527 



Miscellanea, Extracts from Correspondence, &c. By 

 James Hardy. 



I. ZOOLOGICAL. 



Occurrence of the Common Marten in Berwickshire. — In 

 the Statistical Account of the united parishes of Cockburnspath 

 and Oldcambus, p. 299, prepared in December, 1834, the Rev. 

 Andrew Baird reports that the Marten {Maries Fagorum) is said, 

 a good number of years ago, to have inhabited the woods near 

 the Pease Bridge. Till lately I had supposed that this hearsay 

 had originated from some traditions of the Wild Cats that once 

 made those woods their rendezvous ; but now I think its correct- 

 ness is undoubted, as Mr. Peter Cowe, of Lochton, has an actual 

 specimen of the Marten to shew, and had heard of another in the 

 very locality that I had questioned. The one preserved in Mr. 

 Cowe's collection, he writes of date 27th March, 1879, "was 

 caught inDowlaw dean in 1862, in a rabbit-trap. I had it alive 

 for a week, but it would not eat. A short time, say a few weeks, 

 after, another was caught about the Pease Bridge, but was des- 

 troyed before I heard of its capture." Mr. Kelly records that a 

 Marten was trapped in 1848, in Lauderdale, by Mr Scott, which 

 was the only example known there for half-a-century. It was 

 stuffed by Walter Simson, Lauder. This furnishes us with four 

 Berwickshire instances of the animal. 



Water-Shrew (Sorex fodiens). — Altogether I have not seen 

 over half-a-dozen of this obscure-living animal. In the early 

 part of winter a pair appeared here on the kitchen floor, having 

 probably issued from a drain that carries off the water from the 

 tap that supplies the house. Unfortunately they were killed as 

 mice, before I was aware of their presence. Several of the Com- 

 mon Shrew have been found dead this spring. _ 



Squirrels. — Mr Kelly writes that the first Squirrel known in 

 Lauderdale was shot in 1838 or 1839. No further interference 

 was made with their increase, until about 1849, when they com- 

 menced to eat the bark of the fir-trees near the top, and aD order 

 was given to diminish their numbers. Subsequently it came to 

 be understood that they were great egg-eaters, and the persecu- 

 tion against them was then renewed with greater vigour. 



Eaven (Corvus Corax). — On January 31, 1879, a Baven was 

 seen near Siccar Point, and then flying across the country, 



2n 



