THE STARLING IN SOLWAY 93 



extends back to about 1862 or 1863. At that time the 

 Starling as a breeding species was very scarce indeed, and an 

 egg was a prize for a boy with the collecting mania at fever 

 heat. While Starlings were thus rare as breeders, they were 

 not at all uncommon during the spring and autumnal migra- 

 tions. I mean by that statement, that during a walk of say 

 three or four miles one might have seen one or two flocks, 

 somewhere or other in the grass fields, of perhaps a score of 

 birds. I have no doubt that the present resident Starling 

 population has descended from an odd pair left by these 

 migrating flocks from time to time. 



I have now to note a few of the earlier instances in 

 which the Starling was known to breed in Solway. But 

 first let me point out that Mr. Harvie-Brown's reference to 

 Roxburgh should have gone under " Tweed." Further, the 

 second paragraph under " Clyde " should go under " Solway." 

 The Castle Loch, Lochmaben (not Lochmaidon) is a well- 

 known Dumfriesshire locality. 



On 4th June 1813, as I find on reference to the files of 

 the " Dumfries Courier," a boy was killed on the island on 

 Loch Doon while climbing the ruins of the old castle in 

 search of a Starling's nest. The stones gave way and fell 

 upon him. In reference to this record, I have often wondered 

 if it was not the case, when the Starling was thus shown to 

 be breeding at a locality away amongst the hills and moor- 

 lands, that the bird was of necessity generally distributed 

 and common over the arable and lower lands ? 



In the Dumfriesshire volume of the " N. S. A." Sir Wm. 

 Jardine, writing in 1832 of the avifauna of the parish of 

 Applegirth, said : " The Starling is found in flocks during 

 autumn and spring, but few in number, having diminished 

 much in numbers of late years. In 1819 and 1820 flocks 

 of many hundreds frequented the holms on the Annan, but 

 of late not more than from ten to twenty have been seen 

 together." The late Mr. Hastings, so long known as a 

 taxidermist in Dumfries, used often to tell me how, when he 

 was employed as an under gardener at Closeburn Hall, Sir 

 James Stuart Menteth, Bart, his employer, had sent from some- 

 where or other a pair of young Starlings to be brought up 

 and liberated. Hastings got them in charge, reared them 



