KOTE8 FROM THE ROCKS. 107 



"Eocks rich iii gems, <ind mountains big with mmcsl" 



Nor, with regard to fossils^ could we more creditably have entertained the 

 palaeontologist; our records comprehending nothing more than a bare allusion 

 to the stone book of the parish. In the Carboniferous Sandstone beds^ as 

 mentioned by Mr. Ferguson, myriads of vegetable remains are conspicuous; and 

 on the beach, at some distance to the south, broken fragments of a Sigillaria 

 are scattered about in profusion, having obviously been washed out of these 

 beds. Corals abound in huge masses, and the disjointed stalks of Encrinites 

 moniliformis are strewn thickly in a bed of shale; the heads of the latter are, 

 however, very scarce. Bat intensely interesting though the study of fossiliferous 

 rocks is, we must not dwell on it, being somewhat out of our province'; we 

 therefore leave the geologist to decipher these ancient lithographs in a manner 

 suitable to their claims. We believe there are ^sermons in stones,' though in 

 Nature's volumes some of these are hard to understand, and we shall always 

 look back with pleasure to our short ^meditations among the tombs' of Earth's 

 first tenants, seen in the neighbourhood already described; yet without dis- 

 paraging these, or the pursuits of any follower of the science, we have greater 

 pleasure in inviting our readers to other parts of the same work; 



"Let us read 

 The living page, whose every character 

 Delights and gives us wisdom." 



It is our purpose then, in laying before the readers of "The Naturalist" 

 these 'Notes from the Eocks,' to give first a few notes on the Ornithology of 

 the district, which may be considered applicable to the coast of East Lothian 

 in general, and afterwards to continue the observations in other departments 

 of Zoology as opportunity may offer. These, it may be observed, are honA 

 file, written at the time of observation; the earliest corroborated by the expe- 

 rience of after years; and the whole undertaken with a certain amount of 

 enthusiasm, which those who find pleasure in studying Nature in the fields can 

 best appreciate. No apology is offered for the want of classified sequence: 

 we believe it would serve no great end in so small a matter; and we therefore 

 take up at random one of our re-written sheets which treats of 



FuLiGULiis^E, on. Scaup Ducks. 



A family of birds which are, for the most part, maritime in their habits, 

 and distinguished from the Anatinas, or true Ducks, by their ample feet, 

 fuller and more depressed bodies; besides having a large membranous lobe 

 appended to their hind toe. They are all excellent swimmers and divers, 

 have a strong and rapid flight, and are somewhat wild in their habits. 

 Many of them are merely winter visitants, appearing in the end of autumn, 

 and retiring early in April. In rough weather various species may be seen 

 hurrying along by the water's edge, slackening their speed occasionally, to 

 look for a place of shelter ; of these the Oidemiixs are very conspicuous, their 



