"The Birds of Dumfriesshire." 31 



record of the previous year by one hundred and twenty-three 

 birds. 



The eagerly awaited Final Report of the Committee of 

 Inquiry on Grouse Disease was published in August, 1911, and 

 is far too valuable a publication to pass by unnoticed. It would 

 be impossible here to attempt to show how exhaustively this 

 monograph has been compiled. "Grouse disease " has been 

 found to be due to the r^ivages of a threadworm, Tricho- 

 strongylus pergracilis, which infests the caeca. It is obviously 

 diflficult to cope with diseases of wild birds, but it is demon- 

 strated clearly how 'mportant it is to keep moors in good con- 

 dition by consideirate and systematic burning; and also, how 

 dangerous it is to attempt to keep more Grouse on a moor than 

 the ground will carry in early spring, at which period the food 

 supply is likely to be at its lowest. The variety of plumage in 

 the Red Grouse is dealt with fully in the Committee's Report. 

 In Dumfriesshire the males would appear to be for the most 

 part of the red form, though the white-spotted form is occa- 

 sionally met with. Of the females, the commonest form is 

 the buff-spotted, though the red form is at times found. 



THE PHEASANT. In Scotland the pheasant does not appear 

 to have been preserved at a very early period. Robert Gray 

 writes : — " The first mention of the Pheasant in old Scotch Acts 

 is in one dated 8th June, 1594, in which year a keen sportsman 

 occupied the Scottish throne. "^^^ Sir William Jardine con- 

 sidered that " upon the Scottish border and high Cheviot range 

 they must ha\'e been early abundant ; for in the old ballad of 

 the field of Otterburn we have : — 



" The roo full rekeles there sche rinnes. 

 To make the game and glee ; 

 The Fawken and the Fesaitni both. 

 Among the haltes on hee."^^ 



The 'battle of Otterburn was fought on August 19th, 1388, and 

 the ballad may be regarded as belonging to the fifteenth century. 

 We have, however, no definite evidence of the existence of the 

 Pheasant in Dumfriesshire till a much later date. There can be 



10 Birds of West Scotland, 1871, p. 226. 



11 Nat. Lib., Vol. IV. (Ornith.), 1834, pp. 191, 192. 



