105 



NOTES FROM THE ROCKS. 



ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF DUNBAR SHORE 



BY ROIJEKT GIIAV^ ESQ. 



DUNBAR CASTI.E AND ROCKS. 



"Monosraphoi-s, come from whonc(> thoy mny, have, I think, fair prctoTiPp to ohalleng'P some 

 l-e^ard and approlwtion from the lov(n-s of Natural History; for, as no man ran alone investigate 

 all the works of Nature, these partial writei-s may, eaoh in his department, be more aeenrate 

 in their discoveries, and freer from eiTors, than more general ^^Titers, and so by degrees may pave 

 the way to an univei-sal con-ect Natural History. "^Gilbert White. 



"Who can old Ocean's pathle.ss bed explore, 

 • And count her tribes that people o\ery shore." 



A nitmber of years have now elapsed since, nnder the guidance of our 

 much-vahied friend, Mr. A. Hepburn, of Whittinghame, we undertook to be 

 Faunist of the sea-shore at Dunbar; and though, for many more previous to 

 that, we had followed the pursuit of Natural History for our own 

 amusement, and had amassed a well-furnished museum of objects, no trouble 

 was ever taken to record the observations made in our rambles. Like too 

 many obscure field observers, we had plodded on imder the impression that 

 what we were engaged in was likely to interest no other person; and so far 

 indeed as our judgment had been swayed by the mock sympathy of our 

 neighbours, we were not likely soon to entertain a different notion. One who 

 spends so many hours a day perched on a rock by the sea-side, or wanders 

 out in the evenings of winter to recline on a bed of old Red Sandstone, and 

 watch the feathered tribes as they return from the fields, cannot possibly 



VOL. I. P 



