238 ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SOUTH OF SCOTLAND. 



rugged and winding vallies, slopes covered with debris and patched with Heath 

 . and Brake, brown or limpid streams fringed with Alder and Birch, rivers and 

 lakes with cataracts and islands, dark forests of Pines and thickets of Briars, 

 with other remarkable features, still, and will for ages, give interest to the 

 ancient land of the Gael. The physical and moral character of the natives, too, 

 is widely different, though, judging from what I have observed, I should have no 

 hesitation in pronouncing the men of the south a noble race. 



I have to add some remarks with respect to the distribution of the vertebrate 

 animals. 



The quadrupeds are few in species as well as in number. The Pipistrelle Bat 

 and the Common Long-eared Bat, Plecotus auritus, I have seen in Nidpath Cas- 

 tle, near Peebles. The Hare, the Rabbit, the Brown Rat, the Domestic Mouse, 

 the Brown Water-rat, the short-tailed Field-mouse, the Long-tailed Field-mouse, 

 the Squirrel in some of the lower parts, the Foumart or Polecat among the hills, 

 the Ermine, the Weasel, the Fox, which is rare, the Badger still more so, the 

 Otter, nearly extirpated, the Common Shrew, the Mole, and the Hedgehog, are 

 all the other species of whose occurrence I have obtained satisfactory evidence. 



The birds are, of course, more numerous. To prevent misapprehension as to 

 their nomenclature, I shall use chiefly the names employed by M. Temminck in 

 his Manuel d'Ornithologie. 



One of the species which I have always considered the most interesting, on 

 account of its singular habits, lively disposition, and clear sweet song, is the Dip* 

 per, Cinclus aquaticus, which I have nowhere found more plentiful than along 

 the Tweed and its tributaries. The Missel Thrush, Turdus viscivorus, I have 

 seen about Peebles, Selkirk, and elsewhere. The Blackbird and Mavis are not 

 so plentiful as in many other districts. In winter I have seen the Fieldfare and 

 Redwing, which, however, are less plentiful than in the lower districts. Sir 

 William Jardine informs me that the Ring Ouzel is not very uncommon in 

 Moffat-dale. 



Saxicola cenanthe and S. ruietra are both numerous in the higher valleys, 

 where you also sometimes meet with Fringilla cannabina ; but Saxicola rubicola 

 is rare, although I have met with it in winter. 



In the woods, thickets, bushes, and hedges of the lower parts are found : — Ac- 

 centor modularis, Sylvia rubecula, Sylvia sibilatrix, S. trochilus, S. cinerea, S. 

 pkcenicurus, which is not uncommon about Peebles, Muscicapa grisola, of which 

 I have obtained specimens in Ettrick and at Peebles, Sylvia troglodytes, Certhia 

 familiaris, Pants major, P. cceruleus, P. ater, P. caudatus, S. regulus, which, 

 as well as the five last species, is common in plantations, Fringilla chloris, F. 

 ccelebs, Fmberiza citrinella, Pyrrhula vulgaris, Fringilla carduelis, and Frin- 

 gilla spinus. 



