NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 117 



was an unusually dry one, and may have caused a temporary efflux 

 of the Martins from the interior to the shore-lines. 



Wren. Troglodytes europaeus, Koch. — Selby notices the 

 escape of a nest of Wrens from the face of one of the highest 

 precipices of the cliff, 1833 (loc. cit.J. 



Carrion Crow. Corvus corone, Lin. — Several seen by Selby in 

 1833 (loc. cit). 



Eaven. Corvus corax, Lin. — Three seen by Selby in 1 833. A pair 

 — " the only representatives of a once numerous and daring band of 

 plunderers " — noted by Hepburn in 1850. War was waged against 

 them by the natives owing to their depredations amongst young 

 lambs. Two pairs observed on the Field day of the Berwickshire 

 Field Club at St. Abb's in 1859 — fide John Charles Langlands. 



Jackdaw. .Corvus monedida, Lin. — Very abundant along the 

 cliff-face. Mr. James Hardy, writing in 1864, remarks upon their 

 recent colonization on the sea-cliffs, and of their increasing numbers 

 in these haunts. As has often been remarked upon before, the 

 increase of the Jackdaw, at sea-nurseries, appears to be the signal 

 for a correspondingly rapid decrease of the following species. 



Chough. Fregilus gracidus (Lin.). — Selby notes it as "not un- 

 common " at "St. Abb's Head and adjoining coast" in 1833, but 

 Hepburn, in 1850, says — "now extinct, except a solitary pair 

 which, I was informed, seldom strayed far from Fast Castle, a 

 few miles to the eastward of the Head." [See remarks on this 

 species, antea, p. 113.] 



Starling. Sturnus vulgaris, Lin. — Abundant. 



Rock Pipit. Anthus obscurus (Lath.). — Common; noted by 

 Selby, 1833. 



Rock Pigeon. Columba livia (Bris.). — Found commonly by 

 Selby in 1833 (loc. cit), but attributed by Hepburn to the dovecot 

 pigeons becoming wild. No doubt the flocks of coast pigeons found 

 all along the coast as far as North Berwick and Tantallon Castle 

 are greatly mixed with parti-coloured birds, much more so than the 

 flocks found in the wild Hebrides, or even on the West Coast of 

 Scotland. But I hardly think it would be safe to assert that the 

 real wild " Rock " is not found at St. Abb's ; indeed, the wildness 

 of the birds is only proof of the tendency to revert, and points to 

 the probability of a considerable amount of real wild blood being in 

 their veins. 



Common Gull. Larus canus, Lin. — Breeds on the rocks to the 



