NOTES ON THE Birps OF DUMFRIESSHIRE. 111 
(Keir) about sixteen miles from the sea, on 7th June, 1916. 
A Common Tern, which was correctly identified, was picked 
up dead near Gateslack (Durisdeer) on 5th April, 1920. Two 
‘Terns or Sea-Swallows 
23rd July, 1921,!"° and a Common Tern was found near Eliock 
”” 
were seen near Kirkconnel on 
(Sanquhar) on 1st August, 1921. Terns occasionally visit 
the Lochmaben Lochs but I have no information as to their 
identity. 
The LITTLE GULL (p. 428). A bird of this species was 
shot at Lochbrow (Johnstone) on the River Annan, by Mr 
George Gibson, in October, 1913, and has been described as 
having been shot on the River Annan near Lockerbie, in the 
first week of February, 1914.1 A Little Gull is alleged to 
have been seen in April, 1917, among a flock of Gulls follow- 
ing the plough on a farm in Holywood parish.1!%8 
The BLACK-HEADED GULL (p. 429). Although 
““ Pickmire ”’ is recognised as a Scottish Border name for 
this species, it was not till 1921 that I heard it so used in 
Dumfriesshire. 
As three eggs are the usual complement laid by this bird, 
it may be of interest to record that on 26th May, 1914, I 
found a nest with four eggs at Loch Urr (Glencairn). 
Mr Andrew Chapman informs me that in his opinion 
the “‘reedy loch’’ (recorded by Sir William Jardine in 
1843 as a ‘‘ haunt of these birds ’’)!”9 was Perchhall Loch, 
and that the “‘ artificial piece of water ’’ (to which Sir 
William says the Gulls went the year after it was made) was 
the loch in Corncockle wood which continued to be a gullery 
till about 1890, when the loch was drained. 
When writing The Birds of Dumfriesshire, in 1910, I 
took considerable pains to ascertain the number of Black- 
headed Gulls then nesting in the county and in 1914 I insti- 
tuted enquiries, as to the local status of the species, which 
176 The Augur, Vol. I., No. 6, p. 8. 
177 The Scottish Naturalist, 1915, pp. 155 and 231. 
178 Dumfries and Galloway Standard, 18th April, 1917. 
179 The Naturalist’s Library (Ornithology), 1843, Vol. XIV., 
p. 295. 
