Feeling greatly 
incensed, I instinctively dropped my reins and whip, and clapping my 
hands together as loudly as I could, the Hawk relinquished hold of its 
prey, thinking, I supposed, that I had fired at it. The poor bird flew back 
apparently uninjured to the hedge, close at my feet and escaped. 4 strings 
of Wild Geese have been seen flying south to-day (Jan. 12.) Jan. 20, saw 
a family of Snow-buntings at the dean above Foulden Greenlaw; and two 
days afterwards, the only snow we have had this season whitened the 
ground. The Missel Thrush continues in full song, especially in windy 
damp mornings, he may be seen on the top of some tall ash tree; 
Partridges paired about the 15th; still some covies and packs are to be 
seen in cold stormy weather. The Common Thrush and Blackbird were 
occasionally heard during this month and February; and whenever the 
weather was fine, the Wood Pigeon’s wooing notes were to be heard. 

Mar. 6, We had much stormy weather till the 6th of March, when 
Spring again seemed to assert itself. Mar.10, when driving near Blanerne 
through Jock’s Loan, an unfrequented bye-road to Billy Mains, in a pool of 
melting snow in a grass field close to the road, 30 pairs of Wild Ducks were 
counted dabbling among the water. I never got so near such a splendid 
lot of birds before; some of the Drakes were of unusual size, and fine 
plumage. They were evidently Drake and Duck paired, and such was their 
tameness that not one attempted to rise till I-had driven past. It was 
certainly the most beautiful sight I had ever witnessed, it being most 
unusual to get near Wild Ducks. Mar. 16, in a ploughed field, outside the 
Pistol plantings, I counted 16 Herons sitting in a row; their heronry is 
close at hand, and as their breeding season is very early, they seemed to be 
making arrangements for the season. They have about fifty nests scat- 
tered through the southern division of the wood. Mar. 24, I saw the first 
pair of Sand Martins at Allanton to-day—very early. I never saw them 
before the 16th April on any previous year. The Pied Wagtail has been 
for a week at Allanton and Blanerne bridges. The Bats are flying about, 
on warm evenings; and the Grey Wagitail is also at Allanton, running 
about the stones at the river. 


Apr. 1, In consequence of cold harsh weather, our summer migrants 
did not put in a very early appearance, remaining where they were 
more comfortable. The Chiff-chaff and Stock-dove were seen early in the 
month at Paxton, by Mr Muirhead; and the latter has nested there. I did 
not see the Willow Wren till Apr. 29, and the Sand Martins have often 
been absent for a week together, from Allanton bridge. Where do they 
goP Hybernation seems improbable. The Stock-dove seems now natur- 
alized in this district. They breed in disused rabbit holes in the 
steep banks opposite Edington mill, and a nest was also found in the root 
of a fallen tree, in the plantation opposite. For seven years they have 
been known at Hutton bridge, and this summer two bred in the steep bank 


The Migration of Birds. By Dr Chas. Stuart. 577 


at Blackadder house, in a rabbit hole, and reared their young. They are 
also known at Yetholm ; near Jedburgh; and also in the Cheviots. Apr. 
30, the House Martins, in flocks are flying about Allanton bridge, and also 
towards Chirnside. They came with the west wind which was first felt 
to-day, with gentle showers. ‘The country is already greener, and a few 
days of genial weather will make a great change on the face of the fields. 
At the Pistol plantings saw two Bullfinches, and in the course of a drive of 
twenty miles, twelve Willow Wrens, and one Wood Wren. ‘These birds all 
appear to have come with the west wind. 

May 1, in passing down the north approach to Blackadder House, a 
Wild Duck with a fine brood of ducklings, appeared on the verge of a 
fir plantation a few hundred yards from the gate; these had evidently 
been hatched close at hand, there being a fine cosey ditch in the wood for 
them to paddle in. The old Duck flew tothe ditch and allowed her family 
to scuttle after her through the grass, and they seemed well able to look 
after themselves. Large flocks of Swallows at Allanton bridge, which 
seems a great rendezvous for them upon first arrival. May 5, at the east 
end of the Pistol plantings saw first Redstart, a male in fine plumage. 
Heard the Cuckoo in the Willow strips below Broomdykes; also saw the 
first Swifts at the lower part of Chirnside. The Land-rail was also 
‘*‘craiking’’ on the grass fields on the Crofts, and the Gray Sandpiper 
was flitting about on the river. The Swifts at first only come in pairs, 
and it is well on in May before they are numerous. Ihave good opportuni- 
ties of observing them, as they invariably take up their quarters among 
the loose tiles in an old house near the Waterloo Inn, Chirnside, where 
they continue till the 12th of August, when having completed their 
breeding operations, they take their departure for a warmer country. 
When hawking for insects, their motions are elegant ; skimming aloft high 
in the air, uttering their peculiar scream, they seem never to tire as long 
as daylight lasts. May 8, only a few pairs have as yet arrived; the 
Redstart however is at Ninewells. The Whitethroats are also there, and 
a large colony of Swifts have taken up their usual abode. May 12, ther- 
mometer 67 degrees in the shade and the air balmy. The Land-rails are 
very noisy in the evenings. A much rarer bird than the Common White- 
throat, is the smaller form, the Lesser Whitethroat. For several seasons 
I have noticed it in Whitsome parish; no specimen of it however having 
been shot, Mr Muirhead refuses to receive anything but the bird in hand, 
as evidence of its presence here; the female of the larger form being apt 
to be mistaken for the rarity. I have been on several occasions quite close 
both to the cock and hen, and feel sure that I am correct in recording the 
smaller form to be a true summer visitor. May 14, Certhia familiaris, 
seen in the ash wood at the junction of the Allanton and Duns roads. This 
bird since our cold winters some years ago, is by no means common 
in this district. A few days ago Mr Blackadder, East Blanerne, saw 
from the window of his house “a Black neb” or Carrion Crow, 
hopping round a ewe and her lamb, in a suspicious manner, now 
and then making a dash at the ewe. He could hardly make himself 

2U 


578 The Migration of Birds. By Dr Chas. Stuart. 


believe that it had any ‘evil intentions with regard to the lamb as it 
was pretty well grown. He opened the window with the idea of getting 
a shot at the Crow. Upon hearing the window opened it flew down the 
field. Waiting out of sight, the bird was back again immediately, pursuing 
the same tactics, and lighting on the ewe, commenced flapping its wings ; 
it could easily have been shot had the lamb not been in the way. How- 
ever, Mr Blackadder was determined to see what was the cause of the 
Crow’s proceedings, and on the door being opened it flew away. Upon 
looking at the ewe, he speedily discovered the cause of the extraordinary 
proceedings of the black-neb. A small bird had been feeding close to the 
ewe, and the crow wishing to capture it, the poor bird had taken refuge 
under the sheep, and master crow failed to dislodge it until Mr Blackadder 
making the ewe move, it flew away into a hedge close at hand. 

June 6, many Redstarts and Whitethroats are seen daily. The delicious 
warble of the Blackcap in the dean below Fishwick Mains, running to 
the Tweed, was heard by me last Saturday, and at least three pairs were 
nesting there. The Orchis mascula flor. alb. grows there, and it was 
while I was gathering this plant that I saw and heard the Blackcaps; 
which also are to be seen near Allanton, in the Blackadder wood. 


Aug. 12, many Redstarts, Whitethroats, and Flycatchers about Blanerne 
bridge. Aug. 20, the Swifts left us in a body on the 20th, having com- 
pleted their breeding operations. 

Sept. 17, the great body of the Swallows have taken their departure. 
From the 10th inst., they were seen in line on the telegraph wires at the 
station in hundreds, prepared fora flight. A few stragglers remained 
with us till the end of the month or early in October. 

Squirret Stearine Fruit.—Sept. 18, when at Broomhouse in Edrom parish, 
T was informed that the garden had been robbed of plums and apricots, 
in a most unaccountable manner, no trace whatever being obtained of the 
thief. Locked doors and high walls were not easily overcome, and the 
innocent might be blamed. The gardener was determined to find out the 
delinquent, and lying in wait, caught him.with the plum in his possession, 
and saw him nimbly scale the high wall, which is surrounded outside by 
trees, and escape, the said thief being a Squirrel who had feasted on the 
plums and apricots, and left not a vestige of one behind. I am not aware 
of another case of the kind on record, and shall feel greatly obliged by 
any one informing me as I have long since ceased to regard anything as 
new, if such a case came within their observation. 

Sept. 24, saw a colony of Longtailed Tits in the Pistol plantings, Black- 
adder, a bird which has been very scarce in this district for some years. 

Oct. 1, a string of Wild Geese flying north was seen from the top of 
Chirnside hill. Oct. 10, seven strings of Geese were seen within a few 
days, flying west over the farm of Broomdykes, by my son who was 
working among the sheep. Large flocks of them were seen at Rawburn, 
Longformacus, by the steward, who shot one on the young grass, where 
they were feeding. After being fired at they were very shy, and could 
not again be approached. 


The Migration of Birds. By John Aitchison. 579 


Nov. 19, a scant hay crop in Lammermoor, according to the old herds, 
foretells a mild winter ; and a number of Wood Cocks sitting well, as they 
were doing this autumn—is a sign of the same import. (At this date 
January 29th 1885, we have had as yet not much snow, although plenty 
of frost. Nov. 30, the Thermometer to-day registered 11 degrees of 
frost, and with a powdering of snow which followed. Fieldfares, Red- 
wings, and other winter visitors, now to be seen in the hedgerows and 
turnip-fields). 

Dec. 1, large flocks of a variety of Wood Pigeons differing in some respects 
from our Ringdove, with some resemblance to the Stockdove, were seen at 
White-rig, parish of Ayton; where in other seasons I have noted them. 
They are evidently from the continent. They are of a duller colour than 
our Cushat and different in other particulars. From this date till the end 
of the year we have experienced very changeable weather ; frost and 
fresh alternating each other. The temperature was never very low, but 
often below freezing—then fresh with rain. The Green Plovers remained 
in the fields till after the new year, but have since that date been invisible. 
We shall soon have them again. 


Arrival and Departure of Migratory Birds in the Belford 
District, during the year 1883. By JoHN AITCHISON. 


ARRIVED. DEPARTED. 

Waxwings (in small flocks) oa Jan. 14 Feb. 2 

Do. Do. ni Jan. 25 

Do. Do. nae Feb. 15 Feb. 19 
Fieldfare sick oo ‘ nae Jan. 26 Mar. 16 
Redwing BNC ase Be a9 Jan. 3 Mar. 30 
Wheatear fa a de a Mar. 30 Sept. 16 
Chiff-chaff cor as bis aie Mar. 26 Sept. 30 
Pied Wagtail wea Bc 500 Mar. 24 
Stonechat Saf nae sie site Apr. 3 Oct. 14 
Whinchat de bis “8 a Apr. 10 Oct. 14 
Sand Martin sh ik ai Apr. 14 
House Martin a As a Apr. 18 Sept. 23 
Chimney Swallow _... ace a Apr. 21 Sept. 23 
Ring-ousel 26 ae DOC Apr. 22 
Wood Wren ... on oe Ae Apr. 15 Sept. 20 
Willow Wren a sh re Apr. 20 Sept. 6 
Garden Warbler sige oe st Apr. 22 
Grasshopper Do aft 3, a Apr. 26 
Sedge Warbler ap as ee Apr. 30 Sept. 4 
Reed Bunting abo ee a0 Apr. 20 Oct. 3 


Cuckoo sat Sis ss ae May 3 July 6 


580 The Migration of Birds. By John Aitchison. 


' ARRIVED, DEPARTED. 

Greater Whitethroat Are £5 May 3 Sept. 6 — 
Lesser Whitethroat one oor May 10 

Swift oe er si a May 10 Aug. 16_ 
Goatsucker a aad se May 15 

Land-rail Bia ate 3 say May 2 Sept. 23 
Redstart was sie site a Apr. 30 Sept. 6 
Blackcap Warbler da bie Apr. 20 

Siskin (4 individuals) ssi PAC Apr. 10 

Woodcock ha bias si 3H Oct. 6 

Redwing pat aot re tet Oct. 18 

Fieldfare BoB sia 236 see Noy. 6 
*Gray Lag Goose a Sin ae Aug. 21 

Bean Goose re sh a Oct, 17 

Brent Do. ale aie sit aa Oct. 14 

Wild Swan ar sa $33 Oct. 30 


* This specimen was shot by Mr Clark of Mousen, on Newlands pond, August 21st, 
an unusually early date. Only a pair of birds visited the pond. 


1884. 


Bohemian Waxwing (Bombycilla garrula), a small company of 6 seen 
near Belford Tollgate-house on January 14th. Feb. 12, arrival of Pied 
Wagtail on Town Meadows. Feb. 27, a large flock of Brent Geese 
visited Fenham Flatts, where they appeared to be feeding for about two 
hours, but all of them had disappeared before noon. Mar. 29, observed 2 
male Wheatears ; and on Apr. 2, saw several more near Belford Moor Farm. 
Also saw Chiff-chaff on Apr. 2. Sand Martin Apr. 13. Chimney Swallow 
Apr. 15; and House Martin Apr. 19. Willow Wren Apr. 15. Wood Wren 
Apr. 20. Heard Blackcap Warbler singing Apr. 27; Sedge Warbler seen 
and heard in song same day. Grasshopper Warbler Apr. 29 (seen). 
Stonechat Apr. 6. Whinchat Apr. 10. Garden Warbler Apr. 27. Red- 
start, May 8. Whitethroat May 3. Cuckoo May 6. Lesser Whitethroat 
May 6. Swifts May 8. Goatsucker May 18. Redwing left Apr. 10, 
appeared Oct. 6, and 14 (not abundant this winter). Fieldfares left Mar. 
15, and appeared Oct. 14, and Dec. 3 (scarce this year). Woodcock 
Oct. 6, considerable flocks. Oct. 20, large flocks (plentiful all winter). 
Land-rail seen on Blne Bell Inn farm Oct. 20, first noticed May 3. Meadow 
Pipit Apr. 29, last seen Sept. 20. Swifts disappear Aug. 24. Swallows 
and Martins in a body Oct. 2. A pair observed at Twizell House Nov. 9. 
Yellow Wagtail first seen May 6; last, Aug. 30.’ Grey Wagtail first seen 
Apr. 12, and left Oct. 10. Spotted Flycatcher seen Apr. 26; left Sept. 12. 
On Sunday, Aug. 24, I observed a Hoopoe feeding on a small patch of 
gravel by the side of Mousen burn. Not suspecting at first what it really 
was, I approached a little closer to it, and soon perceived that it was no 
ordinary visitor there. It evidently did not see me, being busily engaged 
picking up insects or worms from amongst the sandy gravel. I watched 


The Migration of Birds.. By George Bolam. 581 


it for some time through a small glass. The elongated bill, pale red 
colour of the head, neck, and back; black wings, crossed with several 
irregular white bands; and long black tail, witha single white -band 
across the centre, soon told me the bird I was looking at was a veritable 
Hoopoe ; the second I had ever seen in the flesh. Its movements were 
exceedingly agile, running hither and thither with a nimbleness that was 
delightful to witness. I had watched it for about the space of five minutes, 
when taking alarm it uttered a short, sharp kind of scream or whistle, and 
flew off at a rapid pace, and with a motion very much resembling that of 
the Blackbird. It raised its crest as it flew off, and a more beautiful object 
on the wing I think I never beheld. It is to be regretted that this 
beautiful and rare visitor to our district should be almost constantly shot 
down whenever it makes its appearance, 

P.S.—A Squacco Heron was shot near Howick in May last. A Bittern 
was shot at Hllingham by Chathill, by Sir J. Haggerstone on 19th January 
last. J.A. 


Notes of Arrivals wnd Departures of Birds. .By GEORGE 
BoLaM. 


1882, 
Arrived (first seen). DerpartEpD (last seen). 
*Swallow ... ... | Apr. 21, a single bird at | Oct. 20, Berwick, a pair 
2 Newton Barns, n.Chathill} im garden. 3 
. Sandpiper, Common | Apr.16, one on Whitadder 
* Sand Martin ... | Apr.12, one, and again on 
16th, several. 
Swift oA ... | May 5, flying over Berwick | Oct. 4, and again on 
; in parties. 14th—very late. 
Wheatear ... ... | Mar. 31, Scremerston and 
.| Goswick. 
*Land-rail_.. ...| May 5, (but reported in| One shot, Oct. 27, at 
papers earlier). mouth of Tweed. 
*Cuckoo “3 ...| May 11, but reported in 
papers from Glanton on 
Apr. 14. “3 
Hooded Crow _.., | Oct. 2, at Weetwood. Apr. 21, 1882, two seen 
at Newton Barns. 
WO APE. 


*Swattow. In “Kelso Chronicle,” Noy. 3, it is stated that Swallows have been seen 
ee ee of from 3 to 6 almost every day up till Wednesday last, the 1st Noy. 
at Kelso. 

* LAND-RAILS were reported in the papers very early this year in many places in the 
south of England, and one said to have been heard 2nd week in February at 
Longhoughton; (see ‘‘ Alnwick Mercury,”’ 11th Feb.) wae: 2 - 

* Cuckoos were also early, in the papers, ‘‘near Consett, 19th March,’’ (Newcastle 
Journal, 20th March), but several earlier than this from both England and 
Scotland, recorded in ‘“‘ Field.”’ 

* Swautows very early, from all over the country, including North of Scotland. 
The ‘‘ Scotsman” reported them from North West of Scotland early in Jan, 


582 


Fieldfare 
Redwing 
Willow Wren 
Whitethroat 
Sedge Warbler 
Redstart 


Spotted Flycatcher 


Blackcap Warbler ... 


Snow-bunting 
Chiff-chaff ... 


The Migration of Birds. 


ARRIVED (first seen). 


Noy. 18, Berwick and 
again on 29th. 

Oct. 16, Berwick and 
Chiswick. 

Apr. 20, Berwick. 

Apr. 29, pretty numerous. 

May 5, several near Whit- 
adder. 

Apr. 27, 
bundant. 

Not seen till June 1, when 
I saw one at Broom 
Park, but probably here 
before. 

Apr. 30, Paxton, a pair. 

Sept. 17, Chiswick. 

Apr. 23, Paxton, but Mr 


everywhere a- 


By George Bolam. 


DeparteD (last seen). 


End of March. 
Mar. 17, Carham. 


Beginning of March. 


Muirhead had heard it 
some time before. 
Oct. 12, in garden, Ber- 
wick. 
Plentiful in bloom, May 
7, Paxton, Carham, Ber- 
wick, &c. 


Mountain Finch 


Hawthorn ... apt 


In addition to the migrants mentioned above, we were visited last 
autumn by a party of Ring-ousels. On Oct. 13 (a thick misty day), there 
were 3 or 4 of them in the garden here, and I shot 2 with the walking- 
stick gun, both immature females, and might easily have killed others; 
next day there were still some 3 or 4 of them in the garden, and I shot 
another; and again on 18th and 20th others were seen and heard; whilst 
at the same time a few Redwings were found mixed up with them, and 
occasional Thrushes and Blackbirds. Robins are very numerous also, and 
Hedge Sparrows rather more plentiful than usual; whilst for about a 
fortnight in the middle of October, Golden Crested Wrens swarmed all 
along the coast. There were always about half-a-dozen of them in the 
garden, and everywhere where there were bushes there seemed to be one 
or two of these tiny creatures hopping about; even on the cliffs on the sea- 
shore there were numbers to be found sometimes, and the long bents on 
the links at Chiswick and Goswick were also frequented by them. They 
were all very tame and fearless, as in fact this species always is, and my 
brother actually caught one in a field, beneath his hat! 

Lately Swans have been turning up more plentifully than usual at Holy 
Island ; and Ducks and Geese too are numerons. 


Berwick-on- Tweed, 23rd January 1883. 


The Migration of Birds. 


1885. 


ARRIVED (first seen). 


By George Bolam. 


Common Sandpiper 


Hooded Crow 


Willow Wren 
Whitethroat Greater 


Spotted Flycatcher 
Pied Flycatcher . 


Blackeap Warbler 
Garden Warbler .. 


Snow-bunting 


Apr. 17, a single bird at 
Haggerston Castle, not 
seen again till 26th. 
Kelso Chronicle records 
them at Kelso on 17th. 
(see papers of 20th). 

Apr. 26, Whitadder side, 
again on 29th. 

Apr. 26, late—(I had not 
much chance of seeing 
them earlier)—near Bel- 
ford Station. 

May 11, Edrington Castle, 
Berwick, a day or two 
later. 

Apr.7, Kyloe; 9, Berwick. 


May 15, Berwick and Pax- 
ton. 

May 19, abundant at Ky- 
loe. Bwk. Advertiser of 
May 11 records it from 
Abbey St Bathans on 
May 8. 

Aug. 21, single bird at 
Chiswick Links. Oct. 
11, flock of 8 birds near 
Berwick. 

Noy. 7, small flock near 
Duddo Vicarage. 

Oct. 11, garden, Berwick, 
and again on 13th. 

Apr. 26, Bells Hill near 
Belford, plentiful. 

May 4, near Burnmouth. 

Apr. 27, Paxton. 


May 20, Paxton, had been 
there for some days. 

May 11, Linden near Mor- 
peth, 


Apr. 18, garden, Berwick, 
and again on 21st. 


ooo ove eee 


Sept. 20, sea-banks, Ber- 
wick, 2 old birds. 


583 


DEPARTED (last seen). 


No record, none seen later 
than usual. 


Seen on shore near Beal, 
end of August. 
No record. 


Do. 


Numerous on Sept. 18, no 
record of last seen. 
No record. 


Aug.11, one seen in garden 
Berwick, no later record. 
One also seen on Aug. 5, 
and another on seabanks 
near pier on 38rd. 

June 3, 1883, a single bird 
near Scremerston ! 


No record. 
Do. 
Do. 


Do. 

Sept. 20 and 21,in garden, 
no later record kept. 

Sept. 21, a single bird in 
garden, Berwick. 

Sept. 15,16, and17, all near 
Berwick (see Notes). * 

Oct. 5, Berwick, in garden 
(see Notes). 

Upto end of Sept.,one shot 
in garden on 27th. 

ue shotin garden on Sept. 
17. 


Mar. 12, numerous on 
sands behind pier, no 
later record kept. 


* The Notes referred to were given Ber. Nat. Club’s Proc. present vol. pp. 884-396. 


584 


Chiff-chaft Pe 
Mountain Finch ... 


Hawthorn 


Wild Geese 
Common Buzzard 


Red-backed Shrike 


Ring-ousel 


House Martin 

(Hirundo urbica) 
Night-jar ... 
Tawny Owl 


Stormy Petrel 
Robin ¢ 


Buff 


The Migration of Birds. 


ARRIVED (first seen). 


No record. 

Oct. 5, several in garden, 
Berwick (early). 

In full bloom, Lowick, 
Beal, &c. on May ate: 


first seen at Carham on | 


24th, and again at Kyloe 
on 25th. 

Flock seen at Goswick, 
Sep. 7, (species unknown) 
12 seen at Berwick on 
20th (also unknown). 

Sept. 16, one seen on sea- 
banks near Berwick evi- 
dently just arrived (see 
Notes). 

Sept. 15, sea-banks near 
Berwick (see Notes). 

Apr. 21, Kyloe hills; single 
bird in garden, Berwick, 
on 20th. 

Not seen till May 13. 


May 25, seen at Kyloe 
(had probably been there 
some time). 


Oct. 26, I found one sit- 
ting upon the remains of 
a wreck near low-water 
mark on the sands bet- 
ween Goswick and Holy 
Island, quite two miles 
from nearest land. * 

Sept. 29, one killed near 
Alnmonth. 

Swarming in garden, Ber- 
wick, beginning of Sept. 
with other migrants— 
Redstarts, Flycatchers, 
&c.—but only one or two 
of them left by Sept. 20, 
and they remained with 
us all the year. 

Sept. 7, one shot on sea- 
coast, Goswick. 


Black-tailed Godwit Sept. A one shot on coast, 


Goswick. 


By George Bolam. 


DEPARTED (last seen), 


One seen Skirlnaked, Dec. 
5, feeding on haws in 
company with Fieldfares. 

Noy. 11], single bird hawk- 
ing under shelter of town 
wall, Berwick, very late ; 
one seen in garden, Ber- 
wick, Nov. 3. 

Sept. 28, one killed near 
Longhoughton. Sep. 29, 
one seen on the sands 
between Goswick and 
Holy Island. 


The Migration of Birds. By George Bolam. 585 


For the last two or three years I have paid particular attention to the 
movements of birds in the autumn, as observed in our garden here in 
Berwick ; and I must confess that I have been singularly fortunate in thus 
chancing upon the example of the Redbreasted Flycatcher. We have but 
very few species of resident or breeding birds in Berwick, and hence any 
strangers (Warblers, &c.) are easily noticed. J nowsee the Pied Flycatcher 
here almost regularly in autumn, although really it is a very scarce bird. 
The kind of weather which seems to be most favourable, is the dull close 
but warm days which we usually have during the end of September and 
‘October. On such days we often have in the garden here quite troops of 
_Redstarts, &c., and about the same time many of the common birds, such 
as Robins, Thrushes, &c., become exceedingly numerous. Many of the 
“occurrences given in this list are also included in my Notes (pp. 384-396) 
-when I have something else to say about the bird. 


Berwick-on-Tweed, 23rd April 1884. 


1884. 
ARRIVED (first seen.) DzPartep (last seen.) 
Swallow ... ... | May 2, at Ross, near Bel-| Mr Seymour Tancred of 


ford, where they had| Twizell House, Belford, 
been noticed for some} told me that on Sunday, 
days previously. Noy. 9, he saw 4 Swal- 
lows flying about over 
the house as if nothing 
oH « were unusual. Heafter- 
wards sent a notice of 
this to Newcastle papers. 
He was not certain of 
the species, but thought 
they were the Chimney 
or Long-tailed Swallow. 
House Martin... | May 2, at Railway bridge, | Capt. Norman says, ‘‘On 
Berwick, but they were | Sunday last (Nov. 16) I 
numerous and well} and othergentlemen saw 
established. a Martin at Ava Lodge 
(Castle Terrace) hawking 
over the garden.”’ I have 
: no other late record. 
‘Sand Martin -. | April 11, plentiful on | No record. 
— Whitadder Banks from 
Berwick to Chirnside, 
and again on following 
day. About a fortnight 
previouly Dr Stuart 
noted in papers that 
they had appeared near 
Allanton Bridge. 


A 


586 The Migration of Birds. By George Bolam. 


Sandpiper 


Cuckoo 


Swift 
Corn-crake 


Chiff-chaff 


Willow Wren 


Sedge Warbler 


Agriven (first seen). 


DEPARTED (last seen). 


May 6, plentiful on Tweed | Onsea coast, north of Ber- 


at Carham; seen on Ber- 
wick pier on May 12, 
probably just arrived. 
Heard at Abbey St Bath- 
ans on Apr. 26, (Ber- 
wick papers) one seen 
at Lowhaughs 3 miles 
from Berwick, May 2, 
and recorded in New- 
castle Journal of 7th 
as being heard at 
Springwood Park and 
Old Jeddart, on Satur- 
day last, May 3. 
I first heard it on Mayl11, 
at St Abbs Head. 


First seen at Berwick on 
May 5, fairly numerous 
on following morning. 

May 4, heard near Low- 
haughs, Berwick. 


April 10, at Haggerston 
and Lowlynn, and on 
following day in Pease- 
dean. 

Plentiful Berwick,Paxton, 
&e., Apr. 27. Very 
numerous on Holy 
Island May 12, with 
other migrants as Sedge 
Warblers, Spotted Fly- 
catchers, and White- 
throats (see Notes). - 

May 9, Holy Island, a 
single bird; numerous 
on 12th. 


wick, end of August. 


July 14, one seen flying 


over garden, Berwick. 
Aug. 11, one close to rail- 
way station, Tweed- 
mouth—a young bird. 
Aug. 15, one shot, Middle 
Ord—young bird. Aug. 
23, one in garden, Ber- 
wick; also a young one. 
Sept. 4, saw a young bird 
near Berwick bridge. 
July 7, there were 2 or 3 
Cuckoos in garden, and 
my brother shot one—a 
young bird. In early 
morning I saw an old one 
two orthreetimes. Itis 
very early for young birds 
to be migrating yet; old 
ones always leave us in 
July. On the morning 
of 6th (Sunday) a Cuck- 
oo was heard to call— 
““ Cuckoo,” tho’ in rather 
a low tone—a very un- 
usual circumstance so 
late in the year. 

No record. 


Most unusually plentiful 
in autumn, and remained 
very late (see Notes.) — 

No record. 


Last seen on Sept. 17, in 
garden, Berwick, in com- 
pany with other migrants 
—but this ig not late. - 


The Migration of Birds. 


Black-cap ... 


Garden Warbler ... 


Wheatear ... 


Hooded Crow 


Fieldfare ... 


Redwing ... 
Whitethroat 


Redstart ... 


ARRIVED (first seen). 


Apr. 25, at Chirnside, Dr 
Stuart. 


May 22, a pair seen in 
garden. 


Apr. 1, at Berwick, 
numerous on Cheviot 
on 9th. 


Oct. 12, 1884, numerous 
Berwick,and at Goswick 
on 15th in flocks. 


Oct. 24, 1884, large flocks 
at Carham. On Nov. 14, 
saw several small flocks 
coming up over Berwick 
in early morning as tho’ 
from sea—probably just 
landing. 

With Fieldfares at Car- 
ham on Oct. 24. 

May 11, abundant in 
hedges, Berwick, &ec. 
Very numerous at Holy 
Island on 12th with other 
migrants. One in gar- 
den, Berwick, on 22nd 
(do not breed a), 

Apr. 25, in full song 
Apr. 30, one in garden. 


Spotted Flycatcher ree 12, a good many on 


Pied Flycatcher ... 


Holy Island, evidently 
just arrived, as they are 
very shy and seem tired 
and unwilling to fly, but 
seek shelter by hiding in 
the hedges, amongst 
branches—a rather un- 
nsual habit. 


By George Bolam. 587 


DEPARTED (last seen). 


In garden, Berwick; from 
Aug. 27 to Sept. 17, on 
and about which latter 
date they were in some 
numbers in companywith 
other Warblers and Fly- 
catchers. 

Probably along with Black- 
cap at above aates, but 
from similarity of plum- 
age not recognised. 

Sept. 17, three or four be- 
hind pier, probably re- 
mained some time after 
this, as it is not late for 
them. 

Apr. 15, 1884, very numer- 
ous at Ross Links, Holy 
Island. On 20th they had 

- all but vanished, only one 
or two single birds re- 
maining, and none seen 
a week later. 

Apr. 11, seen near Chis- 
wick. 


Sept. 17, thought I recog- 
nised one in garden with 
other Warblers, but it 
looked a larger and Bao 
coloured bird. 


Middle of Sept. in garden, 
Berwick, 17th, &c. 

Several in garden with 
other migrants, Sept. 17, 
18, &c. I killed a young 
specimen there on 20th, 
this was the last seen. 


Sept. 17, 2 seen in garden, 
Berwick. 


588 The Migration of Birds. By George Bolam. 


AzRiveD (first seen). Derprartep (last seen). 


Mountain Finch .,. | Oct. 5, one seen in gar- | May 1, a female in gar- 
den Berwick (early) but | den, very late indeed, but 
curiously enough same} there was no mistake. I 
day as last year. watched the bird for 
‘| some time, but it was 
not to be seen when I 
went out again an hour 
afterwards. A strong 
south-west wind blowing. 
—This seems very late. 
Chaffinches, &. in gar- 
den have had eggs for 
some time, 
Hawthorn ... | May 12, in flower at Beal 
and on roadside, but it 
has been much kept back 
by the late frosts or 
should have beenin bloom 
much earlier this year. 
Ring-ousel ... | Apr. 27, a pair seen near | Sept. 14 and 15, one in 


Scremerston. garden each day. 

Great Gray Shrike | One killed near Chiswick 
in Oct. 1884, (rather 
early). 

Wild Geese ... | Aug. 27, a flock of 6 Grey 
Geese (species unknown) 
seen flying past Berwick 
in early morning. 

Wigeon ... ... | Agood number on Fenham 
Flats by Aug. 23 arrived 
some time before and 
earlier than usual. 


About the middle of September we hada deal of thick misty weather, 
and this as I have before noticed seems to be most favourable for the 
observance of migrations of Warblers, &c. About the 12th there were a 
great many Robins in garden, and they continued very plentiful for a 
fortnight or so; a Common Wren appeared on 11th and remained with us 
a few days; and on the 12th I saw a single Gold-crested Wren in garden. 
All this month (September) I kept a close look-out in our garden, where, 

‘from the fact that few birds breed with us, strangers are easily noticed, 
and with results as stated in above table. For nearly a week previous to 
17th it had been a continuous thick mist; and when on that morning it 
began to ‘‘lift’? and the sun came out, I knew there would be a lot of 
small birds in garden; accordingly I saw 2 Pied Flycatchers, the only 
ones seen this year; 1 Spotted Flycatcher, and another next day ; several 
Warblers, Blackcaps; Redstarts, a Grey Wagtail, and several Pied Wagtails 
(all in garden) ; a single Willow Wren; a flock of Twites, and afterwards 
a single bird; besides several other things, as a Thrush, Robins, &c., &c, 


Ornithological Nctes. By George Bolam. 589 


Next day they had nearly all gone, in fact many of them were only seen 
once; and on a subsequent visit to the garden a few hours later could not 
be found. 

On the 12th May I walked over a good part of Holy Island, and 
found a great many small Warblers, &c. One most curious thing noticed 
about the Spotted Flycatchers was, that when approached they did not, 
as is usual, fly off to some projecting branch, but tried to escape observa- 
tion as much as possible by getting amongst the thick branches in the 
hedges, &c.; indeed so strange were the movements of some of them that, 
until I had satisfied myself to the contrary, I was inclined to think them 
some large sort of Warbler; they more resembled in their “ goings on” 
Warblers than Flycatchers. In the autumn Corn-crakes were most un- 
usually numerous, and remained, for some reason, much later with us than 
usual. They were shot amongst Partridges by a great many people during 
September, though as a rule it is very seldom indeed that they are seen at 
this season. 

Woodcocks too were more than usually numerous in the autumn; one 
large “ flight’? landed about the end of sty and a good many were 
killed in and near Berwick. 

The Cuckoo calling so late in antumn was also rather unusual. 


_Berwick-on- Tweed, Lith February 1885, 


Ornithological Notes. By GEORGE Bo.Lam. 


Squacco Huron. Ardea comata, Pallas. 


On 28th May 1884 a specimen of this rare bird was shot at Howick, the 
seat of Earl Grey in Northumberland, and is now in my possession. It 
seems to be a young bird of the previous year, and is just acquiring the 
adult summer plumage. 

Lord Grey’s keeper informs me that he shot it near the lake at Howick 
as he was returning home rather late in the evening. It flew past him 
along the side of a plantation, and at first sight he thought it was an Owl, 
which bird in flight it much resembled. It does not appear to have been 
previously observed by anybody; and in all probability, therefore, had 
not been long in the neighbourhood. 

Although the Squacco Heron has been obtained in England in something 
like twenty difterent instances, it has not before been recorded from 
Northumberland, nor so far as I am aware from any part of Scotland; it 
is therefore new to the district, and an interesting addition to our ‘local 
avifauna. 

LAND-RAIL. Cree pratensis, Bechs. 


In the southern counties of England Land-rails are pretty generally 
found up to the middle or end of September; but with us they leave; as a 
rule, nearly a month earlier; and it is only as stragglers that they are 


590 On Campsin Roxburghshire. By Thomas Craig. 


occasionally shot in the early part of our partridge season. Last autumn, 
however, was an exception, for Corn-crakes remained with us in con- 
siderable numbers up to the end of September, and in some cases even 
into the beginning of the following month. 

At Grindon two were shot on 20th September and at least one other 
seen; while during the same week three or four were seen upon the adjoin- 
ing farm of East Newbiggin; and one was killed near Berwick. 

On 23rd September quite a number were seen upon the Cheviots above 
Langleyford, when they were found in the large brakes of Pteris aquilina 
growing on the hill sides; and being mistaken, by some of those present, 
for Woodcocks, they were more than once hailed with a “‘ Mark cock” as 
they rose! 

Towards the end of the month Land-rails were shot at Warenton, near 
Belford (2); Fairlaw, Berwickshire (1); Middle Ord (2); Barmoor (1) ; 
and Wark Common (1): and several others were chronicled in the local 
newspapers as forming part of the “‘ bags”’ at various shooting parties. 

On 30th September one was shot near Twizell House, Belford; and 
another seen by Mr Seymour Tancred; and on Ist October a third example 
was obtained at Middle Ord. 


Berwick-on-Tweed, 7th September 1885. 


On some Camps in Roxburghshire. By THomas CRAIG, 
Kelso. 


In the autumn of 1884, I spent some days in wandering 
among the Cheviot Hills, so far as they lie within easy reach of 
Yetholm, and having previously perused with deep interest the 
serviceable and painstaking list of Camps and other ancient 
remains in the district, contributed by Professor James Geikie to 
the ‘‘ Proceedings” of the Club for the year 1882, I took the 
opportunity of visiting some of these. The list which the Pro- 
fessor furnished could only have been drawn up by one very 
intimately conversant with the district, and at the same time 
having an eye trained to detect the remains of the handiwork of 
the ancient inhabitants. It may be, however, that he has left 
some things for humbler and less scientific wanderers to note, 
and in the hope that some of the objects which struck my atten- 
tion in the course of my peregrinations may have some interest 
for you, I have taken the liberty of jotting them down for your 
use. 

I. On the hill opposite Halter Burn farm house there are 
distinct traces of a camp of very large size—perhaps the largest 


On Camps in Roxburghshire. By Thomas Craig. 591 


of the series in the district. I think this is not included in the 
list. One of the camps mentioned by Professor Geikie lies to the 
south-east of this large one, and must have been visible to those 
who inhabited it, since it lies at a much greater elevation. The 
small one mentioned in the list (page 143 line 3) and to which 
reference is here made, lies on the northern side of Halter Burn. 

II. Not far from tho last mentioned, and on the same side of 
the Burn, is another camp, even larger than it, but not showing 
any peculiar feature to lift it out of the common category. 

III. Ona hill, or rather the off-shoot of a hill, a little to the 
north of The Curr, there is a well-marked circle of limited 
extent—-so limited, in fact, as to make a person of slight 
acquaintance with Roman or pre-Roman remains somewhat 
uncertain whether it may not be foundations of a comparatively 
recent sheep-stell. It is surely not likely, however, that an 
erection for the protection of sheep would have been placed in a 
situation so high, exposed, and shelterless as that whereon this 
circle stands. A little to the south-west of the circle, passing 
over a rough kind of table-land, the eye lights upon first one 
terrace and then another, which in the month of August shone 
beautifully green, the bright verdure on these parts being in 
striking contrast to the scorched and embrowned aspect all 
around at the time. Is it within the bounds of probability that 
these terraced places were cultivated at a remote period, and 
that this freshness is partly if not wholly due to that circumstance? 
At anyrate it suits one in a poetical and contemplative mood to 
imagine the inhabitants of the little hut-dwelling to have patches 
of cultivated ground near at hand, somewhat after the manner 
of life of the modern crofter in the northern Highlands of Scot- 
land at the present day. 

IV. On the farm of Lochtower there is a hill on the northern 
slope of which is observable at certain seasons distinct traces of 
what seems to have been a camp of more than average size. 
The ground, though at a considerable elevation, has been for a 
good many years under the plough, and the circle may not be 
traceable at alltimes; but asseen when the ground is in pasture, 
the circle, which follows the slope of the hill, is remarkably well 
defined. 

V. The camp on Venchen Hill shows traces of having had 
triple entrenchments on the east side. Internally it is deeper 


592 On Camps in Roxburghshire. By Thomas Craig. 


than any which came under my observation on the Cheviot side 
of the Bowmont valley. To the east of the camp there are 
several knolls which cannot escape the attention of the observant 
wanderer. The east-most—like the west-most—is planted 
around the crown with fir trees, but the crown itself shows a 
flattened surface, which seems at certain seasons to be very wet, 
for it bears a rank growth of long and coarse grass, which sinks 
deeply under the feet when trodden upon in dry summer weather. 
The view from this height, down the Bowmont valley, would be 
extensive and magnificent if there were any openings through 
the thick screen of trees. Midway between these two knolls the 
rock rises to the surface, and it has been quarried on its northern 
face. On the south side of Venchen Hill there is, at least at 
several places, a very good echo, and visitors consequently may 
find more than amusement in awakening its responses to their 
voices. 

VI. It may be worth mentioning that in various places among 
the hills to the south of Halter Burn distinct traces of made 
roads are observable. The roads seem to creep along the hill- 
sides, ever trending upwards (or downwards), and seeking a most 
suitable point by which to gain the other side of the hill. They 
seem a good cart breadth, but whether they were intended for 
vehicular traffic, or simply for pack horses or donkeys, is not to 
be determined without some precise information. Those whose 
studies lead them in that direction might find it interesting to 
investigate when, why, and who made these roads, and by whom 
and for what purposes they were used. 


593 


Notices of Localities for Rare Plants. By P. W. Mac- 
LAGAN, M. D. 
(From a letter to the Secretary). 
BERWICE, 4th September 1884. 


My Dear Sir,—I think it will interest you to see the follow- 
ing list of plants found in Northumberland, by the Rev. H. H. 
Fox of Durham, who has been passing a holiday at Bamburgh. 
I have specimens of them to be placed in the Museum here. I 
was surprised at Corallorhiza, considering how many people have 
collected over Newham Loch. 

Corallorhiza innata. Newham Loch. 

Radiola millegrana. Ross Links. 

Centunculus minimus. Ross Links. 

Althea officinalis. By the border at Fleetham—perhaps intro- 

duced but well established. 

Fumaria confusa and F. micrantha. Holy Island. 

Rumex maritimus. On rubbish near Christon Bank—a casual 

probably. 

Melilotus arvensis. Same station. 

(The last I got behind Berwick pier some years ago). 


Notes on the Ettrick. By James Harpy. 


As PRELIMINARY to the notices on Ettrick, which the Presi- 
dent’s Address may have led members to expect, I may mention 
that for the present I can only take up three ;—1 ; a notice by the 
late Mr William Kemp, Galashiels, contributed to a local news- 
paper, which I am desirous of preserving, as containing the 
remarks of an accurate, but imperfectly appreciated observer, 
on a subject pertinent to our visit. Mr Kemp was one of the 
earliest inquirers into the subject of ‘‘ Ancient Sea Margins,” 
about which we have heard so much since—2; notice of a small 
socketed bronze celt of which Mr Andrew Currie has sent me a 
drawing, now engraved, with the particulars of its discovery—3 ; 
a list from Lord Napier and Ettrick, which his lordship made at 
my request, of the family records and objects of local interest 
in his family’s possession, which he had been previously asked 
to show to the Club. Whether these notes will be followed by 
others I am not prepared to say, but on several topics my infor- 
mation is still incomplete from defect of documentary and 

2¥Y 


594 Notes on the Ettrick. By James Hardy. 


precise evidence, and I have no intention of telling over again what 
every one knows from local guide books or gazetteers. . The 
aim of the Club is to supply fresh materials; not to compile 
from resources readily obtainable. 


1. A Day on the Ettrich.— The Water Marks. By Wititam Kemp. 


Many years have elapsed since I first observed traces of 
‘‘ Ancient Sea Margins” along the flanks of the hills by the 
Tweed. Since then, for ten successive years, as leisure occurred, 
I extended my researches along its tributary streams. Upwards 
of three years ago, a part of my notes were arranged and 
published in a large work of great merit, by a gentleman of 
high standing in literature. Partly from my ardour having 
abated and the want of leisure, I have since then in a great 
measure dropped the pursuit of Geology. Of all the valleys of 
any note in this district, the Ettrick alone remained unvisited, 
save by a passing view in a carriage. But enough was then 
seen to excite an ardent desire for a day’s investigation there. 
To satisfy that wish, I lately, one fine day, set off to make a 
careful survey for some distance up that river. I took my data 
from the plateau of the town of Selkirk, which stands at an 
elevation of 532 feet above the sea. That is one of the best 
marked line of levels in the south of Scotland. When the sea 
beat along that ancient shore line, the estuary along the vale of 
the Tweed had extended to the town of Peebles. The plain 
which that town stands upon is the detritus run into the head 
of the estuary, by the waters of the Tweed and Eddleston. The 
corresponding level on the Ettrick only extends to the village of 
Ettrick-bridge ; consequently, that village is built upon a plateau 
similar to that at Peebles, at the head of an ancient estuary of 
the sea. This is no imaginary theory; the level from Selkirk 
was taken with great care. So visibly is that ancient shore line 
marked, that, to a practised eye, the level only requires to be 
applied in confirmation of the fact. On the south side of the 
valley, about three and a half miles west from Selkirk, by taking 
up a position a little above the road, upon a slight undulation, 
and there looking towards Selkirk, the spectator will observe 
several spurs from the south hills extending into the valley. 
How interesting it is to observe that all these are, as it were, - 


Notes on the Ettrick. By James Hardy. 595 


levelled down—all ranging in height between your eye and the 
town. By applying the level you can detect no deviation. By 
turning the tube to the opposite side of the valley, you discover 
other legible markings, and so on, till you arrive at the village 
of Ettrick-bridge. 

But the chief object of my visit was to examine the ‘“ Linns 
of Ettrick,” a singular ridge of rock extending across the valley 
immediately above the village. The farmhouse of Newhall is 
about a quarter of a mile west from the bridge, and stands near 
the summit of that ridge, overlooking the narrow rugged chasm, 
whose dark abyss is more than one hundred feet in depth, where 
the river finds a turbulent passage through amidst a series of 
abrupt ledges of opposing rock. Taking the height of the 
ridge, I find it to be one hundred and eighteen feet above the 
village. That vast rocky barrier must have dammed back the 
river for many ages, forming a lake for some miles up the 
valley, nearly as far as Deloraine. 

It is interesting to observe that the river had not always 
flowed over by the present breach. There is a hollow way 
trending round the north end of that height, some few feet 
below the summit, where the water had run for a period of time. 
That old channel makes a detour of about two miles; it may be 
observed below the old tower of Kirkhope, continuing down to 
the north side of the village. It does not appear to be difficult 
to account for the change of the river’s course. The old channel 
seems not to have been capacious enough to pass all the water 
in the time of great floods; consequently, the lake would rise 
till it overflowed the next lower part of the barrier; of course 
that part is seen to be its present outlet. The ridge is there 
comparatively narrow, every successive flood having assisted in 
enlarging the gulley till it became large enough to contain the 
whole stream. 

That ledge of rock is very hard, and the mass removed so 
enormous, that we are lost in conjecture as to the ages that have 
elapsed in the wearing out of the rugged chasm. To the sight- 
seeker, or the student of nature, this is one of the most interest- 
ing scenes in the south of Scotland. There the wearing power 
of water is exemplified in a most extraordinary manner. The 
portion of the rock, as exhibited there, is highly interesting to 
a geologist, although it may have little or no interest to people 
in general, 


596 Notes on the Ettrick. By James Hardy. 


2. On an Ancient Bronze Ane found near Howford on the Ettrick. 
By AnpREw Curriz, Darnick. 


In giving the particulars of this find, I shall copy verbatim 
Mr Currie’s remarks as contained in a letter dated 15th January 
1885. ‘‘I may mention in regard to this bronze axe, that it 
was found on the eastern end of Howford hill (my natal ground), 
about 1851 or 1852. Mr Scott who succeeded to my father’s 
lease would not part with it, and on his removal to the south of 
England four years ago, took it with him. He allowed me to 
make a drawing of it, and to ensure greater accuracy I laid it on 
the paper and traced it all round. This is the most perfect 


Ano. Gureaie.J 885, 


BRONZE AXE, Howrorp Hitt,Ertrick 
2/3. ACTUAL SIZE. 


i At 
H 


12 & was 
Sheers 


‘specimen I have ever seen, and so fresh was the casting that 
you would have supposed it the work of a few years back. The 
part of the hill where it was found was named the ‘Cat’s Slack.’ 


Notes on the Ettrick. By James Hardy. 597 


‘‘The pow or head of the axe, when found was on a level with 
the short grass of the hill, and I have often wondered that it 
was not found sooner, as this level place on the hill-top, in my 
younger days, was our usual play-ground, and a very common 
practice it was with us to pick fe all the stones to be found for 
rolling down the steep hill side.”’ 

The length of this small socketed celt is 4 inches; the breadth 
at the upper end is 2 inches; and the neck 1? inches; at the 
cutting edge 22 inches. 

One of these tiny celts, of a slightly different type, was 
found, in 1864, along with a collection of thin bronze fittings 
with nail-holes in them as if for plating some vehicle, along with 
1 larger, and 14 smaller but not all of one size, stout, smooth 
bronze rings, all of which were detached, under a stone on the 
Horsehope-Crag, Posso. The collection was presented by Sir 
John Naesmyth, Dalwick House, to the museum of Chambers’ 
Institution, Peebles, October 1879. Did a prowler on some 
pre-historic battle-field carry off these as a booty, and hide 
them there, and be unable again to recognise the spot where the 
plunder was concealed? The association of the small celt 
chopper with the other fragments is worthy of record. 


3. List of Articles exhibited to the Club on their visit to Thirlestane ; 
drawn up by the Right Hon. Lorp Napier and Errricx, K.T. 


Tue cap, handkerchief, and stockings, worn by the Great 
Marquis of Montrose at his execution, the handkerchief and 
stockings bearing the stains of blood. 

The original editions of the works of John Napier of Mer- 
chiston, viz. :— 

A Plaine Discovery of the whole Revelation of St. John. 

Edinburgh, 1593. 

Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio. Edinburgi, 1614. 

Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Constructio. Edinburgi, 
1619. 

Rabdologize. Seu Numerationis per virgulas, Libri Duo. 
Kdinburgi, 1617; with the early foreign reproductions 
and translations ae English, French, and other foreign 
languages. 


598 Notes on the Ettrick. By James Hardy. 


Also the original edition of the ‘‘Ephemeris” for the year 
1620, by John Keppler; dedicated by Kepplerto John Napier. 

The examples of the ‘‘ Numbering Rods” or calculating 
machine, invented by John Napier, one of which is stated, 
on the faith of family tradition, to have belonged to the 
inventor. 

Two portraits of John Napier, one of which is believed to be 
an original done from the life, but much injured by time or 
former neglect. 

Family portraits of no artistic value, but forming a curious 
series, extending from the year 1600 to the present time, 
comprising eleven generations in direct descent ; including 
portraits of General Sir Charles Napier, General Sir William 
Napier the historian, Admiral Sir Charles Napier, and 
other collateral members of the family. 

A portrait of the Emperor Alexander II. of Russia, presented 
by him to Lord Napier when Ambassador at St. Petersburgh. 

A portrait of the present Emperor of Germany, presented by 
him to Lord Napier when Ambassador at Berlin. 

Early editions of the works of the Revd. Thomas Boston, 
minister of Ettrick, author of the ‘‘Fourfold State,” the 
‘Crook in the Lot,” and other books of popular edification.”’ 

The first editions of the works of James Hogg, the Ettrick 
Shepherd. 

A volume of Autograph Letters about 80 in number, addressed 
by Sir Walter Scott to the late Anne Jane, Marchioness of 
Abercorn. 

An Autograph Letter from the Ettrick Shepherd to the late 
William John Lord Napier, making overtures of reconcilia- 
tion to his Lordship, in connection with some offence offered 
to the family by certain verses in the first edition of the 
“¢Queen’s Wake.” 

Besides these, and bearing more raed on the branches 
of research prosecuted by the Club, there was a very fine long 
wedge-shaped stone-celt, of the same stone and shape as one 
figured in Club’s Proceedings, vol. vit. Plate x., fig. 2. (1878), 
found somewhere inthe adjacent country; and a small leaf-shaped 
arrow-head of pellucid flint, almost lke cornelian, prettily 
chipped, which was picked up (1876) in his Lordship’s presence, 
on a bed of shingle, on the hill-side on the farm of Berry Bush 
in Ettrick parish. There was also a very good brass-pot with 


Notes on the Ettrick. By James Hardy. 599 


handle, which was found on Thirlestane Hill according to the 
tradition of the House. Of this a drawing, here engraved, was 
made by his Lordship’s niece, Miss C. Hubbard. — 


The pot is 92 inches high; the longest circumference is 253 
inches; the circumference round the neck 16 inches; the length 
of the leg 4 inches; length of handle (which has been accidentally 
bent) 8 inches; diameter of the mouth 6 inches. 

The brass-pots as well as flagons of the same material are now 
considered to be medieval, and their use was continued till a 
very recent period; and even still some of the castaways may 
be found employed, after being dug out of a drain or peat moss, 
in the preparation of the frugal housewife’s annual supply of 
jam or jelly. 

Miss Russell of Ashiesteel, has sent me an outline drawing of 
a three-legged pot of a similar type, but not so elegantly shaped, 
and standing on shorter limbs. The handle is broken. It was 


600 Miss Russell's Additional Notes. 


found on the east sideof the house at Sunderland Hall, in 1791, and 
is still preserved there. Its heightis7 inches; girth 19 inches; 
diameter of mouth 5inches. The metal is joined down the side. - 
Colour uniform green. 

There is a series of these handled tripod pots in the museum 
of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland; and as some of them 
are of local interest, and are illustrative of the Thirlestane and 
Sunderland Hall examples, they may be quoted here from the 
Catalogue, p. 102. No. 234. Pot, 7 by 43 inches, with 3 feet, 
handle 4 inches long, dug up on the farm of Long Yester, 
Haddingtonshire. (W. W. Hay, 1831). No. 235. Pot, 7 by 5 
inches, with 8 feet (handle broken) found at Dudhope near 
Galashiels, Selkirkshire. (Robt. Mercer of Scotsbank, 1862). No. 
278. Pot, 84 by 53 inches, with 3 feet, and plain handle 63 
inches long, foundat Langton, Berwickshire. (John Gow, 1867). 
No. 238. Pot, 8 inches high (broken) with 3 feet and handle 
(broken) ornamented with double concentric circles, found in 
draining the Pot Loch, Scotsbank, Selkirkshire. (Gideon Scott, 
1870). 


Additional Notes to Papers of 1882 and 1883. By Miss 
RUSSELL. 


TuE name of Deloraine in Selkirkshire is sufficiently well known, owing 
to The Lay of the Last Minstrel; but it is not generally known that in the 
country it is uniformly, and correctly, pronounced Deléran. . 

The received derivation is ‘‘De Loraine,’’ Mary of Lorraine-Guise 
having been one of the queens who had the royal jointure-lands of Httrick 
Forest; but neither that nor other proper names which have been suggested 
appear to me to contain the elements of the name as pronounced. 

I had come to this conclusion lately, when something suggested the 
the name of St Oran, the well-known companion of St Columba; and then 
remembered that the small stream is called Rankilburn, and that there is 
an old church upon it, and that Ran-kil means church-boundary or division 
in Gaelic; Dal-Oran would be Oran’s Portion: and as the name seems to 
be this word unchanged, I infer that the church is probably one of those 
founded by Aidan and the twelve monks from Iona, under Oswy of 
Northumbria, about A.D. 640. The church being pushed close up to the 
British frontier is quite like the policy of the Saxon kings; the line of the 
Catrail, whether traceable or traditional, goes by Rankilburn. The 
element “ Kil,’’ or church, in this name, I find has been remarked before. 


Miss Russell's Additional Notes. 601. 


Mr Skene shows that the “‘St Adrian of the May,” of the fictitious 
early history of Scotland, is probably one of the St Odhrans or 
Orans. Another island in the Firth of Forth is Inchcolm, or Innis St 
_ Colme ; and we know that Inchkeith was Oswy’s northern stronghold, 
under its other name of Urbs Giudi, apparently meaning the city of 
Gwyddyon. The St Helen’s Chapel on the northern wall, at Condon, in 
Stirlingshire, probably marks the limit of -the territory which Edwin 
had acquired, and which the succeeding Saxon kings retained for a long 
time. I rather imagine it must have been the occupation of Lothian 
which brought the Britons down on Edwin in 633, as it seems to have 
been held by the Cumbrians. 

(If I remember right, Hadden and Stubbs have made rather a serious 
inversion of the Cumbrian geography, by saying that it was at Hoddam 
in Dumfriesshire that Kentigern spent eight years of his life, instead of 
at Lochorward in Midlothian. The time was in all probability before the 
battle of Camlan. The lives of the Welsh saints are evidently composed 
to suit the hereditary theory of the Iona church, which had such extensive 
influence). 

Mr Skene’s. observation (C.S. Vol. II., page 49) that the Abbots of 
Whithorn, the successors of Ninian, as far as -we know anything about 
them, were called Nennio, seems not only to show who the British historian 
Nennius was, but to throw an unexpected light on a question which has 
been very much controverted indeed, namely, how many St Patricks there 
were. The credit of evangelizing Ireland is divided between three names ; 
the first, Patrick Maun, or Senn Patrick, there is little or no dispute about ; 
he went from the coast of Wales to preach in Ireland about 380. ‘‘ Maun” 
implies, I suppose, that he was one of the Picts or old Gael, who seem 
to have called themselves ‘‘Men,’” and that he went from Mona or 
Menevia to convert the Scots or Irish Gael. ‘‘Senn”’ which sounds like 
saint, means in Gaelic old, or perhaps here, the original Patrick. Nearly 
fifty years after, about 428, comes Palladius, who is said to have come to 
Ireland from the Continent, to have left it shortly for Scotland, but either 
died or was martyred at Fordoun in Kincardineshire, all within about a 
year. Immediately after him comes the great St Patrick, about whose 
extensive work and organization, and, necessarily long life, there is no 
doubt inthe main. But it has been disputed for the last three centuries 
at least, whether he and Palladius were or were not the same man; one 
early writer says they were ; and indeed the history of Palladius would 
not be much worth recounting otherwise. So that I have no doubt 
Palladius was the baptismal name of the Patricius who was born at 
Dumbarton, and carried to the Continent by pirates; though in his con- 
fessions, which seem to be genuine, he calls himself by his official name, 
as one of the successors of old Patrick. The Fordoun legend no doubt 
arises from the dedication to Palladius there ; and it is worth remarking 
that there is a place called Kilpalet in Haddingtonshire, no doubt also a 
Cell dedicated to him in his Scotch aspect. I observe mention of “ pre- 
Patrician bishops’’.in Sir Samuel Ferguson’s recent lectures ; it is quite 


22 


602 Miss Russell’s Additional Notes. 


likely that there were different missions settled in different parts of 
Ireland: but the point is, that the man who really Christianized the 
country was probably the representative of Patrick Maun. After all, the 
case is not very different from that of the Abbot of Iona, whose official 
title meant ‘‘ Heir of Columba-of-the-Church.” 

If Kirkhope on the Ettrick in Selkirkshire was really dedicated to St 
Irene, she is probably the sister of St Damasus of that name, who died in 
378. This dedication, and the rude figure of the type of the Catacomb 
symbols found there, seem to refer the church to Ninian’s diocese, or at 
least to the early Roman-British church. 

I rather think the place called Tuessis—that is, Tweed, in the Roman 
geography, may be the Roman station at Newstead, between the Tweed 
and the Hildon Hills. 

I do not know of any other important Roman locality on the river; and 
if it is Newstead, it occurs in a later itinerary, corresponding somewhat to 
the present roads between Carlisle and Edinburgh. Iberran, Birrenswark ; 
Pinnatis, somewhere near Penchryst; Tuessis, Newstead ; Lodone, Lauder ; 
Litanamagno, Leith. 7th or 8th century. 

The name of the Red Abbey Stead, for a house and some high-lying 
fields at the east end of Newstead, is inexplicable except on the supposition 
that when the Scotch king agreed to do homage for Cumbria in 945, he 
bargained to have it in its full extent, and at once built an intermediate 
Melrose Abbey on the frontier. (This abbey would be under Glasgow 
from the first; Coldingham remained under Durham down to 1484.) 
Soon after 945, the Northumbrians swore fealty to Edmund’s successor, 
Edred, at Tadwine’s Cliffe—which is so obviously a mistake for Eadwine’s 
Cliffe, or the Hildon Hills, that it shows the English kings retained the 
country so far, down to probably 1018. Some of the oldest Scotch coins 
have the letters C AR, apparently as the mint-mark. This is not men- 
tioned, I think, in the large work on the Scottish coinage published some 
years ago, probably because there seems no other evidence that. Malcolm 
Canmore coined money, than this indication of Scotch coins being struck 
at Carlisle, and therefore before 1092, when Rufus took Carlisle, and 
tried. to take the country so far as the Leader—“‘all beyond the Loedr.”’ 

Malcolm, or his next heir, had no doubt done homage for Cumbria to the 
Saxon kings; but he set himself against the Conqueror, though there are 
indications that at one period he paid the homage to him also. 

T see much additional evidence for the view mentioned in the paper on 
early British coins, that the cup-and-ring cuttings on rocks, &c., were 
meant for the sun regarded as an eye. It struck me from seeing that 
circles and dots occurred with Etruscan representations of the Cyclops, 
who are now supposed to be degraded sun-gods. In India, where rock- 
cuttings occur much as in Britain, the people sometimes say the ring and 
dot stands for the sun, sometimes for Mahadeo (the great god) that is, 
Siva. Siva is sometimes represented with a third eye in his forehead, and 
the Cyclops are also sometimes depicted with three eyes. It is doubtless 
from this mythological link not having been. observed, that. it has: not 


Miss Russell’s Additional Notes, 603 


hitherto been noticed, that in the imperfect system of the Egyptian 
hieroglyphics, the ring and dot stands for Ra—the sun, and also for the 
syllable ra. What is more remarkable is, that it also stands for the sun 
in the ancient Chinese writing; in the character now used, the picture 
element has become unrecognisable. I see it mentioned that in Syria the 
fear of the “evil eye’”’ is much mixed up with that of sunstroke and 
moonstroke. . 

The rock-cuttings may possibly, or perhaps rather probably, be of the 
nature of charms. I see that the Egyptian god Kneph, when represented 
as Knouhmra, wears the solar disk above his horns ; this is certainly sug- 
gestive of circlesand spirals. Mr Villiers Stuart (‘‘ Nile Gleanings,”’) says 
that from the particular relations of the ancient Egyptian language with 
the languages of Europe, his impression is that the old Greek accounts are 
true which bring colonies directly from Egypt into Europe; and indeed 
I do not see any reason to doubt them. However, the disk and the volutes 
are also to be seen together in the bas-relief of the sun-temple of Babylon, 
engraved in a little book which gives the results of cruciform readings up to 
the present year—‘t Babylonian Life and History.’? The volutes have here 
lost the character of horns to a certain degree. The pre-historic temple 
in a small island off Malta is profusely marked with the opposed spirals, 
with only a few concentric circles. Captain Conder in ‘‘ Heth and Moab,”’ 
describes gigantic stone disks, which he thought might be sun-images, 
much about the size of that in the Babylonian temple. He also says that 
spirals, palm-branches, and badly-drawn concentric circles, are painted in 
tombs in Syria at the present day. The fern of the coins, and of the 
dolmens of Brittany, may be a European substitute for the palm-branch ; 
as I quite believe the rowan represents the mystic apple of the fairy tales, 
which again is a substitute for the pomegranate. Fern seed was mystical 
in the middle ages. 

With reference to Patrick and Nennius, it may be added that the 
heroine martyr-abbess of Coludesburg is called the second St Ebba; and 
no doubt she was officially called by the name of the foundress. (Cold- 
ngham is the ing or shore at some distance from St Abbs Head.) 

A name in the Nennius list of cities may suggest how Gerontius turned 
into Vortigern; Caer Guorthigern looks like Garth Geraint. 


604 


The Tomb of Cockburn of Henderland, and its Vicinity. 
By JAMES Harpy. Plate VI. 


THE Plate representing the tomb of Perys de Cockburn and 
his wife at Henderland having been proved to be incorrect as 
noticed at p. 417 of the present vol., I resolved to visit the spot 
when an opportunity should offer, in order to remedy the defect, 
and this I accomplished on the 26th of August, 1884, on the day 
preceding the Club’s meeting at Ettrick. With some difficulty, 
owing to a current of cold wind sifting through the grassy area 
enclosed by the plantation, in which the tomb stands within the old 
chapel foundations, I made a rubbing, which has been reduced, 
and reproduced as a lithograph by the kindly offered aid and 
skill of Mr William Galloway, architect, Edinburgh, to whom 
the Club is very much indebted for the correct representation of 
this old historical monument. ‘The reading as well as the 
sculpture has been put in proper form. See Plate VI. 

The tomb was in much better condition than I had expected, 
and I do not suppose it was ever much better in recent times, 
for when Sir Walter Scott drew attention to it, ‘it was broken in 
three parts.” These had not been very artistically connected 
when it was repaired by Mr Murray in 1841. The cleaning it 
had undergone from Mr Shaw shewed the full design, but the 
weather had long ago disfigured and wasted the lettering. The 
Earl of Wemyss has recently caused the erection to be put into 
better order. 

According to my measurement, the oblong-chapel, built of 
greywacke, of which only the foundations survive, was 45 by 
24 feet. The sepulchral slab, a hard red sandstone, is 9 feet 2 
inches long ; 20 inches broad at the top, and then 19, and 16 
at the base; its thickness is 43 to 53 inches. The sword in 
length is 344 inches from the hilt; and the cross 41 inches. 
The tomb-stone was found in the ruins of the chapel in the 
midst of the last century. (Pennecuik’s Desc. of Tweeddale, pp. 
248-250). The chapel had neither reader nor exhorter at the 
Reformation. (Register of Ministers, 1567).—Origines Parochi- 
ales, I. p. 223. 

Prosecuting the inquiry into the history of the Cockburns of 
Henderland, a few additional particulars were gleaned from the 
privately printed family record, ‘‘ The Scotts of Buccleuch,” 


The Tomb of Cockburn of Henderland. 605 


On the 8th December, 1383, there is a ‘‘ Renunciation by Peter 
of Kockburn, Lord of Henryland, in favour of Thomas of Erskyne, 
Lord of Dun, and his spouse, of an annual duty, and of the 
superiority of Dalgles,”’ given at Selkirk. Thisisa renunciation 
of the annual return of a pair of gilt spurs given to him and his 
predecessors from the land of Dalgles, Selkirkshire, and the 
superiority thereof, which was transferred to Erskine. (Vol. 11. 
p. 18). On the 28rd July, 1446, William de Kokburne de 
Henriland witnesses the Charter by Thomas Inglis of Menner, 
of the lands of Brankishome and others, to Sir Walter Scott of 
Buccleuch, Knight. (Ib. p. 34). In 1529, there is the following 
‘‘Charge by James the Fifth to Walter Scott of Branxholme, 
Knight, to apprehend William Cockburn of Henderland.”’ 


‘James, be the grace of God, King of Scottis, to onr lovit Walter Scott 
of Branxholme, Knycht, greeting: forsamekle as we ar informyt that 
William Cokburne of Henderland has been ane mysgidit man, and dailye 
resettis and assistis to theiffis, traitouris, and brekaris of our realme, and 
thairfor is fugitive fra our lawis, swa that he can nocht be apprehendet be 
our officiaris, quhilk is ane gret and hie contempcioun to ws to suffer to be 
wnpunyst: Our will is heirfor, and we charge zou that ze incontinent, thir 
our lettres sene, pass in our name and autorite, serche and seik said 
William Cockburne of Henderland, quharever he may be apprehendit, and 
tak and bring him to ws and our lawis, that he may be punyst for his 
demeritis according to the lawis and justice, and als that ze tak all his 
gudis moveable quharever thai ar or can be comprehendet, and eschaet to 
our ws the samyne, quhilkis we will that ze intromet with and dispone 
thairapoune as ze pleis ; the quhilk to do we commit to zou our full power be 
thir our lettres gevin ynder our signet, and subscrivet with our hand at 

the day and of our reynne the xyj zeir 
JaMEs R.” 


I went up the Henderland burn to the Dow-linn, probably 
named from domestic pigeons frequenting it, when the Castle of 
Henderland in close neighbourhood to it, was occupied. Bright 
pale green cushions of the subalpine moss, Zygodon Mougeotii, 
filling the fissures of the little crags; a few ash trees and 
pendulous mountain ashes already colouring in their foliage and 
fruit; long rampant Dog-roses like those in Kidland; twining 
Honeysuckles; Hypericum guadrangulum; Fairy Lint; Bugle ; 
a Primrose peering out by the burn; Butterwort; Carex ovalis ; 
Triodia decumbens and other moor grasses; Gerantum sylvaticum ; 
and a few grey Saughs formed the flora. The waterfall descends 
a rent in the greywacke rock in one white sheet, into a dark 


606 The Tomb of Cockburn of Henderland. 


pool, which has an inner hidden recess, overshadowed by a 
pendant mountain ash on the top of the rock above. A number 
of fine rowan-trees and a few ashes also grow in the hollowed- 
out concavity beside the water-fall, amidst a wealth of brackens, 
and abundance of the white flowered Grassof Parnassus. Isothecium 
alopecurum and Marchantia fringe the rocks at the water-fall ; 
and the lichen, Exdocarpon miniatum, var. complicatum clusters 
where the vexed water rushes out to the light. Higher up the 
narrow ravine are Honeysuckle; Hieracium vulgatum ; Common 
Polypody; Chrysosplenium oppositifolium; Oxalis acetosella, Athyrium 
Filizx-femina; Alchemilla vulgaris; and Raspberry at the head 
of the fall. Farther up still there was a second water-fall, 
where Saxifraga stellaris grew on a rocky islet ; and the banks and 
rocks being dry were clothed with Helianthemum vulgare; Bil- 
berries, whose fruit was ripe; the Fox-glove; Ivy mantling the 
steep rocks; Eyebright; Hieracium Pilosella; Zig-zag Clover ; 
Milfoil, and blue Scabiosa succisa. This was a pretty spot. The 
lichens on the dry rocks were Parmelia conspersa and Lecidea 
geographica. During spates the little terraced water-falls here 
will descend in one continuous.rush. The wearing power of the 
water charged with boulder-stones and gravel is very evident in 
the deeply excavated and smoothed rocky channel. Towards the 
heathery hills behind, the stream forks and occupies two separate 
ravines. , 

There were not many birds. Those congregated in the planta- 
tions were Chaffinches and Willow Wrens, and there was a single 
Thrush. A young Cuckoo was seated at the top of the lower 
water-fall. There were eight or nine Missel Thrushes on the 
ferny pastures—they spread far and wide wherever there are 
sheep; a Grey Hen and Black Cock ; and a Ring-ousel, on the 
edges of the heather; a Chimney Swallow was playing about; 
and a Martin had been at St Mary’s Loch; where alsoI observed 
the Water-ousel. A Wheatear, a Lark, and a Lapwing were 
seen at St Mary’s Churchyard. 

The ruins of Cockburn Castle or peel, occupy the irregular 
surface of the ground between the base of the hills, and Hender- 
land burn. There are the foundations of the walls of the square 
keep, the stables and byres, and the oblong folds and ‘“ bughts,”’ 
which have been numerous. The keep, situated on an elevation, 
is 36 by 24 feet, and has an oblong building attached to the east 
end. An outer wall has enclosed the whole, including a con- 


Miscellanea. By James Hardy. 607 


siderable unoccupied space. A small extent of old cultivated 
ground adjoins, which would scarcely grow sufficient provender 
for the horses and cattle, let alone grain for the human occupants. 

It was a rude iron key and not a hammer that was found 14 
or 15 years ago among the ruins of Cockburn’s Castle ; see p. 418. 

I was much impressed with the solemnity and wild grandeur 
of the vale of the Megget, and its steep green sides and dark 
heathy hill-crowns ; the impetuosity of its dashing waters within 
their blue gravel margins; the noisy rush of its distant rapids; 
and the whisperings of the breezes wandering among the 
brackens that somewhat densely overspread the lower and drier 
hill-slopes. The voice of inanimate nature alone broke the pro- 
found quietude. 

The common yellow Mimulus so luxuriant below the Registrar’s 
cottage is a garden escape. 

I had merely a spare quarter of an hour to ascend to St Mary’s 
Churchyard, and copy some of the inscriptions on the tomb- 
stones. Some of the stones are merely blank greywacke slabs. 

Having recently visited the museum of the Chambers’ Institu- 
tion, Peebles, I took a note of the following water-fowl preserved 
there, that had come from St Mary’s Loch :— 

Brirps rrom Sr Mary’s Locu.—Buacx Scorer (Ovdemia nigra), 
Noy. 1875, Mr William Richardson, St Mary’s Cottage. Turrep 
Duck (Puligula cristata), Feb. 19, 1870, by the same. Poonarp 
Duck (fuligula ferina), 1868. Scaup Duck (Fuligula marila), 
March, 1876, Mr Wm. Richardson. 


Miscellanea. By James Harpy. 


THREE-BEARDED Rooxiine. During the week ending May 
“81st, two of the Three-bearded Rockling (Motella tricirrata), 
were taken in the crab-creels of the fishermen at the Cockburns- 
path Cove. These are only the second and third examples of the 
fish observed on the Berwickshire coast. The first was obtained 
on 8th April, 1875, and was recorded in the Club’s Proceedings, 
vol. vir. p. 470. 

Coccus Faci In THE ucergeanan Woops. When walking in 
the end of August 1884, with the Rev. R. H. Williamson of 
Whickham, in the woods near the Whickham Washing-well dean, 


608 Miscellanea. By James Hardy. 


belonging to the Earl of Ravensworth, I observed that several of 
the trunks of some old beeches were spotted white with the 
cottony investment of Coccus Fagi, which is uot recorded in any 
of the lists of the Insects of Northumberland and Durham. It 
was a place I knew, for I had been there entomologising more 
than thirty years previously. On November 5th 1883, I noticed 
that it still exists in Dalkeith Park, and as I have noticed before, 
it occurs in Gosford Park, and near Ayton ; still more recently 
I observed it on beech trunks and roots at Polton bank on both 
sides of the road to the Railway Station. 

AnzuRuUS L&vis (/ab.) At GissipE. This curious bug was 
found on one occasion under the bark of paling on the low 
grounds by the Derwent, near Gibside. I have still the specimens. 
It is not recorded in Mr J. T. Bold’s list of Hemiptera, Nat. 
Hist. Trans. Northd. and Durham, vol. tv. It is figured in 
Curtis’ B. E. ii. fig. 86, and Douglas and Scott, Brit. Hemipt. 
Plt, Se.-8: 

BorEvs HYEMALIS. I had forgotten to register in the Club’s 
Proceedings this very singular looking insect as a Border species. 
It occurs on the top of walls, and in moss, near Penmanshiel ; 
crawling among mosses on rocks in Oldcambus dean ; and among 
porphyry rocks behind Wooler. My attention was called to this 
circumstance by a recent notice of Professor Trail in the ‘‘ Scottish 
Naturalist.” My record of it is contained in a Register of the 
Periodical Phenomena of Plants and Animals, in the Report of 
the Meeting of the British Association at Edinburgh, August 
1850. It appeared March 12th 1849, and again December 31st 
at Penmanshiel. I have no doubt there are other localities 
among my notes. 

LiynaBya speciosa, Carm. Mr Batters detected this among 
some Algz that I sent from rock pools on the Grey-wacke coast 
at Windilaws, east of Redheugh, Berwickshire. It is not in the 
old lists. Mr G. T. Brady found it amongst Z. Carmichaelii at 
North Sunderland, Trans. Tynes. Nat. Field Club, tv. p. 314. 

Linn#ZAé BoREALIS. At Longformacus anew locality for Linnea 
borealis has been discovered by Mrs Captain Brown. It grows in 
one of the strips of Scotch pine, which have been damaged and 
thinned out by the great gale of October 14th 1881. It contains, 
like many of the planted strips, much of the Pyrola minor, a 
likely accompaniment, as at Huntlywood, to the Linnea. There 
are three large patches of the Linnea, one of them considerably 


Miscellanea. By James Hardy. 609 


apart from the other. Owing to the exposure to the full sun-light, 
some of the foliage is rather reddened. ‘The plants flowered this 
summer (1885), Whether they are native or introduced, there 
‘is a variety of opinion. The pine trees planted here were 
brought on ponies’ backs from Braemar, and it is possible the 
Linnea plants may have come here as seedlings in the soil, or as 
packing. From the size of the patches they must have stood 
for a very considerable period. ‘The foliage is more luxuriant 
and differs somewhat in form from the Mellerstane plants, as if 
from a different stock. It was imagined by some that they 
might be North American plants introduced from a nursery ; 
but this is not the case, as Canadian plants, for which I am 
indebted to Mr Boyd of Faldonside, have peculiarities of their 
own. Mr Thomas Darling, Berwick, obliged me with flowering 
examples and young shoots of Linnea from the wood of Castle 
Grant, Strath-spey, two of which had double flowers, for com- 
parison. The result of the examination was as follows :— 


1. MeLLERSTANE Form. Leaves small, rounded, slightly incised or 
notched, rarely twice on one side of the out-line, fore-lobe not prominent, 
not pointed; palish green, smoothish; leaves not crowded on the shoots. 

2, StRatH-Spey Form. Leaves of flowering shoots like No. 1; of young 
shoots ovate, closely resembling No. 4, but not quite so luxuriant or so 
pointed at the apex. 

3. CANADIAN Form. With a more crowded and coarser foliage, the 
veins more prominent both on the upper and inferior surface ; many of 
the leaves broader, almost reniform, out-line much cut by the notches, of 
which there are three on each side; the front-lobe often not so long as 
the apices of the foremost segment, not pointed ; in other instances there 
are more ovate leaves, but still strongly incised, and blunt; dark coloured. 

4, Lonerormacus Form. Foliage larger than No.1; but of the same 
smooth character; mostly ovate; sparingly distributed on the shoots; 
triply incised on each side, but not specially marked on the out-line ; 
except in the rounder leaves. Apical lobe distinctly prominent, pointed. 
Colour, except where exposed, same as No.1. Some of the forms of the 
leaves resemble those in the figures of Linneus, Flora Suecica, p. 219. 
Hditio secunda, Stockholm, 1755; and of the Flora Lapponica, Hditio 
altera, Plate x11; but both are more marked in the incisures. 


TRIENTALIS Evrop#a. As a Lammermoor plant this was 
long ago noticed in a communication from Lady John Scott, in 
the Olub’s Proceedings, vol. vz., p. 117. It has recently been 
gathered by Mr H. H. Craw of West Foulden, in a plantation 

3A 


610 Miscellanea. By James Hardy. 


on the outer extremity of Rawburn farm, where it marches with 
Evelaw. 

Potysticuum Loncuitis. A plant was picked up by Mr 
Grant, gardener, Longformacus House, at the side of the Whit- 
adder, at the base of ‘‘ Moonjee.”’ It is very dwarf, but true. 
I have some of the fronds. 

Carex pivisa, Huds. This was found by Mr W. H. Brown, 
somewhere near Whitley, and is recorded in the Transactions 
of the Tyneside Naturalists’ Field-Club ; I have omitted to mark 
the vol. and page. It is omitted in the new Flora of North- 
umberland and Durham. 

SPLAcCHNUM sPH@RICUM, Hedw. A fine patch on Greenlaw 
Moor, August 1884, by Robert Renton; new to Berwickshire. 

ANDREHZA RUPESTRIS, Z. Sparingly on “The Mitten full 
of stones,” a great monumental Cairn on Byrecleuch Rig, 
Lammermoor. 

GYROPHORA POLYPHYLLA, Z. and G. oyiinpRica, Z. growing 
on the stones of the same Cairn. 


Nore on A Spoon FounD AT MovseEn, Pp. 368. The initials on 
the spoon were T. P. It appears from the Bamburgh Church 
Register of Births, that there was a Mark Patersone in Mousen, 
13th November, 1653 (Wilson’s Churches of Lindisfarne, p. 62). 
The ownership may be referable to one of the occupant Patersons. 


611 


Rain Fall wn 1884, at Glanton Pyke, Northumberland. 
Communicated by FREpK. J. W. COLLINGWOOD, Esq. 


Diameter of Funnel, 8 inches. 
Rain 
Gauge 


Height } Above Ground, 4 feet 3} inches. 


of Top § Above Sea Level, 517 feet. 


ESTIMATED. 
Inches. Inches, 
January .. os 3.4575 July an ee 4.96’5 
February .. ae 172 oy Aueust} 50. 1.5070 
March ae ee 2.0570 September .. ae 2.5875 
April i vs 1.60’0 October .. ‘ch 2.0675 
May Ls sis 1.7470 November .. 4: 2.2175 
June + we 1.89’0 December .. es 2.4475 
Total ee ie (2852076 


Note of Rain Fall at West Foulden for ten years, 1875- 
1884. By Mr Henry Hewitt Craw. 


Inches. Tenths. Inches, Tenths. 
1875 a wel 20 7 1880 ane ogee, cae 6 
1876 ie re Boys 7 1881 és oo oO) 6 
1877 ae ee, oS M 1882 ae cies 1a 8 
1878 An aes) 6 1883 cee 3 
1879 a Sie ets, 2 1884 meee 4 
297 0 


Being an average of 295% inches per annum. 


612 


Register of Ram Fall and Sunshine, &c., in the year 1884, 
kept at Marchmont House. Lat. 55° 43’; Lon. 2°. 26°. 


Marchmont is 500 feet above the sea: it is well wooded, and situated as 
near as possible in the centre of the county of Berwick, on the base of the 
Lammermoor Hills. The soilis a strong red clay, producing good crops in 
favourable seasons. 

There is nothing more striking than the absence of sunshine during the 
year, being 511 hours less than in 1883. The month of July was wet and 
cold: 5.48 inches of rain fell, there being only 5 days dry. This hada 
serious effect onthe cereals. August was adry month, with a considerable 
amount of sunshine, which had a beneficial effect on all the crops, Turnips 
grew rapidly, and harvest operations were, in favourable localities, begun ; 
but September was a wet, foggy month, and much damage was done to 
grain in stook and stack—a considerable amount of grain had to be carried 
out of the stackyard to save it. Turnips made rapid growth with the 
warmth and moisture of September, and are the best crop we have had of 
these valuable roots for several years. The prices current for all descrip- 
tions of agricultural produce must haye the effect of still further reducing 
the value of land. 


Feb, March. April, May. June, 

Ss R. Ss. R. fa IP Ri: s. 4 8. Ss. | R. Ss 
es: alee OA Oh “12 2} “15 ol aa 5 
O25 2 =e 2-1 °08 Pau | alae 4, ; 5 

Mi Be 24 22 1] ‘04 5 | 23 3 ee tee 

sn 702 24 °32 seen (ete U3 6} ‘02 2 _ 2 

al eee 24 °02 Ais eh 4} ‘29 4 P29" | 8 
3] °03 3 a Slee 6 | ‘22 4] -08 2 
2 4} ‘11 .. f 04 8] °36 2] °05 2 

Pr leer) ae Wein [ec 1} ‘03 0} -02 ey fegilsy |] 
2] ‘29 eee fires e3 3 ee 71 °02 Ae ae 

Og PH | Sils: 3 a OWE ak 5 | -02 6 
2] 12 ON ees: 4] *02 2 3 a + 3 
4] °07 .. | 03 2 ae 34 °05 OM wos ele 
4] °17 04 Fa) |. SIE oP 07 5 | 02 8 
4, 2)| ha 24 05 24 06 9 nn 5 
3 Breet) | sO 5 (ee 3] 03 Aces 1 
A205. 4 ‘ 6 | °07 24 05 34 :07 1 
Sa s032 |. Weve 4} ‘02 2 x 24 -02 1 
2 a 2) 712 44 °02 1 Be) | es C4 

me” 2 ae 4} 02 2 a Sie 1 
4} °04 3] °04 3 ae 4] °36 | 10 A 
24 ‘07 A hae 5 | °02 Sa Mae il 5 

.. £ 02 2} °02 ie) Pec 5 9} 04 th 

.. | 704 Ay he 24°07 Bi os. 12 | :02 2 
a aan Bu] ees 7 at Set 302) |) 12) 02 ee 
Via Pampa ZAR We AN || kee AU (=<2-. 5 ae 4 
2 Pe yy | et Eee ie 5 eae 9 8 
21 °02 2 ie il i | (ar 8 8 
1 °03 24 °04 Py | SiS} ws Rc 2 ips 

fae | jane 4 OE) We es 223 Pde] Wee ae 10 

ae S33 sae aa s Sule Oe ui 1 
’ ; 14 1 sap a ifs 5 Be 
50 } 1°81 | 55 § 2°15 | 80 f 1°32 |1179 2°08 | 165] °78 | 121 


Register of Rain Fall and Sunshine, dc. 1884. 613 


Date. July. August. Sept. Oct, Nov. 


J —“€ Io i EEE 


R. 8. 8. R. s. R. 8. 5 

i 09 5 1} ‘16 | | saae 4] ° ss 
2 sty 2 3} 02 5 | 12 1] 02 1 
3 “02 9 et Bos ly My | as Gi x2 2 
4 10 2 5 | °08 4q 2] °53 1 
5 “80 1 el Ne ale 6} 02 (a)| | AU || See 
6 a ees 7 {117 74 02 4} °32 3 
7 "24 2 8 | °06 im ee ae 1} °03 il 
8 09 3 8 | °07 OMe home eee ter Oa le. 
9 2 (ON | Nana a (Dees 2] 13 Dib Ass 4 
10 "69 “|... uly 03s esas Wl oot | ces Weel 3 
11 ‘16 5 Pay | are 4} °38 jal lar 3 
12 03 6 2 Necks 3} 702 pa) | tS 
13 “te 4, 6} 02 coil eee 1} 02 4 
14 } 17 8 By eAUE i ceo | Salil 5 | “02 1 
15 “Ad 1 6) | emp yer) (ee sa] |e Cl ere ui. 
16 | °02 6 1} ‘06 ri ares i fe 
17 03 7 Cé| (baa Ce) ere “ose | lel ae 
18 dl 8 6} 02 yl eee 4} ° ai 
19 07 2 1] °02 hl | ees 5 | °02 2 
20 *04, 6 Oa) ae in| (Ren 4) °33 1 
21 EPS Ne Se 24 °37 2 1] ‘21 1 
22 “50 1 1} °02 OU Pal OBER 1 
23 18 3 94 03 eee Ol see 2 
24 07 4 5 | °06 6] °04 cy eee 3 
25 08 6 7] 02 OU aL lls a 2 
26 06 1 i || zal 1} °05 3] °04 2 
27 1 “ab a 3] 05 Cpl | eee i 
28 5 ile) (cao) 2] -02 Ol. se it 
pra Salivhews Twe: 3] °02 1 
: 4] °39 4]: ang wie ae 


Total Rainfall, 28°73 inches. Total Sunshine 1066 hours. 


WInD at 9 4.M.—January—N.1; NH.0; E.1; SH. 2; 8.2; SW. 2; W. 
17; NW. 6. February—N.4; NH. 2; E.2; SH.3; S.5; SW.6; W.7; 
NW.0. March—N.1; NH. 1; H.2; SH. 1; 8.5; SW.5; W.9; NW. 7. 
April—N. 5.; NE. 6; EH. 10; SE. 2; $8.5; SW.0; W.2; NW.0. May— 
N.0; NH.3; E. 6; SEH.0; S.0; SW. 1; W. 18; NW. 3. June—N. 6; 
NH. 2; H.3; SE.0; S.2; SW.3; W. 10; NW. 4. July—N.1; NE.1; 
E.4; SH.2; 8.2; SW.6; W.14; NW. 1. August—N.1; NE.2; E.0; 
SH. 0; 8S. 1; SW. 2; W. 22; NW. 3. September—N.1; NE. 3; E. 38 
SE.0; S.1; Sw. 2; W.16; NW. 4. October—N.3: NH. 1; EH. 2; SE 
0; 8.1; SW.1; W.17; NW. 6. November—N. 4; NE.2; E.2; SE. 0 
S.1; SW.5; W.10; NW.6. December—N. 5; NE.3; BE. 0; SH. 1; 8S 
2; SW.3; W.14; NW. 3. 

Winp Directions In Days at 9 A.M.—N. 32; NE. 26; H.35; SEH. 11; 8S, 
27; SW. 36; W. 156; NW, 43. 


2 
> 
. 
3 


° 


PETER LONEY, 


614 


Donations to the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, from 
Scientific Societies, Hxchanges, &e., 1884-5. 


Batu. Proceedings of the Bath Natural History and Antiquar- 
ian Field Club, Vol. v., No. tv., 1885, 8vo. The Club. 
Betrast. Annual Report and Proceedingsof the Belfast Natural- 
ists’ Field Club, 1883-4, Ser. 1., Vol. 1., Part rv., 8vo. 
The Club. 
Boston, U.S.A. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural 
History, Vol. xxu., Part 1. and 11., 1883-4, 8vo. 
The Society. 
Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History, 
Vol.1., No. vit. Onthe Development of Oecanthus niveus and - 
its parasitic Teleas. By Howard Ayres, Jan. 1884, No. rx. 
Two New and Diverse types of Carboniferous Myriapods. 
The Species of Iylacris, a Carboniferous genus of Cockroaches. 
By Samuel A. Scudder, March 1884, No. x. Notes on the 
Peeping Frog, Hyla Pickeringii, Leconte. By Mary H. Hinck- 
ley, May 1884, 4to. The Society. 
Bremen. Abhandlugen herausgégeben vom Naturwissenschaft- 
lichen Vereine zu Bremen, vit1., Band; 2 Heft.; rx. Band, 1 
Heft; 1884. The Socrety. 
Campripcz, U.S.A. Annual Report of the Curator of Compara- 
tive Zoology, 1884, 8vo. Harvard College. 
Carpirr. Cardiff Naturalists’ Society, Report and Transactions, 
Vol. xv1, 1884. Cardiff, 1885, 8vo. The Society. 
CaruisLeE. Transactions of Cumberland and Westmoreland Asso- 
ciation for the Advancement of Literature and Science, No. 
Ix., 1883-84. Carlisle, 1885, 8vo. The Association. 
Curistiana (Norway). Carcinologiske Bidrag til Norges Fauna 
af G. O. Sars. 1. Monographie over de ved Norges Kyster 
Forekommende. Mysider Tredie Hefte, !879, 4to. 
Enumeratio Insectorum Norvegicorum Fasciculum v, 
Catalogum Hymenopterorum continentem, Auctore H. Siebke, 
Edidit J. Sparre Schneider, Pars1., 1880, 8vo. (Saw-fiies, 
Bees, Wasps, Sand- Wasps, Ants). 
—— Die Anamie von 8S. Laache, 1883, 8vo. 
——_——-._ Die silurischen Etagen 2 und 3 in Kristianagebiet 
und auf Eker von W. C. Broegger, 1882, 4to. 
; The Royal University of Norway, Christiana. 


Donations from Scientific Societies, de., 1884-5. 615 


Dustin. Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society, 
Vol. 1, Ser. m., Nos. xx., XxI., Xx0I., xxtv.,; Vol. 11. Ser. 11, 
Nos. 1., 11., uI., 1882-3, 4to. 

Ditto, Ditto. Vol. 1. Ser-1., No. xxv. On 
the Fossil Fishes of the Carboniferous Limestone Series of 
Great Britain. By James W. Davis, F.G.S., &c., 1883, 4to. 

The Scientitic Proceedings of the Royal Dublin 
Society, Vol. m1., N.S., Parts 6 and 7., Vol. 1v., N. S., Parts 1, 
2, 3, 4, 8vo., 1883-4, 8vo. The Royal Dublin Society. 

Doumrrizs. The Transactions and Journal of Proceedings of the 
Dumfriesshire and Galloway Scientific, Natural History, and 
Antiquarian Society. Sessions 1880-81, 1881-2, 1882-3, 8vo. 


The Socrety. 
EpinpurGu. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of 
Scotland, 1883-84, Vol. vr., N. S., 4to. The Society. 


Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 
Sessions, 1881-82, 1881-82, 1882-83, 8vo. The Society. 
— Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society, Session, 


1883-84, 8vo. The Society. 
Transactions and Proceedings of the Botanical Society, 

Vol. xvi.. Part 1. 1885, 8vo. The Society. 
Essex, Buckuurst Hitz. Transactions of the Essex Field Club, 

Vol. m1., Part 8., 1884, 8vo. The Club. 
Essex, Satem, U.S.A. Bulletin of the Essex Institute, Vols. 

Xv. and xvI., 1883-84, 8vo. The Institute. 
GressEN. 23 Bericht der Oberhessichen Gesselschaft fiir Natur- 

und Heilkunde, Junii, 1884, 8vo. The Society. 


Guascow. Proceedings of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, 
1883-4, Vol. xv. ; and 1884-5, Vol. xvr., 8vo. 
The Society. 
Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Glas- 
gow, Vol. v., Part 111., 1882-3; Glasgow, 1884, 8vo. 
The Society. 
Proceedings and Transactions of the Natural History 
Society of Glasgow, Vol. 1, N.S., Part 1. 1883-4, Glasgow, 
1885, 8vo. Ibid. 
Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow, 
Vol. vit., Part 11., 1882-83, 1883-84; Glasgow, 1885, 8vo. 
The Society. 
Lzeps. Transactions of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union, Part 
8, 1883-1885, 8vo. The Union. 


616 Donations from Screntific Societies, &c., 1884-5. 


Lonpon. Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great 
Britain and Ireland, Vol. xiv. and Vol xv., No. 1., 1884-85, 
8vo. The Institute. 

— Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, Vol. vut., 
Nos, 7 and 8; Vol. rx., No. 1. 1884-5, 8vo. 

The Association. 

Newcasttze. Natural History Transactions of Northumberland, 
Durham and Neweastle-upon-Tyne, Vol. vim1., Part 1; 1884, 
8vo. The Natural History Socvety. 

NorrHampton. Journal of the Northamptonshire Natural 
History Society and Field Club, Vol. 11., Nos. 19, 20, 21, 22, 
1884-5, 8vo. The Society. 

Norwicu. ‘Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ 
Society, Vol. u1., Parts rv. and v., 1883-4. The Society. 

Pert. Proceedings of the Perthshire Society of Natural 
Science, Vol. 1., Part Iv., 1883-4. Perth, 1884, 4to. 

Wasuineron, U.S.A. Annual Report of the Board of Regents 
of the Smithsonian Institution for the year 1882. Washington, 
1884, 8vo. From the Smithsonian Institution. 

United States Geological Survey. J. W. Powell, 
Director. Second Annual Report 1881-2. Washington 1882, 
small folio. From the Director. 

WetsHpoon. Collections Historical and Archeological, relating 
to Montgomeryshire and its Borders, Vol. xvi1., Nos. 1., 11., 
and Index; Vol. xvitr., No. 1., 1884-5, 8vo. 

From the Powysland Club. 


General Statement. 


Tur INcoME AND EXPENDITURE HAVE BEEN :— 


INCOME. 
£s. d 
Arrears received .. a 26 15 6 
Entrance Fees sts eile, F040 
Subscriptions me ne 87, 8 4:6 
Interest on Deposit account ne hoo. G 
Cheque from Mr Leather on 10 10 0 
account of extra plates. 

1438) 9.06 

Balance due Treasurer .. 23 12 93 

— Lire “82 
EXPENDITURE. 

Balance due Treasurer from last account 23 15 6 
Banks and Co. for Lithographing .. 5 6 0 
West and Co. do. a, 2 0 
T. Guyot do. 15 8 10 
Printing * = Ci ee ae 
Expenses at Meetings .. eft O sag 

Postages and Carriage ae 21 4 7% 
Berwick Salmon Company Pe 9) 7 

Slee. 2) 3e 
ERRATA. 


Pace 441, line 6 from the top, for Lord Kaims read Lord Kames. 

,, 448, Note, for T. D. Clark read J. D. Clark; and for S. A. Tyler 
read S. A. Fyler. 

,, 449, line 28 from the top, for fahre read fahren. 

pool 3, 12 > for revised read reversed. 

» 457, ,,  2from the bottom, for Prior Castle’s read Prior Castell’s. 

,, 465, last line, for Revken-graéber read Reihen-griber. 

,, 470, line 23 from the top, for Littorela read Littorella. 

GOTO aaa DS “ for Lerry, Lerry, read Lezzy, Lezzy. 

» 967, sentence commencing July 13, requires transposition: ‘‘ Black- 
headed Gulls seen moving sea-ward,”’ being placed at 
the close, instead of the middle. 

» 82, 583, 588, for Chiswick read Cheswick. 

,, 600, line 5 from the bottom, for Oswy read Oswald. 


i 


} a 9 oy 
th iti lt [ 


“pu 


: ce 
hah 


i 


APPENDIX. 


Tue following paper was read at the meeting of the Club, held at 
Jedburgh, on Wednesday, May 27th, 1885. 


THE ROMAN INSCRIPTION IN JEDBURGH ABBEY. 
By the Rev. J. C. Bruce, LL.D., D.C.L., F.S.A., ete. 


A short time ago the Marquis of Lothian did me the kindness 
to send me a cast in plaster-of-Paris of the Roman inscription in 
Jedburgh Abbey. On two occasions the attention of the members 
of our Club has been called to this stone. The Rev. James 
Farquharson, in his Presidential address in 1882, thus refers to it: 
—‘‘In the roof of the turret stair, to the north of the west en- 
trance, a stone is embedded, on which lettering, believed to be 
Roman, occurs. We were informed that the words ‘ Julius Ceesar’ 
are found in the inscription, but no member succeeded in decipher- 
ing the name of the ‘ great Ceesar.’” * 


Hh 


f } hy \ if 
iH ‘ M4 i N sl Ih 
ners 

Sn a oe oe 


a NIM 
Hn IMD 
iY 


1 
oo) 


ee pppoe: 


stone which has proved of some interest to antiquarians is built in 
as a lintel at the foot of the north-west turret stair. It is of 
Roman origin, and the inscription begins with the well-known 
1.0.M.— Jupiter Optimus Maximus.” The following contracted 
words can easily be made out :—CAESA. SEVER. TRIB.; but the 
inscription, as a whole, has never been deciphered. . . . An illus- 
tration of this stone is given in the first volume of Jeffrey’s History 
of Roxburghshire.” 


* Proceedings, Vol. X., p. 43. 


ii Appendix. 


The inscription, as it appears upon the cast, of which the wood- 
cut is a faithful copy, may, I think, be read thus:— 


IO M VE[XI] 

LLATIO RETO 

RVM GAESA 

QC A ge IVL 

SEVER. TRIB. 
which, I am pretty confident, ought 
to be expanded as follows :— 


I[Ov1I] O[PTIMO} M’ AXIMO] VEXI- 
LLATIO RELTORVM GAESA- 
[ToRVM] Q[VoRvVM] cL VRAM] 
A[GEBAT] IVL[Ivs] 
SEVER[INVS] TRIB[ VNVS ] ; 


and which may be translated—‘ To 
Jupiter, the best and greatest, the 
Vexillation of Rhaetian spearmen, 
under the command or Julius 
Severinus the tribune [dedicate 
this altar ].” 

I think there must have been a 
line or two more of the inscription, 
which has been chipped off by 
the builders of the Abbey. ‘There 
would, at all events, be the usual 
termination of such inscriptions— 
the letters v.s.um. (‘“wotuwm solvit 
libens merito.”’) 

I have always understood a 
verillation to be a body of men se- 
lected from different’ cohorts, but 
fighting under one common vewil- 
lum or standard, and sent on some 
special expedition. 

Retorum may be regarded as a 
rustic spelling for Rheetorum. The 
Rheetians came from the Alps. 

These Rheetians were named 
Gaesati. At Hapirancum, the 
modern Risingham, near Wood- 
burn, in the north of Northumber- 
land, we have a long but much 
fractured inscription which men- 
tions the Refi Gaesati. This in- 
scription is now in the Newcastle Museum, and is shown in the 


Appendix. ill 


accompanying woodcut, The last line of this inscription, it will 
be observed, reads thus:—[Cohors I. Van]gionum, item Raeti 
Gaesati et Exploratores . . . posuerunt.” 

Gaesum seems to be the name of a spear or javelin, first of all 
used by some savage tribes, but afterwards adopted by some Roman 
troops. What the peculiarity of the weapon consisted in we have 
no means of knowing. This vexillation seems to have been armed 
with it, and hence were called Gaesat’. 


lie 


“ 
| i ( Dp Mi 
«Ne 


i Ht G 
me HA 


i Ti i 


\ iu 
HAN 
wl 


After each of the letters, Q, 0, A, in the inscription, we have a 
leaf stop—indicating a contraction. These same letters occur in 
two other inscriptions found at Hapitancum, but now lost. I 


iv Appendiz. 


have expanded them as I find Professor Hiibner has expanded 
them, and I have no doubt correctly, in the Corpus Inscriptionum 
Latinarwn, Vol. VIL., Nos. 987, 988. 

I have only one more remark to make. The tribune’s name I 
would have read Jufius Severus, had I not found that on an altar 
dedicated to Fortune, found in the station of HABITANCUM, the name 
of the tribune who dedicates it is given thus :—IVL, SEVERINVS. 
No doubt this is the same individual as the IVL. SEVER. of the 
Jedburgh stone. 

This altar, which is a very fine one, is now in the Museum of 
the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle. It may be interesting to 
our members to see a drawing of it. The woodcut inserted on 
the former page represents 1t; which, together with the previous 
woodcut, has been kindly lent by the Newcastle Society. The 
inscription is :— 


FORTVNAE - REDVCI 
IVLIVS SEVERINVS 

TRIB[ VNVS | EXPLICITO 
BALINEO - V.S.L.M. 


“To Fortune, that brings back in safety, Julius Severinus, the 
tribune, on the completion of the bath, erects this altar in dis- 
charge of a vow to a most deserving object.” 

HaBiTaNncum is situated upon the Watling Street. Jedburgh 
is only two miles distant from this Roman road. It would be an 
easy thing for the Rheti Gesati tu find their way from Risingham 
to Jedburgh. 

It is not a little interesting to the student of our country’s 
history, after having meditated upon the state of things which 
existed when the Abbey was reared, to have his mind carried a step 
higher, by the examination of this Roman stone, to a time when 
Britain was one of the feeblest of the powers of the earth. 


» 
é 


22 DEG 188? 


4 Sat Sess OY 
MUP Ay 4 


BERWICKSHIRE NATURALISTS’ CLUB. 


LIST OF MEMBERS, OCTOBER, 1885. 


. Francis Douglas, M.D., Woodside, Kelso 


Ne 


Date of Admission 
July 30, 1834. 


. David Milne-Home, LL.D., F.R.S.E., F.S.A., Scot., etc., 


Milne-Graden House, by Coldstream, and 10 York 


Place, Edinburgh : 
. Frederick J. W. Wollinewoutl; ‘Giants Pyke, ‘Alaa, 
. Jonathan Melrose, Coldstream a: 
. David Macbeath, Old Charlton, Ket) 
. John B. Boyd, Cherrytrees, Yetholm 
. James Tait, W.S., Hdenside, Kelso ... 
. William Brodrick, Little Hill, Chudleigh, South Basen 
. John Turnbull, Abbey St Bathans, W.S., F.S.A., Scot., 
49 George Square, Edinburgh i 

10. Rev. Hugh Evans, M.A., Scremerston, Benwiek 

11. David Francis 8. Cahill, M.D., Berwick 

12. John Craster, Craster Tower, Tesbhiry) ; fs 

13. William Dickson, West End House, Pinner, London ... 

14. Matthew J. Turnbull, M.D., Coldstream : 

15. Rev. George Selby Thomson, M.A., Acklington 

16. William B. Boyd, Faldonside, Melrose 

17. Charles Stuart, M.D., Chirnside 

18. Rev. F. R. Simpson, B. A., North Sioaderlaatl Chathill 

19. George Culley, of Nowhere Tower, Office of H.M. Com- 
missioner of Woods and Forests, Whitehall ie 
London oe 

20. Sir William Meera bates Paces 7 SoiakiFodra: te 

21. Charles Watson, F.S.A. Scot., Duis 

22. Rev. Thomas Leishman, D. D., F.S.A., Seghs) Linton, 
Kelso ... 

23. George P. aeeten Middleton Hall, Wooten 4: 

24, The Right Hon. Lord Tweedmouth, Brook entice? 
Upper Brook Street, Park Lane, London; and 
Guisachan, Beauly Jog net oe 3 

25. Patrick Thorp Dickson, London se... 

26. William Sherwin, The Grange, mind Herb usth ett 

27. Rev. Thomas Procter, M.A., Tweedmouth . 

28. Matthew T. Culley, Obmpinna Castle, Wadler 


COT oe w 


: ” 
Dec. 16, ,, 


Sept. 21, 1836. 
. May 6, 1840. 


? 


Sept. 18, 1841. 
July 26, 1843. 
Sept. 20, ,, 


”) ” 
May 3, 1846. 
Oct. 18, 1849. 
Sep. 18, 1850. 
Oct. 15, 1851. 
June 30, 1852. 

oP) ” 
Oct. 12, 1853. 
Aug. 16, 1854. 


LP) ”? 


June 23, x 


9) ” 
Oct. 20, 1856. 


yy 30, 1857. 

Oct: 28;> +; 
”) 9 
”) be 


” 9 


. Robert H. Clay, M.D., 4, Windsor Villas; EL ahoaee 
ale “< H. Murray, LL. D. , Mill Hill, Hendon, Middlesex, 
NW ; 


. Charles Dewes, M. De Wweededer alse 
. Archibald Campbell Eton) LL.D., F.R.S.E., F.S. a 


. Thomas Brewis, 6, Regent Hloerae, ticeabeees 
. Rey. W. L. J. Cooley, M.A., Ponteland, Newcastle . 
. Rey. Canon Greenwell, NEA DiC Al. ERS. EES cAg 


. James Bowhill, Solivaitr Ayton ... : ... Sept. 26, 
. Rev. Canon Scarth, Holy Trinity Vicarage Milton- 


. Septimus H. Smith, Nonaees 

. Dr. John Paxton, Berwick and Norham sys By 
. Charles Anderson, Solicitor, Jedburgh bos ... dune 26, 1862. 
. Major Henry R. Hardie, Penquit, Torquay 

. John Scott Dudgeon, Longnewton Place, St Boswell 
. William Elliot, Sheriff-Clerk, Jedburgh ... “ 
. Rev. J. C. Bruce, L.L.D., F.S.A. pba? i hac, 


. John Tate, Barnhill, Agiitairten sa he e 
. Rev. Peter Mearns, Coldstream .. __... me - _ 
. William Crawford, Solicitor, Duns slit a Ane dea e,, 
. George Rea, Middleton House, Alnwick... jet ss 
. Sir Walter Elliot, K.C.S.1I., LL.D., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.S.A., 


: Riceanter Curle, F.8.A., Scot., Mieieass eae ae r 
. John Edmond Friar, Giada Beas, Norham : 
. Francis Russell, Sheriff Substitute, Jed-bank, J einen a 
. William Hilton Dyer Longstaffe, F.S.A., Gateshead he 
. Robert Middlemas, Solicitor, Alnwick Ses 

. James Hardy, Oldcambus, Cockburnspath Prin : 
. Rev. E. L. Marrett, M.A., Wellbury, Yorkshire ee ha) pe oo 
. Thomas Clutterbuck, Warkworth aie tae 9 Fr 


List of Members. 


- John Marshall, M.D., Chatton Park, Belford .. June 24, 1858. 
- John Wheldon, 4, Paternoster Row, London, H.C. ... Oct. 27, ,, 

- Middleton H. Dand, Hauxley Cottage, Acklington ... June 28, 1859. 
. Stephen Sanderson, The Elms, Berwick _... wa FF 53 

- Dennis Embleton, M.D., Eldon Square, Newcastle ... > * 

. Charles B. Pulleine Bosanquet, Rock, Alnwick 3 Opt. Zo. ae, 

. Robert Douglas, Solicitor, Berwick ... ie ... June 28, 1860. 
. John Riddell, St. Ninian’s, Wooler ... ee ... Sept. 18, 5 

. Watson Askew, Pallinsburn, Coldstream ... =» Och. wer 


) 


. Rev. Edward A. Wilkinson, M.A., Whitworth Vicarage, 


Spennymoor, Durham ... ... May 30, 1861. 


» re) 


June 27, > 


”) » 


Scot., Kimmerghame, Duns ” ” 


. Rev. Patrick George McDouall, M.A. Cours Rea: 


Stony Stratford ie be .. duly 25, 


9 ”) 


) ? 


Hon. F.S.A., Scot., Durham. 


next-Gravesend 


Newcastle ... : «0 LODLy tells 


Scot., Wolfelee, Hawick ; . June 25, 1863. 


List of Members. 


. Thomas Tate, Allerburn, Alnwick 

. Rev. Adam Davidson, M.A., Yetholm 

. Robert Brown, Littlehoughton, Chathill ... 

. Christopher S. Bell, Carlton, Darlington 

. Rev. James Farquharson, M.A., Selkirk 

. Henry Richardson, M.D., RN., Castle “Termnce, 


Berwick 


. Thomas Allan, Horneliffe EGades Bereiel « 
. James Smail, F.S.A. Scot., Commercial Bank, 


Hdinburgh. 


. Rey. H. M. Graham, Maaion: St Bosablias, 

. Rey. P. McKerron, M.A., Kelso 

9. William Currie, Linthill, St Boswells 

. William Blair, M.D., Jedburgh 

. Major The Hon. R. Baillize Hamilton, F. g, ie Scot., 


Langton House, Duns 


. His Grace The Duke of Noihuibenand: Mio 


Castle 


. Robert G. Bolam, Rarwiel sf 
. Rev. J. Elphinstone Elliot Bates, B. A. ae Hall, 


Newcastle 


. James Brunton, aeoralanda: alee 

. Captain James F. MacPherson, Melrose 

. Lieut-Col. Francis Holland, Alnwick 

. James Heatley, Alnwick 

. C. H. Cadogan, Brenkburne Briony, Reesarh st 
. Robert Romanes, F.S.A., Scot., Harryburn, Lauder 
. Thomas Broomfield, Solicitor, Lauder 

. John Bolam, Alnwick o 

. John Dunlop, Solicitor, Bam on, si6 

. Pringle Hughes, Middleton Hall, Wooler 

. James Purves, Berwick 

. George L. Paulin, Berwick uA er 

. Rev. David Paul, M.A., Roxburgh, ‘Kelgo Ly 

. Thomas Patrick, Berwick nek za 

. John Scott, Corporation Menderes Berwick 

. John Pringle Turnbull, Alnwick 

- Rey. Canon Trotter, M.A., St Msuiaats, Araneae 


Alnwick 


. James Wood, Woodburn, Calasiels 
. Matthew Young, Castle Terrace, Berwick pe 
. Rev. Thomas Brown, F.R.S.E., 16 Carlton- Street, 


Edinburgh 


. Rev. Thomas Rogers, M.A., Roxwell Vicarage, 


Chelmsford ... 


. Rev. Robert Paul, F.S. a eer Dollar, 
. Rev. T. S. Anderson, Hdinburgh 
. Rey. David W. Yair, Firth Manse, enews, eae 


July 29, 1863. 
Sept. 29, 


Sept. 29, 1864. 
June 29, 1865, 


June 25, 1868. 
Sept. 25, ,, 


May 11, 1871. 


Sep. 26, 


” 


Inst of Members. 


. John Philipson, 9 Victoria Square, Newcastle ... Sept. 26, 1871. 
. Rey. Ambrose Jones, M.A., Stannington, Cramlington a5 fs 
. W. H. Otto, Jed-neuk, Jedburgh a $5 - a 
2. William Weatherhead, Solicitor, Borie. ne a a 


. Rey. H. EH. Henderson, B.A., Alwinton, Morpeth ... Ps A 
. Alexander James Main, M.D., Alnwick te o e 
. Thomas Arkle, Highlaws, Morpeth ee .. Sept. 26, 1872. 


. James T. 8. Doughty, Solicitor, Ayton ... : Ee x, 
. Capt.J.Carr-Ellison, Dunston Hill, Whickham, B.S. 0. x os 
. W. T. Hindmarsh, Alnbank, Alnwick ae aid 45 
. Lieut.-Col. James Paton, Ferniehurst, Jedburgh ... - 
. Henry A. Paynter, Freelands, Alnwick a i. 
. Major R. Thompson, Walworth Hall, Darlington 5 : 
. Rey. Evan Rutter, B.A., Spittal, Berwick .. Sept. 25, 1873. 
. Rev. Hastings M. Neville, Ford Rectory, Cornhill Fe 
. Col. David Milne Home, M.P., Paxton House, Berwick 53 
. James Nicholson, Thornton, Berwick 5 ras 3 5; 

. Rey. Canon Waite, M.A., Vicarage, Norham ii 55 3 

. Rev. Beverley 8S. Wilson, B.A., Duddo, Norham... Sept. 24, 1874. 
. Robert Gray, F.R.S.H., F.S.A., Scot., Bank of 


” 


Scotland House, Edinburgh ... Fr » 


. Col. Sir William Crossman, C.M.G., RE., Sohlewiek Bs a 
. F.M. Norman, Commander, R.N., Cheviot House, 


Berwick aa Be we 3 bs 


. James Hastie, Haciagton Gastte: Rorwide a zs a 
2. George Muirhead, Paxton, Berwick F 3 
. Thomas Henderson, M.A., Bedford Gude: SuHGO 


Bedford i ae onc nie a0 . 4 


. J. B. Kerr, Kelso De nd 550 A + 

. Edward Liddell, Morris Hall, arta se Ete & be 

. Samuel Grierson, M.D., District Asylum, Melrose ee ee 

. Matthew G. Crossman, Berwick aes 1 sept. 29, 1875. 
. John Freer, Solicitor, Melrose ... xf 45 

. J. A. Forbes, Commander, R.N., West Coates Haase. 


Berwick : ae Ge ~ a 


. David Watson, Hillside Cottage, Hawick aoe ie + 
. Adam Robertson, Alnwick : es a BA . 
. Charles Erskine, The Priory, Walrase oe a 59 s 
. Arthur H. Evans, M.A., Scremerston, Berwick _... “a os 
. James Allan, Ava Tiedee! Berwick & $ 
. John Hood, Oldcambus Townhead, Codkunenagath *p 5, 
. Rey. Joseph Hunter, M.A., Cockburnspath ih ig se 
. Lieut.-Col. Andrew Aree R.A., Caledonian United 


Service Club, Edinburgh Re 5a As 


. Capt. Theodore Williams, Heatherslaw onee! Cornhill 4 Fs 
. Rey. Canon Creighton, Professor of Ecclesiastical 


History, Langdale Lodge, The Avenue, Cambridge. a Fi 


181. 
182. 


List of Members. 


. T. W. McDowall, M.D., F.S.A., Scot., County Asylum, 


Cottingwood, Morpeth 


. John Halliday, 5 Holland Park, Bayswater, Wandan, W. 
. Rev. Joseph Hill Scott, M.A., Abbey House, Kelso 

. George Greig, 28 Cornhill, London, E.C. oct 
. Alexander Buchan, A.M., F.R.S.H., Sec. Met. Soc., 


Scot., 72 Northumberland Street, Edinburgh 


. Edward Ridley, 34 Chapel Street, Berkeley Square, 


London, 8.W., Barrister-at-Law 


. Rev. George P. Wilkinson, M.A., Havgertey Park, 


Durham 


. Capt. Wm. Eliott ene mee es ee 
. Sir Edward Blackett, Bart., Matfen, Newcastle 

. Rey. Geo. W. Sprott, D.D., North Berwick 

. John L. Crombie, M.D., Metbotrne Villa, North Barvisk 
. Rev. Paton Gloag, D.D., Galashiels 

. Henry S. Anderson, M.D., Selkirk 

. James Brown, Thornfield, Selkirk 

. George Rodger, Philipburn, Selkirk 

. Andrew Currie, Darnick, Melrose 

. William Lyall, Literary and Piilosontieel Shige. 


Newcastle 


. William Topley, F.G.S., Office of i. Me. Gane Ser 


vey of England and Waibe 28 Jermyn St., London 


. Hubert EH. H. Jerningham, M.P., Loneqase Towers, 


Berwick 


. Alexander Tower Robertson a ‘Berwick 
. Rey. W. Dobie, M.A., Ladykirk, Norham 

. Rey. Canon Walter, M. A., 12 North Bailey, pian 
. James Hunter, Anton’s Hill, Coldstream 

. Sir George Brisbane Douglas, Bart., Springwood Par = 


Kelso 


ionev. G. HH. Irena D. D.. Whitton Teer Rothbury, 


Morpeth 


. Sir Molineux Hyde Nepean, Bat. F.S.A., ae 


Duddingston House, Mid-Lothian 


. Alexander Scott of Falla, Hillside, Téeweehis 

. Robert Richardson Dees, Wallsend, Newcastle 

. John Ferguson, Writer, Duns 

. Archibald Buchan mie Smeaton Mogpaen 


Prestonkirk 


. James Lumsden, F.Z.S., BS TAs, Shee ere Hoade 


Alexandria, Decabitioushire 

James Tait, Cock Hall, Eglingham ; 

Isaac Bayley Balfour, Sc.D., M.B.C.M., Fr, R.S. B., 
F.L.S., F.G.8., Professor of Botany in the Daesaeene: 
of Oxford Bt woh ; 


Sep. 


Sep. : 


29, 1875. 


Oct. 31, 1877. 


7 


a9 


Inst of Members. 


. Robert Mason, F.L.S., 6 Albion Crescent, Dowanhill, 


Glasgow 


. Chas. Felix McCabe, meactan Bene. Felton, Acklington 
. John J. Horsley, Bellevue, Alnwick 

. Rev. Charles E. Green, B.A., Howick, Chathill 

7. Thomas Chas. Hindmarsh, Sea at-Law, 1 Essex 


Court, Temple, London 


. Rev. R. Hopper Williamson, M. Me Wingicharn Gates- 


head 


. Rey. R. F. Brondteat, BA Rs Dane 
. W. H. Johnson, Tweed Ville, Relugas Road, Mosewaret 
. Alan Swinton, East India United Service Club, 


London, 8.W. 


. G. A. Lebour, M.A., F. GS. Brorensen oe Gece, 


University of avkarn Gollan of Physical Science, 
Newcastle 


. Rey. James A. Sons ‘B. AG peal dears ose, 


Stockton-on-Tees 


. Rev. Walker Featherstonhaugh, M. A. |Bamondbyers 


Blackhill, Co., Durham 


. George E. Watson, Accountant, hiomick 

. Lowrey Calvert Chrisp, Hawkhill, Alnwick x 
. Col. Matthew Charles Woods, Holeyn Hall, Wylam 
. George H. Thompson, Alnwick 

. William Lang Blaikie, Holydean, St Beawells 

. Andrew E. Scougal, H.M. Inspector of Schools, 


Melrose 


. Captain John Broad, hes Mialroes 

2. John Thomson, Maxton 

. Dr Denholm, Mavisbank, Pelion, ‘Mia- lagteian 
. Rey. J. Mackenzie Allardyce, D.D., Bowden, St Boswells 
. Dr E. C. Robertson, Otterburn, Newcastle 

. William Wilson, Hidehill, Berwick 

. The Right Hon. the Earl of Haddington, Tyningham 


House, Prestonkirk 


. Peter Loney, Marchmont, Crete nae 
. William A. Hunter, M.A., LL.B., Solicitor, Duns 

. Thomas Darling, Palace Street, Berwick 

. Rey. John Walker, Whalton, Newcastle 

2. Rev. R. H. Taylor, B.A., Cresswell, Morpeth 

. Arthur Thew, Belvedere Terrace, Alnwick 

. William Hurb Sitwell, Barmoor 

. Edmund Dornan Hodgson, Barrister-at- To 3 Morale 


Gardens, London 


5. John Russell, Thirlestane Road, Granea. Hoimbunck 
. Thomas Turnbull, Lilliesleaf, St Boswells 
. Alexander Leitch, Fairneyside, Ayton 


Oct. 


oy 


31, 1877. 


. 31, 1877. 


3) 


219. 


220. 


221. 
222. 
223. 
224:, 
225. 
226. 
227. 
228. 


229. 
230. 
231. 
232. 
233. 
234. 
235. 
236. 
237. 
238. 


239. 
240. 
241, 
242. 
243. 


244, 
245. 
246. 
247. 


248. 
249. 
250. 


251. 


252. 


253. 
254. 


255. 


256. 


List of Members. 


J. K. Weatherhead, Solicitor, Berwick 

Dr Stanley Scott, St Cuthberts, Spittal 

James Greenfield, Reston ; 

James Mein, Lamberton 

George Skelly, Alnwick 

Rey. Canon Tristram, D.D., F.R. S., ES. ae ‘Marder 

Thomas Cook, Solicitor, ‘Alnwioe 

Charles M. Adamson, North Jesmond, Netonstle 

W.F. Vernon, Kelso ; ‘i a 

William Gunn, F.G.S., 22 Cie Ceeeoue. Edin- 
burgh 

Rev. F. B. iy mae Ee M. ot Hewectae Dinmicnt, 

Rev. George Gunn, Stichell, Kelso : 

Patrick Kynock, M.D., Greenlaw 

George Anderson, Selkirk f ‘ 

Thomas Craig-Brown, Woodburn, Seikick 

Ralph Dunn, Solicitor, Melrose as 

Thomas Fairley, Academy, Galashiels 

Robert Darling Ker, 10 Mostyn Terrace, Edinbur af 

Rey. Robert Small, Caddonfoot, Galashiels te 

Rey. A. Duncombe Shafto, M.A., Brancepeth ae 
Durham : 

J.J. Vernon, F.S8.A.., Scot), Hamiok 

Robert Henry Elliot, Clifton Park, Kelso 

J. W. Barnes, Banker, Durham 

George Bolam, Berwick 

Rev. Thomas 8. Meneubneiene Pregeene Hast 
Lothian 

Rev. James King, B.A., Waoae of St Mary’s 8, Bpeyace 


James Bogie, 5 Marchhall Road, Newington, Edinburgh 


Francis D. Blake, Tillmouth Park, Coldstream 

Andrew P. Aitken, M.A., Dr. Sc., etc., Chemist to the 
Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, 
18 Dublin Street, Edinburgh ac 

James Thomas Spencer Elliot, yr. of Wolfelee 

Thomas Rutherford, M.D., Kelso 

John Crawford Hodgson, Baan Vale, eens 

Rev. Duncan Maclean, B.D., Allanton 

James Fergusson, St Gece s Presbyterian dohcol, 
Morpeth 

John Broadway, ipeaacen Aihaiok 

Alexander Dickson, M.D., F.R.S.E., F.L. S., Gereeeror 
of Botany in the Deaereity of Hdinburgh i 

Major Shallcross Fitzherbert Widdrington, Newton 
Hall, Alnwick 580 

Rey. William Snodgrass, D.D., Ganoriie, cipanbrios: 
shire ous 90 oun ° 


Oct. 


Oct. 


vu 
16, 1878. 


15, 1879. 


2) 


vill 
DIS fp 


258. 
259. 
260. 
261. 
262. 
263. 


264. 
265. 


266. 
267. 
268. 


269. 
270. 
271. 
272. 
273. 
274, 
275. 
276. 
277. 
278. 
279. 
280. 


281. 
282. 
283. 

284. 
285. 


286. 
287. 
288. 
289. 


290. 
291. 


292. 
293. 


Inst of Members. 


Rev. Charles Cowan, B.D., F.S.A., Scot., Morebattle, 
Kelso 3 

Rev. Canon ifidertoh, M. nae aston, MWAGE 

Edwin Thew, Alnwick, M. B., C.M., 

Thomas Walby, Alnwick 

William Alder, Hallidon House, Baie. 

Robert Weddell, Solicitor, Berwick ? 

The Right Hon. Lord Napier and iittrick, K. r, 
Thirlestane, Selkirkshire ‘ 
William Craig, M.D., C.M., F.R.C.S.E., PRS.E. 7 
' Bruntsfield Place and Surgeons’ Hall, Kdinburgh .. 
Robert Hutchison, F.R.S.H., F.S.A., Scot., Calowiie, 
Kirkliston, and 29, Chester Street, Edinburgh 

James 8. Mack, 8.8.C., Coveyheugh, Reston 

Rev. George Marjoribanks, B.D., Stenton, Prestonkirk 

The Most Hon. the Marquess of Tweeddale, Yester 
House, Haddington 

John H. F. K. Scott of Gala, Cae A ohken Galashiels 

Edward Johnson, M.D., Tweedbank, Kelso 

R. P. Brotherston, ingen aa peranists 

Edward Willoby, junr., Berwick . 

Joseph Wilson, Solicitor, Duns ; 

William Maddan, British Linen Co’s. hank, Bereick 

William Thompson Hall, Dunns Houses, Woodburn 

Hugh Miller, F.G.S., of the Ordnance Survey, Falstone 

James Lesslie N aahibin: Alnwick 6 

George Bird, 63, Haymarket Terrace, Rihbargh . 

Rey. A. B. Coulson, B.A., Carham ‘ 

Rey. John Dobie, M.A., B.D., 1386 Woodlands Bona, 
Glasgow He ant 

James Cumming, pices J Sabie 

T. D. Crichton Smith, Solicitor, Kelso noe 

Ephraim Arkle, Carrick, Elsdon ... see ome 

Dr. Rowland Weight, Melrose 

John Henderson Wright, M.B., C.M., Colville othe: 
Kelso st 

Rey. James Boyd, Tnhstletitidn Sint 

Richard Lees, Solicitor, Galashiels 00 BAC 

Edward Tennant, yr. of The Glen, Innerleithen ... 

Stevenson Macadam, Ph.D., F.R.S.H., Lecturer on 
Chemistry, Surgeons’ Hall, Edinburgh; 11 Hast 
Brighton Crescent, Portobello . act 

Hon. H. C. Maxwell Stuart, Tratinath House, Tite: 
leithen 00 G00 

Adam Darling, Giogenige! g Hote, Berwick Aci 

A. L. Miller, 11 Silver Street, Berwick. ; 

Thomas Fraser, M.D., Berwick ... Bod dite 


294. 
295. 
296. 


297. 


298. 
299, 


300. 
301. 
302. 
303, 
304, 
305. 
306. 
307. 
308. 
309. 
310. 
311. 
312, 
313, 
314. 
315. 
316. 
317. 
318. 
319. 
320. 
321, 
322. 
323. 
324, 
325. 
326. 
327. 
328, 


329. 
330. 
331. 
332. 
333. 
334. 
335. 


List of Members. 


Dr. Heagerty, Tweedmouth 

Alexander Bowie, Canonbie, Dumtcoastine 

W. Edward H. Kelso, Ashbrook, Ferry Road, 
Edinburgh san 

Capt. Alexr. Murray Deon Rigs idenas House, 
Duns a 

Rev. Robert Nimmo Smith, Badameton 

The Most Hon. the Marquess of Lothian, K. T., 
Mount Teviot, Roxburghshire ... ae i 

John Walker Logan, Avenue, Berwick 

Robert Stephenson, Market Place, Duns 

Rev. W. D. Herald, B.D., Duns ... 

Robert Robertson, Ladyrig, Roxburgh 

John 8. Bertram, Cranshaws, Duns 

William Gunn, Duns 

Rey. Arthur Gordon, M.A., Guesonle 

James Parker Simpson, Alagiek 

Andrew Ker, St Boswells 

Dr. Allan Wilson, Alnwick 

The Right Hon. the Harl of Hom, Hirsel, Geldstteam 

Rey. Robert Stewart, Jedburgh ... Fr an 

George Bulman, Corbridge-on-Tyne 

David Dippie Dixon, Rothbury 

John Turnbull, Ettrick View, Selkirk 

Adam Cochrane, Fernieknowe, Galashiels 

Rey. William Robertson, Sprouston, Kelso 

William Horsley, Chirton House, North Shields 

James J. R. Storer, Alnwick : 

Matthew Culley, jun., Coupland Castle, Wooler 

Thomas Greig, Wester Wooden, Kelso 

John G. Winning, Branxholme Knowe, Hawick 

James Thomson, Shawdon, Alnwick 

James Thin, jun., South Bridge, Edinburgh 

Robert Shirra Gibb, M.D., C.M., Boon, Lauder ; 

Col. James Edward Wortan Recason Seal, Beswick. 

William Robertson, Alnwick gat Ar 

Richard Burdon Sanderson, Budle Ficane: Belford. 

James Brunlees, C.H., 5 Victoria St., wyeuhiansten: 
London aoe 00 

John 8. Muir, M.B., Thorneroft, Belize, 

Henry Rutherfurd, Roinain gion, Kelso 

Rey. A. E. Langston, Hebburn Vicarage, Reece 

Rev. Canon Edmunds, Kyloe Vicarage, Beal “oF 

Alfred Morall Appleton, 13, Elvet Bridge, Durham 

James Nisbet, Lambden, Greenlaw : 

Edward A. L. Batters, B.A., LL.B., F.L. S., earns 
Court Buildings, Old Broad erect, Mipimclais B.C., 


1x 


Oct. 12, 1881. 
Oct. 11] 


30 


, 1882. 


x Ivst of Members. 


336. Rev. Robert Borland, Yarrow, Selkirk ... .. Oct. 10, 1883. 
337. Rev. Edward Arkless, Berwick ... Mi a 3 3 
338. Blake Johnston Weatherhead, Berwick ... ae es 55 
339. Charles Purves, West Acres, Alnwick iA 9 op 
340. John McNaught Campbell, Kelvingrove Micattdis, 

Glasgow ae sib a 7 
341. Rev. Charles Blackett Camel Burndbie Te = Oct. 20, 1884. 
342. David Robertson Dobie, M.D., Coldstream.. ; = 3 
343. John Hunter, H.M. Tmapector of Schools, Arnie An a3 
344. Robert Amos, Oaklands, Alnwick bea hae # 3 
345. Charles Percy, Alnwick Bar is aa _ ‘3 


346. Rev. J. G. 8. Napier, Kelso 

347. John H. Haliburton, Tweedmount, Manone: 
348. Dr Peter White, Yetholm i 

349. Samuel Mason, Clive Terrace, Alnwick 

350. Robert Govenlock, Teindside, Hawick 

351. Capt. C. Lisle Cookson, Berrywell, Duns 
352. David W. B. Tait, W.S., Edenside, Kelso 
353. Hvan George Sanderson, The Elms, Berwick 
354. John Brown, Ancroft, Beal 

355. C. C. Brown, Thirston, Felton 

356. Dr Thomas Anderson of Shaws, Buokianid, Haiviek = 
357. James Logan Mack, Coveyheugh, Reston Ban ” 
358. Delaval Knight Gregson, Berwick 

359. William Green, Berwick 

560. Rev. A. O. Medd, M.A. Binaitniesh, Belford 
861. John H. Bell, Alnwick 


362. George Henderson, Shidlaw, Duldetatana o " 
363. Charles 8. Romanes, 46 Hanover Street, Ridaationares. si “- 
364. Robert Watson, Eccles Newton, Coldstream a “8 = 
365. Edmond John Jasper Browell, J.P., East Boldon, 

Sunderland 


366. Robert Yeomaa Green, 6 Grey Street tl ul Ronnie 
: Crescent, Newcastle 
367. George Hare Philipson, M.D., D. C. L., M. Ke, 7 Eldon 


Square, Newcastie ae ar bins > a 
3868. David Herriot, Castle Terrace, Botiaieks ree oe: 5 > 
369. Joseph Oliver, Eslington Park, Alnwick ... ty “ 


870. James Blaikie, M.A., Hdin. and Cantab., H. M. 
Inspector. of Schools, 14, Viewsetth Place, 


Edinburgh ... nec oe a 
871, Sir William Ramsay Fairfax, Bart., Mattos wi - 4 
372. The Right Rev. the Bishop of Restertics Bemwéill 

Tower, Newcastle uae ioe as Eka rr - 
373. Michael Muir, Selkirk ... ols ie ‘is 
374, Dr H. R. Gatley, Ayton, Botwibkshire ce : % 7 


375. Alexander F. Roberts, Manor Hall, Selkirk vi by - 


List of Members. xi 


376, D. C. Alexander, Selkirk si si as e se 
377. Dr. James Thomas, Selkirk ii a af 
- 878. Alexander C. McIntyre, F.S.A., Scot., 99 Renfield 

Street, Glasgow Bae ie = 3 
379. Col. John Sprot of Riddell, St Boswell rs a - 


HONORARY MEMBERS. 


The Lady A. A. John Scott of Spottiswoode, Lander. 
Mrs, Spoor, Tosti, Falsgrave, Scarborough. 

Mrs, Barwell Carter, The Anchorage, Berwick, 

Miss Margaret R. Dickinson, Norham, 

Miss Langlands, 5, Strathearn Place, Edinburgh, 
Miss Russell of Ashiesteel, Galashiels, 

Mrs. Robert MiddJemas, Alnwick. 

Miss Sarah Dand, Morwick Hall, Acklington, 


ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. 


William Shaw, Literary and Scientific Institute; Berwick. 
John Anderson. Preston, Dunse. 

Thomas Henry Gibb, Alnwick. 

Andrew Brotherston, Shedden Park Road, Kelso. 

Robert Renton, Greenlaw, 

John Aitchison, Belford. 


CORRESPONDING MEMBERS. 


C. C. Babington, M.A. F.R.S., F.L.S., etc. Professor of Botany in the 
University of Cambridge, 

Rey. Leonard Blomefield, M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S., ete. Bath. 

Richard Howse, Secretary to the Tyneside Naturalists’ Field-Club, New- 
castle, 


OFFICERS OF THE CLUB, 


FRANCIS DOUGLAS, M.D., Kelso. ) 
JAMES HARDY, Oldcambus, Cockburnspath. § S2c"etaries. 


ROBERT MIDDLEMAS, Alnwick, Treasurer. 


INDEX=OP/ BLEEDS. 


(FOR OTHER NOTICES, SEE REPORTS ON MIGRATION). 


Auk, Little, 199, 205. 

Bittern, Common, 581. 

Blackbird, 560, 561, 

Pied, 574. 

Black Cock, 12, 18, 159, 571, 606. 

Brambling, see Finch, Mountain. 

Bullfinch, 205, 575. 

Bunting, Black-headed or Reed, 
557, 559, 563, 565, 567, 572, 579. 

Common or Corn, 470, 559. 

—— Snow, 84, 205, 460, 556, 
557, 562, 569, 576, 582. 

Buzzard, Common, 385, 582, 584. 

Honey, 197, 385, (read 
apivorus). 

——— Rough-legged, 84, 205, 385. 

Chaffinch, 11, 390, 559, 560, 572-3, 
(White). 

Coot, 52, 53, 262, 471, 556-7, 564-5, 
567, 571. 

Cormorant, 204, 
—569. 

Crake, Corn or Landrail, 5, 205, 
394, 460, 558, 567, 570-2 2, etc., 
581, 589- 590. 

Creeper, 563, 577. 

Crossbill, 460. 

Crow, Carrion, 13, 159, 460, 559, 
560, 577. 

Hooded or Grey-backed, 160, 
391, 556, 562, 572, 581, 583, 587. 

Cuckoo, 11, 204, 205, 356, 557, 558, 
559, 565, 567, 581, 606. 

Cushat, see Wood-Pigeon. 

Curlew, 11, 138, 19, 24, 264, 266, 
270, see Mig. of Birds:—560, (and 
Corbie), 568, 572, (White). 

Dabchick, see Grebe, Little. 

Dipper, 18, 20, 560, 573, 606. 

Diver, Black-throated, 204, 460. 

Great Northern, 460. 

Red-throated, 138, 460. 


562, 573; 


see Mig. of Birds: 


Dotterel, 13, 557, 564, 570. 

Duck, Common Wild or Mallard, 52, 
204, 245, 568, 565, 576, 577. 

Hider, 262, ete., 456, 567. 

Golden Eye, 13, 262. 

King, 460. 

Pintail, 18, 204, 395. 

Pochard, 13, 53, 607. 

Scaup, 607. 

Shoveller, 18, 395. 

Teal, 58, 205, 245. 

Tufted, 18, 53, 607. 

Wigeon, 588. 

Eagle, Golden, 13. 

Falcon, Peregrine, 13, 384, 469, 560, 
569. 

Fieldfare, 562, 564, 572, 575, 587, 
see Mig. of Birds. 

Finch, Mountain or Brambling, 84, 
460, 572, 582, 584, 588. 

Flycatcher, Pied, 386, 583, 585, 587, 
588. 


Red-breasted, 387-8, 583. 
Spotted or Grey, 22, etc., 

562, 567, 571, 574, 575, 580, 583, 
587, 589. 

Goatsucker or Night-jar, 
Mig. of Birds. 

Godwit, Bar-tailed, 394. 

Black-tailed, 394, 584. 

Goosander, 13, 84. 

Goose, Bean, 53, 580. 

Bernicle, 262, 395. 

Brent, 53, 580. 

Canada, 53, 578. 

Keyptian, 53. 

Grey-lag, 205, 394, 589. 

Ware, 205. 

Wild, 18, 460, 562, 563, 569, 
570-1-3-5-6-8, ete. 

Grebes, 53, 84, 268, 556. 

Grebe, Hared, 396. 


584, see 


INDEX OF BIRDS. 


Grebe, Great-Crested, 395. 
Little or Dabchick, 205, 263, 


587. 


Red-necked, 395. 

Sclavonian, 396. 

Greenfinch, 266, 575. 

Grouse, Red, 11. 

Guillemot, Black, 199. 

—— Common, 199, 214, 563: 

Ringed, 460. 

Gull, Black-headed, 54, 253, 266, 
331, 445-6, 460, 565, 567, 568, 572, 
see Mig. of Birds. 

Glaucous, 200. 

Herring, 572. 

Iceland, 199. 

Lesser Black-backed, 556, 558, 

564, 

Little, 199. 

Hedge Sparrow, 388. 

Heron, Common, 13, 14, 20, 26, 37, 
48, 53, 87, 330—8334, 560, 562, 564, 
574, 574, see Mig. of Birds. 

Squacco, 581, 589. 

Hobby, 197. 

Hoopoe, 205, 391, 460, 469, 580-1 

Jackdaw, 5, 160, 165, 178, 215, 254, 
559, 563, 568. 

Jay, 37. 

Kestrel, 160. 

Kingfisher, 37, 204, 578, 575. 

Landrail, see Corn Crake. 

Lapwing, 19, 204, 215, 258, 266, 274, 
556, 557, 569, see Mig. of Birds. 

Lark, Sky, 11, 13, 2453, 559, 572. 

Linnet, Grey, 559, 561, 6562, 564, 
567, 569, 570, 571. 

Redpole, 573. 

Twite or Mountain, 588. 

Magpie, 36, 245, 571. 

Martin, Common, 204, 274, 281, 557, 
558, 559, 560, etc., 606: see Mig. 
of Birds. 

Martin, Sand or Bank, 204, 254, 557, 
558, 560, 667, 576, (early): see 
Mig. of Birds. 

Merlin, 13. 

Missel Thrush, 160, 161, 460, 558, 
562, 575-6, 606, etc. 

Moor-Blackbird, see Ousel, Ring. 

Night Jar, see Goatsucker. 

Oriole, Golden, 387. 

Osprey, 384. 

Ousel, or Ouzel, Ring, 12, 13, 24, 


xiii 


388, 460, 557, 562, 564, 565, 567, 
569, 470, 571, 482, 584, 588, 606. 
Owl, Brown, Tawny or Screech, 84, 
386, 570, 584. 
— Short-eared, 84. 
Oyster-Catcher, 557, 570. 
Petrel, Fulmar, 84. 
: Leach’s or Fork-tailed, 86, 
87. 


Stormy, 84, 86, 396, 584. 

Pipit, Meadow or Moor, or Titlark, 
5, 12, 13, 19, 22, 274, 356, -390; 
557, 559, 560, 562, 564, 565, ete. 

Rock or Sea, 258, 266, 564. 

Tree, or Titlark, 251, 558, 
565, 566, 567, 570. 

Plover, Green, see Lapwing. 

Grey, 393. 

-Golden, 13, 204, 478, 556, 

573, 575. 

Ringed, 259, 266. F 

Quail, 392-3. a 

Raven, 13,-159, 556. 

Redbreast, 161. 

Redshank, 266, 475, 556, 557, 560, 
562, see Mig. of Birds. 

ee US eyes * 

Redstart, 36, 204, 245, 254, 460, 557, 
558, 559, 564-5-6-7, 570-1-2-3-4, 
877-8, 580, 582, 585, 587, etc. 

Redwing, see Mig. of Birds. 

Ring-dove, see Wood-Pigeon. 

Rook, 19, 26, 159-184, 203, 205, 214, 
560, 563, 567, 568. 

Ruff, 393, 684. 

Sandpiper, Common, 36, 557, 558, 
566, 572, 573, 586, ete. 

Curlue, 393. 

Scoter, Black, 607. 

Shag, 396, 460. 

Shell-drake, 53, 262, 460. 

Shrike, Grey, 84, 197, 385, 572, 588. 

Red-backed, 886, 584. 

Siskin, 59, 390, 573, 575, 580. 

Sknas, 460. 

Skua, Buffon’s, 200. 

— Pomatorhine, 89. 

Smew, 399. 

Snipe, Common, 13. 

Jack, 460. 

Solan-Goose, or Gannet, 460, 564. 

Sparrow-Hawk, 575-6. 

Sparrow, Common, 281. 

Tree, 390-1, 


XiV 


Starling, 13, 203, 204, 245, 266, 391, 
567, 
Stint, Little, 393, 
Stock-dove, 391-2, 571, 576. 
Stone-chat, 5, 13, 208, 656, 559, 560, 
562, 567, 569, see Mig. of Birds. 
Swallow, 36, 204, 254, 281, 282, 557, 
558, 559, 561, 568, 576 (late), 581, 
606, etc. 

Swan, Bewick’s, 198, 204, 334—338, 
394. 


Wild, 204, 580. 
Swans, White and Black, 52. 
Swift, 36, 204, 558, 559, 566, 567, 
571, 572, 574, 57d, 577. 
Tern, Arctic, 260. 
Thrush, Song, 245, 557, 558, 562, 
575. 
Titmouse, Cole, 49, 563. 
Greater, 556, 563, 
Long-tailed, 578. 
Marsh, 556, 558. 
Turnstone, 198. 
Wagtail, Grey, 22, 204, 556, 557, 
576, see Mig. of Birds. Nesting of, 
574. 


Pied, 5, 22, 203, 254, 266, 
277, 557, 558, 559, 569, 567; see 
Mig. of Birds. 

Yellow, 204, 580. 

Warbler, Black-cap, 204, 558, 559, 
566, 567, 571, 578; see Mig. of Birds. 
Blue-throated, 84. 
Chiff-chaff, 203, 570, 572, 
576, 579, 580, 582, 586. 

Garden, 204, 571, 579, 582, 


587. 


Grasshopper, 198, 204, 388-9, 
579, 580, 


INDEX OF BIRDS. 


Warbler, Sedge, 204, 254, 558, 559, 
560, 566, 567, 571, see Mig. of 
Birds. 

Willow, 5, 13, 204, 245, 557, 

558, 561, 564, etc., €06; see Mig, 

of Birds. 

Wood, or Wood Wren, 251, 
558, 559, 561, 566, 570; see Mig. 
of Birds. 

Water-Crow, see Dipper. 

Water-Hen or Gallinule, 52, 53, 262, 
471, 557, 563, 570, ete. 

Water-Rail, 53, 204, 276, 469. 

Waxwing, Bohemian, 204, 390, 579, 
580. 

Wheat-ear, 5, 12, 22, 203-4, 258, 
266, 557, 558 559; see Mig. of 
Birds; 560, etc., 564, etc., 567, 
573, 606. 

Whimbrel, 394, 

Whin-chat, 5, 18, 22, 203, 558, 549, 
560, 561, 565, 566, 567, 568, 569, 
571. 

White-throat, Greater, 5, 22, 204, 
254, 280, 558, 560, 561, 566, etc., 
568, 570, 671, 572, etc. 

Lesser, 204, 389, 571, 572, 
577, 580. 

Woodcock, 13, 204, 460, 557, 562, 
570, 573, 579, 580, 589. 

Woodpecker, Greater Spotted, 469, 

—_ Red-headed, 483, 

Wood-Pigeon, 13, 214, 245, 562, 572, 
579, ete. 

Wren, Common, 22, 245, 557, 566, 
5738, etc. 

Golden-crested, 59, 389, 582. 

Yellow-Hammer, 13, 245, 563, 569, 


INDEX. 


Aberlady, Meeting at, 261 ; Church, 
266; Castle of Kilspindie at, 267. 

Accounts, 223, 423, 617. 

Acherontia Atropos, 47. 

Adder or Viper, 13, 14, 419. 

Adder’s Tongue, Localities for, 8, 49. 

Agaricus echinatus, and subluteus, 
531. 

Aimsand Territory of the Club, 48-9. 

Ainslie of Over-Wells, 131-2. 

Aitchison, James, Notice of, 66. 

Aitchison, John, Arrivals, Depar- 
tures, etc., of Birds near Belford, 
for 1881-2, 202-205 ; for 1883-84, 
579-581; Hffects of the Great 
Storm, 212-214. 

Algze of Alnmouth, 539; of Berwick- 
upon-Tweed, 108-115, 349-355, 
535-538 ; at Windilaws Cove, 608. 

Alnmouth, Loretta del Boterie, of, 
473-4. 

Alnmouth Alga, List of, 539, 

Alnham, Castle Hill, Church and 
Roman Camp, 545; Pele Tower, 
546; Antiquities of, 546; Church, 
Tombs, Castle Hill Camp; Ancient 
Road, 547 ; Black Bead at Castle 
Hill, 548. 

Alnwick, Bibliographical List of 
a and Pamphlets, printed at, 

738. 

Alnwick Abbey, Funeral Slab at, 
473-4, 

Altrieve, 273; Tumuli at, 278. 

Alwinton, Red Deer’s Antler found 
at, 549, 

Amble, Urns, Human Remains, and 
Flints at, 288, 528-580; Urns and 
Cists found at, 523-530; Old Coal 
Mines at, and Coqnuet Id., 527; En- 
croachments of Sea at, and Old 
Oak Forest, 527; Old Salt Pans 
at, 528; belonged to Tynemouth 
Priory, 528. 


Amblyodon dealbatus, 258. 

Amory, A., Alnmonuth List of Marine 
Algze, 539. 

Anderson, Dr H. §., on Mungo 
Park, 300-304. 

Anderson, Dr Thomas, Accounts of 
Shooting of Cygnus Bewickii and 
its Anatomical Structure, 334-338. 

Andreea rupestris, 610. 

Aneuris levis at Gibside, 608. 

Animals, Number of Species, 236. 

Annan Street and its Ancient 
Graves, 271, 403-7. 

Anniversary Addresses, 1-64, 225- 
241, 425-439. 

Ann’s Grove, 250. 

Ant, Wood, from Yardhope Wood- 
foot, and Yellow Ant, 215-7. 

Antiquity of Man, 234-5. 

Anton’s Hill, 251-2; Well, 251. 

Archers, Northumbrian, 357. 

Argyroneta aquatica, 522. 

Arkle, Thos., Registers of Parish of 
Elsdon, 118-120. 

Arvicola glareola, 245-278. 

Atomic Theory, 237-239. 

Aydon Castle and its owners, 
34-38. 

Badger, 13, 36. 

Bairds, the three brothers and Dr 
Thomson, born at Eccles, 248. 

Baird, J. Forster, 66. 

Balfour, Professor Francis Maitland, 
469, 473. 

Baltherns,464; Baldred’s Statue,476. 

Bangos Walls, dispute about, 246. 
[This place belonged formerly to 
Dryburgh Abbey. | 

Bannatin, Mr Andrew, 196, 

Barns and Byers, H. L., 4. 

Barrow Burn, 348. 

Bataille family, of Screnwood, Brun- 
ton, Preston, Pawdon, Netherton 
and Whittingham, 550-552, 


XV1 


Batters, Edw. A.L., B.A., LL.B, etc.; 
Notes on the Marine Algz of 
Berwick-on-Tweed, 105-115, 349- 
855, 535-538. 

Battle Bridge, Lemington, 548. 

Battleshield on the Usway, 551. 

Baxter, Andrew, Metapnysician, 463. 

Bead, Jet (?), 548. 

Belchester and its Camp, 252. — 

Belford District, Birds of, 202-3, 
579-581. 


Bell, On an Ancient Ecclesiastical, — 


184-190; of St Ninians, 191. 

Berwick-on-Tweed, Present and 
Ancient Seal of the Burgh, 7; 
Birds of Vicinity of, 384-396, 581- 
590. 

Berwick, Meetings at, 284-286, 486- 
491. 

Berwickshire, Heritors of at Fogo 
Moor in 1696, 196. 

Bible, Black Letter, of Church of 
Crail, 63. 

Bibliographical Notices, 514-6, 517- 
523. 

Biel House, Visit to, 205-208 ; Queen 
Hlizabeth’s Pearl Necklace, 206; 
Descent of the Biel Family from 
the Caves and Sherards, 206; 
W. Hamilton Nisbet of Belhaven 
and Dirleton, 206-7 ; Wm. Pitt’s 
Gold Chain, 206 ; Athenian Chair, 
207 ; Hamilton, Monument to the 
Right Hon. R. Ge 207-8; Baptis- 
mal Font, Finial ‘and Rood Well 
at Stenton, 208. 

Bigge, Rev. J. F., M.A., Rainfall at 
Stamfordham 1882, 219; Memoir 
of Ralph Carr-Ellison, Esq., 506-8. 

Billie Estate, Effects of the Great 
Storms of 1881 on Trees, 358. 

Bird Life of the Firth of Forth in 
Storms of 1881, 84-87. 

Birds, Migration of, 202-205, 556- 
589. 

Birds of St Mary’s Loch, 607. 

Birds, 5, 13, 19, 22, 24, 36, 37, 52, 53, 
59, 84-87, 159-184; 197-200; 202- 
205, 210, 214, 245, 261, 253, 254, 
258, 260, 262, 266, 274, O77, 280, 
281, 284; 830-8384; 334-338; 356; 
384. 396 ; 445-6; 456, 458, 460, 
469, 471, 475, 478, 483, 484; 556. 
590’; 606, 607. 

Birds, Wild Bird’s Protection Act, 
Time of, extended in Northumber- 
land, 458-9. 


INDEX. 


Birgham and its Church Yard, 248, 
253; Geology of river banks at, 
263. 

Black Andro’s Wood, 269. 

Black Dyke and British Camps in 
west of Berwickshire, 307-312; 
Summary; a Road, 308; Boon 
Moor, Ib; Legerwood Black Hill, 
Ib.; Huntshaw Camp, Ib; Harlaw 
Haugh, Ib; West Morriston, and 
stone Coffins, 809 ; Kelso Hill, Ib; 
Purveshaugh, Ib; Coins at, Ib; 
Standing stone and Camp, Ib; 
Yarlside, Ib; Redpath Hill, Camp 
at, Ib; Brotherstone Standing- 
stones, Ib; Wrangham Village, 
and its association with St Cuth- 
bert, 309-310; Cuddy-hall, 310; 
Weirgate name for Watling Street; 
Harefaulds and Standing Stones, 
310-11; Burrastoun Lair, 311; 
How of the Hope on Huntshaw 
Hill, place of refuge, Ib.; Loxg- 
croft, Addingstone and Black 
Chesters Camps, 312. 

Black Rain, 29. 

Black-thorn, Abnormal fruits of, 

“214.5. 

Bladder Plums, 215. 

Bloody Moss, Articles found in, 418. 

Blysmus compressus, 59. 

Bolam, George, Arrivals and depar- 
tures of Birds, 1882-3-4, 581-589 ; 
Ornithological Notes, 384-396, 
589-590. 

Ponchestes Hill, 47, (Quern from) ; 
143, 146, 

Books, “os or Curious, 28, 63, 286. 

Boreus hyemalis, 608. 

Bos primigenius, from Linton Moss, 
62-3, 229, 230, 280, 281, 418. 

Botany, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 19, 
20, 23, 34, '25, 34, 35, 389, Aq, 53, 
54, 58, 59, 63, 64, 75, 77, 80, 81, 
82, 83; 108- 116; 214, 242, 245, 251, 
253, 254, 257-259, 262, 264.5, 266, 
268, 276, 278, 281, 283; 349-355; 
355-856; 439, 440, 456-7; 467-8-9, 
470, 471, 474, 477, 483-4; 5380-1; 
6338-538; 539, 605-6-7; 608, 610. 

Boterie, Loretta del, of Alnmouth, 
her Funeral Slab and lineage, 
473-4. 

Bothwell’s House at Haddington, 5. 

Boulders, 228. 

Bowerhope Law and House, 
273-4. 


INDEX. 


Bowsden Moor, Urns at, 193; 
Bronze Spear-head at, 192-194. 

Brankston Church, 442. 

Brass-pot from Langton, 28; at 
Thirlestane, 598-9; at Sunder- 
land Hall, Longyester, Dudhope, 
Langton, Pot-Loch, 600. 

Bridge across Yarrow, 401-2. 

British Association and Delegates 
from Naturalists’ Clubs, 251-2. 

British Fishery Exhibition, 232-3. 

British and other Coins older than 
the Roman Conquest of Britain, 
375-383. Summary: Philip II. of 
Macedon, 375 ; Metapontum, 375; 

Coins of Gaul, 375; from York- 
shire 376; Dumnonii, 376-378 ; 
Tega a leader, and Heretoga. 376 ; 
Picts or Cathbreacan, 377 ; Spec- 
tacle Ornament, 378; Symbols of 
the Sculptured Stones, 378, 380- 
382 ; Nudd Hael, 376; Catti, the, 
377, 383; Cunobelinus, 377-83; 
Trinobantes, 377 ; Togodumnus, 
877-78 ; Mandubratius or Andro- 
geus, 378 ; Imanentius, 378 ; 
Dubnovellaunus, 378; Tasciova- 
nus, 378; Adminius, 378-79; Sun 
as an Hye, 378; Mars, inscription 
to, 378, 424; Caractacus, 379; 
Aedodomarus and Eppillus, 379 ; 
Catyeuchlani, 379; Celtic Idols, 
380-82; Cup and Ring Cuttings, 
380; Volutes and Spirals, 380-1 ; 
Silures and Selgove, 382; Belge, 
383; Hermunduri, 383. 

Broaze Sword found near Chew- 
green, 17; Bronze, Flint, Stone 
and Iron Implements from the 
Jedburgh District, 147-8; Bronze 
Spear-heads found at Bowsden 
Moor, 192-4; Hulne Park, 198 ; 
Thrunton, ib;. Elford, ib; Cor- 
bridge, ib; Blakehope, 194 ; 
Bronze Celt, associated with Stone 
and Iron implements on Cheviot, 
256; Looped Socketed Bronze 
Celt, at Annan Street, 278; ib., 
404 ; Bronze Axe (Socketed Celt), 
found at Howford on Httrick, 596 ; 
found with other Bronze Articles 
at Horsehop-Crag, Posso, 597 ; 
Bronze Articles in Megget, 418. 


Brotherstone, R. P., Trees blown 


down on the Estate of Tyning- 
hame, 14th October, 1881, 362. 
Broundenlaws, 14. 


XVll 


Brown, DrColville ; Obituary Notice 
of, 166. 

Brown, Lieut-Col., Effects of the 
Gale of 14th October, 1881, on 
the Trees of Loneformacus Estate, 
359. 

Bruce, Rev. J. C., Lil.D: F.S-A.; 
On a Roman Inscription in Jed- 
burgh Abbey, Appendix, i-iv. 

Brunton and Preston, in Hmbleton 
and Ellingham Parishes, their 
Ancient Owners, 550-54. 

Bughtrig and its Moat Hill, 11, 12, 
140-1. 

Burradon, Stone Implements found 
at, 548, 

Cairns, Three Brethren, 100; Cad- 
ger’s at Gordon, 116; on Yarrow- 
hills, 277; at Dryhope, 278; 
Mitten-full-of-Stones, 610. 

Cakile rugosa, 226, 258, 265. 

Camps, Forts, etc., in Roxburgh< 
shire, 189-148, 590-2. 

Camps, 3, 19, 12, 14, 19, 24, 59, 93, 
102, 108, 104, 252, 288, 307, 348, 
371, 545, 546, 547, 548. 

Carex divisa found on Holy Island, 
226, 258, 285, 355-6; in Nor- 
thumberland, 610. 

Carex frigida, 77, 81. 

Carex incurva, 258. 

Carlyle, Mrs Jane Welsh, Monu- 
ment of, 7. 

Carr-Hllison, Ralph, Names of the: 
Farne Islands and Lindisfarne, 
373-4; Memoir of, with List of 
his Papers, 506-516. 

Carterhaugh Ba’ and Cup, 61-2. 

Cartington, John, of Cartington 
Castle, 357. 

Castlelaw House and Mount, 253. 

Castle Hill, Alnham, 545, 547-9. 

Cat, Wild, 36, 47; gives name to: 
localities, Catslackburn, Knowe, 
etc., 272. 

Cat-cleugh, 419. 

Catrail, Notes on some Historical 
and Literary Matter bearing on, 
89-105: Summary; a Frontier, 89, 
90,91, 94; its name, 94; remains 
of, 97-8, 101-2; not a continuous 
work, 98; Cumbria, the early 
diocese of Glasgow, 89; Traquair 
and Deuchar, names of, 89; Kelso: 
a Welsh possession, 91; Dawston 
or Degsastan, Battle of, and the 
Nine-stane Rig stones, 91; four” 


38D 


Xvill 


Ancient Books of Wales, 91-2; 
Arthurian Legends, 92-4; Wedale 
or Stow, 92, 93, 103; Rule Her- 
vey, 93; Lindocolinum, 93-4; 
Liew or Loth and Medrawd, 93, 
94, 103; Picts’ Work Ditch, 94; 
Edwin of Deira, 94; Picts, the 
old Gael of Scotland, in Lothian 
and Berwickshire, 95; names of 
the Picts, 96, 97; Cymric traces 
in south of Scotland, 95, 99, 100, 
102, 108, 104; Otadeni and Ga- 
deni, 95; Attacotti, 96; Coed 
Celydon, 96; Manan or Mannan 
in place names, 96; Edinburgh, 
96; Cath Palach, 96; Plaid or 
Maud and Tartan, 96, 97; Her- 
man Law and St Germanus, 98 ; 
Ramper-Knowe, 97; Chalmers, 
George, remarks on, 98; Nudd 
Hael, 98, 99; Dumnogeni, 99; 
-Wallace’s Trench, 99, and Putting 
Stone, 102; Wanders Knowe, 99; 
Penmanscore, 99; Cameron Burn, 
100; Galeswood, 100; Three 
Brethren Cairn, 100; Lesudden 
and Edwin’s Cliffe, 100; St 
Helen’s at Lindean and her Well, 
100; Yair Cribb’s Hill, 100; Ling- 
lee, 100; Rink fort and Langrink, 
101-2; Hollinbush and Mossi- 
lee, 102; Mossend Loch, 102; 
Torwoodlee, 102; forts on the 
line of the Gala, Kilnknowe, 
Harrigait Head, Caitha, Bow, 
Caddonlee, 102-4; Gwenystrad, 
Battle of, 103; Plenploth, 103; 
Borthwick or Locherward, 104; 
Harit’s Dyke, 104; the Leader a 
frontier, 104 (see 602); Edwin, 
King, 104-6. 

Catrail on Yarrow, 272. 

Celtic Race, 235. 

Celts, Stone and Flint, from Stichill, 
28; at Gordon, 118; Jedburgh 
district, 148 ; at Mersington, 249- 
250; Marlfield, 490; Burradon, 
548; Clennell, 549; Thirlestane, 
598. 

Chermes Picez, at Gosford, 263. 

Chew-green, 17, 256, 509; Grey- 
wacke at, 18. 

Chillingham Castle, 230-1; Toad, 
492-4. 

Chirnside, Effects of Great Gale of 
1881, near it, 209-211; Birds of its 
vicinity, 572-9. 


INDEX. 


Cists, 102, 307, 348, 405, 407, 463-6, 
468, 523-530, 544, 548, 

Cladophora arctiuscula, 536. 

Clerk Maxwell, Professor, 239, 

Clennell, Celt found at, 549. 

Coccus Fagi at Gosford, 263; in 
Ravensworth Woods and at Polton 
Bank, 607-8. 

Cockburn, Perys of Henderland, 
Tomb of, 408-418, 604. 

Cockburns of Henderland, History 
of the; Cockburn, Piers, 413; 
Peter de son of Peter, 413; Peter 
de, 413; Alex. of Langton, 413; 
Margaret, 414; William several 
of the name, 414-6; Samuel, 416 ; 
Peter of, 605; William de, 605; 
William, 605. 

Cockburn, William, 
headed, 411-2. 

Cockburnspath Hand-Bell, 28. 

Codiolum longipes, 536. 

Coins, 20, 249, 260-1, 286, 375, etc., 
447, 491, 548-9. 

Coldstream, Seal of St Mary’s Con- 
vent of, 7. 

Collingwood, F. J. W., Rainfall at 
Glanton Pyke in 1882-3-4, 219, 
422, 611. 

Columban or Celtic Church on the 
Borders, 188-9. 

Conifers, Ornamental, at Longfor- 
macus, 25 ; Haggerston, 289 ; 
Gosford, 263 ; Middleton Hall, 
282; Whittingham, 467; Pres- 
tonkirk, 476. 

Cook, Rev. Dr John, Haddington, 6. 

Coquet Head, 16; Coquet Upper, 
17; Geology of, 18. 

Corbridge Meeting, 29-41; Corbridge, 
30-31; Peel Tower of Church and 
Monuments, 32; Hugo son of 
Aselin of, 33-34; Wall-rue at, 
34. 

Corbridge, Geology of, 121-127. 

Cornhill Meeting, 439; Bathing 
Well Plantation at, 439; Medici- 
nal Well, 440. 

Craig, W., M.D., F.R.S.E., Obituary 
Memoir of Mr John Sadler, 72-79. 

Craig, Thos., On some Camps in 
Roxburghshire, 590-92. 

Cranshaws, Mr John Campbell, 
Minister of, 197. 

Crambewell, John de, of Screnwood, 
552. 


a rebel, be- 


INDEX. 


Craw, H. H., Rain Fall at West 
Foulden, 1875-84, 611. 

Creichtoune, David of Lugtoun, 342. 

Cresswell Marl Bog, 229, 230, 280-1. 

Cross, ancient at Crosshall, Eccles, 
366-372 ; Anglo-Saxon, at Jed- 
burgh, 136. 

Crossman, Robert, J. P., Notice of, 
286-7. 
Cuddy-hall, 

347. 

Culley, M. T., Injury done to Scotch 
Firs by snow storm, 338. 

Currie, Andrew, Notes on Yarrow, 
396-7, 401, 410; On an Ancient 
Bronze Axe found near Howford 
on the Ettrick, 596. 

Cyanecula Wolfi, 84. 

Cygnus Bewickii, Shooting of, and 
its Anatomical Characteristics, 
334-8. 

Dagger or Dirk found at Rothbury, 
357-8. 

Dand, Miss Sarah, on the Incised 
Rocks at Morwick, 3438-7. 

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, 
239-240, 

Darwinism, Address on, 425-6. 

Dawson, James, father and son, in 
Harpertoun, 245-6. 

Dawson, William, of Graden, 246. 

Deadrig, 250, 367, 371, 

Deer Law, in Meggat-dale, 274. 

Deloraine, 600-1. 


310; Cuddy’s Cove, 


Denholm, Dr James, his MSS, etc., | 


28. 

Derwentwater Family (Radcliffe) at 
Dilston, 37-8 ; at Middleton Hall, 
283. 

Des Cartes, his theories, 238. 

Deuchar Bridge, Swire and Kirk, 
270, 401, 402. 

Devil’s Water and its Botany, 39. 

Dilston Castle, Visit of Club to, 37-9. 

Dixon, D.D., Ancient British Flint 
Implements found at Low Farn- 
ham, 347-9; On a Dirk or Dagger 
found at Rothbury, 357-8; British 
Urn found at Screnwood, near 
Alnham, and remarks on other 
Antiquities there, 544-6. 

Diving Spider, 522. 

Doddington, Urns at, 283. 

Dog, figure of, on Monuments, 368, 
370. 

Dog-fish, Small Spotted, 475. 

Don of Newton Don, 342. 


x1x 


Donations to Berwickshire Natu- 
ralists’ Club, ete., 220-1, 410-420, 
614-6. 

Douglas, F., M.D., Visit of Club to 
Langton House, 26-7; Presenta- 
tion to Mr Hardy, 217-8; Memoir 
of Dr J. Robson-Scott, 299-300. 

Douglas of Edderstone, 52. 

Douglases of Whittingham, 472-3. 

Douglas Burn, 273. 

Dowlinn, 409, 605-6. 

Dredging, Value of, 236-7. 

Dryburgh Fulling Mill, 340. 

Dryhope, 272-3; Cairn and Cists at 
Herton’s Hill in Dryhope Hangh, 
278. 

Duddo Tower, 444; Sandstones of, 
455; Stones, ib.; Duddo Stones 
and Urns found in the vicinity of, 
042-4, 

Dudgeon, J.S., on a Hail Storm near 
Jedburgh, 13th July 1882, 326-9. 
Duels, Border, fought at Gemels- 

peth, 18. 

Dunbar, part of Human Cranium 
from, 474. 

Dunn, Rey. J. W., Obituary Notice 
of, 287-8 ; On Ancient Sepulchral 
Remains at Amble, 288, 528, 530. 

Dunse and Oliver Cromwell, 194. 

Duns Scotus, Painting of, his Writ- 
ings, 28. 

Duns, Prof. J., D.D., Memoir of 
William Stevenson, 289-299. 

Duns, Meeting at, 27-9. 

— Rainfall at, 1883, 422. 

Castle Estate, Effects of Great 
Gale of 1881, on the Trees of, 359- 
361. 

Eanbald, Archbishop, Styca of, at 
Coldingham, 260. 

Eccles Village, Church, Session 
Book, Nunnery, and House, 247-9 ; 
Nunnery, 368; burned by Laton 
or Layton, 248. 

Edgerston Honse, 46; Largest Trees 
at, 201-2. 

Edmonston, Sir John de, 341 ; 
John, James, David, Andrew de, 
341-2. 

Ednam and its Church, 188-190, 
Wych-Elm at, (now blown 
down), 242; Edmonston family 
of, 243-4, 341-2; Thomson, Rev. 
Thos. and his son James, the Poet, 
243; Church, 243-4; Layton and 
Eure’s Devastations, 243; Picts 


xX 


Knowe, Graves and Urn, 244; 
Grip-grass at, 244; Lyte, Rev. 
Henry, 244. 

Ednam Hospital of St Leonards, 242, 
340-3; not founded by the Kd- 
monstons, 341. 

Effects of severe winter at Hageger- 
ston, 259. 

Effects of Great Storms of Wind of 
1881 in Plantations, etc., near 
Chirnside, 209-211; Marchmont 
House, 211-2; in Belford District, 
212-4; Paxton Estate, 858; Billie 
Estate, 358; Lonegformacus Es- 
tate, 359; Duns Castle Estate, 
359-361; Whitehall Estate, 361-2 ; 
Tyningham Estate, 362. 

Elachista Areschougii, 537. 

Elibank, Lord, Monument of his 
Lady, 267. 

Elliot, Adam, On Lepidoptera in 
Roxburghshire, 149-158, 532-5. 
Elliot, Sir Walter, K.C.S.I., on Bor- 

der Camps, etc., 145-6. 

Elsdon Parish Registers, Remarks 
on, 118-120. 

Embedded Reptiles, 491; Chilling- 
ham Toad, 492-4; at Bernard 
Castle, ib; at Bamburgh, ib; at 
Bykerhill, ib; at Framwellgate 
Bridge, 495 ; Seaton and Seaham 
Colliery, 405; at Scremerston 
lime quarries, 495-505; in ruins 
of Troy, 499; in a Limestone 
rock at Whittle, 505-6. 

Entomostraca, Lower Carboniferous 
from Berwickshire and Northum- 


e berland, 313-326; Bernix Tatei, | 


Jones, 316-320; Cythere Kirk- 
byana, sp. nov. 320; Candona 
Tateana, 316; Carbonia fabulina, 
var., 321; Leperditia Scotoburdi- 
galensis, 321; L. subrecta, 321; 
Berychia crinita, 322; Kirkbya 
spiralis, 323; Cytherella Tatei, 
sp. nov., 323; Hstheria striata, 
var. Tateana, 324; HEH. tenella, 
324; Darwinella ? Berniciana ; 
sp. nov., 326. 

Epilobium angustifolium, 20. 

Hquisetum variegatum, 258. 

Errata, 222, 424, 617. 

Erskine, Robert de and his Wife, 
341. 

Etal Castle, 443-4; Mason Marks 
at, 283. : 

Ettrick Meeting, 476, ete; Philip- 


| 


INDEX. 


haugh, Carterhaugh, Oakwood 
Towerand Fauldshope Oaks, 477 ; 
Witch of Fauldshope, 478; Kirk- 
hope Tower and Kirkhope Linns, 
478 ; Singlie, melancholy accident 
at, 478 ; Geological formation of 
the Vale, 478; Tushielaw Tower 
and Hanging Tree, 478-9 ; Ettrick 
Church and Tombstones; Thirle- 
stane and Thirlestane Tower, 479- 
480. 

Kttrick, Notes on the, 593-600 
Linns of, 595; Water Marks on 
the, 594-5. 

Euchelia Jacobez, Abundance of 
Caterpillars of, 268. 

Kurypterus Stevensoni, 294. 

Fagus incisa with foliage of Fagus 
sylvatica, 476, 484. 

Fallay, James, of Spittle, 342. 

Faraday, M., Letter from, 291. 

Farne Islands, Names of the, and 
Lindisfarne, 373-4. 

Farne Islands, Meeting at, 447-461 ; 
Etymology of, 449-451; History 
and Ownership of, 452; Light- 
houses, 453-4; Foghorn, 454-5; 
Geology of, 455; Botany of, 456 ; 
Birds, 456, 458, 461; Observations 
on Migration at, 461; St Cuth- 
bert on ITarne Islands, 451; 
Chapel, 457; Longstone, 453; 
Trinity House, what, 453 ; Whin 
Sill, Great, 455-6 ; Pinnacles, 
456 ; Castell’s, Prior, Tower, 457 ; 
Darling, Grace, 457. 

Farnham Low, British Flint Imple- 
meénts at, 347-349. 

Farnham and its Border Tower, 
348; Robert Horsley of, ib. 

Farquharson, Rey. James, M.A., 
Anniversary Address, 1-64; Plants 
found at Holy Island, 258-9 ; at 
St Mary’s Loch, 275; Carex 
divisa from Holy Island, 355-6. 

Fawdon, Bataill of, 551. 

Ferguson, John, Effects of Gales of 
October, 1881, and February 1882, 
on Plantations on Duns Castle 
Estate, 339-361. 

Ferneyrig Bog, etc., 253. 

Filigrana implexa, 490, 

Flamavill, William, of Whittingham, 
552, 

Fleming, James, of Henderland and 
Sunderland, 415; Malcolm, Lord 
Fleming, acquires Sunderland, ib. 


INDEX. 


Flint Celt at Gordon, 118; Imple- 
ments, 146, 147; Implements 
from Low Farnham, 255, 347-9; 
Flint-Scraper from Gullane Links, 
372 ; 347-9: Arrow-heads, Amble, 
etc., 288, 529; at Thirlestane, 
598; on Yarrow, 405. 

Flodden Field, 442; Notes on the 
Karly Literature of, 517-522. 

Fodan or Fothad II., Bishop of St 
Andrews, 464. 

Fogo Moor, Rendezvous at, 1696, 169. 

Ford Church and Castle, 443. 

Formica rufa and F. umbrata, 215-7. 

Forts, Camps, etc., in Roxburgh- 
shire, 139-140. 

Foulden West, Rainfall at, 611. 

Foulmart, 36. 

aioe and Mungo Park, 399- 

01. 

Freire-Marreco, Professor, Obituary 
notice of, 65, 68-72. 

Frog, embedded in limestone at 
Scremerston, 495-505. 

Fungi, 19, 47, 63, 64; in Roxburgh- 
shire, etc., 88, 359, 530-1. 

Garleton Hills, their Natural History 
and Associations, 4. 

Geikie, James, LL.D., Prof.; Geo- 
logical Notes on Hindhope, 15; 
On Jedwater, 45-6; List of Hill- 
Forts, Intrenched Camps, etc., 
in Roxburghshire side of the 
Cheviots, 139-144. 

General’s Brig, 397. 

General Statement, 223, 423, 617. 

Geology of Corbridge, 121-7. 

Geology, 4, 15,18, 19, 23, 45, 46; 
121-7 ; 253, 254, 266, 269, 279, 280, 
281, 282; 291-6; 313-26; 440-1; 
455-6; 475; 478; 503, 505 ; 540-1; 
594-5, 

German Burial Mounds and Grave 
Rows, 465-6, 

Germination of the Seed described 
‘by Mr Sadler, 80. 

Girthridge Hall, 246. 

Glanton Pyke, Rainfall at, 219, 422, 
611. 

Glendale Valley, Geological features 
of, 227-8 

Glow-worm, 57. 

Goats at Dryhope, 273. 

Gold-wire Ring, 116. 

Gordon Arms, 272. 

Gordon, Gold and Silver Ornaments, 
Urn and Celt found at, 115-8. 


XXt 


Gosford grounds, gardens, and or- 
namental trees, 261-4. 

Gosford Links, ancient burying- 
ground on, 307; Urn found on, ib. 

Graptolites and Worm Tracks on the 
Dye, 23-4. 

Graptolites and Fossil Crustacea 
from Dobb’s Linn, 277; Grapto- 
lites on Syart, 419. 

Gray, Archibald, on the Diving 
Spider at Aberlady, 522. 

Gray, Robert, F.R.S.H., on the Bird 
Life of the Firth of Forth during 
Storms of Oct. and Noy. 1881, 
84-7; Ornithological Notes, 197- 
200. 

Gravel Mounds in Yarrow, 269, and 
Ettrick, 478. 

Graves, Ancient, 271, 278, 419, etc. 

Grey Flycatcher, curious nesting- 
place of, 562. 

Gullane Hill, Urn at Galla-law on, 
264, 306-7. 

Gullane Links, Flint Scraper found 
on, 372; Botany of, 268. 

Gunn, William, F.G.S., on the Find- 
ing of Shells in the Boulder Clay 
near Berwick-on-Tweed, 540-1. 

Gymunadenia albida, 278. 

Gyrophorey, 610. 

Haddington; Meeting at, 2 etc.; its 
ecclesiastical Buildings, 5,6: 
Church and Church Registers and 
Old Church Music, 267. : 

Haggerston House, 250. 

Hail Storm near Jedburgh, 1882, 
326-9. 

Haining, its Mansion-house, and 
owners, grounds, trees, loch, 
water-fowl and botany, 49-54. 

Hangingshaw, 67, 58. 

Harbottle Cists, 348. 

Hardacres Camp, 371; cannon balls: 
near, ib. 

Harden’s Drive, 271. 

Hardy, James: Report of Hounam 
Meeting, 8-2!; on Longformacus, 
23, 25, 26; Notice of Hugo, son 
of Aselin of Corbridge, 33-4; 
Obituary Notices, 65-8, 286-8; 
Remarks on the Yarrow Inscrip- 
tion, 107-8; Note on the Hlsdon 
Parish Registers, 120; on Forts, 
Camps, etc., in Roxburghshire, 
144-8; on a Celtic Bell now in 
Kelso Museum, 191; on a Bronze 
Spear-head found on Bowsden 

35 


Xxli 


Moor, 192-4; on the Effects of 
Lightning in smelting and altering 
Gravel at Chapelhill, Cockburns- 
path, 10th July 1882,200-1; Notes 
on Biel and Stenton, 205-8; on 
Abnormal Fruits of the Black 
Thorn on Heriot water, 214-5; on 
examples of the Wood Ant (For- 
mica rufa, L.) from Yardhope 
Woodfoot, with notice of Formica 
umbrata, Nyl., 215-7; Presenta- 
tion to, 217-8; Reports of Meet- 
ings for 1883, 242-286; Note on 
an Urn found at Manderston, 305 ; 
on an Urn found near Luffness, 
BH. L., 306-7; on Eduam Hospital, 
34U-3; on the Incised Rocks at 
Morwick, 348-7; on a Spoon 
found at Mousin, with a notice of 
Mousin or Mousen, 363-6 (see 
610); on the Ancient Cross at 
Crosshall, in the parish of Eccles, 
366-372; Flint Scraper found on 
Gullane Links, 372; Notes on 
Yarrow, 397-419 ; Signification of 
the word Lindisfarne, 450-1; 
Report of Meeting at Whittingham 
and Presmennan, 461-476; on 
Whittingham and its Owners, 472; 
on a Funeral Slab found at 
Alnwick Abbey, 473-4; Fagus 
incisa with foliage of Fagus syl- 
vatica, 474; Human Cranium at 
Dunbar, 474; Capture of Squalus 
Canicula, 475; Totanus Calidris 
onthe Lammermoors, 475 ; Notice 
of Ralph Carr-Ellison, Hsq., 508- 
511; List of Mr Carr-Ellison’s 
Papers, 514-6; Note on Urns and 
Cists found at Amble, 528-530 ; 
Notes on the Antiquities of Aln- 
ham and neighbourhood, 546-9; 
Notice of Screnwood, 4550-5 ; 
Records of Migrations, etc., of 
Birds on the Borders for 1882-3-4, 
556-572 ; Notes on the Httrick, 
593-600; the Tomb of Cockburn 
of Henderland and its vicinity, 
604-7 ; Miscellanea, 607-610. 

Harpertoun, 244-5. 

Hartleap, 272. 

Haydon Bridge Free School, 366. 

Hays of Whittingham, 473. 

Hay, Wm., of Drummelzier and the 
Rebellion of 1715, 198. 

Hazelton Rig, 549. 

Hematite Iron Ore, Mine of, 4. 


INDEX. 


Henderland Hill and Tower or 
Castle, 274. 

Henderland, Tomb of Perys Cock- 
burn at, and the owners of Hender- 
land Estate, 408-418; Chapel, 
409; Cockburns of, 411-6; Scot 
of Buccleugh, 416; the Flemings, 
415; James, David and Robert, 
Earls of Southesk, 416-7; Anne 
Countess of Buccleugh, 417 ; 
Traquair family, ib; Murrays of, 
Lord Henderland, Lord Murray, 
William Murray and James Wolfe 
Murray, 417; Earl of Wemyss, 
417; Additions to Account of the 
Tomb, and Hist. of the Cockburns 
of, 604-5; Botany and Nat. Hist. 
of Henderland Burn, 605-6; 
Remains of the Castle, 600-7; 
Birds near, 606; Key from, 607. 

Hepple, Red Deer Antlers at, 549. 

Herons and Heronries, 13, 26. 

Herons and Border Heronries, 330- 
dd4. 

Heronry at Swinside, Bowmont 
Water, 87-8. 

Hertford’s,(Harl), Devastations,251. 

Hetchester, 348. 

Heuch, Home or Hume of, 194. 

Hexham, Roman Stone discovered 
at, in 1881, 41. 

Hieracium collinum, the fate of, 58. 

Hindhope, 14; Geology of, 14. 

Hogden Law, coin found at, 549. 


| Hoge, James, 270-2-3; his Statue, 


274-5 ; autograph letter of, 598. 

Hollows Tower on the Hsk, incised 
stone in, 347. 

Holy Island Meeting, 297, 
Flora of, 257-9. 

Holystone, 349. 

Home, Church of, 191. 

Home, John, Author of Douglas,4,25 

Home or Hume in Heuch, Robert 
and Alexander, 194-5. 

Home, Patrick of Polwart, 194-5. 

Horsleys of Horsley and Screnwood, 
553-4-5. 

Horse-syke and Horsykend, 251. 

Hounam Meeting, 8, etc. 

Howford on Ettrick, Bronze Axe at, 
596-7. 

Howegate Terraces, 10. 

Hughes, Geo. P., 
Address, 225-241. 

Hugo, son of Aselin of Corbridge, 
33-4. 


ete. ; 


Anniversary 


INDEX. 


Hume, Sir John of Rentoun, Epitaph 
on, 195. 

Hutton-hall cliff, Marine Shells, and 
Fragments of Bones at, 88. 

Incised Rocks at Morwick, 343-7; 
Figures on Door-sill of Hollows 
Tower on the Hsk, 347. 

Insects, number of species, 236. 

Iron Spear-head under Cairn at 
Gordon, 117; at Annan Street, 
278. 

Iron with Bronze Implement and 
Whetstone on Cheviot, 256. 

Ivory Shrine from Croxdale, co. 
Durham, 277. 

Ivy, Large-leafed, 50. 

James V. in Megget-land, 412 ; 
Letter from, 605. 

Jedburgh Abbey, Restoration of, 
127-137; Foundation and History 
of, 128-9. 

Jedburgh Meeting, 41 ; Abbey, 42-3; 
Roman Inscriptions, Crosses, 43 ; 
Gardens, Queen Mary’s House, 
Museum, 43. 

Jedburgh, Roman Tablet and In- 
scription in the Abbey, 43, 137: 
Appendix, i-iv. 

Jedburgh, Seals and Arms of the 
Royal Burgh of, 137-9. 

Jedburgh Staff, what, 139. 

Jedwater, Scenery, Associations and 
Geology of, 44-6. 

Johnston, Dr George, Ancestors of, 
248. 

Jones, T. Rupert, F.R.S., ete; Notes 
on the late Mr George Tate’s 
Specimens of Lower Carboniferous 
Entomostraca from Berwickshire 
and Northumberland, 313-326. 

Juncus squarrosus, 15. 

Kaeheugh Camp, 3. 

Kaims, 253-4; 440-442, 

Kale Water, 9, 10, 14. 

Kelso, Meeting at, 242, etc. 

Kelso Races, Handbill of, 47. 

Kelso Steps, (Calsy or Causeway 
Steps P) 5. 

Kemp, William; A day on the 
Httrick. The Water Marks, 594- 
595. 

Kemylspeth or Gamble (Gamels) 
a and its Debateable Ground, 
17-8. 

Ker, William, of Yair, 415. 

Kerr, Lord Henry, 65-6. 

Kershope, 271. 


XxXill 


Kidland and its Hills, 16; Visit to, 
256. 

Kingscraig, Mounds on, 246. 

Knox, John, 6. 

Knowes, its ancient Cemetery, 464-6. 

Lamden Burn, 251-2. 

Langton Burn, Geology of, 296; 
Edge, view from, 22; House and 
its Paintings, 26-7. 

Lauder, Wm, of Haltoun, acquires 
Brumelaw, 415; his successors, 
416, 

Lead Ore, and Mineral Spring, near 
Milkhope, 256. 

Lebour, G.A., F.G.S., etc. Prof. ; 
Note on Geology of the Cheviots, 
18; Obituary of the late Professor 
Freire-Marreco, M.A., 68-72; on 
the Geology of Corbridge, North- 
umberland, 121-7, 

Leitholm Peel, 251. 

Leitholm, of old Letham, and its 
Chapeland Virtue Well, 252. 

Lepidoptera in Roxburghshire, 149- 
158 ; 532-5. 

Lightning, effects of, in Smelting 
and Altering Gravel at Chapelhill, 
10th July, 1882, 200-1; Rock 
vitrified by, 200; tubes or Ful- 
gorites, 201; boy’s arm struck by, 
269; Willow and Ash trees at 
Selkirk, struck by, 260. 

Lindisfarne, Signification of the 
Name, 373-4; 450-1. 

Lindsay, Sir David, 4. 

Linnzea borealis, 608-9. 

Linton, East, Meeting at, 461-476 ; 
Slab Graves at, 463; Porphyries 
of the District, 475. 

Lipraick’s, i.e. Leaprigs, Syke, 371. 

Local Documents, 194-7. 

Localities for scarce Plants, 593. 

Logan, W. H., Obituary Notice of, 
67 


Loney, Peter, On the Effects of 
the Great Storm of October 
1881, at Marchmont House, 211- 
2; Meteorological Observations, 
Register of Rainfall and Sunshine 
for 1882, kept at Marchmont, 218- 
219; for 18838, 420; for 1884, 
612-3. 

Longformacus, Meeting at, 21; 
Village, Peel, Cummunion Cups, 
Church, Mansion House, 28-25 ; 
Estate, Effects of Great Gales of 
1881, on trees, of, 359. 


XXIV 


Lowes, Loch of, 275. 

Lowlynn, 259. 

Luffness, Club’s visit to, 265-6; 
Church and Monastery of Red 
Friars, 265; De Thermes, French 
General, his fort at, ib; House 
and trees at, 266: King’s Kist, 
266 ; Skeletons at, 266, 307; Urns 
at, 306-7. 

Lycoperdon giganteus, 47. 

Lyngbya speciosa, 608. 

Mackintosh, Brigadier, Letter from, 
195. 

McIntosh, Alexander, and Cleghorn, 
‘Robert, On the Effects of the 
Storm of 14th October, 1881, on 
Paxton and Billie Estates, 358-9. 

Maclagan, Dr P. W., Notice of Lo- 
calities for scarce Plants, 593. 


Manderston, On an Urn found in | 


the Park at, 304-5. 

Marchmont Honse, Trees injured by 
Storm, 211-2; Rain Fall, Sun- 
shine, etc., 218-9, 420, 612-8. 

Mary, Queen, her Cup, 286. 

a Tradition of, 5. 

Megeat or Megget-land, 274, 412, 
607; Antiquities of, 418-9. 

Memmerkirk, 256. 

Memoria, a sepulchre, 107-8. 

Members, New, 222, 422-8, 486-7. 

Middletons of Belsay and Scren- 
wood, 552-4. 

Middleton Hall, Meeting, 279, etc.; 
Peel houses of, 282; Cedar of 
Lebanon, and Conifere at, 
282; Radcliffe Beech at, 282-38; 
Tuedian sandstone and gravel, 
279; Langleyford Vale, 280; Wild 
Boar remains, 281-2; Marl Bog 
at, 281-2, and at Humbleton 
Buildings, 282; Red-deer remains 
at, 281-2; Shells in Marl Bog, 
281. 

Migration of Birds, Records of, 
202-5; 556-589. 

Miller, Hugh, Letters from, a 2. 

Montbenger, 272. 

Monteith, Rev. Robt., 25. 

Montrose, Marquis of, Relics of, 597. 

Morwick, on the Incised Rocks at, 
343-7. 

Mounsey, A.C; The Seals and the 
Arms of the Royal Burgh of 
Jedburgh, 137-9. 

Mousin, Medizval Spoon found at, 
3638, 610. 


INDEX. 


Mousin, or Mousen, History of, 363- 
366; Mulesfen South, and Mousin 
Newlands, 364-5-6; Millesfen, 
etc., Henry. de, Stephen de, 
Henry de, 364; Henry de and 
Roger de, 865; Lucre, Simon de, 


364; South Charlton ground in, 
364; Whittingham, pannage at, 
3865; Pannage of the hogs of 


Shoreston, Sunderland, Beednal 
and Mulfen, 364; Truncage and 
services to Bamburgh Castle, 
364-5 ; Camera, Thos. de, of Mule- 
fen, 365; Ederston, 365; Yernum 
or Wardham, 365; Swinhoes of 
Mulesfen, 365-6; Haydon Bridge 
Free School, 366. 

Mungo Park, Memoir of, with some 
of his letters, 300-4; Mr Ruskin’s 
attack on, 303; his Horse-Chest- 
nut, 55; Relics of, 62; Notice of, 
399; Letter of, 400; Relatives of, 
400-1. 

Murray, Sir James, 
402, Note. 

John, of Fallowhill obtains 
land in Bold, 415. 

Murrays of Henderland, 417. 

Napier and Kttrick, Lord, List of 
Articles exhibited to the Club on 
their visit to Thirlestane, 597-8. 

Napier of Merchiston, Copies of 
Writings, 597-8. 

Nelson Jeremiah, and Isaac Mar- 
row, Ministers or Parsons of 
Elsdon, their grievances, 120. 

Neottia Nidus-Avis, 40. 

Nero, Gold Coin of, 249. 

Netherton, Remains of Antiquities 
at, 546; Bataill of Netherton, 551. 

Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Meeting, 480- 
5; Museum of Nat. Hist. Society 
and its contents, 481-5; Jesmond 
Dene, and Sir William Arm- 
strong’s residence, 483; Capt. 
Noble’s collection of Water-fowl, 
483; Mr Adamson’s Birds and 
Burmese Lepidoptera, 484; Anti- 
quarian Society, 485. 

Norham, Petition for Fair and Mar- 
kets to be held at, 285-6. 

Norham and Islandshire, Roman 
Catholics of, 286. 

Norman, F. M., Capt. R.N., Anni- 
versary Address,425-439 ; Reports 
of Meetings for 1884, 439-491 ; On 
Embedded Reptiles, 491-505. 


of Deuchar, 


INDEX. 


Oak and Ash adage, 446-7. 
Obituary Notices, 65-8, 286-8. 
Orange or Orwin’s Lane, 250-1. 
Orchestes Fagi, 21. 

Ormistons of Kelso and Spitle and 
Hendersyde, 342-3. 

Ornithological Notes, 197-200, 384.- 
396 ; 589-590. 

Orr, Rev. John, 286. 

Oswy, King, his gifts to Lindisfarne 
of lands on the Bowmont, 451. 

Ozone Papers, 447. 

Pallinsburn Gulls, 445-6; 
440-2. 

Paterson, Sir John, of Eccles, 247-9. 

Paul, Rev. David, M.A., on the 
Fungi of Roxburghshire, 83 ; 
Fungi from the neighbourhood of 
Roxburgh, 339; Fungi found in 
1884, 530-1. 

Pennymuir, 10. 

Philiphaugh and its Battle, 56-7 ; 
Battle Cairn of, 397; Silver 
Lockets, said to have been found 
on field of, 398-9. 

Philogar, 10. 

Phytopti, Galls by, on Blackthorn, 
215. 


Kaims, 


Pickmaw Moss, 54. 

Pigdon’s Leap, 549. 

Piper’s Pool, and the Piper of Soney, 
(Shuna ?), 396-7. 

Pitcorthie,the endowment of Ednam 
Hospital, 340. 

Plainfield (Flaynfield) Moor, 349. 

Polystichum Lonchitis, 610. 

Polwarth, Lord, Letter from, 195. 

Pomfret’s Ford on Coquet, 345. 

ae of Hast Linton district, 
476. 

Presmennan Lake, its Botany and 
Entomology, 470-1. 

Prestonkirk Meeting, (see Linton 
Kast). 

Pringle, Lord Haining, and Pringle, 
Lord Alemoor, 82. 

Quern from Bonchester Hill, 47; at 
Netherton, 546. 

Radiola millegrana, 20, 593. 

Rainfall, 219, 420-1, 611, 612, 618. 

Record of Migration of Birds on the 
Borders, 556-589. 

Redshank Sandpiper from Raw- 
burn, 475 

Red Deer Antlers from Dogden 
Moss, 28 ; from Linton Moss, 62-3; 


XXV 


at Middleton Hall and Milfield 
Plain, 228, 280-1-2; at Hepple 
and Alwinton, 549; at Hetchester 
Camp, 348. 

Renton, Robert, Migration of Birds 
1883, 572. 

Reports of Meetings, 242-286; 439- 
491. 

Reports on the Effects of Storms of 
Wind, 1881, on Trees and Animals, 
209-214; 358-362. 

Ring of Cannel Coal at Annan Street, 
405. 

Robertson, Roger, of Ladykirk, his 
account of Crosshall Cross, 367-9. 

Robertson, Thomas, of Alnwick, 
65. 

Robert’s Law, Mustering-place for 
Coquetdale, 546; Camp and Tra- 
dition of, 548, 

Robson-Scott, James, Dr., On a 
Heronry at Swinden, Bowmont 
water, 87-8; Notice of his Writ- 
ings, 288; Memoir of, 299-300. 

Rockling, Three-bearded, 607. 

Rodono, 274; Botany of, 275. 

Roman Inscriptions at Hexham, 41 ; 
at Jedburgh, 43, 137; at Jedburgh 
and Risingham, App. i.-iv. 

Rooks and Rookeries, 159-184. 

Rookeries, 26, 244, 249, 252, 254. 

Rothbury Borough Butts, 357. 

Roundabout, The, 145. 

Rubus Chamzemorus, 24. 

Runklie Camp, 24. 

Russell, F., Measurements of Trees 
at Edgerston House, 201-2. 

Russell, Miss, Notes on some 
Historical and Literary Matter 
bearing on the Works called the 
Catrail, 89-105; on the Yarrow 
Inscription, 105-6; Notes on a 
Plate of British and other Coins 
older than the Roman Conquest 
of Britain, 375-383; Silver Lock- 
ets from field of Philiphaugh, 
398-9; Additional Notes to Paper 
of 1882-3, 600-3 ; Summary: Delo- 
raine, Oran’s portion, 600; Kenti- 
gern at Locherward, 601; Abbots 
of Whitehorn called Nennio, 601 ; 
How many St Patricks there were, 
601-2; Kirkhope, Ettrick, rude 
figure of Heclesiastic there, 602; 
Newstead (Tuesis?) 602; Red 
Abbey Stead, ib; Tadwine’s Cliffe, 


OF 


XXVi 


(Eildon Hills?) ib; Frontier at 
Melrose, 602; Cup and Ring 
cuttings on Rocks and their analo- 
gues in Etruria, India, Egypt, 
China, Malta, and Brittany, 603 ; 
Fern on Coins, 603 ; Coludesburg, 
Ebba, abbess of, 603; Gerontius 
and Vortigern, 603. 

Russell, Dr., On the Graves at 
Annan Street, 405-6. 

Rutherford, Rev. John, of Yarrow, 
his descendants, 270-1. 

Rutherford, Lord, 119. 

Rutherford, Katherine, 414. 

Sadler, John, Obituary Notices of, 
66, 72-9, 79-83. 

Sadler, Sir. John, Tradition of, 11. 

Salix Sadleri, 77, 81. 

Salmon, 283-4; Disease, 436-9. 

Samian Ware found on Galla Law, 
Gullane Hill, 306. 

Scot, Adam, of Tuschelaw, beheaded 
at Edinburgh, 411-2, 479. 
Robert, of Murdieston 

Rankilburn, 413-4. 

Sir Walter, of Kirkurd and his 

son David, 414. 

of Buccleugh, got Henderland, 
416, 417. 

Scotts of Syntoun, 414. 

Scott, Sir Walter, Autograph Let- 
ters, 598. 

Screnwood, British Urn found at, 
544-6. 

Screnwood, Notice of, 550-5; the 
Batailles of, 552; Middletons of, 
552; John de Crambewell of, 552 ; 
Sir John de Strivelyn of, 552-3; 
Horsleys of, 553-4-5. 

Seals, 27, 28, 138, 139. 

Selkirk Meeting, 49 etc.; Charters, 
Silver Cup and Insignia of the 
Burgh, 61-2; Meeting for Ettrick, 
476 etc. 

Setons, Viscount Kingston, of Whit- 
tingham, 473. 

Sharperton Edge, Crook found on, 
549. 

Shaw, James, On the Antiquities of 
Megget-land, 418-9. 

Shells, Marine, and Fragments of 
Bones near Hutton-hall, 88. 

Shells, Marine, in the Boulder Clay 
near Berwick, 540-1. 

Silver and Gold Ornaments in a 
Cairn at Gordon, 115-7. 


and 


INDEX. 


Silver Lockets from field of Philip- 
haugh, 398-9. 

Silver Buckle near Hazelton-rig, 
549. 

Siskin, Notice of, 59. 

Skiftenholme, Lands of, 416. 

Slab-Graves of East Lothian, 463-4, 
468. 

Slain Man’s Lea, 57. 

Smail, James; Rooks and Rookeries, 
159-184 ; Herons and Border 
Heronries, 330-4; Titlark (Anthus 
pratensis) feeding young Cuckoo, 
356, 

Smailgillis, Lands of, 416. 

Smiles, Dr Samuel, 8. 

Smith, John Alex., M.D., ete.; On 
an Ancient Celtic Ecclesiastical 
Bell, 184-190. 

Soldiers’ Fauld at Whitfield, 348. 

Soulises, Members of the family of, 
368-371; Arms of, 370. 

Southesk, Earls of, possessors of 
Henderland, 416-7. 

Spirals on Incised Rocksat Morwick, 
-846; at the Hollows Tower, etc., 
347; Spirals and Volutes, 380-1. 

Splachnum sphericum, 610. 

Spoon, Medizval, found at Mousin, 
363, 610. 

Squalus canicula, 475. 

Squirrel stealing Fruit, 578. 

Standing Stones, the Eleven Shear- 
ers, 140; near Trestle (Tryst hill) 
Cairn, 148; Tryst Stones, 144-5; 
Yarrow, 105-8, 271-2, 404-5; at 
Purveshaugh and Brotherston, 
399; Stone Circle at Harefaulds 
and the Burrastoun Lair, 311. 

Stenton, Visit to, 471. 

Stevenson, William, Notice of, 67-8; 
Memoir of and his Writings, 289- 
299; Cirriand Aurore, connection 
between, and of Aurore and Solar 
spots ; and of Cirri and Cyclones, 
290 ; Letters from Hugh Miller, 
M. Faraday and Captain Fitzroy, 
to, 291-2; Eurypterus Stevensoni, 
294; Fluidity of the Earth, 294-5 ; 
Geology of Langton, 296. 

Stobbs, Rev. W., M.A., Account of 
an Urn and of Gold and Silver 
Ornaments found near Gordon 
about 1838, 115-7; Flint Imple- 
ment at Gordon, 118. 

St Kentigern, 89, 106, 107. 


INDEX. 


St Mary’s Loch, Meeting at, 268, 
Loch and Churchyard, 273, 406, 
607. 

St Mungo’s Well, 54. 

Stone-balls at Fans, 260. 

Stone-socket, 28. 

Storms of October and November 
1881, Effects of, 22, 26-7, 84-7; 
209-214; 243; 250-1; 358-362; 
479. 

Stuart, Charles, M.D., Fungi from 
Pistol Plantings, 63; Obituary 
Notice of Mr John Sadler, 79-83 ; 
The Wind Storm of 14th October, 
1881, in the Hast of Berwickshire, 
209-11 ; Measurement of largest 
trees at Whithall, and damage 
done by October gale, 361-2; 
Migration of Birds, 1882-3-4, 572-9. 

Sutors of Selkirk, their History, 64. 

Swinden, Bowmont Water, Heronry 
at, 87-8. 

Swiss Lake-Villages, 235. 

Sympson’s (Mr And.) Account of 
Parish Kirks, MS., 276. 

Tait, James; On the Black Dyke 
and British Camps, 307-12. 

Tate, George, F.G.8.; On Geology of 
Cheviots, 18; On a Toad in Lime- 
stone Rock at Whittle, 505-6; 
The Duddo Stones and the Urns 
found in the Vicinity, 542-4; On 
Antiquities near Alnham, 547. 

Temple Thornton, 39. 

~Thirlmoor Hill, 16, 19. 

Thirlstane, Meeting at, and Articles 
exhibited to the Club, 597, ete. 
Thompson, Geo. H., Notes on Urns 
and Cists found at Amble, 523-8. 

Thor, the Long, 188, 190. 

Thrincia hirta, 258, 265. 

Tibbie Shiel’s Inn, and its fre- 
quenters, 274. 

Tiptoe, Plants at, 283. 

Titlark (Anthus pratensis) feeding 
young Cuckoo, 354. 

Toads, embedded in Rocks, etc., 
491-506. 

Torilis nodosa, 29. 

Totanus Calidris, 475. 

Towford, 10. 

Traprain Law, Insects of, 462. 

Traquair family possessed of Hender- 
land, 417. 

Trees, Measurements of at Edger- 
.stone, 201-2; at Whitehall, 361-2. 


XXVI1 


Trees, Great, Remarkable, or Orna- 
mental, 25, 26, 52, 55, 58, 201, 
202, 242, 247, 248, 249, 252, 259, 
263 282, 361-2, 467, 468, 470, 478, 
484, 

Trientalis Huropza, 609. 

Tristram, Rev. Canon, D.D., Some 
Reminiscenes of Mr Carr-Ellison, 
511-514. 

Tumuli, 234-5, ete., see Cairns. 

Tuedian Rocks or Calciferous Sand- 
stone, 253, 279, 296; Entomostraca 
of, 313-326. 

Turnbull, John, F.S.A. Scot., On an 
Urn found in the Park at Mander- 
ston, 304-5. 

Tyningham, residence of Bp. of St 
Andrews, 464. 

Umfravills, Richard de and hig 
ancestor Robert with the Beard, 
551 ; Odinell de, 550; Robert de, 
550-52; Gilbert de, 551-2. 

Urns, at Gordon, 116; at Linton 
Hills, 140 ; Hownam district, 145; 
at Bowsden, 1938; at Picts Knowe, 
Ednam, 245; at Gullane Hill, 
264, 306-7; near Dryhope,. 278; 
at Doddington, 283; in Park at 
Manderston, 304-5; at Luffness, 
306; at Gosford Links, 807; at 
Holystone Common, 348; at 
Whitehope on Yarrow, 405; at 
Amble and Warkworth South Pier, 
288; 522-530; at Duddo, 548-4; 
Broowridge and Ford, 544; at 
Screnwood, 544-5. 

Urus, see Bos Primigenius. 

Utricularia vulgaris, 268. 

Vine, Old, at Whickham, 40. 

Water marks on the Ettrick, 594-5. 

Watling Street, 14, 18. 

Watson, Charles, F.8.A., Scot., hig 
Collection of Antiquities, 27-8; 
Local Documents, 194-7 ; Rainfall 
at Duns, 422. 

Watson, James, Restoration of Jed- 
burgh Abbey, 127-137. 

Wells, St Mungo’s, 54, 106; St 
Anton’s, 251; Leitholm Virtue, 
252; Brand’s Well at Gullane 
Hill, 306; Holy Well at Garvald, 
306 ; Medicinal and Bathing Wells 
at Cornhill, 440. 

Whittingham, E.L., Meeting at, 
462, Country round, 462 ; Church, 
462-6; Andrew Baxter, meta- 


XXV1li 


physician died at, lived at Old 
Haddington near it, 463; Kirk- 
lands of 463-6 ; Ancient Cemetery, 
463 ; Policies and Gardens, 467-8 ; 
Great Yew tree and Old Church- 
yard, 468; Tower, 468-9; House 
and Museum, and Holly Hedges, 
469. 

Whittingham 
473. 

Wild Birds Act, see Birds Wild. 

Wild Boar, remains of, at Cresswell 
Bog, 287. 

Wild Cat, see Cat. 

Wooden Law Camp, 14. 

Worm Tracks on the Dye, 23-4. 

Wreigh Hill, Antlers and bones of 
Deer at 348; Village, 349. 


and its Owners, 


INDEX. 


Wynzehope or Glenkery, lands of, 
413. 

Yarrow, Scenery and Associations 
of the lower Yarrow, 56-8. 

Inscription, 105-6 ; Remarks 

on, 107-8; Gwynap Nudd, Ryderch 

Hael, and Nudd Hael, 106; St 

Mungo’s Well, 106; St Kentigern, 

106-7; Memoria a Sepulchre, 

107-8. 

Notes on, 346-8. 

Vale of, 268-70. 

Kirk of, Monument to Rey. 

John Rutherford, 270, 402-6. 

Stone, 271-2; Feus, 272. 

Yew tree, Great, at Whittingham, 
468. 

Zoology, 18, 36, 47, 245, etc. 


Plate I. 


Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club. 


FRAGMENT OF LIMESTONE, ALL THAT WAS SAVED, SHADED 


PART SHOWS PORTION OF CAVITY WHERE FROG LIVED. 


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