ornithologist, exclaimed-" Horn-i'-th'-hollow-jest! A bitter Whig, I know he is, as ever growled at placeman or parson ; and is not ashamed of it: but I never thought the crazy Counsellor had any Religion; but 'tis better he be of that, than of no Religion." Von Ös. Ha, ha, ha! good to be true. a joke of your own making! - too Dov. Really as true as that my name is Westfelton, near Shrewsbury, Oct. 28. 1832. JOHN F. M. DOVASTON. ART. II. Address to the Members of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, Sept. 19. 1832. By GEORGE JOHNSTON, M.D. THE Berwickshire Naturalists' Club was instituted in September, 1831, by some gentlemen who interested themselves in natural history, and were anxious to do their best to aid one another in their pursuits, and to diffuse a taste for them among others. The club meets four times in the year, and the place of its meeting is changed every time, to afford the members an opportunity of examining in succession every part of the neighbourhood. The members meet early in the morning; they spend the forenoon in excursions, and they again assemble at dinner, after which any papers that may be laid before them are read and discussed freely. The first anniversary meeting was held at Coldstream on the 19th of September, 1832, when the following address was read by the president on his resigning the chair. Gentlemen, BEFORE I leave the distinguished station which, by your favour, I hold in this club, you will permit me to take a cursory view of what has been done, during this the first year of its existence, towards forwarding the objects for which we principally associated ourselves; a more accurate knowledge, to wit, of the natural history and antiquities of Berwickshire and the adjacent parts of the neighbouring counties: and I am induced to do this, not because our labours have elicited much of interest or importance; not because I can hope to give any additional impulse to your zeal, or direction to your future pursuits; but that I may, so far as in me lies, set an example to my successors in this chair to give you, at each succeeding anniversary, a summary of the communications and researches of the members during the year; so that the results of these may not be lost, and that their bearings and connections may be pointed out. The review, also, may serve to remind us of those departments of the natural history of the county which have received the least notice and illustration, and where, of course, our enquiries may be most usefully directed in future. [Birds.] At our meeting in July, it was mentioned that a male bird of the rose-coloured ouzel * had been shot at West Ord, in the vicinity of Berwick, on the 13th of that month, by the Rev. Mr. Campbell. No previous instance of the occurrence of this beautiful bird in North Durham is known; and very few instances of its occurrence in the north of England are on record. It is a summer visitant, coming to us at uncertain intervals; and (it may be conjectured) compelled; perhaps, to make these parts by the force of some contrary_storms: and in this respect it resembles another bird, the Egyptian goose, a small flock of which is recorded to have visited the Tweed, at Carham, in the beginning of February last. This flock, as is conjectured by Mr. Selby, may probably have made its escape from Gosforth, the seat of the Earl of Wemyss, upon the Firth of Forth, where great numbers of these birds are kept in the artificial pieces of water. These are the only birds remarkable for their rarity, which have occurred during the year; for I do not remember that any such was met with in our excursions. In that of June, made to Langleyford, at the foot of Cheviot, our distinguished colleague, Mr. Selby, entertained some slight hopes of meeting with the ring thrush +, which, it was supposed, might breed near this sequestered hamlet: but the information of the respectable tenant proved the contrary; for the bird is seen there only in the later autumnal months, on its return from still more inland and more remote moors. During our ascent of Hedgehope, on that day, the curlew ¶ first, and, somewhat higher up, the golden plover ** (uttering, * Pástor ròseus Tem., Túrdus ròseus Lin. Mr. Selby has a specimen, shot near Bamborough; and two others have been taken not far from Newcastle. (Trans. Newc. Soc., i. 263.) It is singular that these were all males. Anas ægyptiaca Lin., Chenalopex ægyptiaca Steph. Kelso Mail for Feb. 6. 1832; Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. v. p. 565. Trans. Newc. Soc., i. 290. Five were seen on the Fern Islands in April, 1830; and in March, 1831, a female was killed near Berwick. (Ibid.) Túrdus torquàtus Lin. Scolopax arquàta Lin., Numènius arquàta Lath., Whaap Prov. ** Charadrius pluviàlis Lin. : : as it flew from us, its shrill plaintive cry), were seen in their breeding-grounds; and the blackcock was heard calling harshly to his mates. On this occasion, as on several 'previous ones, I was struck with the cries of the birds we noticed there was no sprightliness in them, nor melody; but all were plaintive, or rapid and harsh, and tended to increase that still sobriety that almost solemn mood which irresistibly steals over the mind of him who traverses these noiseless, wide, dark-brown moors. The melody of the groves is not in harmony with the scene; and the warblers leave it willingly for haunts nearer the cheerful buzz of man and civilisation. But our excursion in July presented us with a most remarkable contrast to the scenery of the Cheviots: a wide and rough-rolling sea, a coast fronted with lofty, dark, and precipitous rocks, caverned with gloomy recesses, so bold, so rugged, and naked, that Scotland scarce boasts one of superior grandeur. And how diverse were its feathered tenants in appearance and habits! The slender-legged tribes of the moor, clothed in a mottled plumage, were here replaced with birds distinguished by short legs, strength of body, and by colours disposed in large and unmixed patches, often strongly contrasted and while the former wheeled round and about us in circles, muttering their cries on wing, the latter flew out in a straight undeviating line, and silently. Nor were they less distinguished by their voices; for the cries of seafowl are never plaintive, but most harsh, and most consonant with the pictorial character of their haunts. Pennant has given a description of these, so excellent, that I must be allowed to quote it here, with only a very few alterations, to make it more exact to St. Abb's Head, the place of our visit. This magnificent promontory is a huge insulated mass of trap rocks †, whose seaward sides form precipices of vast height, hollowed in many places into caverns, in which the wild. pigeons build their nests, and nurture their young in safety, amid the spray of waves that never sleep in rest. In some parts, the caverns penetrate far, and end in darkness; in others, are pervious, and give a romantic passage by another opening equally superb. Many of the rocks are insulated, of a pyramidal form, and soar to a great height. The bases of most are solid; but in some pierced through and arched. They are covered with the dung of the innumerable flocks of birds which resort here annually to breed, and fill every little projection, every hole, which will give them leave to rest. Multitudes were swimming about; others swarmed in the Tétrao Tètrix Lin., Female, Grey hen, Prov. + Flora of Berwick, i. pref. xiv. xv. ‡ Colúmba Lívia Selby. air, and stunned us with the variety of their croaks and screams, Kittiwakes, sea mews, and black-headed gulls, guillemots, auks, and corvorants, are among the species which resort hither. "The notes of all seafowl are most harsh and inharmonious. I have often rested under rocks like these, attentive to the various sounds over my head; which, mixed with the deep roar of the waves slowly swelling, and retiring from the vast caverns beneath, have produced a fine effect. The sharp voice of the gulls, the frequent chatter of the guillemots, the loud notes of the auks, the screams of the herons, together with the deep periodical croak of the corvorants (and the boding voice of the raven), which serves as a bass to the rest, have often furnished me with a concert, which, joined to the wild scenery surrounding me, afforded, in a high degree, that species of pleasure which results from the novelty and the gloomy majesty of the entertainment.” * I must not leave this majestic coast, without mention of another of its feathered tenants, the Cornish chough †; which, indeed, was not seen by us on this occasion, but is certainly ascertained to breed in the rocks between St. Abb's and Fast Castle. This fact, distinctly mentioned by Bishop Leslie, in his history de Origine Scotorum, published about 300 years ago ‡, has been overlooked or disregarded by naturalists, who have considered the bird peculiar to the western shores of Britain; and it is to the Rev. A. Baird that we are indebted for the confirmation of the accuracy of the bishop's information; and, of course, for showing that the limits usually assigned to the distribution of the chough in this country are erroneous. [Reptiles.] — Of the reptiles of Berwickshire, the frog || and the toad ↓ have met us every where; and in our excursions to Penmanshiel Wood, and to St. Bathan's, a viper ¶ was taken; but no communication relative to any of this neglected tribe of animals has been laid before you. [Fishes.]-Mr. Embleton gave us, at our meeting in December last, a description of a singular individual of the salmon which had been caught near Coldstream. ** It was distinguished by being spotted over, in a leopard-like fashion, with pale marks, by having its gill-covers beautifully streaked *Arctic Zoology, i., Introd. p. xii. + Córvus Gráculus Lin., Pyrrhocorax Gráculus Tem. P. 17. Published in 1578. "Inhabits the western side of the island." Flem. Br. Anim. 89. Rana temporária Lin., Paddock Prov. Rana Bufo Lin., Bùfo vulgàris Flem., Taed, Prov. Cóluber Bèrus Lin., Vipera commùnis Flem., Adder, Prov. ** Sálmo Sàlar Lin. with red lines, and by leather-like fins; and these peculiarities were not the effects of disease, for the fish was in good condition, and perfectly sound. At the same meeting I presented to the club a list of the less common fishes found on the coast of Berwickshire, of which list the most remarkable, for their rarity at least, were the common tope *, the starry ray †, of which I have had several specimens brought me, the top-knott, the toothed gilt-head §, the lunulated gilt-head |, the sea perch, the basse ¶, the horse mackerel **, the fifteen-spined stickleback ++, which is by no means uncommon on this coast, and is occasionally taken at the mouth of our river during the summer months. Besides these, there have occurred four species, which, in our latest system of British animals, are said to be confined to the "English coast;" and which may therefore be considered as additions to the fishes of the Scottish shores. These are, the greater weaver ‡‡, inaccurately characterised by Dr. Fleming; the lesser spotted dog-fish §§, the hag-worm, and the tadpole fish ++. The hag-worm, so remarkable for the peculiarities of its structure, is, according to the testimony of our fishermen, rather common on the coast of Berwickshire; and the size of the specimens I have seen, and I am assured they are not larger than the average, is much superior to what is stated in our systematic works; for, instead of 8 in., they were 14 in. and 15 in. in length. Of the tadpole fish, which is one of the rarest British species, and previously known only as an inhabitant of the shores of Cornwall, I had the pleasure of exhibiting to you a living specimen, which had been captured in Berwick Bay. When alive, and when recently dead, the body appeared every where smooth and even; but, after having lain three days on a plate, and become a little shrivelled, there appeared an obscure row of tubercles, running backwards from the pectoral fins, and these pea-like tubercles could be more readily distinguished by drawing the finger over the skin. I would call attention to this fact, because the only good distinction between the Rániceps trifurcàtus, and R. Jago of Dr. Fleming, is derived from the pre * Squàlus Gàleus Lin., Gàleus vulgàris Flem. Raia radiata Donov. Pleuronéctes punctàtus Pen. Spàrus dentatus Stew., Brama marina Flem. + Pérca marina Lin., Serrànus norvégicus Flem. **Scómber Trachùrus Lin., Trachùrus vulgàris Flem. Gasterosteus Spinàchia Lin., Spinàchia vulgàris Flem. Trachinus major Flem. Squalus Catulus Lin., Scyllium Cátulus Flem. Mýxine glutinòsa Lin. ++ Batrachoides trifurcàtus Davies, Rániceps trifurcàtus Flem. |