A LIST OF THE BIRDS OF BERWICK-ON-TWEED 79 



like some of its congeners, is much more frequent to the south of the 

 Tweed than round the cliff-girt coast of Berwickshire. I have, how- 

 ever, seen it in the latter county about Lamberton and near the village 

 of St. Abbs. 



Mr. Muirhead's collection should contain an immature example, 

 which I shot flying over the Magdaline fields, close to the old 

 Berwick walls, early in the morning of 2ist August 1879. 



GREY PHALAROPE, Phalaropus fulicarius (Linnaeus). A rare 

 winter visitant. A specimen in my collection was shot in the autumn 

 of 1877 upon the coast, at Goswick, about five miles south of our 

 boundary ; and it is mentioned in Gray's " Birds of the West of 

 Scotland," upon the authority of the Earl of Haddington, as having 

 occurred at the mouth of the Tweed : this would be prior to 1871. 



In Northumberland it has occurred several times in winter ; and 

 I have one, killed by a boy with a catapult, near Wooler, in June 

 1889, which is in winter dress, but has acquired a few of the red 

 feathers of its summer plumage. 



RED-NECKED PHALAROPE, Phalaropus hyperboreus (Linnasus). A 

 very rare winter visitant, our only occurrence being a specimen in 

 immature plumage, which is in my collection, and which was shot on 

 the Tweed, near New Water Haugh, on 26th September 1893, and 

 brought to me the same afternoon. It has only been recorded two 

 or three times previously for Northumberland, and nowhere to the 

 north, that I am aware of, until we reach the neighbourhood of 

 Dunbar. 



WOODCOCK, Scolopax rusticula, Linnaeus. A well-known winter 

 visitant, I have sometimes seen it flying over the town, and disturbed 

 it from gardens in autumn. It breeds in the adjoining districts, on 

 both sides of the Border, much more frequently now than was the 

 case a few years ago. 



GREAT SNIPE, GaUinago major (J. F. Gmelin). A rare autumn 

 or winter visitant to the district, but has been recorded many times 

 from both the adjoining counties, chiefly in September. Spital 

 House, where one is mentioned by Mr. Muirhead as having been 

 killed about 1865, is within a couple of miles of the borough. 



COMMON SNIPE, Gallinago ccelestis. Common during autumn 

 and winter, when, on Yarrow Slake, or at the mouth of the Whitadder, 

 numbers are shot every year by our local gunners. In very hard 

 weather I have more than once met with it below tide-mark amongst 

 the rocks behind Berwick Pier. It nests in many places in the 

 surrounding districts. 



In the Museum we have a very fine specimen of the dark brown 

 variety, formerly known as Sabim's Snipe, and which was shot at 

 Marshall Meadows, within the borough, on ist January 1875 (see 

 "Hist. Berw. Nat. Club," vol. viii. p. 260). In February 1880 I 



