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Edinburgh, who told me that this pair of Peregrines 

 had migrated, and that he knew to a j'ard where they 

 were ; also that they had the good fortune to com- 

 pletely rear their young, a thing they were not allowed 

 to do, even before the days of the lighthouse, on the 

 Bass. I looked in vain for Scoters, but neither these 

 nor any other sea ducks were to be seen. A few days 

 after I went round the Bass, I was along the shore 

 opposite to it at Canty Bay, and saw Sandwich Terns 

 fishing along the margin of the water, and on the 

 rocky parts of the shore I saw the Rock Pipit, which 

 is here a common bird. A Wader of some sort 

 tantalised me by its whistle, but look as I would, I 

 could not find it, and I did not recognise its note. 



Close to Edinburgh on the South and South- 

 West are the Pentland Hills, a fairly large tract of 

 uncultivated ground, rising to nearly 2,000 feet 

 altitude, having sufficient natural features, along with 

 some artificial ones (such as reservoirs), to offer a 

 home to several species of birds which town 

 naturalists would look at with pleasure. Although 

 this summer has been an exceptionalh^ dry one in the 

 districts I visited, and was even at that time considered 

 a ver}^ favourable one for Grouse, I onl}' saw one from 

 the path I took, where I have usually seen a dozen. 

 A Kestrel being harassed by a Carrion Crow, was the 

 only event I noticed at all unusual. Peewits and 

 Blackheaded Gulls bathed by the margin of one of 

 the reservoirs and a Curlew showed itself over the 

 skyline above them. On account of the long drought, 

 the reservoirs, were very low, and provided considerable 

 sand or mud banks for such birds as feed on them, 

 and I noticed man}' Sandpipers running about the tiny 

 creeks along witli some Redshanks. Teal fed in the 

 channels where the streams ran into the reservoir, and 

 at this season of course looked as brown as Sandpipers, 

 being in "eclipse" plumage. My walk took me 



