The Scottish Naturalist. 311 



to be about equal. In the summer season they disappear; but 

 he has more than once seen a solitary bird in the woods above 

 Dunse Castle, and he is confident that a few pairs remain all the 

 year through. If this be so, there can be no doubt that they 

 breed about the place, although he has never succeeded in 

 finding a nest. The Redpole is never seen except in winter." 

 Mr. Brotherston, writing March 14, says: "We have the Siskin 

 still here ; I got a pair from Peatrig bog on the 9th. They are 

 to be gotten there every winter." I was told that in January, 

 1876, among the alders by the Lill burn, on Ilderton Moor, 24 

 Siskins were shot ; a veiy unnecessary piece of cruelty, in order 

 to obtain a few specimens to stuff. Redpoles during winter 

 visit the birch woods near Penmanshiel, to feed on the birch 

 seeds. They remain only for a short time. 



Starling. — Starlings are as plentiful nesting in old decayed 

 alders on the upper part of Lill burn as in the Back Wood of 

 Langleyford. There is no one to disturb them in that remote 

 situation. There was a general scream of alarm when I approached 

 their seclusion. A shepherd-boy who passing every day was 

 accustomed to the noise calmly remarked, "Oh ! its just the 

 way o' them." In that neighbourhood they begin to collect the 

 young in the tall hedges about June 4th ; and afterwards feed 

 together in bands, which alight in heaps and spread outwards 

 like a fan ; this system of flight and dispersion being constantly 

 repeated. On Sept. 8th I observed a female Starling leisurely 

 walking along a wall top, and picking up the numerous insects 

 that had alighted on it, previous to a shower coming on. Cats 

 kill Starlings but do not eat them. 



Jay (Garrulus glandarius). — The Statistical Account of 

 Cockburnspath and Oldcambus, when the Jay built in Penman- 

 shiel Wood, is dated 1834. Considerably before that period, 

 under the direction of gamekeepers, the number of " Jay 

 Pyots " had become diminished, and the persecution lasted till 

 all were either trapped or shot. Occasionally, when a boy, I 

 have seen living birds there; but more frequently they were 

 suspended like felons to a cross-stick, with a nail through their 

 heads. There have not been any there for well nigh thirty 

 years. I was told, a few years since, that there are still a few 

 Jays in the Whitfield and Press Woods. 



Sand Martin (Hirundo riparia). — Mr. S. H. Smith informed 

 me that he on one occasion took notice of a great commotion 

 among some Sand Martins near Norham, and found it was 



