Contents. 



IV.— AVIFAUNA OF THE DISTRICT. 



Rich variety of bird-life in Craigmillar district — The aquatic birds — 

 The owl family — Adventure with a tawny owl — Crows and rooks — 

 Story of a cuckoo — "Jacky," the Liberton magpie — Alarm raised 

 from proceedings of a woodpecker — The thrushes and other song- 

 birds — Diving feats of the little grebe — Incident regarding a 

 sparrow-hawk — Food of the kestrel — Wholesale capture of the 

 lark — Superstitious ideas regarding the lapwing — Gulls attacking 

 sickly lambs — Velocity of flight in a pheasant — Do starlings 

 devour larks' eggs? — The tits — The sedge-warbler's song — The 

 sjnaller song-birds ....... 80 



v.— BOTANY OF THE DISTRICT. 



Flora of Craigmillar district rich and varied — Flora of Arthur's Seat 

 long engaged attention — Lists of plants at various dates — Many 

 wild plants now disappearing from old stations — Plants at the 

 castle, &c. — "A natural rock-garden" — Aquatic plants of Dud- 

 dingston Loch — The "Craigmillar Sycamore" — Seedlings from 

 the old tree — Seedling planted by Lord Rosebery at Linlithgow 

 Palace — Inscription at foot of tree — List of some of the native 

 plants . . . . . . ■ . 



VI.— GEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF THE DISTRICT. 



Few districts so interesting to the geologist — Various "systems" re- 

 presented — The Carboniferous rocks — The Igneous rocks — Fossils 

 of the district — Examples of glacial action — Craigmillar building- 

 stone — Public and private buildings and other structures for 

 which stone was used — "Hard labour" for female offenders — The 

 Picts said to have built Edinburgh Castle from Craigmillar 

 quarry . . . . . . . . .152 



VII.— THE ENVIRONS OF CRAIGMILLAR. 



Panorama from battlements of Craigmillar Castle — History of The 

 Inch — Its successive proprietors — Cromwell's sword at The Inch 

 House— Nether Liberton— The Boroughmoor and Blackford Hill 



