304 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



the pasture lands of Turnberry Warren farm, from which they 

 make daily visits to the beach. On 24th July, 1869, we noticed 

 a flock in which there could not have been fewer than 500 birds. 



The Whimbrel {Numenius arquata). 

 Almost never seen with us but in May, during its migratory 

 flight northwards. A few are tempted to travel along the shore 

 as far as the Clyde estuary, where they linger about two weeks. 

 The principal flocks appear to take a more direct line to their 

 breeding quarters, by steering for Islay, Jura, and Mull, and 

 thence to the outer Hebrides, where they make a longer stay. 



The CoiMMON Eedshank (Totanus calidris). 



Breeds in both counties, and is nowhere more common than in 

 the Bay of Luce, from Port- William to the Drumore coast. Its 

 summer haunts are numerous throughout tlie district, and present 

 a variety of scenery, from the low lying marshes of the south of 

 Wigtown to the chain of moorland lochs lying embosomed among 

 some of the finest mountain ranges in our district. We have 

 observed it in small flocks on the coast as early as the beginning 

 of July. 



Obs. — The Green Sandpiper (Totanus ochrojms), and the Wood 

 Sandpiper (T. glareloa), have both occurred in districts bordering 

 upon our limits, but not exactly within the prescribed boundaries. 



The Common Sandpiper (Totanus hypoleiicos). 

 Tliis lively species is very common from April to September, 

 frequenting every stream, and many of our moorland lochs, on 

 the banks of which they breed in considerable numbers. On the 

 Girvan Water, which is subject to frequent floods, these birds 

 instinctively avoid places for nesting inside the embankment, and 

 invariably betake themselves to the adjoining turnip and potato 

 fields, where the nest is often found under shelter of the leaves 

 of the growing plants. The young, on being hatched, are led by 

 both parents to the water's edge, where they remain almost con- 

 tinually until able to shift for themselves. We have also found 

 the broods in drains and ditches cctfnmunicating with the river. 

 In the autumn the families assemble, and follow the stream to the 

 sea, where they remain a week or ten days before finally leaving 

 the coasts. 



