Had a nice shoot at Philiphaugh. Rose 5.30 + wrote some letters + did day book. Drove round by Curror Street to see a son of Eben[ezer] Johnstone1 + got to Philiphaugh at 9.40. All the guns but Mr S.2 had gone to Harehead3 + I waited till they came to the back of the house. It began to rain shortly after + it was wet all day but not windy. There were fewer birds than usual in the Stable bank + [illegible]. We lunched in the shed near the duck pond + then did Beechwood strip (also very disappointing) + finished at Corbie Cottage from whence I walked home. There were 8 guns4 = R J Lang, Leadbetter, J Scott, Mr Smith, Sam, Mr Hamilton + Mr Steel. The bag was 71 pheasants, 24 rabbits, 10 hares + a woodcock. I got 9 pheasants, 2 hares + 2 rabbits, almost exactly my share of the bag but then I missed Harehead. I had to go to Caddonfoot after getting home.
1 Ebenezer Young Johnstone (about 1843-1914), weaver, born Galashiels.
2 William Strang Steel (1832-1911), D.L., J.P., retired merchant, of Philiphaugh.
3 The whole shoot is covered by Ordnance Survey six inch Selkirkshire Sheet XI.NE, published 1901, with Philiphaugh visible not far from General’s Bridge, Broadmeadows and Harehead to its N.N.W., Stable Bank due east, and Corby Cottage, on Corby Linn, to its N.E.
4 The Editor can confidently identify only William Strang Steel (above), Samuel Strang ‘Sam’ Steel (1882-1961), his son, and Robert James Lang (1856-1914), son of Hugh Morris Lang (1817-1900) and Margaret Pattison Lang née Graham (1821-1914) of Broadmeadows; though Mr Smith may be Patrick ‘Pat’ Smith (1858-1930), advocate and sheriff-substitute, sometime of The Firs, Selkirk.
[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/7, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1904]
Rumbling Clint's Scottish Notes 