64 BiliD Notes from P^rkdale. 



among'st well-educated men reo-arding' inatter.s that had been 

 reported to them, such as the shower of herring, and things of 

 that kind. He appreciated their kindness very much in receiving 

 the paper such as it was. There was a third account sent by Dr 

 Archibald to Sir Robert Sibbald which had also been transcribed, 

 but which he tliought it unnecessary to put before the society, 

 because it was printed along with Symson's communications as 

 part of the appendix to a book which .Symson subsequently 

 published, entitled " A Large Description of Galloway." 



17th A2)ril, 1901. 



Mr RoiiERT Murray, V.P., in the Chair. 



Donations and Exchanges. — The Secretary reail a letter from 

 Mr ^V. J. H. Maxwell, M.P., forwarding ten coins of the reigns 

 of Alexander III. and Edward I. and II., which he had been able 

 to obtain for the Society out of the Treasure found in Closeburn 

 Parish last winter. Mr Maxwell was thanked for his services. 

 The following exchanges were intimated : — Bureau of Ethnology, 

 U.S.A. Part II. of the 17th Annual Report. Journal of the 

 Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society, 17th year. Geological Insti- 

 tute of Mexico, 14th number. 



COMMUNICATI' 'NS. 



I — -'Some Bird Notes from Eskdale." By Mr RiCHARD Bell 

 of Castle O'er, Eskdalemuir. 



In the parish of Eskdalemuir a student of ornithology will 

 find his observations limited to the more common species of small 

 birds, and to owls, the smaller hawks, and the corvidce. 



Rare visitants are rare indeed, and these, for reasons best 

 known to themselves, seem generally to give the parish a wide 

 berth. I think this paucity of species is owing, in great measure, 

 to the natural features of the parish, which lacks the bosky brakes, 

 the hedgerows, and young plantations so congenial to the wants 

 of our feathered friends, and who find plenty of their favourite 

 haunts in the lower and more cultivated parts of the country. 



