THE NATURALIST. 



REMARKS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CENTRAL POR- 

 TION OF THE TRANSITION RANGE OF THE SOUTH OF 

 SCOTLAND, IN WHICH ARISE THE SOURCES OF THE TWEED. 



By William MacGillivray, A.M., F.R.S.E., &c. 



The most elevated portion of the mountainous track which extends from the Mull 

 of Galloway to St. Abb's Head, forming the central zone of the southern division 

 of Scotland, consists of an aggregated group of mountains, from which arise the 

 sources of the river Tweed. These mountains are for the most part situated in 

 the parishes of Tweedsmuir, Megget, and Mannor, which form the southern and 

 south-eastern parts of the inland county of Peebles, and are continuous with the 

 high land forming the upper ranges of the celebrated pastoral districts of Yarrow 

 and Ettrick in Selkirkshire, and with the higher parts of the parish of Moffat in 

 Dumfriesshire. 



The river Tweed, which collects the waters that drain from these mountains, 

 commences at the southern extremity of Peeblesshire, receives accessions on either 

 hand from the numerous vallies that wind among the smooth green hills, and 

 proceeds north-eastward in an open, rather narrow, slightly tortuous valley, until 

 it reaches Nedpath Castle, a little above Peebles, where it alters its course, and 

 runs directly eastward, still receiving numerous tributaries, until it escapes from 

 the mountain land, beyond the mouths of the Ettrick and Gala. 



The scenery of this region is so peculiar, that an attempt to delineate its 

 characteristic features seems to me not unworthy of the approbation of those 

 who are interested in the Natural History of our romantic land. The general 

 idea of it is extremely simple. It may be summarily described as a district 

 composed of uniform, smooth, rounded, grey-wacke hills, scarcely ever precipitous 

 or even abrupt, clothed to the summits with Juncece, Cyperacece, Grasses, 

 Heath, and pasture plants, and separated into groups or ridges by long, narrow, 

 straight vallies, which, though generally green, seldom present any natural wood, 

 even along the clear streams that flow into the valley of the Tweed. 



But it is necessary to examine the picture more in detail. With this view, let 

 us ascend the long valley of Mannor Water, which opens upon the Tweed a little 

 above Nedpath Castle, and is one of the most extended in the upper part of the 

 course of that river. This valley runs nearly north and south, for the most part 

 in a straight line. Its breadth varies from a few hundred yards to half a mile in 



No. 11, Vol. II. 2h 



