NOTES FROM GAEDEN AND FIELD 119 



displayed, it passes the bystander like a flash of light. It 

 occasionally is seen at all the bridges, the Kebby Burn, 

 Allanton, and by several of the small rivulets flowing into 

 the Tweed at the Union Bridge. 



On the 13th June an Albino Skylark was taken from a 

 nest at West Foulden, by the sheplierd, the other inmates 

 of the nest being of the usual colour. In former years I 

 saw a milk-white Lark in a flock of the ordinary colour, 

 on the same farm. 



Saxicola oenanthe. — The Wheatear is among our earliest 

 spring migrants, and is sometimes seen here as early as 

 30th March. 



Emheriza miliaria, the Corn Bunting. For many years I 

 only knew of two stations for the Corn Hunting — Mayfield, 

 Auchencrow, and Cauty's Bridge. Now, like the Starling, 

 this jolly, well-fed looking bird is to be seen sitting on the 

 topmost twig of the hedges, uttering its peculiar unmusical 

 note, in many places in tliis district. It is in some degree 

 migratory, and its motions are very interesting. It nests 

 about the beginning of May, on or near the ground, at the 

 side of a tuft of grass, or at the hedge root. After rearing 

 its young, it passes the summer till the ripening of the 

 grain, when, surprising to relate, the young broods and 

 their parents migrate to the south. We see nothing more 

 of them till late in the autumn, when there is an accession 

 from the north, and unless the weather is severe, they remain 

 all winter in flocks, with Chaffinches, Yellow Hammers, and 

 Bramblings. However, they are sometimes awanting, and. 

 new colonies come from the north, so that there seems to 

 be a continual coming and going. I have seen them as far 

 north as Thurso, sitting on the telegraph wires, and at the 

 time considered that the stream of birds came from Norway 

 and Sweden, and travelled south as the weather became 

 more inclement. 



Carduelis elegans. — The Goldfinch is now a very rare bird 

 in the Eastern Borders. Fifty years ago — when cultivation 

 of the fields was not so universal, and a few thistles were 

 spared— at Crossrig, in llutton parish, little families of 

 Goldfinches, five and six in number, were seen by me, 

 clinging by their claws and scooping out the seed. Now, 



