14 Address to the Members of 



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 cor- 

 vorants (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." * 



I must not leave this majestic coast, without mention of 

 another of its feathered tenants, the Cornish chough f ; 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, distinctly mentioned by Bishop Leslie, in 

 his history de Origine Scotorum, published about 300 years 

 ago J, has been overlooked or disregarded by naturalists, who 

 have considered the bird peculiar to the western shores of 

 Britain § ; and it is to the Rev. A. Baird that we are indebted 

 for the confirmation of the accuracy of the bishop's inform- 

 ation ; 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 || and 

 the toad 4- have met us everywhere; and in our excursions to 

 Penmanshiel Wood, and to St. Bathan's, a viper f was taken ; 

 but no communication relative to any of this neglected tribe 

 of animals has been laid before you. 



[Fishes.] — Mr. Embleton gave us, at our meeting in De- 

 cember last, a description of a singular individual of the sal- 

 mon**, which had been caught near Coldstream. It was 

 distinguished by being spotted over, in a leopard-like fashion, 

 with pale marks, by having its gill-covers beautifully streaked 



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



•j* Corvus Graculus Lin., Pyrrhocorax Crraculus Tern. 



% P. 17. Published in 1578. 



§ " Inhabits the western side of the islapd." Flem. Br. Anim. 89. 



|j i?ana temporaria Lin., Paddock Prov. 



4- -ft ana Bui'o Lin., 2?ufo vulgaris Flem., Taed, Prov. 



f Coluber i?erus Lin., Fipera communis Flem., Adder, Prov. 



** £almo tfalar Lin. 



