NaturAL History NOTES FROM ANNANDALE. 83 
natural history observations. This is so especially in reference 
to bird migration. The study of bird migrations in the Solway 
area is pursued almost alone by Mr Robert Service. But why 
should he be alone, when the study of Nature is a pastime for 
all? 
_ In spring one is naturally interested in the coming of our 
summer migrants. In this connection my notes on April 6th and 
20th may be worth recording. 
The beginning of April brings quite a number of our spring 
birds to the south of England; and they are usually with us 
about a fortnight later. First and chief of these to visit the 
woods along the Annan is the willow warbler. On the average it 
reaches the Solway area about the middle of April. My own 
earliest recorded date occurred in 1893 (8th April). The 
summer that followed was a specially fine one. Last year I first 
heard this bird on the 12th, an early date also. The summer of 
1905 was one of the finest of recent years. In some cold seasons 
I have listened in vain for the song until the 19th or 20th. The 
pleasing succession of liquid, falling notes, once heard, is always 
remembered. ‘Two other interesting species of this order come 
to the woods on the Annan in some numbers—the wood warbler 
and the garden warbler. I found two nests of the latter last 
summer, but somewhat late in the season. I think the blackcap, 
a sweet songster second only to the nightingale, comes to the 
woods opposite Mount Annan. 
As our summer migrants come, so our winter migrants move 
northward. Among these is the pretty little siskin. It is known 
as a winter migrant in Dumfriesshire, but its home in summer is 
among the pine-woods of the north of Scotland, in similar 
localities to those affected by the crossbill. I am indebted for 
this information to a friend who was a close Nature student. 
The young of the crossbill are hatched very early in the season, 
generally in January, sometimes even in December I was told. 
Nature’s reason for this is that at that period the pine cones 
yield more readily to the bills of the birds, and so food is 
provided. 
We in Annandale are still looking for the first swallow! I 
was told by a friend that the swallow was seen on the 4th 
near Lockerbie ; and I have seen similar notes in the newspapers. 
These probably all refer, however, to the sand martin, which is 
