"The Birds of Dumfriesshire." 29 



THE MALLARD. The best night'.s " flighting ''' that I have 

 heard of being obtained locally, was got near Shieldhill (Tin- 

 wald) in the winter of 1894-1895, when forty-six mallard were 

 obtained in one evening. 



THE PINTAIL. In February, 1911, I saw a lot of upwards of 

 a hundred in the estuary of the Nith, opposite Carsethorn, 

 Kirkcudbrightshire. I was informed that they are seen there 

 in increasing numbers annually. 



THE AMERICAN BLUE-WINGED TEAL. The specimen 

 now in the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, and which is 

 recognised as the bird obtained locally in 1858, is not a male 

 (p. 276) as has been generally accepted, but a female. The 

 illustration in my book is sufficient evidence of this, and Mr. 

 Eagle Clarke has also carefully examined the bird at my 

 request. 



THE WIGEON. It is interesting to note that Sir William 

 Jardine, when on a tour in Sutherlandshire in the summer of 

 1834, was the first to ascertain that this .species nested in Great 

 Britain. 



The Wigeon has been found nesting in Roxburghshire 

 within five miles of Dumfriesshire, so that records of its breed- 

 ing locally may be expected any spring. 



A female was shot out of a flock of seven or eight at Craw- 

 fordton Loch (Glencairn) on October 13th, 1910. 



THE GOLDENEYE. Males of this species in full plumage are 

 comparatively so rarely seen, that it is worthy of record that I 

 flushed one off a small loch near Capenoch (Keir) on Novem- 

 ber 5th, 1910; another was seen on the same loch on 

 November 14th, 1911. 



THE RING-DOVE. On March 22nd, 1844, the members of 

 the Lockerby (sic) Farmers' Club urged the local proprietors 

 " to kill Woodpigeons wherever they are to be found, on account 

 of the great amount of damage done annually by them to 

 Turnips and other Crops." 



In October and November, 1910, this species was locally 

 more than usually numerous. On different occasions I counted 



