The Birds of Fressmenan Lake. By A. Hepburn, Esq. 503 



Lastly. Before the final storm which occurred in March, lap- 

 wings, curlews, and other birds, had left the sea shore and retired 

 to their inland breeding places. They were therefore overwhelmed 

 by the quantity of snow that fell, and instead of going back to 

 the coast, as they certainly ought to have done, they cast aside 

 their usual wariness and approached farms and country residences 

 where they could find a clearance or moist spot on which they 

 could rest. In connection with this it ought to be remembered 

 that in some parts of the country snow lay to a depth of twelve 

 and fourteen feet, and that even in villages of some size, people 

 were literacy dug out of their dwellings. 



I must apologise for having taken up so much of the time of 

 the meeting on this occasion, but perhaps I may venture to hope 

 that these notes have been of some slight interest. Let us hope 

 as a body of Naturalists, that no such winter will occur again in 

 our day. 



And now when it is gone : 



" Happy the ear which first perceives, 

 From depths of freshly blowing leaves, 

 The sparrow's cry along the eaves. 



" The rook's alarm — the swallow's cry, 

 The magpies' jangled litany, 

 The curlew's challenge, shrill and high." 



It has been our privilege to-day, to be welcomed by choristers 

 whose winter existence has never been so imperilled, and although 

 it has been chronicled that many a peaceful glen is but half 

 peopled when compared with former years, I know that we have 

 cause to rejoice that so many of our feathered favourites have 

 been spared. 



On the Birds found in the neighbourhood of Pressmenan 

 Lake, East Lothian. By Archibald Hepburn, Esq., 

 Ramsbottom, Manchester. 



The birds which 30 years ago frequented, or were occasionally 

 found in the neighbourhood of Pressmenan Lake, amounted to 

 above 70 or 80 species. The Sparrow Hawk was the only per- 

 manent resident belonging to the diurnal rapacious birds ; the 

 Merlin, Kestrel, and Buzzard, migrated before winter. There 



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