102 THE MALLARD. 



there was scarcely such a thing as a plantation of trees ; 

 there was no artificial drainage, and the hollow parts were 

 full of bogs, marshes, and stagnant pools." ^ The late Dr. 

 Henderson of Chirnside, an ardent lover of nature,^ lament- 

 ing the changes which were taking place in his day, remarks 

 that " burnies, too, maun a' rin anither gate now frae what 

 Nature intended ; lochs, too, are a' drained. Wild Ducks hae 

 nae well-ees now to waddle in ; ane can hardly get a bit 

 dub for a channel-stane rink." ^ 



Notwithstanding these changes, however, the Mallard 

 is still seen, although in comparatively small numbers, in 

 every district of the county, where it haunts the rivers, 

 streams, lakes, and ponds, many frequenting certain favourite 

 retreats, such as Duns Castle Lake,* the Hirsel Lake, and 

 the lochs of Legerwood and Bemersyde. It is also found on 

 the sea-coast from autumn until spring, as many as two 

 hundred having been observed by Mr. Hardy in a flock at 

 Greenhaugh on the 16th of November 1875. He remarks 

 that — " In the night-time they resorted to the inland ponds, 

 burns, and marshes, but in the morning returned to the sea, 

 on that part of the coast most beset with rocks and protected 

 by high cliffs." ^ 



Although many Wild Ducks breed in the county, there 

 can be little doubt that the numbers of our native birds 



1 See Report on the Agricidture of Scotland, 1878, p. 23. 



2 I love the uncultured spot where Nature revels free, 

 Some place left sacred to the flower and bee. 



Dr. Henderson, Scenes of Boyhood. 



3 Papvlar Rhymes of Benvkkshire, p. 83. 



4 This lake has been long kno^vn as a resort of wild-fowl. Writing in 1792, 

 the Rev. Robert Bowmaker, minister of Duns, says : "On the north and west [of 

 Duns Castle] are several hundred acres of thriving planting, much of it very old. 

 In the bosom of this plantation is a fine basin of water called the Hen Pond ; it is 

 above a mile in circumference, and in summer vast numbers of Wild Duck resort 

 to it." — Old Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. iv. p. 384. 



5 Hist. Ber. Nat. Club, vol. vii. p. 486. 



