A LIST OF THE BIRDS OF BERWICK-ON-TWEED 13 



GOLDEN ORIOLE, Oriolus galbitla, Linnaeus. 'In the " History 

 of the Berwickshire Naturalists Club," vol. x. p. 387, I have recorded 

 the capture of a mature male, near Middleton Hall, Belford, on 

 26th May 1881. The specimen is still in my collection. Middle- 

 ton is about thirteen miles south of Berwick, and I am not aware of 

 any other record for the district. 



STARLING, Sturnus vulgaris, Linnaeus. A very abundant 

 resident, and still on the increase. Less than a hundred years ago 

 it seems to have been considered quite a rare bird, upon the Borders. 

 Two broods are usually reared in the course of the season. Indi- 

 viduals, in a more or less white state of plumage, are not unfrequent 

 in autumn ; they seem invariably to be young birds. 



ROSE-COLOURED PASTOR, Pastor roseus (Linnaeus). A casual 

 visitant, which has only very rarely appeared in the district. The 

 specimen recorded by me (" Hist. Berw. Nat. Club," vol. viii. p. 495) 

 as from near Ancroft, in August 1877, I have since been informed 

 by the person who shot it, was killed at Allerdean Folly, a place 

 about five miles south of Berwick, and perhaps two miles from 

 Ancroft. When shot it was sitting in a garden amongst some red- 

 currant bushes, and was afterwards carried off to Ancroft by the 

 policeman, who lived there, and who chanced to call at the " Folly " 

 about the time ; from him it was acquired for the Berwick Museum, 

 but has since shared the fate of many another specimen in our local 

 Institution, having long ago been devoured by moths ! 



There are several other records for Northumberland, one being 

 by Selby, from Bamburgh, in July 1818, and another from West Ord, 

 in the vicinity of Berwick, on i3th July 1832 (Dr. Johnston, " Hist. 

 Berw. Nat. Club," vol. i. p. 4). In the same journal (vol. i. p. 253), 

 Selby, in his " Report on the Ornithology of the District," read to the 

 Club, in December 1840, refers to "Rose Pastor, killed at Tweed- 

 mouth and Ladythorn." 



CHOUGH, Pyrrhocorax graculus (Linnaeus). Mr. Muirhead has 

 shown that this fine species, which used formerly to breed upon the 

 coast of Berwickshire, probably became extinct there between 1846 

 and 1855 ; but, although I have not been able to obtain any really 

 satisfactory evidence upon the point, it seems just possible that it 

 may be re-establishing itself in its ancient quarters. Thus, when the 

 Berwickshire Naturalists Club visited St. Abb's Head, on 26th June 

 1895, a P a i r were reported, by some of the fishermen about Petti- 

 cowick, to be nesting there. It was not until after we had returned 

 to Coldingham that I heard of this, and no definite information 

 could then be obtained about it, but on returning to the Head, a few 

 days later, I was most positively assured, by more than one person, 

 that a pair of Red-legged Crows had actually bred there that season, the 

 nest being, it was said, in the cliff a little to the west of Petticowick 



