Mr John Wilson on some Berwickshire Birds. 399 



collect such a quantity of earth-worms ; but my walk in the 

 forenoon solved the difficulty. The day has been mild and 

 cloudy, with an occasional very slight drizzle, and I observed 

 during my walk many pairs of the large bob-worm half 

 protuded from their holes, as one sees them plentifully in 

 dewy mornings in spring. 



During the past harvest unusual numbers of rats were 

 found in the corn-fields. In one instance I saw above a score 

 which the boys had unearthed and killed from one burrow. 

 As soon as the grain crops were carried, they began to gather 

 into the corn stacks ; but they are still to be met with in the 

 fields in greater numbers than I ever saw before at this late 

 season. In particular, we come upon numerous burrows in 

 the turnip fields, from some of which considerable numbers 

 have been ejected and killed. In all such cases many turnips 

 around the holes have had the fleshy part of the bulbs eaten 

 by the rats, and the rind left lying about in fragments. 

 Quite recently, a rabbit-catcher told me that he found rats 

 caught in his traps daily — often five or six in a morning." 



The letter elicited no further information at the time. On 

 more fully considering the facts as observed at the time, I 

 ultimately came to the conclusion, that the worms had been 

 collected by a family of moles, whose domicile the rats had 

 taken possession of. Still the rats have such an omnivorous 

 appetite, that it is quite possible they might help themselves 

 to the mole's stores. 1 have seen a kestril pick up large 

 worms from behind the plough ; and I have been told that 

 foxes eat frogs at a pinch ; and both quite as anomalous as 

 the case supposed. Rats are at present more numerous over 

 the country than I have seen before. The excessive rains 

 have, I infer, driven them from their burrows in the fields. 

 Their rapid and general increase in numbers is undoubtedly 

 due to the universal extermination of pole-cats, stoats, and 

 weasels, which formerly kept the rodents in check. 



Remarks on some Berwickshire Birds. By the Same. 



Two birds which were very scarce in my boyhood have 

 become exceedingly numerous of recent years, viz. : the 

 Starling and the Missel Thrush. The Song Thrush is, T 

 think, sensibly scarcer ; and some persons say that the Lark 

 becomes scarcer as the Starling multiplies — the allegation 



