THE HEN-HAEEIEE. 297 



drained, with the exception of Billie Mire, which, down 

 to the beginning of the present century, remained in its 

 natural state. This vast hog, of which a full account is 

 given in the article on the Bittern, lay along the greater 

 part of a narrow valley which extended from near Ayton, 

 on the east, to the vicinity of Chirnside, on the west — a 

 distance of about five miles. During summer its sur- 

 face was covered with great beds of luxuriant reeds, bul- 

 rushes, and other rank water-plants ; while here and there 

 might be seen small clumps of lichen- covered grey-saughs 

 (Salix cinerea), and alders, flourishing on the drier parts 

 of the ground. The deep black pools, which were to be 

 found towards the centre of the quagmire, and which were 

 regarded by the inhabitants of the neighbouring hamlets 

 with feelings of superstitious awe, as the haunt of " Jock 

 o' the Mire," abounded with frogs, newts, and leeches. 

 Innumerable waterfowl, and other birds of various kinds, 

 found a congenial home here, and in the midst of the 

 reeds and rushes, the Hen-Harrier nested every year until 

 about 1830-35, when the Mire was at last effectually 

 drained. 



Mr. White, farmer, Lennelhill, informs me that he lived 

 for many years in the early part of this century, near the 

 eastern extremity of Billie Mire, having been taken there 

 in 1815, when he was three years old, by his father, who 

 had then entered upon a lease of the farm of Causewaybank. 

 Although some attempts had been previously made to 

 drain the Mire, it remained much in its original state during 

 his boyhood, and he remembers that the Gled used to be 

 seen flying about the bog in summer, and that he and the 

 boys who herded the cows, which pastured on the drier 

 parts of the marsh, used to find its nest every season amongst 

 the sedges and rushes in the swamps. After the final 

 drainage of the Mire, which, he says, took place about 



