274 



THE BLACK-HEADED GULL. 



at Duns Castle ; Dogden Moss,^ in the parish of Greenlaw ; 

 Corsbie Bog,^ on the borders of the parishes of Legerwood 

 and Gordon ; and Eedpath Bog, in the parish of Earlston.^ 

 There is a field on Shannobank Farm, near Abbey St. 

 Bathans, called the " Gull Mire," and as it has the appear- 

 ance of having been a swamp at one time, it was probably 

 a breeding place of the Black-headed Gull formerly before 

 it was drained. 



1 On the 24th of April 1885 the farm steward at Harelaw, near Westruther, 

 mentioned to me that before the Dogden Moss was drained great numbers of 

 Black -headed Gnlls used to breed there every year. He had seen them twenty 

 years ago. This Moss is mentioned by the late Dr. Henderson in his Pojndar 

 Rhymes of Berwickshire, p. 68 : — 



Lift one, lift a', 



Baitli at back and fore wa' ; 



Up and away wi' Langton House, 



And set it down in Dogden Moss. 



2 "Corsbie Mess was once the haunt of the Black -headed Gull, but has been 

 deserted since it was drained." — Hist. Ber. Nat. Club, vol. ix. p. 236. 



3 Mr. Brownlie, Haugh Head, Earlston, wrote to me on 27th October 1887 : 

 "An old man named Sandy Boyd, who lives at Rcdpath, says that when he was 

 a boy the bog there used to be white with Pickiemaws. This would apply to fifty 

 years ago." 



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