1895-96-] Notes on Last Summer s Excursions. 193 



Nil.— NOTES ON LAST SUMMER'S EXCURSIONS. 



By Dr DA VIES, President. 

 (Read March 25, 1896.) 



I. AUCHENCORTH. 



The first excursion of the season took place on Saturday, 

 May 4, to Auchencorth moor and moss. The party, number- 

 ing twenty-eight members and friends, arrived about two 

 o'clock at Penicuik, — now, perhaps, the chief centre of the 

 paper industry in Scotland, and where the manufacture of 

 that article has been carried on for nearly two hundred years. 

 Without stopping to examine Penicuik or any of its interest- 

 ing objects, the party proceeded at once to Auchencorth, a 

 distance of between two and three miles, the principal object 

 of the excursion being to see the nesting-place of the black- 

 headed gull, which usually abounds there at this season. 

 Most unfortunately, however, we were not successful in our 

 search, for although the keepers told us that in previous 

 years the birds had resorted there in thousands, few were 

 now seen, and not a single nest or egg was met with. But 

 though the nests and eggs of the black-headed gull were 

 conspicuous by their absence, the excursion was by no means 

 barren. Specimens of the emperor moth were captured, and 

 a number of plants obtained, of which the most important was 

 the rather rare fern, the moon wort {Botrychium lunar ia), a 

 new station for which was discovered by one of our members 

 on the roadside between Penicuik and Auchencorth, the 

 nearest point at which it had previously been found being 

 probably West Linton. The elegant golden plover, one of the 

 most abundant of our native species, which is found in vast 

 flocks on the coast in winter, retiring in spring to the moors and 

 mountains to breed, was also seen, and their nests and eggs 

 found, during this excursion. The beautiful little willow wren, 

 one of the commonest of our summer warblers, was heard, 

 though not seen. The curlew, which during winter frequents 

 the coast in flocks, was also seen, as were their nests and eggs. 



