354 Report of Meetings for 1886. By J. Hardy. 



drains in the fields in front of the Blainslies ; near Lauder 

 recourse was had to the great quarry of greywacke on Blaeberry 

 Hill. The wayside herbage indicated a dry flora. I noted — "Wild 

 Strawberry in great profusion ; Kaspberry likewise ; Foxgloves ; 

 Mercurialis perennis, fond of gravel ; Teucrium scorodonia ; Veronica 

 arvensis ; Lotus corniculatus and L. major ; Hypericum pulchrum ; 

 Potentilla reptans ; Campanula rotundifolia ; Avena flavescens ; Rosa 

 canina ; Trifolium medium ; Galium verum ; Chrysanthemum Leu- 

 canthemum ; Apargia hispida ; and what was rarer than any, 

 Nepeta Clinopodium. In the swampy ground were Lychnis 

 Flos cuculi ; Equisetum sylvaticum and E. arvense ; Valeriana 

 officinalis; Petasites vulgaris, and coarse Carexes. The Yellow 

 Mimulus grew near Bridgehaugh. Few birds came under notice — 

 the Common Wren, Grey Flycatcher, Sedge Warbler, and the 

 Swift nearly exhaust the catalogue. 



Blainslie lying on a ridge was visible here, but not farther 

 up the public road ; — a slated village backed with trees. At a 

 turn of the road, Birkenside is a newly built farm place, with 

 excellent slated cottages. Birkhillside is a long old house eked 

 to at the end. There are some old trees and a grassy park in 

 front of it. Both it and Birkenside stand on rising ground, and 

 wide spreading roses are trained in front of each. Near to the 

 bridge end, Birkhill is a small farm place ; the Bridgehaugh 

 Mill, occasionally liable to be flooded, stands a short way above 

 the bridge. According to Milne's "Description of Melrose," 

 1743, there was in the author's time, "near Leader, opposite to 

 Bridgehaugh, a considerable camp, but a great part of it is 

 defaced by tillage." 



On the passage to Whitslaid Tower, the hills above Lauder 

 became obvious in the distance, and among them is a green 

 eminence on Lauder Moor, on which is erected — in honour of 

 the succession or birth day anniversary of Thomas, Earl of 

 Lauderdale, quite a modern event — a tall pyramidal block of 

 greywacke called "The Lang Stane of Lammermoor." Origin- 

 ally intended for a cross to the town of Lauder, it had been 

 conveyed across the hills from Dye Water, above Longformaeus, 

 but the vehicle broke down before it reached its destination, 

 and it lay long with the fragments of the carriage crumbling 

 away about it, till on this festal occasion it was dragged to the 

 summit of this hill and placed upright. Boon-hill is a length- 



