The A^ertebrates of Solway. 23 



There was also another iutroductiou on the Silverburn hills, the 

 highest of the Pentlands, somewhera about the beginning of the 

 'fiO's. 



Spreading rapidly from the district around Queensberry, 

 tlirough the head of the Anuandale watershed, the Varying Hare 

 arrived in Eskdale in some numbers by 1868. It was about 1872 

 before it made its appearance westwards on the Gralloway uplands. 

 It is now widely distributed on all the hills of Solway. 



The Rabbit {Lepus nadadus. Linn.). 



When the century was young Rabbits were scarce enough, 

 111 the Rev. Samuel Smith's " Report on the Agriculture of 

 Oalloway," of date 1810 (a book that is now very scarce, and for 

 a sight of which I am indebted to Mr Thomas Fraser, Dalbeattie), 

 it is stated (p. 298) that '• there are a few rabbits in one or two 

 places in the Stewartry. . . . There is an extensive Rabbit 

 wan-en in the sandy district near Glenluce." When Dr Singer 

 wrote his "Agricultural Survey of Dumfriesshire" in 1812 he 

 remarked (p. 384) that " a few Rabbits are to be found, but hardly 

 worth mentioning. There is no regular warren." I have it from 

 a trustworthy source that John James Hope Johnstone, M.P., 

 brought one pair of Wild Rabbits from the South of England and 

 set them at large some time about 1815, and that the descendants 

 of this pair were popularly supposed to have populated the most 

 of Annandale. Some time subsequent to 182.5 the fox-hunting 

 interest introduced Rabbits largely throughout both Dumfriesshire 

 and the Stewartry (there were foxhounds kept in the Stewartry 

 then), and ever since that time they have been plentiful enough. 

 There is no mention of the number of Rabbit skins in our fur 

 market reports until 1828, when 18,000 were exposed, and fetched 

 4s 6d per dozen. In 1810 they were sold here for 8s to 9s per 

 dozen— a very direct evidence of scarcity. 



AVES. 



The Missel Thrush {Tardus viscivorus, L.). 



Some fifty years ago was very uncommon. Now it is one of our 

 familiar species. 



The Coal Tit (Parus briianniais, Sharpe and Dresser). 

 " This little species we think to be the most abundant, or one 



