A LIST OF THE BIRDS OF BERWICK-ON-TWEED 11 



limits of the borough, and have since taken it at Allerdean Mill, about 

 four miles south of Berwick. 



The Grasshopper Warbler is a shy bird, of very skulking habits, 

 and, were it not for its peculiar song, might very easily be overlooked 

 in a district. Its song is, however, so very different from that of 

 any other bird, that it at once arrests the attention, and when once 

 heard can never be mistaken for that of any other species. To the 

 writer it seems almost incredible that any person, acquainted with 

 the notes of both species, should ever confuse the monotonous trill 

 of this bird with the song of the Sedge Warbler. 



YELLOW -BROWED WARBLER, Phylloscopus superriliosus (J. F. 

 Gmelin). Hancock's well-known record from Hartley, Northum- 

 berland, on 26th September 1838, is still the only occurrence for 

 the district. 



CHIFF-CHAFF, Phylloscopus rufus (Bechstein). Much less numer- 

 ous than the next species, but a regular summer visitor, and vies with 

 the Sand Martin as the first to put in an appearance in the spring. 



WILLOW WARBLER, Phylloscopus trochihis (Linnaeus). The most 

 abundant of our W T arblers, breeding wherever there are a few trees 

 to afford it shelter. The young in autumn are considerably yellower 

 in plumage than adults, and at this season are often numerous in 

 gardens in the town. 



WOOD WARBLER, Phylloscopus sibilatrix (Bechstein). There are 

 no suitable nesting-stations for the Wood Wren in the borough, 

 but it breeds sparingly over the surrounding district, both in North- 

 umberland and Berwickshire. I once heard it in song, in the spring, 

 in the plantation on the banks of the Tweed, below New Water 

 Haugh, and have detected it, once or twice, among its congeners in 

 the garden, in August and September. 



GOLD-CRESTED WREN, Regulns cristatus, K. L. Koch. Quite 

 common in the surrounding districts, where it nests in most of the 

 fir plantations ; but it is only on migration, in the autumn, that it 

 occurs in Berwick. At this season it is not unusual to meet with 

 one or two of these mere atoms of bird life, in gardens, in the 

 town, and I have sometimes also noticed it, amongst the coarse 

 herbage, upon the sea banks. 



LONG-TAILED TIT, Acredula rosea (Blyth). Breeds in one or 

 two localities, within a few miles of Berwick, and upon both sides 

 of the Border, but to the borough itself it can only be regarded as a 

 very occasional visitor, there being but little to attract it. I once 

 met with a troop, foraging along the hedges of the "Boundary 

 Road," near High Cocklaw. 



It may be worth while to refer, in passing, to the specimen of 

 the northern, white-headed form (A. caudatd) recorded by Mr. 

 Hancock, from Tynemouth, in November, 1852. 



