26 NOTES ON THE BirRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE. 
The severe winter of November, 1916, to February, 
1917, comparable with that of 1894-5, must not be forgotten 
for, although its full severity was not experienced locally, it 
played sad havoc among the smaller insectivorous lovurtcls, lia 
1919 we had a snowstorm on 26th April and the drought 
that year, which extended in some parts of the county from 
May till August and which has been compared with the 
drought of 1823 ‘‘ the year of the short corn,”’ doubtless 
affected Bird-life. A natural phenomenon which may be men- 
tioned here is the eclipse of the sun, which was at its height 
about 10 a.m. on 8th April, 1921, and which upset the Birds 
a good deal. At Capenoch I saw Chickens going to their 
sleeping quarters; flocks of Starling's flew to their accustomed 
roosts, as did several of the smaller birds; a cock Pheasant 
crew and went off to his roosting place; but a Chafiinch sang 
throughout the eclipse. Perhaps what struck one most was 
the extraordinary, almost deathly, chilliness and it is not 
surprising that the phenomenon should have had a disturb- 
ing effect upon Birds generally. A drought, which at one 
time promised to vie with those of 1826 and 1919, was experi- 
enced from May to mid July in 1921 but was not so severe 
locally as elsewhere in Great Britain. A general paucity in 
the number of our summer migrants was reported to me but, 
with the exception of Ring Ouzels, Swallows and Sand- 
Martins I cannot, from personal observations, confirm this 
though I think that all our summer visitants were later than 
usual in putting in their appearance. The snowstorm of 14th 
January 1922 was, in some parts of the county, the worst 
experienced for twenty-five years. 
