134 Rare Birds of Recent Occurrence. 



in the midst of what had been wood then all round Kirkniadrine 

 was a likely spot for the Druid's counting it a holy place. One 

 wonders if those stones have had exorcism practised on them, 

 prescribed for being used when Pagan materials were turned to 

 Christian use. T should think there had been worship in this 

 spot before the Christian era, and that this knoll rivals in 

 antiquity as a site of Christian worship if it does not surpass the 

 hollow in which is situated St. Cuthbert's, Edinburgh. 



Rare Birds of Recent Occurrence. By Mr R. Service, 

 M.B.O.U. 



At the outset Mr Service stated that on account of the rarity 

 of cyclonic disturbances it was remarkable that so many rare birds 

 had visited this country during the past winter. These disturb- 

 ances kept the birds moving about, especially when they 

 occurred towards the termination of the autumn migration. 

 Owing to the Icelandic disturbance, at least two birds from the 

 great north-eastern region of Russia and the Baltic had occurred, 

 viz., the smew and the Brent goose. The former was one of our 

 rarest visitors, occurring on an average only once in five years. 

 He exhibited one of the five which had recently been seen at the 

 margin of Lochrutton by Mr Vincent Balfour Browne, who had 

 shot two of them right and left. Mr Murray of Parton had seen 

 another specimen only on Monday, 15th February. The follow- 

 ing was a record of the occurrences of the smew during the last 

 sixty years : One, river Nith near Thornhill, 1864, Dr Grierson ; 

 one, river Annan near Dormont, 1860, Mr W. L. Carruthers; 

 two, river Ken, Glenlee, 1870, Mr Gilbert Anderson ; one, Dum- 

 friesshire, Jardine »^ollection, previous to 1860; one, Loch- 

 maben, December, 1879, Mr William Hastings ; one, Castle- 

 Kennedy, March, 1855, Mr Robert Gray ; one, Scots side of 

 Solway, about 1880, Mr H. A. Macpherson; one, young female, 

 Kirkconnell, Colonel R. M. Witham; two, Lochrutton, 5th 

 January, 1909, Mr Vincent R. Balfour Browne; one, river Dee, 

 Parton, Mr Rigby Murray. 



The other rarity was the green sandpiper, a bird that in the 

 speaker's youth was comparatively common in the district. For 

 a considerable time, however, it practically disappeared. Its 



