442 Miscellanea. 



lively, and active, should do so much damage. Sir Walter 

 Elliot says : — ^' The mischief they have done to trees is enor- 

 mous. I have hundreds of trees in my own plantations — 

 Scotch firs — which have been ringed near the top many years 

 ago, and are consequently ruined. A friend, who was here 

 two years ago, was struck with the show of the ravages com- 

 mitted by the squirrels here, the root of every spruce fir 

 being thickly strewed with the young shoots and twigs cut 

 off" for food by the destructive little creatures." Squirrels 

 have not yet reached the eastern part of Northumberland, 

 notwithstanding there are extensive woods around Alnwick 

 and other places in that district. 



Anecdote of a Sioallow. Communicated by the Earl of 

 Home. 



On the 7th of November last, long after the swallows had 

 taken their departure, a swallow, probably a young one left 

 behind by the others, came into my library — used as the 

 family drawing-room, — it perched on the rod of a window 

 curtain and passed the night. When the Avindow was opened 

 in the morning, it went out, and was observed flying about 

 all day, feeding on insects ; the frost had been sharp — ther- 

 mometer 20° in the night. In the evening the swallow re- 

 turned, and took up its perch in the same spot. On the 8th, 

 frost continuing, it again went out, flew about feeding during 

 day, and returned again at sunset, and again perched in the 

 same place. On the 9th, it pursued exactly the same course, 

 returning to its perch. On the 10th, the weather changed 

 and became milder, the bird went out as usual, but was not 

 seen again, and probably set off" to try and overtake its com- 

 panions. Mr. A. E. Knox, a great ornithologist, and author 

 of " Ornithological Rambles in Sussex," happened to be here 

 (at the Hirsel) at the time, and took the greatest interest 

 in the swallow, saying he had never heard of or seen such 

 a thing. 



MISCELLANEA. 



The Missel Thrush ( Tardus viscivorus) which was very rare 

 here when I came to Berwickshire — twenty-one years ago — 

 is now so common that it has driven away the Common 

 Thrush, or Mavis {Tardus musicus), altogether, or nearly so. 

 The Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) remains with us all winter ; 

 but formerly it left the neighbourhood, and returned about 

 the 1st of March. — Dr. Charles Stuart, Chirnside. 



