36 REPORTS OF MEETINGS FOR 1909 



On their way through the Fir Linky they also visited the 

 Heronry in Avhich on 9th May twenty-four nests, each con- 

 taining young birds, were distinguished. A striking feature 

 of the fauna of the district is to be found in the rapid increase 

 of the Stock Dove (Columha oenas), which, should it continue 

 at the same rate during the next hundred years as it has 

 done during the last twenty, is likely to necessitate a lower 

 room being taken by the more familiar Wood Pigeon (Columha 

 palumhus). The Great Spotted Woodpecker 

 Tyne ( Dendrocopus major), which used to be regarded 



Estuary. as a rare visitor, has multiplied dviring the 



last five or six years, and bred regularly at 

 Tyninghame and in the surrounding district. Sheld-duck 

 (Tadorna cornuta) and Eider Duck ( Somateria mollissima) 

 breed in large numbers, and Widgeon ( Mareca penelope) winter 

 in flocks of several hundreds. In Sandyhurst, a narrow neck 

 of land bounding the estuary of the Tyne on its Northern 

 side, and bristling with a thicket of Buckthorn (Hippophae 

 rhamnoides), the Short-eared Owl ( Asio accijntrinus) nests 

 I'egularly. The East Lothian Tyne, whose source in Midlothian 

 was visited in 1906,* and whose picturesque banks near Hailes 

 Castle provided a delightful ramble in the following summer,! 

 continues its course through the rich arable lands of the parish 

 of Prestonkirk, and joins the sea at a sequestered spot in the 

 Tyninghame policies. At low water it is seen channelling the 

 mud-flats which occupy a considerable area over which Sumda 

 mai'itima and Salicornia herbacea run riot. Fringing this bay 

 foi' some distance Noi'thwards, a salt marsh supplied interesting- 

 ground for the botanists. Among their gleanings weie Lychnis 

 vespertina ; Agrim,onia Eupatoria ; Sonchus arvensis ; Triglochin 

 maritim,um ; Scirpus maritimus ; Car ex distans ; and C. vulpina. 

 Along the shore, which is edged for some distance with a belt 

 of wood, in which the alien Scrophularia vernalis, now rapidly 

 establishing itself throughout the country, was found in large 

 quantity, members enjoyed a pleasant stroll in spite of the scarcity 

 of drinking-water; and reaching Whitberry Point, strictly preserved 



* Ber. Nat. Clnb, Vol. xx., Part i., p. 36. 

 t Ber. Nat. Club, Vol. xx., Part ii., p. 187. 



