84 NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE. 
dates being recorded for the late stay, or early arrival, of the 
species. 
On 28th January, 1921, I was sent the feet of a Grey 
Lag-Goose which had been shot the previous day near Glen- 
caple (Caerlaverock). The feet of this bird were peculiar : 
the webbing between the toes being absent except for a 
narrow strip of web between the toes of the left foot. ‘This 
may be taken as evidence that the peculiarity was not con- 
genital and, in the absence of any sign of disease, expert 
opinion could offer no better explanation than that the 
abnormality might have been caused by frost-bite or by acci- 
dent. In my opinion, however, it seems more probable that 
it may have been due to a crude attempt to mark the Goose, 
possibly for purposes of identification, when in its summer 
haunts. It may be noted, by way of comparison, that 2 
Mallard, with “‘ only partially webbed feet,”’ 
North Uist on 13th January, 1902;9 when I stayed with the 
was shot in 
late Dr J. A. Harvie-Brown at Dunipace, in May, 1998, 
these two feet were preserved in a glass case hung in the 
bedroom in which I was sleeping. Another instance of a 
sumilar malformation, but in a domestic duck, has been 
recorded. 
The WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE (p. 242). One was 
shot near the mouth of Lochar Water (Ruthwell) in 1912.4 
Mr Wilson, whose experience of wild-fowling at Glencaple 
(Caerlaverock) extends for over thirty years, stated early in 
1920 that he had only seen this species in one winter, on 
which occasion he killed three with two shots. He told 
me later that a bird of this species was shot near Glencaple 
early in December, 1920; that on 2nd January, 1921, he saw 
a flock of thirty-two or thirty-three; and that on 22nd 
February, 1921, he saw a lot of three. Mr Wilson informed 
me, on 22nd December, 1921, that the ‘‘ Geese ’’ were never 
more plentiful and that there was ‘‘a fair sprinkling ”’ of 
White-fronted. 
139 Annals of Scottish Natural History (1902), pp. 208-9. 
1392 The Magazine of Natural History (1834), p. 316. 
140 KH. W. Brook: in litt., 19th February, 1921. 
141 Dumfries and Galloway Standard, 4th February, 1920. 
