THE SPOTTED REDSHANK ON THE SOLWAY FIRTH 219 



LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL, Lams fitscus, L. This species makes 

 its appearance in winter and spring over at Symington fields, 

 on which are scattered refuse from a slaughter-house there. 



PUFFIN, Fratercula arctica (L.) Mr. A. W. Yuill, Lanark, informs me 

 that a few winters ago, during a severe frost, one of this species 

 was caught alive in a garden in Lanark. Mr. D. Pringle, who 

 possesses a specimen, reports that this species " has been got on 

 the Clyde." 



RED - NECKED GREBE, Podiceps griseigena (Boddaert). Gray 

 ("B. W. S.") says, a bird of this species was obtained as far inland 

 as the neighbourhood of Lanark. 



LITTLE GREBE, Podiceps fluviatilis (Tunstall). Common on the 

 Clyde (Mr. T. Cranston), on Douglas lochs (Mr. A. Telfer), and 

 on ponds at Braidwood and Lee (Mr. D. Pringle). 



CARMICHAEL MANSE, September 16, 1897. 



THE SPOTTED REDSHANK ON THE SOLWAY 



FIRTH. 



By Rev. H. A. MACPHERSON, M.A. 



THE Spotted Redshank (Tot anus fuscus] is at all times a 

 rare bird in Scotland. I never have had the pleasure of 

 meeting any ornithologist, except Mr. William Evans, who 

 could tell me that he had met with the present species north 

 of the Border. I cannot recall any records of the occurrence 

 of this species from any part of Scotland, except the East 

 Coast. It seems possible, however, that further research may 

 demonstrate that this wader occasionally visits the Clyde 

 area. When I first began to work at the Fauna of the 

 Solway Firth, nearly fifteen years ago, I could find no living 

 man who had ever shot this Totanus on any of our salt- 

 marshes ; though all the commoner " shanks "werewell known. 

 Forty years had slipped away since the late James Cooper had 

 last met with a Solway specimen, and he only met with this 

 wader about twice in all his local collecting. And, indeed, 

 several years of careful search on my own part proved barren 

 of result. It was not until 1888 that Mr. W. Nicol succeeded 

 in obtaining a local specimen for me. He had met with the 



