THE HEEEING GULL. 281 



there are some more nests, we pass the Moor Baits l and 

 Dowlaw Burn Foot, where a few nests are seen on the 

 rocks between the Standing Man and the Big Byrips. We 

 now reach the ruins of Fast Castle, 2 where on looking west- 

 ward on a clear day the view is magnificent, embracing the 

 Bass, North Berwick Law, and the adjoining coast of East- 

 Lothian. The situation of the castle is very lonely, and 

 around its decaying walls the only sounds now to be heard 

 are the constant beating of the waves on the rocky coast, 



Mix'd with the seafowl's shrilly moans. 



SCOTT. 



Bounding the point at Fast Castle we see the Black Mask 

 Rock with a number of Herring Gulls' nests upon it, and 

 still keeping westwards we pass Geddes' Haven and the 

 Little Rooks, and then we reach the Gull Rock and Maw 

 Craig, near the mouth of the Wolden Lee Burn, the most 

 westerly breeding places of the Herring Gull on the Ber- 

 wickshire coast. 3 This point is about three-quarters of a 

 mile to the west of Fast Castle. 



The nest of the Herring Gull is formed of grass and 

 moss, and the eggs, which are generally three in number, 

 are light olive-brown or greenish, blotched and spotted with 

 dark umber. Many years ago the eggs of this and other Gulls 



1 Mr. Kobert Darrie, fisherman, Coldingham Shore, informed me, on the 29th 

 of June 1887, that this was such a favourite spot for fishing for codlings that the 

 following rhyme is sometimes heard amongst the fishermen : 



Come ye soon, or come ye late, 

 Ye'll a codlin get at Moor's Bait. 



2 Here the Princess Margaret, daughter of Henry vn. of England, slept on the 

 night of the 1st of August 1502, when on her way to Edinburgh from Lamberton 

 Kirk, where she had been betrothed to James IV. of Scotland. About a hundred 

 years later the gloomy fortress was the scene of dark plots in connection with 

 the Gowrie Conspiracy, for here Logan of Restalrig resided. Fast Castle is the 

 " Wolf's Crag" of The Bride of Lammermuir. 



3 This Gull is, however, occasionally found breeding further westwards. Mr. 

 Hardy notes, under date 30th June 1886: "A Herring Gull's nest was found 

 yesterday by Professor Lebour's pupils on rocks near Siccar between it and 

 Redheugh." 



