52 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



under the sun, and it may be years before another immigration takes 

 place. HERBERT MAXWELL, Monreith. 



Woodcocks and Blaekgame in Dumfriesshire. It is gratifying 

 to read Mr. Gladstone's note ("Annals," October 1907, p. 249) 

 about the increasing number of Woodcocks bred in Dumfriesshire. 

 This is the direct outcome of the Wild Birds Protection Acts. 

 Previous to 1880, March and April were the months when most 

 Woodcocks were shot on the seaboard of Wigtownshire, as I can 

 testify to my shame. We thought that they were birds collecting 

 for emigration ; whereas they were confiding immigrants, proposing 

 to rear their young in our inhospitable woodlands. But it is sad to 

 read that in Nithsdale, as elsewhere in Scotland, no mercy is shown 

 to immature birds in August. Were I still in Parliament, I should 

 introduce, and back myself to succeed in carrying, an extension of 

 the statutory close time from its present termination on 3 ist July 

 to ist October. Will no legislator undertake the task? The 

 House of Commons is always sympathetic to proposals for the pro- 

 tection of wild animals, provided they are not promoted in the 

 interest of landlords. Meanwhile, it is in the power of County 

 Councils to obtain an order from the Home Secretary or the Secre- 

 tary for Scotland, extending or reducing the close time for any wild 

 bird. 



In another category are Blackgame, whereof the steady diminu- 

 tion demands serious attention. Nithsdale used to be the most 

 famous resort of this noble fowl. The five best years at Drumlanrig 

 yielded the following returns : 



1861 . . 1586 Blackgame. 



1865 . 1530 



1869 . . 1508 



1870 . . 1486 ,, 



1871 1429 



The best day's bag, shot by ten guns on Sanquhar, contained 247 

 Blackgame, of which 200 were cocks. Now, I am told, 20 or 30 

 brace is considered a fair bag. Let Blackgame have the same 

 close season as our other polygamous gamebird, the Pheasant, 

 namely from ist February to ist October, instead of the present 

 unreasonable one from nth December till igth August. Who 

 would not blush to floor Pheasants before they got their full 

 plumage ? Yet it is a common practice, especially among those 

 who hire Scottish shootings, to massacre Blackgame poults when 

 they cannot take wing without a struggle. HERBERT MAXWELL, 

 Monreith. 



Note on the Waterhen. On 23rd October, when shooting in 

 a flooded meadow, one of the beaters found a Waterhen (Gallimda 



