58 NOTES ON THE BiRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE. 
a drop, some say three drops, of the devil’s blood each May 
morning, some say each Monday morning.’’!10 
The white eggs of the Yellow Bunting with the nest 
found in 1886, which were thought to be those of a Black 
Redstart (see p. 38), passed into the collection of the late Mr 
William Evans. 
The late James Shaw gives ‘‘ Gunner ’’ as a local name 
for this species. 
(Recovery of ringed bird, see p. 23 antea.) 
The SNOW-BUNTING (p. 103). In i921 I was sent a 
female Snow-Bunting, from Durisdeer, which had been shot 
on April 30th. 
The STARLING (p. 105). A nest with young birds in 
it was found at Kirkland (Closeburn) in 1912, on 3rd 
February. 
A white specimen, a male, with pale yellow beak, pink 
legs and feet, but normally coloured eyes, was obtained at 
Kirkland (Tynron) on 1oth June, 1911, and a slate-coloured 
bird was shot near Craigs (Dumfries) the same year. A cream- 
white Starling was seen near Stepends (Penpont) on gth 
October, 1914, and a similar bird was seen near Sanquhar 
in the winter of 1919-20. One with white head and breast 
was reported from Langholm in January, 1922,1!7 and a very 
light coloured Starling, almost white, was seen near Loch- 
maben in the winter of 1921-22. 
In 1914 I heard a Starling imitating the crow of the 
farm-yard cock, and on another occasion heard one copying 
the call of the Herring Gull. I have been told that a Starling 
at Dalmakerran (Tynron) used to imitate the peculiar whistle 
of the shepherd to a nicety. 
In 1911 Starlings proved a great pest at the Crichton 
Royal Institution, Dumfries. They nested in the ventilators 
of the houses, and it was estimated that fully a half of these, 
110 Rev. Charles Swainson: The Folk Lore and Provincial Names 
of British Birds (1886), pp. 70, 71. 
111 Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural 
History and Antiquarian Society, 1893-4, p. 148. 
112 The Shooting Times, 28th January, 1922, p. 15, 
