REPORTS ON EXCURSIONS. 195 



wliicli are embedded mimeroiis travelled l^oulders, including 

 many specimens of Highland schists and Galloway granite, 

 indicating that in this neighbourhood the glaciers from the 

 northern Highlands and the southern uplands met and strove for 

 the mastery. Just lieyond this point a stretch of upper old 

 red sandstone forms a lofty range of sea cliffs, pierced by several 

 fine caves at various levels, which were hollowed out by the 

 sea, at various periods, previous to the later rises of the land 

 in this part of Scotland. 



But by this time the weather showed signs of breaking, and 

 most of the party had had enough for the day, and so, leaving 

 the shore, they climbed the Bracken Brae to the Girvan Road, 

 along which they pi'oceeded to Ayr. 



AucHENMADE, KiLWiKNiNG, 20th August, 1904. Mr. D. A. Boyd, 

 conductor. — The property known as Auchenmade, now divided 

 into about half-a-dozen separate holdings, is situated near the 

 north-eastern lx)undary of Kilwinning, alx)ut four miles from the 

 town. It extends to nearly 900 acres, of which about a third 

 part is under moss. With reference to the probable derivation 

 of the name, the late Mr. James Dobie, of Crummock, has sug- 

 gested Achndh-na^yiaid , the field of sticks or timber, or perhaps 

 macladh, a dog, wolf, or fox — either of which would be sufficiently 

 descriptive of the locality. For there are indications here, as 

 in many other parts of the country, that the ground was once 

 covered with natural woods, which are now commemorated solely 

 by the huge trunks of black oak occasionally exhumed from the 

 depth of peat-mosses; and the dark recesses of these forests 

 must doubtless have afforded a safe retreat to wild animals, 

 such as wolves and foxes.* The ancient woods, with their 

 hordes of predaceous inhabitants, have long since disappeared, 

 but the peat-mosses which have succeeded them still remain in 

 sufficient number and extent to form one of the striking features 

 of the district. 



From an economic point of view these peat-bogs are interest- 

 ing, as illustrating the process of evolution of fertile fields from 



* Cunivghame Topographized, by Timothy Pont, A.M., 1604-1608, with 

 Continuations and Illustrative Notices by the late James Dobie of 

 Crummock, F.S.A.Scot.; edited by his son, John Shedden Dobie (1876), 

 p. 50. 



