112 Craigmillar and its Environs. 



of an anomaly that this bird should have the benefit 

 of the Sea Birds Protection Act. 



With the Herring Gull every one is familiar. 

 It may not, however, be generally known that it is 

 an enemy to the farmer : we have frequently seen 

 it disgorge quantities of grain, along with large 

 numbers of worms. 



Pheasants are to be seen in the woods around 

 Craigmillar. In the spring of 1892 a beautiful pheasant 

 cock, in full flight, dashed against the drawing-room 

 window of a gentleman's mansion near Craigmillar, 

 and such was the force of the impact that, although 

 the plate-glass of the window was a quarter of an 

 inch thick, the bird penetrated it, and fell dead in the 

 centre of the room. Five years previously, we are 

 informed, another pheasant killed itself by dashing 

 through the same window. 



Partridges are also found in considerable num- 

 bers, as many as twenty brace having been killed in 

 one day in the fields around the castle in recent years. 

 It is a curious fact that this familiar bird gets com- 

 pletely bewildered if placed in other circumstances 



