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An Address to the Members of the BerwicTcshire Naturalists' Club, delivered 

 at the Anniversary Meeting held at Yetholm, September, 21. 1836, 

 By Sir William Jaedine, Bart. President. 



Gentlemen, 



We have met after tlie lapse of another year, and it becomes me to 

 follow the example which has been already four times so excellently 

 set before me, — to give a brief sketch of the progress we have made, 

 and of the things done and specimens captured, since we last com- 

 memorated the institution of the Club. 



The last anniversary was held at the Bite-about Inn, Doddington, 

 Northumberland, on the 16th of the present month, with an ample 

 muster of members, and the company of Dr Douglas of Kelso and Mr 

 Atherton, as visitors. The walk was at first directed towards the 

 Eoutin-Linn, about two miles distance, a romantic dell and waterfall, 

 the former richly clothed with a thick and tangled copse of birch and 

 hazel, intermixed with a few stragglers of the monarch of the wood. 

 The principal attraction here was to re-discover the Osmunda regalis, 

 which was said to grow in this habitat. The locality appeared favour- 

 able, but the royal fern escaped the search of our botanists. Still, 

 though the object of the excursion was not obtained, the party were 

 compensated by the beauty of the scenery and the capture of some good 

 insects. The walk was now continued eastward to an extensive marsh 

 called the Horse-bog, and some interesting Coleoptera and Diptera 

 were taken. In the course of the walk the Myriea gale was observed 

 in profusion, a circtunstance noticed here, because it is mentioned by 

 Mr Winch to be rather a rare plant in Northumberland, and in general 

 is accounted local in its distribution. In the whole of the northern 

 part of this county, however, it abounds, running over, in almost more 

 profusion upon the extensive moorlands on the border, where in the 

 hollows, intermixed with stunted willow {S. aurita et aquatica), it be- 

 comes a favourite retreat for the blackcock, when its devotions to the 

 female are past, and his plumage has to be renovated for the ensuing 

 season. Calamagrostis lanceolata, a plant hitherto unnoticed in our 

 district, was seen growing abundantly in the moss, intermixed with 

 Aira ccespitosa, Salix pentandra, &c. On our return to the inn, and the 

 usual duties being paid to the table, Mr Embleton's address, and the 

 sketch of the labours of the bygone year, were attentively listened to, 

 and the following papers were read: — ''Notice of the Capture of a 

 Honey Buzzard near TwizeU, and of the Wryneck near Lucker, by Mr 

 Selby." This was a communication of considerable interest, being a 

 contribution to our knowledge of the habits of this comparatively rare 

 bird. The district around TwizeU appears to have something attractive 

 to this species, for, within these few years, several specimens have 

 been procured both in the adult and immature plumage. The bird ia 



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