5G Tnmsaciion^ 



when its powerful flight, one would think, could in a few hours 

 have conveyed it to where food was plentiful. 



The Golden Plovers arrived in some very large flocks in October, 

 and remained till the end of November. A few of them paid us 

 a lengthened visit in spring before moving to their breeding 

 grounds. 



Lapwings disappeared entirely at the end of November, and 

 were not seen again until the beginning of March — a fact qxiite 

 unprecedented, as they were not known to have left the district 

 altogether in winter before. 



Many Herons fell victims to hunger, and a splendid plumaged 

 female came into my possession, which was picked iip unable to 

 fly at Burnside of Mabie. I have notes of about a dozen 

 others found in various parts of the district. Curlews left 

 entirely for the shore in November. Even there, where one 

 would have thought food for them could easily be got, they 

 became very emaciated ; and those I examined in December and 

 January, which had been procured at the shore, were extremely 

 thin. About the middle of January a good many were picked up 

 on the shores of the Solway Firth either dead or in a dying state. 



I know of one or two Woodcocks being picked up dead. Of 

 course feeding grounds for these birds would be scai'ce enough. 

 A number of pairs bred this season in the district. On Mabie 

 there would be at least four pairs that bred ; and I started a brood 

 of young ones there, just able to fly, in the first week in August. 

 I mention this not as a result of the bad weather, but simply 

 because the great majority of gamekeepei's and others who ought 

 to know better always assert that the Woodcocks all go to Noi'way 

 and Sweden to nest. 



The Water Kail is a bird which even those who are supposed to 

 have an intimate knowledge of such matters seldom suspect of being 

 a regular inhabitant of this locality. When the fi'ost became so 

 severe these birds began to wander about, and many fell victims 

 to the gun. It was rather astonishing to see how few persons 

 recognised the species. Of all our resident birds I believe the 

 Water Hens suflered most severely. In some cases they took 

 their meals with the poultry in the farmyards. Mostly, however, 

 they were to be seen sitting disconsolately on the ice, or being 

 chased about by boys, who appeared to derive a certain satisfaction 

 in diagging them forth from rat-holes, whither they had crept for 

 safety from their pursuers. Many wandered out into the fields, 



