48 THE REDSTART. 



not seen. Amongst a few MS. notes on birds by the late 

 celebrated Dr. Johnston of Berwick, written about thirty-five 

 years ago, which his daughter, Mrs. Barwell-Carter of the 

 Anchorage, Berwick, has been so good as to place at my 

 disposal, I find that the Eedstart is noted as " not common." 

 The first note of the appearance of this bird in Berwickshire 

 by Mr. Hardy, is on the 2nd of June 1842, when he saw it 

 about Blythe Edge in Lauderdale, and building in the dykes 

 about Girrick in the Parish of Nenthorn. On the 10th of 

 May 1850, he records it as seen at the forester's cottage in 

 Penmanshiel Wood, where he says it used to build, and ten 

 days later he finds the nest in the outhouse there.^ 



Mr. Eomanes of Harryburn has informed me that shortly 

 after the last-mentioned date, a pair, which were amongst 

 the first observed near Lauder, built their nest in a hole of 

 the scafi'olding of a new conservatory which Lord Lauderdale 

 was then erecting at Thirlestane Castle. The Eedstart was 

 noticed for the first time at Paxton about 1867, when it 

 attracted the attention of the workmen in Paxton Woods 

 by its unusual appearance. It is now seen in every dis- 

 trict of the county. Colonel Brown informs me that it is 

 plentiful about Longformacus, and the Eev. George Cook 

 tells me that Mr. Smith of Whitchester discovered a nest in 

 the summer of 1886 in his grounds near the Dye. On the 

 15th of July 1886 I heard its call in the beautiful birch woods 

 near the junction of the Dye and the Watch, and I have 

 often noticed it about Abbey St. Bathans and Eetreat Woods, 

 Mr. Ferguson says it is common in Duns Castle Woods, 

 where there are piles of stones for the protection of the 

 tree roots, and it was noted as plentiful in the woods and 

 plantations about Langton, Ninewells, and Blackadder, by 

 Mr. W. Evans on the 6th of June 1886.^ 



1 Mr. Hardy's MS. Notes. 



^ Mr. V^. Evans, Edinburs^h, in letter dated 18th Dec. 1886. 



