NOTES ON THE Brrps OF DUMFRIESSHIRE. 99 
tie PHEASANT (p. 336). In Scotland the Pheasant 
does not appear to have been preserved at a very early period. 
Robert Gray writes :—‘‘ The first mention of the Pheasant 
in old Scottish Acts is in one dated &th June, 1594, in which 
year a keen sportsman occupied the Scottish throne.’'!68 Sir 
William Jardine considered that ‘‘ upon the Scottish border 
and high Cheviot range they must have been early abundant ; 
for in the old ballad of the field of Otterburn we have :— 
ce 
‘ The roo full rekeles there sche rinnes, 
To make the game and glee; 
The Fawken and the Fesaunt both, 
Among the haltes on hee.’ ’’16 
The battle of Otterburn was fought in August, 1388, and 
the ballad may be regarded as belonging to the fifteenth 
century. We have, however, no definite evidence of the 
existence of the Pheasant in Dumfriesshire till a much later 
date. 
There can be no doubt that the species, which in recent 
years has been turned down in increasing numbers, has 
thriven exceedingly. Personally, I am inclined to think that 
this increase has had something to do with the general de- 
crease of Blackgame and Partridges locally. I have often 
been shocked to see Pheasants on ground which should 
belong exclusively to Grouse. I flushed a cock and hen 
Pheasant near Langshawburn (Eskdalemuir) in the spring 
of 1911; and have seen others at Loch Ettrick (Closeburn), 
Loch Urr (Glencairn), Shinnelhead (Tynron), Polgown (Pen- 
pont), and Polskeoch (Penpont), where on 9th December, 
1920, I saw a cock and hen Pheasant fully five miles away 
from the nearest arable land or enclosed covert. What were 
these birds doing there? and if this species is going to take 
to the moors will it not be detrimental to the Grouse? These 
are questions I cannot answer authoritatively ; but I strongly 
advocate that Pheasants should be kept strictly in their place 
and not allowed to compete for existence with our indigenous 
species. 
168 Birds of West Scotland, 1871, p. 226. 
169 Nat. Lib., Vol. IV. (Ornith.), 1834, pp. 191, 192. 
