io ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



Now, by 1889, not only had the Starling occupied the 

 richer " fallow " and " lea-lands," " carses," and lower agricul- 

 tural regions of " Tweed," but had penetrated to the higher- 

 lying farms of the Lammermuirs, a colony taking possession 

 of old ash trees at Cranshaws, where Mr. Bertram, the tenant, 

 says they were a recently arrived colony. 



Again, by 1891 the colony at Dunglass (before men- 

 tioned) became such a numerous winter colony that the 

 shrubberies were being broken down by the weight of birds 

 which roosted there ; and vast increase also took place about 

 Cockburnspath. On the Northumbrian sandstone moors 

 also the Starling began to breed in numbers ; and in old 

 trees in the Wooler district of the Cheviots. 



At present they are omnipresent. 



SOLWAY. 



For information offered by the " Old Statistical Account " 

 see vol. xvi. 1795, p. 76. 



We have already referred to a prior existence of the 

 species in vast numbers, as recorded by Sir Walter Scott. 



On the Estate of Cargen (Kircudbrightshire), as we are 

 informed by the proprietor, Mr. P. Dudgeon, the Starling 

 has increased very decidedly within the last twenty-five or 

 thirty years (dating back since December 1891) ; and about 

 the earlier dates a nest was looked upon as a great curiosity. 

 It may be said to have appeared there about that time say 

 from 1861 to 1866. It may therefore have made an earlier 

 appearance in " Tweed " say about 1825 to 1830, or rather 

 sooner than in " Solway," on its second wave of dispersal. 

 But it cannot be ascertained, by notes kept by Mr. Dudgeon, 

 the direction whence they probably proceeded. The first 

 shot about Cargen was twenty-six years ago, say 1865. At 

 present there is a colony in winter of about 500 to 600 birds 

 in a bed of rhododendron at the stables, and others besides. 



According to Mr. Armistead of the Solway Fisheries, 

 Starlings are not very abundant there, although much more 

 common than formerly. Mr. Armistead never sees the enor- 

 mous colonies which he so often meets with in Cumberland 

 and Yorkshire, as well as in the South. 



