52 Notes ON THE Birps OF D'JMFRIESSHIRE. 
so dark as the male’s. Whether this third bird was a very 
old female, or a young male, I do not know. The darker of 
the two birds was the more assiduous in its attentions to the 
nestlings : we timed them to be fed sixteen times an hour by 
the darker, to four times an hour by the lighter, of the two. 
The undoubted male bird put in an appearance about once 
an hour, but never carrying food, though on previous 
occasions he had entered the nesting-hole for this purpose.”’ 
On reflection, and after critical examination of the photo- 
graph which J obtained at the time, I am of the opinion that 
7, 
the ‘‘ new-comer ’’ was a male, unless “‘ it '’ may have been 
a barren female assuming the plumage of the opposite sex. 
In any case this would appear to be one of those inexplicable 
instances of the unresented presence of a third individual 
together with a pair of normally monogamous birds, of which 
there are records in some twelve or fourteen other species at 
least.% 
In June, 1915, a pair of Pied Flycatchers were seen feed- 
ing their young near Langholm; this is a new locality for 
the occurrence of this species and farther east in the county 
than previously recorded. I am informed that in 1918, 1919, 
and 1920 Pied Flycatchers were seen near Craigieburn 
(Moffat). Though I cannot say that the species is actually 
increasing in its old haunts it is certainly holding its own. 
Since 1912 a certain row of sycamores near Capenoch (Keir) 
has been annually resorted to and, near these trees, on 11th 
May, 1920, I saw an exceptionally beautiful male, which had 
probably only just arrived. 
The SWALLOW (p. 61). In 1915 a pair of Swallows 
made their nest in a saucer lying on a beam in the barn at 
Noggetshaws Farm (Annan). 
On 25th July, 1918, a Swallow was seen at Jardington, 
which ‘* was of cream colour below and light yellow on the 
back and upper parts of the wings,’’® and a white Swallow 
was seen at Capenoch (Keir) in September, 1918. 
93 The Ibis, Vol. III. (1921), p. 324. 
94 Dumfries and Galloway Standard, 14th July, 1915. 
95 Op. Cit., Tth August, 1918. 
