6 DR JOHNSTON'S ADDRESS. 



of the innumerable flocks of birds which resort here annually to breed, 

 and fill every little projection, every hole, which will give them leave to 

 rest. Multitudes were swimming about ; others swarmed in the air, and 

 stunned us with the variety of their croaks and screams. Kittiwakes, 

 sea-mews, and black-headed gulls, guillemots, auks, and corvorants, are 

 among the species which resort hither. " The notes of all seafowl are 

 most harsh and inharmonious. I have often rested under rocks like 

 these, attentive to the various sounds over my head ; which, mixed with 

 the deep roar of the waves slowly swelling, and retiring from the vast 

 caverns beneath, have produced a fine effect. The sharp voice of the 

 gulls, the frequent chatter of the guillemots, the loud notes of the auks, 

 the screams of the herons, together with the deep periodical croak of the 

 corvorants, (and the boding voice of the raven), which serves as a bass 

 to the rest, have often furnished me with a concert, which, joined to the 

 wild scenery surrounding me, afforded, in a high degree, that species of 

 pleasure which results from the novelty and the gloomy majesty 'of the 

 entertainment 1 . w 



I must not leave this majestic coast, without mention of another of 

 its feathered tenants, the Cornish chough (Fregilus graculus), which, 

 indeed, was not seen by us on this occasion, but is certainly ascertained 

 to breed in the rocks between St Abb's and Fast Castle. This fact, dis- 

 tinctly mentioned by Bishop Leslie in his history De Origins Scotorum, 

 published about 300 years ago 2 , has been overlooked or disregarded by 

 naturalists, who have considered the bird peculiar to the western shores 

 of Britain 3 ; and it is to the Rev. A. Baird that we are indebted for the 

 confirmation of the accuracy of the Bishop's information ; and, of course, 

 for showing that the limits usually assigned to the distribution of the 

 chough in this country are erroneous. 



Reptiles. Of the reptiles of Berwickshire, the frog (liana tempo- 

 raria) and the toad (Sufo vulgaris), have met us every where ; and, in 

 our excursions to Penmanshiel Wood, and to St Bathan's, a viper ( Vipera 

 communis) was taken ; but no communication relative to any of this ne- 

 glected tribe of animals has been laid before you. 



Fishes. Mr Embleton gave us, at our meeting in December last, a 

 description of a singular individual of the salmon (Salmo salar\ which 

 had been caught near Coldstream. It was distinguished by being spot- 

 ted over, in a leopard-like fashion, with pale marks, by having its gill- 

 covers beautifully streaked with red lines, and by leather-like fins ; and 

 these peculiarities were not the effects of disease, for the fish was in good 

 condition, and perfectly sound. At the same meeting I presented to the 

 Club a list of the less common fishes found on the coast of Berwickshire, 

 of which list the most remarkable, for their rarity at least, were the com- 



1 Arctic Zoology, i. Introd. p. xii. 



2 P. 17. Published in 1578. 



3 " Inhabits the western side of the island." Flew. Br. Anhn. S.">. 



