INTRODUCTION. xxiii 



where.^ A few years ago several took up their quarters on 

 Lamberton Moor, where they now breed again, this being 

 an old home of the bird previous to 1870, when the last 

 remaining Grey Hen was seen. 



In former days the Dotterel {Charadrius morinellus) 

 visited the high grounds along the sea coast and many 

 localities in the Lammermuirs in great flocks, on its spring 

 migration in April and May, — the uplands about Meller- 

 stain, Legerwood, Abbey St. Bathans, Eedheugh, Colding- 

 ham, and Lamberton being favourite haunts, — and thither 

 the local sportsmen resorted to shoot them for the table. It 

 is now, however, seen only in small numbers, and at 

 irregular intervals, chiefly on the moors about Eedheugh, 

 Dowlaw, and Lamberton. 



In autumn and spring some parts of the hills are visited 

 by immense flocks of Wild Geese, the Hule Moss on Green- 

 law Moor, Gibb's Cross at Wedderlie, and the Braid Bog 

 near Penmanshiel, being some of their favourite resorts. 



The wild whistling notes of the Curlew and the Golden 

 Plover, as well as the scream of the Lapwing, are heard in 

 summer all over the moors ; for here they have their nests, 

 and rear their young. The Snipe frequents the bogs, where 

 it drums in spring, and has its home amoug the rushes. 

 At the same season the song of the Eing Ouzel cheers the 

 weary shepherd, whilst the Wheatear and the Whinchat 

 flit chirping from stone to stone. The Sky Lark rises from 

 the dewy grass to salute the morn ; the timid Titling peeps 

 in the heather ; and, in the neighbouring vale, the voice of 

 the wandering Cuckoo falls upon the ear. When the hill- 

 sides are glowing with the golden bloom of the whin, the 

 Linnet builds her bower in the prickly fortress, the Twite 

 nestles in the heath ; and the fragrant larches, here and 



1 See Mr. Harvie-Brown's remarks on the " Decrease of Black-game," in his in- 

 teresting work on The Capercaillie in Scotland ; Edinburgh, 1878, pp. 120-126. 



