136 Rare Birds of Recent Occurrence. 



the grey lag, the white fronted, the bean goose, and the pink- 

 footed goose. The first two were distinguished by a white nail 

 on the bill, while the second two always showed a black bill. 

 This year there had been perhaps none of the bean geese or pink- 

 footed geese in the district ; while, on the other hand, the others 

 were to be seen practically in thousands. They flew in large 

 arrow-shaped flocks, and it was a pleasure to watch them. A 

 distinguished soldier. Colonel Maxwell Witham of Kirkconnell, 

 who had gone to South Africa at the time of the war, had said 

 that when he left the prevalent goose was the bean goose — he 

 never saw anything else ; but when he came back in three or 

 four years every one he saw was a grey lag. His (the speaker's) 

 explanation of the change was that the fresh sweet grass which 

 used to grow along the estuaries of the Xith and Annan, and 

 which formed the feeding grounds of the bean goose, having been 

 destroyed by frequent floods, was deserted by that species and 

 appropriated by the grey lag and the white-fronted goose, which 

 liked coarser feeding. These changes w"ere of the very greatest 

 importance to observers, and might be of considerable economic 

 importance to the proprietors of the waterways and the land 

 which adjoined, because hundreds of acres of what was once 

 good pasturage had been utterly destroyed, and what was formerly 

 pasturage for cattle and sheep was now occupied by flounders. 



5th March, 1909. 



Chairman — Provost Lennox. 



A Famous Medieval Order. By Rev. W. L. Stephen. 



The Rev. \V. L. Stephen, B.D., Moffat, delivered an 

 interesting and erudite historical address on the Order of 

 Knights Templar. In this country, he mentioned, they left 

 traces of their presence in the place-names, Templand, Temple- 

 ton, and Spittal, although the last-named was also sometimes 

 associated with the Knights Hospitaller. In Dumfriesshire 

 there were traces of the Knights Templar at Durisdeer, two at 



