246 THE RAVEN. 



between 1815 and 1830, he frequently saw sheep which had 

 the misfortune to be " whammelled " on his father's farms of 

 Blackpotts and East and West Muirside, near Coldingham, 

 with their eyes pecked out by this bird. 



Selby states that on the occasion of the visit of the Ber- 

 wickshire Naturalists' Club to St. Abb's Head, on the 1 8th 

 of July 1832, three Eavens were seen; which, after soaring 

 around and attaining a considerable elevation, moved inland, 

 uttering at intervals their loud and raucous croak.^ Writing 

 in 1851 on " Birds found at St. Abb's Head," Mr. Archibald 

 Hepburn says : — " A solitary pair of Eavens on Weston 

 Thirl Cliff, are the only representatives of a once numerous 

 and daring band of plunderers. Many years ago their 

 depredations on the young lambs were so serious as to 

 render their destruction a matter of great importance to the 

 flock-masters ; these birds used to watch for the birth of a 

 lamb, and, before the mother was able to attend to its 

 safety, its eyes and tongue were pecked out, the umbilical 

 cord was rudely seized, the intestines were thus uncoiled 

 and dragged forth, and the little sufferer soon dropped to 

 rise no more." ^ Mr. Patterson, Ancrum Woodhead, informs 

 me that, about thirty-five years ago, he trapped a specimen 

 on the Black Hill, near Earlston, using the leg of a rabbit 

 for bait, and that the bird was stuffed for Mr. Cotesworth 

 of Cowdenknowes. When the Berwickshire Naturalists' 

 Club met at Coldingham on the 26th of May 1859, the mem- 

 bers were conducted by Mr. Herriot of Northfield round the 

 coast by St. Abb's Head, and on this occasion two pairs of 

 Eavens were observed.^ Dr. Stuart writes: — "From 1864 

 to 1868, at Earnsheugh, near St. Abb's Head, the highest 

 rock precipice between Leith and London, they nested every 

 year. They became a perfect nuisance to the sheep on the 



1 Hist. Ber. Nat. Club, vol. i. p. 19. 



2 Ihid. vol. iii. p. 72. ^ Ilnd. vol. iv. p. 131. 



