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ON SOME BIRD REMAINS EROM THE BROCH 

 OF AYRE, ORKNEY. 



BY 



N. F. TICEHURST, f.r.c.s. 



The grass-grown mound, known as the Broch of Ay re, is 

 situated in the village of St. Mary's, between the high 

 road from Kirkwall and the Loch of St. Mary's, being 

 only a few yards' distance from either, and a hundred 

 yards inland from the head of the Bay of Ayre. 



In the winter of 1901-2, the late Mr. A. M. Sutherland 

 G-raeme, undertook the excavation of the mound. This 

 was most carefully done, and in the course of a month or 

 two the remains of a typical Broch, or Pict's-dwelling, 

 were disclosed, such as exist at many localities in the 

 Orkneys, Shetlands, Caithness and Sutherland. The most 

 well-known and best preserved of these is at Mousa, in 

 Shetland, which still reaches a height of forty feet. In 

 the present instance, the remains of the walls, built of 

 rough stones and thirteen feet thick, only attain a height 

 of four to five feet, but in all other dimensions it seems to 

 agree almost exactly with the Broch of Breckness, near 

 Stromness, of which a full account is to be found, by Mr. 

 W. Gr. J. Watt, in the " Proceedings " of the Orkney 

 Natural History Society. 



Many objects of antiquarian interest were found in the 

 course of the excavations of the Broch of Ayre, including 

 fragments of pottery which are believed to be unique ; 

 but this is not the place to deal with such matters, and I 

 hope a full account of the excavations will be published 

 elsewhere. 



Scattered throughout the earth covering the clay floor 

 of the main chamber many animal bones were found, but 



