Notice of deserted Heronry. By J. Robson-Scott. 87 



were wafted across the country to the eastern side of our island, 

 and I have records in my note-books of having seen and ex- 

 amined a number of Leach's petrels from various localities in the 

 Firth of Forth, among which instances I may mention one that 

 was picked up alive on the 26th November on the shore at 

 Granton, where it had been washed up among the sea-weed ; 

 another that was taken in the lantern of the lighthouse on the 

 Isle of May on the day following ; and a third that was dis- 

 covered a day later in an exhausted state on the beach west of 

 Dunbar. Many of these birds must have been blown eastwards 

 and been drowned ; for although their presence is associated at 

 times with storms of the most dangerous character, they do not 

 appear to be able to resist such sudden outbreaks as those to 

 which I have referred. The numbers of drowned birds that are 

 cast up occasionally upon our sands and rocky shores are but 

 painful proofs of their fatal effects, and I have no hesitation in 

 concluding, from what has come to my knowledge, that in the 

 memorable storms of October and November, 1881, hundreds, if 

 not thousands, of sea birds of aU kinds — gulls, guillemots, divers, 

 ducks, puffins, and petrels — were, without distinction, literally 

 blown into the sea, and overwhelmed by the pitiless waves. 



Notice of the deserted Heronry at Swinden, Bowmont 

 Water. By J. Robson-Scott, M.D. 



With reference to a notice that I read before this Club, 16 or 

 18 years ago, relating to the heronry situated at the farm of 

 Swinden in Bowmont Water, belonging to his Grace the Duke of 

 Eoxburghe, I have now to state that the herons have deserted 

 the place. The trees upon which they bmlt their nests were 

 alders, remnants of the primeval woods, which formerly clothed 

 the valleys and low grounds of this country. The trees had been 

 failing from the effects of age, and doubtless the birds were 

 sagacious enough to observe this, and taking timely warning 

 departed to a more secure retreat. In the spring of 1880 it was 

 reported to me that there were no nests built that year, and that 

 the birds appeared to be leaving the place altogether, and on 

 visiting the lonely glen the following year I found that such was 

 the case, and that most of the old nests were blown down, thus 

 rapidly obliterating all record of what had been a scene of activ- 



