Description of LOUDOUN CASTLE.

THAT branch of the family of Campbell which hold the title of Earls of Loudoun, and were proprietors of this castle, may be traced to, a considerable antiquity in Scottish History. In the reign of David I., who died about the middle of the twelfth century, it appears that Lambinus was proprietor of the lands and barony of Loudoun. His granddaughter, Margaret, married Sir Reginald de Crawford, who assumed the title of Loudoun, and was heritable Lord High Sheriff of the County of Air. In the beginning of the fourteenth century, Susanna, sole heiress to this house, married Sir Duncan Campbell, who assumed also the title of Loudoun, and succeeded to the hereditary office of Sheriff. Sir Hugh Campbell of Loudoun, who succeeded in 1572, had acquired an immense property, and being a man of fine parts, was in great favour with James VI. He was created by that monarch a baronet and lord of parliaament, by the title of Lord Loudoun, on the 30th June 1601. His granddaughter Margaret, who inherited his title and fortune, married John Camp

bell, Esq., eldest son and heir of Sir James Campbell of Lawers. He was a man of distinguished ability, and much esteemed by Charles I., who created him Earl of Loudoun, Lord Mauchline, &c. Upon the breaking out of the civil wars, however, he considered it his duty to join the covenanters, and was one of their principal leaders, though he always endeavoured to promote conciliatory measures. He took an active part, afterwards, in resisting the usurpation of Cromwell, in consequence of which his title and estates were forfeited, but they were restored by Charles I. His successor, the fourth Earl of Loudoun, distinguished himself in the army, and was commander in chief of all the forces, first in America, and afterwards in Portugal. The present representative of this noble family, Flora, Countess of Loudoun, was married on the 12th July 1804, to Francis Earl of Moira, who assumed, in consequence, the title of Loudoun and Moira.

During the long period, in which this property was in the hands of the family, a number of edifices were raised upon it. The ruins of the antient castle still appear, about balf

a mile east from the present residence. On the same situation with the latter, there have been erected two square towers, one of which has been made the watch-tower of the present castle. A more modern building had been raised about 100 years ago; but the present proprietors have just built a much larger and more splended castle, the same of which we now exhibit a view. Its grandeur and extent, joined to the elevated situation which it occupies, render it one of the most stately edifices which adorn the western parts of Scotland.

Monthly Memoranda in Natural History.

Dec. ON the 10th of the month a heavy fall of snow took place; and this was followed by intense cold. On the 12th in the evening the mercury in Fahrenheit's thermometerstood at 13, or 18 degrees below the freezing point. This was equal to the cold which, a month before, had proved so destructive to the cavalry of the French army in Russia; and certainly bivouacking, or spending the night in the open air, in such a temperature, must have been misery in the extreme, even to the gay and careless troops of Napoleon. As an instance of the severity of the weather in this neighbourhood, it may be mentioned, that an otter was killed at the farm-offices of Ingliston, near a mile and a half from the river Almond, its usual haunt, which was completely frozen over. It may likewise be noticed, that about the same time a fieldfare was found taking shelter in a cellar in the south side of Edinburgh, altho it is well known to be a very shy bird.

the 10th of the month a

Feroe Islands. That diligent naturalist Mr John Wilson, whose zeal we have more than once borne testimony to, lately made a trip to the Feroe islands, in the hopes of adding

to his collection of birds and minerals, He sailed from Leith on the 17th of September (certainly too late in the season), and, owing to contrary winds, did not reach Thorshaven till the 7th of October. During this tedious pas sage several strong gales occurred, and Mr Wilson saw many more than he wished, of the stormy petrel, or Mother Carey's chicken, dipping a mong the foam of the billows. Mr Wilson first visited the island of Nelso, to the east of Stromoe, and about four miles from Thorshaven; an island remarkable for the quantity of zeolite, especially the variety called stilbite, contained in the amygdaloidal trap rocks of which it is composed: a small cavern here, has acquired the name of the Zeolite Cove. He next proceeded by boat to Kallefiord, and rode across mountains and morasses to Quivig, where Landt resided, and where some of the finest zeolites and calcedonies are to be found. Here a number of the natives assembled, bringing many specimens of minerals, to barter for goods with which they expected a stranger to be furnished. He likewise visited Lamhove, remarkable for its fine reniform and botryoidal calcedonies. The tempestuous weather hindered him from examining the cliff near Myggenaes, off Suderoe, where the stratification of basalt, and its alternation with beds of amygdaleid, slate-clay, and coal, is finely dis played by the action of the sea, according to the description of Landt ; but he procured specimens of the coal found there.

On the 10th of October the snow lay two inches deep around Thorshaven, and a hard frost began. At this late season of the year all the number less flocks of sea-birds which spend the summer about the Feroes, and breed there, had entirely disappeared. During his stay Mr Wilson observed only the following birds, which winter about the islands: Eider-ducks plentiful; black or grey guillemot;

swarthag,