NovtES ON THE Birps oF DUMFRIESSHIRE. 49 
meeting, on 18th October, 1872, and the Society held its 
sixty-fourth meeting in August, 1879, after which date I have 
not been able to trace its existence. *? 
The GREAT GREY SHRIKE (p. 55). One was ob- 
tained near Dumfries in the winter of 1907. Mr George B. 
Wilson informed me that one was seen on 24th February 
and on ist March, 1911, in Canonbie parish, not far from 
Scotch Dyke. A Great Grey Shrike is said to have been seen 
at Burnt Fir Wood (Kirkmahoe) at the end of October, 
1914, and a male was shot at Capenoch (Keir) on 16th 
November, 1915. Mr E. W. Brook informs me that a bird 
of this species was caught at Kelhead Quarry (Cummer- 
trees) in December, :920, and was kept alive, though minus 
its tail, till the end of April, 1921. 
[The RED-BACKED SHRIKE (p. 56). On mature 
reflection I have come to the conclusion that this species must 
be placed within square brackets. I have recently discovered 
that Mr Robert Brown, in 1874, included ‘‘ the Lesser 
Butcher Bird’ in a list of the Birds of Upper Nithsdale, 
but there is no really satisfactory evidence as to the 
occurrence locally of the species. The Red-Backed Shrike 
has not “* been known to breed occasionally in south-east 
Scotland,’’ though it has been alleged to have done so. | 
The WAXWING (p. 57). The specimen found in a 
cupboard at Capenoch (Keir) has been ascertained to have 
been sent home from Russia in 1854. In the winter of 
1913-14 there was a remarkable incursion of Waxwings to 
Great Britain. A local paper commenting on the appearance 
of the species near Maxwelltown and Newabbey, in the 
neighbouring county of Kirkcudbright,®4 stated that there 
was a belief that such visitations were always followed by 
the outbreak of a great war.® Superstition credits the 
82 Compiled from a collection of newspaper cuttings in the 
Grierson Museum, Thornhill. 
83 Dumfries and Galloway Standard, 11th March, 1874. 
84 Op. cit., 24th December, 1913. 
85 Op. cit., 7th February, 1914. 
