THE STARLING IN SOLWAY 95 



or the delightfully violet-pied woods adjoining which rejoice, 

 and justly, in the name of Cavens." 



Here may be given the only two notices of the bird in 

 the " New. S. Ace. of Kirkcudbrightshire " : " The Starling 

 exists here " (Kirkcudbright Parish, May i 843) ; and " A few 

 years ago exceedingly rare ; now abundant " (Balmaclellan 

 Parish, January 1844). 



I had an interesting letter a few weeks ago from Mr. 

 William Thomson, Kirkcudbright (so widely known for his 

 knowledge of the botany and zoology of the district around 

 that old romantic town), on the subject of the increase of the 

 Starling and kindred topics. Mr. Thomson says : " The 

 first appearance of the Starling in our district was in i 848 

 not later at all events. Have often heard it stated that it 

 was the lighthouse on the Ross that was the means of 

 attracting them. Some of them had been killed on the 



o 



lantern about that time. The first nest I ever knew was 

 about 1850. At that time they were becoming common. At 

 first they came in flocks and spread all over the district." 



I have one more quotation to make, and it is from a 

 charming account of the birds seen in and about his garden 

 by the late Thomas Aird, poet and litterateur, published in 

 the " Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History Society's 

 Transactions" (the old society, not the present one) for 

 1863-64. Mr Aird wrote: "When I went to live at 

 Mountainhall, eight years ago, not a Starling was to be seen 

 thereabouts ; but now they breed with us, and I see large 

 flocks of them in our fields in autumn. Now, such sudden 

 and sweeping changes of habitat are not governed by the 

 usual laws of inner migration that is, of migration from 

 one part of the island to another. The gradual changes of 

 tillage, modifying the supplies of food for the bird, cannot 

 account for such violent changes of habitat. I myself have 

 no way of accounting for them." 



Since then the Starling has every year become more and 

 more abundant, always excepting such times as that during 

 the long protracted and severe winter of 1878-79, when for 

 nearly eighteen months later they became very scarce. 

 Their habits seem to be annually undergoing modifications, 

 for now they will breed like a blackbird, amongst the ivy 



