508 Additional Notes on Birds, by George Muirhead. 



middle of May, on the newly sown down fields near the Pit 

 Houses, adjoining Lamberton Moor ; and that, with the permis- 

 sion of the proprietor of Mordington estate, he used frequently to 

 go to shoot them. They used to come to these fields about the 

 12th of May, and leave after staying about a fortnight. They 

 were so plentiful that, on the 26th May, about 18 years ago, he 

 shot no fewer than 15 brace. They allowed him at the first to 

 get quite near to them when they were sitting in a flock, but 

 after they had been shot at several times, they turned very wild, 

 and would not let him within shooting range, and he had to stalk 

 them behind dykes, &c, to get a shot at them. He has never 

 seen them later in any year than 26th May. He sometimes shot 

 30 brace during their stay. The last time Dotterels were seen 

 in the fields near Lamberton Moor, was about the middle of May, 

 1876, when a few came there and stayed for two or three days. 

 He has heard an old dyker say that, long ago, between 50 and 

 60 years since, Dotterels used to visit the high lying grounds on 

 Foulden estate, adjoining Lamberton Moor; and an old man, 

 named Park, who lived in Horncliffe, used to be engaged to 

 shoot them for the table of the proprietor of Foulden. 



Green Sandpiper (Totmus ochmpus). — One morning, about the 

 middle of September, 1877, the gamekeeper at Paxton House, 

 while walking through the Wester Grass Park, in the Policy, 

 heard a shrill whistle above his head, and on looking up, saw 

 two birds, like Snipes, flying rapidly towards the Tweed, at a 

 considerable height in the air. He fired at them, and one fell, 

 which he brought to me, and I found it to be a beautiful speci- 

 men of the Green Sandpiper. ■ It is now in my collection. 



Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola). — Since the storm of snow and 

 severe frost came on in the beginning of December, no Wood- 

 cocks have been seen in the woods here. During the severe 

 weather in 1874, they were often found at the sides of the burns 

 and in the moist places in the plantations on Paxton estate ; 

 and in the month of December, that year, I shot no fewer than 

 sixteen. 



Landrail (Crex pratensis). — The Landrail has been somewhat 

 scarce in this locality, for the last year or two. I do not remem- 

 ber of hearing one cry in 1877 at all, and last year I heard only 

 one or two the whole season. 



Teal {Anas crecca). — A large flock of Teals, 30 or 40 in 



