NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 113 



upon the rocks at low-tide. This part of the cliff is known as 

 the Castle Hill.* 



Eowing round and sailing, we could not approach very near to 

 the cliff-foot, as a heavy surf was breaking upon the outlying 

 spurs of horizontal rock, and upon the little islets and stacks which 

 stud the undercliff; but we were near enough to see the young Herring 

 Gulls on the grassy tops of the stacks, or distinguish a Starling or a 

 Jackdaw as it flitted across the face of the main cliff, 50 or 60 

 yards further back, or popped in and out of the holes in the rugged 

 precipice. 



AVe searched eagerly for the Chough or Red-legged Crow, both 

 when on land and in the boat, but failed to observe one; but 

 our failing to see them is no guarantee that they were not there, for 

 as Mr. Robert Gray truly remarked to me afterwards, " unless you 

 could have been there in early morning, or about sunset, you would 

 in ordinary weather have but a poor chance of finding the ' Red-legs ' 

 at home." Mr. Gray also instanced his own disappointment on 

 similar occasions, on half a dozen trips to another part of our Scottish 

 coasts where they are still present. 



At the same time I may mention that both at the Lizard in 

 Cornwall, and at localities in the West of Scotland, I have repeat- 

 edly — day after day, in fine summer weather in the months of May 

 and June — seen the " Red-legs " jerking away along the cliff-face, 

 or sitting on a point below me, as I peered carefully over ; and 

 this, both at sea-cliffs and at inland localities. Mr. Gray, how- 

 ever, agrees with me that it is quite possible that they may not 

 have returned to St. Abb's Head, though he sees no other reason to 

 doubt their presence at other localities on the same coast, f 



The rock scenery of St. Abb's Head, and some miles of coast-line 

 stretching westwards, is very fine, broken as it is into masses, 

 pinnacles and stacks, pierced by tunnels and caves, and furrowed 



* St. Abb's Head " consists of four hills separated from each other by what 

 are here called ' nicks, ' or deep valleys. The most southerly and lowest is 

 the Castle Hill," as above, from the resemblance presented by the rocks. The 

 Kirkhill follows, next is Harelaw, and the largest and boldest is Headland 

 [Proc. Berw. Nat. Field Club, 1859, p. 127]. 



t Dr. Geo. Johnston, remarking on the Chough on this coast, speaks of its 

 being " certainly ascertained to breed in the rocks," and repeats a much older 

 record by Bishop Leslie [" De Origine Scotorum," 1578], afterwards verified 

 by Rev. A. Baird. 



VOL. V, p 



