104 NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE. 
are allowed to incubate the young birds will be hatched at a 
time when insect food is scarcer than it is later on in the year. 
At the same time it must be remembered that many nests are 
inevitably destroyed by the harrowing and rolling of the 
fields, which in this county commonly takes place after 15th 
April. As regards the killing of the birds themselves, either 
by shooting or by netting which is done on a far larger scale 
than is generally recognised, it might prove to be a hardship 
to wild-fowlers if the killing of these birds was to be pro- 
hibited throughout the year and throughout Great Britain. 
There is no bird more beneficial to agriculture than the Lap- 
wing and it is quite certain that measures for its protection 
will be earnestly considered by the recently appointed Wild 
Birds Protection Advisory Committees when readjusting the 
legislation on the subject: in the meantime it may be noted 
that, under the latest Dumfriesshire ‘‘ Wild Birds Protection 
Order,’’ the taking of Lapwings’ eggs is entirely prohibited 
and the bird itself is protected throughout the year. 
(Recovery of ringed birds, see pp. 24, 25, antea.) 
The OYSTER-CATCHER (p. 375).. I saw a pair of 
these birds at Loch Urr (Glencairn) on 22nd May, i911. I 
could find no nest, but quite possibly this had been destroyed 
along with many of the more accessible nests of the Black- 
headed Gulls. An Oyster-Catcher was seen at Auchenstroan 
(Glencairn) early in September, 1g11, and although in spring 
a few pairs ascend the larger rivers to nest, the species does 
not seem to be extending its range as an inland breeding 
species. 
There must have been several thousands of Oyster- 
Catchers at Caerlaverock, feeding at the edge of the tide, on 
5th January, 1920, when I was there after Geese. After 
night-fall the sibilant calls of these birds and other waders 
reminded me of the melody one hears on a summer’s day 
when above a wood where Thrushes and Warblers are in full 
song. The pleasures of that evening, though almost blank 
from a shooting point of view, wil! not soon be forgotten. 
Sitting on the merse I identified the rush of wings of many 
different wild-fowl overhead, Mallard, Teal, Wigeon and the 
