272 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



includes at the outset a sketch from ancient records of falconry 

 as formerly practised in Berwickshire and the adjacent country. 

 Then come the Steganopodes, amongst which the account given 

 of the Gannet is notable by reason chiefly of the excerpts which 

 are given from the books of John, Duke of Lauderdale, respecting 

 the price of Solan Geese, or, as they are therein termed, " Sollen- 

 geese,' : between the years 1674 and 1678. 



At page 43 we find a list of the heronries (fourteen in number) 

 which were found to exist in Berwickshire in 1887, the statistics 

 showing the number of nests in each colony, and the kind of 

 trees selected. 



The account given of Billie Mire, an extensive and almost 

 impassable morass, the haunt of innumerable wildfowl, is especi- 

 ally interesting from the fact of its being the principal resort of 

 the Bittern in Berwickshire, as well as of several other birds, 

 such as the Hen Harrier, which are now rarely or never seen in 

 the county. 



There can be little doubt that in ancient times, long before 

 the days of agricultural improvement and drainage, whilst as yet 

 the Merse was covered with bogs and morasses which are now 

 drained, the Bittern was to be found in every part of this county; 

 and it may be well supposed that King James IV., who frequently 

 resorted to Bathgate Bog to fly his falcons at the Bittern there, 

 would not fail to try their mettle at this ancient quarry in some 

 of the Berwickshire marshes when he visited Lauder in 1489, 

 and Hume Castle in 1496, with his falconers. 



Immense flocks of Wild Geese frequent Berwickshire during 

 the autumn and early spring, and these, according to Mr. Muir- 

 head, consist of the Bean Goose and the Pink-footed species, 

 the average date of their arrival being the 26th of October, when 

 they are generally observed flying from the north-west to the 

 south-east. In a tabular form, extending over fifteen pages, Mr. 

 Muirhead gives a good deal of information about Gray Geese 

 under the following headings : — Parish, Farm, Fields on which 

 the Geese alight ; Date of arrival in Spring ; ditto in Autumn ; 

 and Name and Address of Correspondent supplying the inform- 

 ation. An illustration is given (p. 86) of Hile Moss, a picturesque 

 sheet of water of about seventeen acres in extent, on a lonely 

 part of Greenlaw Moor, a favourite haunt of Wild Geese, to 

 which they resort in October and November. Mr. Muirhead 



