238 ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SOUTH OF SCOTLAND. 
rugged and winding vallies, slopes covered with debris and patched with Heath 
and Brake, brown or limpid streams fringed with Alder and Birch, rivers and 
lakes with cataracts and islands, dark forests of Pines and thickets of Briars, 
with other remarkable features, still, and will for ages, give interest to the 
ancient land of the Gael. The physical and moral character of the natives, too, 
is widely different, though, judging from what I have observed, I should have no 
hesitation in pronouncing the men of the south a noble race. 
I have to add some remarks with respect to the distribution of the vertebrate 
animals. 
The quadrupeds are few in species as well as in number. The Pipistrelle Bat 
and the Common Long-eared Bat, Plecotus auritus^ I have seen in Nidpath Cas¬ 
tle, near Peebles. The Hare, the Babbit, the Brown Bat, the Domestic Mouse, 
the Brown Water-rat, the short-tailed Field-mouse, the Long-tailed Field-mouse, 
the Squirrel in some of the lower parts, the Foumart or Polecat among the hills, 
the Ermine, the Weasel, the Fox, which is rare, the Badger still more so, the 
Otter, nearly extirpated, the Common Shrew, the Mole, and the Hedgehog, are 
all the other species of whose occurrence I have obtained satisfactory evidence. 
The birds are, of course, more numerous. To prevent misapprehension as to 
their nomenclature, I shall use chiefly the names employed by M. Temminck in 
his Manuel d’Ornithologie. 
One of the species which I have always considered the most interesting, on 
account of its singular habits, lively disposition, and clear sweet song, is the Dip¬ 
per, Cinclus aquaticus^ which I have nowhere found more plentiful than along 
the Tweed and its tributaries. The Missel Thrush, Turdus viscivorusy I have 
seen about Peebles, Selkirk, and elsewhere. The Blackbird and Mavis are not 
so plentiful as in many other districts. In winter I have seen the Fieldfare and 
Bedwing, which, however, are less plentiful than in the lower districts. Sir 
William Jardine informs me that the Bing Ouzel is not very uncommon in 
Moffat-dale. 
Saxicola mnanthe and S. ruhetra are both numerous in the higher valleys, 
where you also sometimes meet with Fringilla cannabina ; but Saxicola rubicola 
is rare, although I have met with it in winter. 
In the woods, thickets, bushes, and hedges of the lower parts are found :— Ac^ 
cenior modularise Sghia rubeculae Sylvia sibilatrixe S, trockilus, S. cinerea, S. 
phoenicuruSe which is not uncommon about Peebles, Muscicapa grisola^ of which 
I have obtained specimens in Ettrick and at Peebles, Sylvia troglodyteSe Certhia 
familiarise Pci'^us majore P. cceruleuSe P. atere P. caudatuSe S. reguluSe which^ 
as well as the five last species, is common in plantations, Fringilla chloriSe F, 
ccelebse Fmberiza citrinellae Pyrrhula vulgarise Fringilla cardudiSe and Frin¬ 
gilla spinus. 
