210 On Evidences of Ice-action, by Mr. Wm. Stevenson. 



half of which is solid rock : above which are several feet of 

 broken masses of sandstone covered by and partially mixed 

 with sand, gravel, and clay. A glance at this shews that the 

 upper part of the sandstone stratum has been smashed in 

 position, by some tremendous force from without, coming 

 from westward, and acting under water. Heavy ice is the 

 only conceivable natural agency which could produce such 

 an effect. A similar case was seen in a cutting on the 

 Berwickshire Railway at Ladyflat, where the upper part of 

 the shaley strata was contorted in a remarkable manner, 

 also on the west or south-west side. Putton Mill Quarry, 

 not now worked, shews a great thickness of boulder clay. 

 The boulders are, however, only of local origin. Some from 

 Kyleshill and Dirrington law, five or six miles to westward, 

 are the most conspicuous. Other quarries, such as Broom- 

 house, Kimmergham, &c, shew only water detritus above 

 the sandstone. 



To account for the ice-action, of which evidences are so 

 abundant in Scotland and elsewhere, some have supposed 

 the whole land covered with an immense sheet of glacier 

 ice, terminating on the sea-shores in huge bergs, as is at 

 present the case in Greenland. Although during the glacial 

 period the temperature of these islands was undoubtedly 

 much lower than at present, as is well shown by the occur- 

 rence of boreal shells in certain deposits of that age, it 

 appears to me that an assumption of such extreme cold is 

 unnecessary and not warranted by the phenomena which it 

 seeks to explain. 



Ornithological Notes. By Mr. T. H. Gibb. 



Pugnacity of the Greater Titmouse and the Redbreast. 

 — During the recent snow-storm, and whilst walking near 

 the river Aln, my attention was arrested by a strange sound, 

 which I soon found emanated from a Greater Titmouse and 

 a Redbreast engaged in a fierce and deadly combat. The 

 Tit, although the lesser bird, had all the advantage on its 

 side ; the Redbreast being held down by it with its back on 

 the ice, whilst with its bill the Tit struck fiercely the head 

 of its victim. The Redbreast screamed so piteously, that, 



