506 Skeletons exhumed at Elsdon. By Dr. E. C. Robertson 



their eggs about the margin of pools in spring ; also carrying 

 off downy ducklings in their claws to their nests, and once I saw 

 two old crows successfully throttling a duckling fit for the spit, 

 whilst their newly fledged brood claraourei around. I have also 

 seen these birds wading in shallow water and picking up the large 

 Unio molluscs in rivers where these abounded, the banks in many 

 places being strewn with broken shells. 



In districts where the magpie is not persecuted, their nests may 

 be seen conspicuously placed on trees, near cottages, farm yards, 

 and even on the outskirts of villages and towns, and it earns an 

 honest livelihood. It is not a very uncommon thing to see five or 

 six pairs of magpies sitting on one tree, in a bright spring day^ 

 and those who admire this beautiful bird — and who does not, — can 

 well imagine what a beautiful sight it is. How many thousands 

 of acres in East Lothian or Berwickshire would require to be re- 

 quisitioned to supply a dozen magpies to such a parliament ? I have 

 seen rooks carrying off eggs, and their presence on the tillage 

 farm is not an unmixed evil, but it is quite a mistake to suppose 

 that the rooks cannot live on lowland districts where dairy farm- 

 ing on old grass land prevails, almost to the exclusion of tillage. 

 The well manured meadows and pasture land supply plenty of 

 food, except during snow storms. Their nests may not only be 

 seen in twos and threes in hedgerow trees, but also in numbers 

 varying from a dozen to a hundred or more in small groves. 

 They not only cling to their nesting stations, when houses and 

 factories spring up alongside, but now and then they will found 

 a flourishing colony in a grove close to factories where the whir of 

 machinery never ceases by day or by night except at meal hours, 

 from 6 a.m. on Monday, till 1 p.m. on Saturday. The starling 

 also malies himself quite as much at home in such scenes, as he 

 does about the cottage or barn or hollow trees. This bird is one 

 of the farmers' best friends. 



On the Skeletons exhumed at Elsdon, and their probable 

 connection with the Battle of Otterburn. By Dr. Edward 

 C. Robertson, Otterburn. 



In the course of the restoration of St. Cuthbert's Church at 

 Elsdon in the year 1877, it was found necessary to dig down and 

 alter very considerably the levels of the different parts of the 



