74 Mr. A. Hepburn on some of the Mammalia and Birds 



The puffin (Fratercula arctica) is a very wary bird, seldom ap- 

 proaching within gunshot of a boat ; they have been much perse- 

 cuted by idle gunners, and now only about a dozen pairs annually 

 build in crevices in the Foule Carr : the rocky isle of Federa, off 

 North Berwick, is their chief resort on the southern shores of the 

 Forth ; a few pairs also haunt the Bass. It is in connection with 

 the latter locality and the provincial name of Tammie Norrie, 

 and in allusion to the grotesque appearance of the bird's face, 

 that the following distich* has become "the peasant's heritage •" 



" Tammie Norrie o' the Bass, 

 Canna kiss a young lass." 



A few pairs of the green cormorant [Phalacrocorax graculus) 

 haunt the coast, but the great cormorant is the most common. 

 Taking advantage of the calm sea, the boat was poled into many 

 a dark cave, where the blow with an oar on the boat's side 

 sounded deep and hollow ; but only one bird was heard to plunge 

 into the water, and was seen to rise to the surface about two 

 hundred yards out at sea. Fishing parties were seen off the 

 Ernesheugh, and a female was driven from a bulky nest con- 

 structed of turf, grass and seaweed in a crevice in the Skelly Bock 

 about fifty feet above the water ; this is a very uncommon place 

 for the nest, which is generally situated in caverns on this coast. 

 These birds constantly haunt the brackish water at the mouth of 

 the Tyne, and I have heard of their being shot about five miles 

 up the .stream. 



The boatman informed me that a single pair of the great 

 black-backed gull (Larus marinus) breeds annually on the Flood 

 Carr adjoining the Skelly Rock. The Bass Rock can likewise 

 boast of one or two pairs of these noble birds. 



Next to the foolish guillemot, the kittiwake [Larus tridac- 

 tylus) is by far the most numerous bird about the Head. Unlike 

 the other species of gulls found here, they showed no preference 

 for tufts of grass growing on the precipices, but built their nests 

 in crevices, or on ledges of rock, sometimes solitary or in small 

 colonies, which again were occasionally distinct from, and, at other 

 times, intermingled with, the nests of the guillemot : this gull 

 derives its name from its well-marked cry, Kitty -week, sharp 

 stress being laid upon the last syllable when the bird is angry 

 or alarmed. 



Of all the birds which frequent these noble cliffs, the herring 

 gull [Larus argentatus) attracts most attention : no sooner did 

 our boat appear off their favourite coves, than their hoarse gut- 



* It is believed that it first appeared in the appendix to the last edition 

 of Mr. Robert Chambers' works, having been communicated by the writer. 

 -A. H. 



