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Dumfries ; one of these had been examined by the author. The next occurrence of the Black- 

 winged Stilt is thus alluded to by Don in his Forfarshire list, published in 1812 : — 'I once saw 

 one bird of this species on the mountains of Clova ; I have never observed but another, which 

 was on Ben Lawers, in Perthshire, in August 1793. It is a rare bird, and, I believe, but few 

 naturalists have seen it alive.' Later still it is mentioned as a rare species found in the parish of 

 Glenshiel, in Boss-shire, by the Bev. John M'Bae, who published his statistical account in 

 November 1836. I can find no other record of its appearance in any part of Scotland until 1850, 

 when a specimen, killed on the banks of the Clyde, near Port Glasgow, was exhibited at a 

 meeting of the Boyal Physical Society of Edinburgh by Dr. J. A. Smith, the Society's secretary. 

 After a lapse of nearly twenty years, it reappeared in 1867 ; and, from the several records com- 

 municated to me, I am inclined to believe that a small flock had visited Britain in that year. 

 In the month of October following, a Black-winged Stilt was seen at Possil marsh, within four 

 miles of Glasgow. It frequented the place three or four days, and was distinctly observed by 

 different persons. Notwithstanding repeated attempts on its life, the bird luckily escaped. 

 Writing from Dumfriesshire, on 25th December of the same year, Sir William Jardine has sent 

 me the following note : — ' My gamekeeper gave me the description of a bird he saw about six 

 weeks ago, that I could make out to be nothing but a Black-winged Stilt ; and I heard of it being 

 killed about eight miles off; but it had been thrown out, and not a feather was to be got.' " 



It appears to have occurred in Shetland; for Dr. Saxby says (B. of Shetl. Isl. p. 197) that 

 " Dr. Lawrence Edmondston observed one amongst some Golden Plovers some years prior to 

 1843 ; but neither the year nor the date can be remembered. Messrs. Baikie and Heddle record 

 two that were killed at Lopness, in Orkney, in 1841." 



In Ireland it is of extremely rare occurrence. Thompson says that Mr. Ball saw one in a 

 field near Youghal in the winter of 1823 or 1824, one was killed previous to 1837 at Clontarf, 

 Dublin Bay, and one was shot in January 1836 near Lough Mask, county Mayo. 



It does not appear to have been met with in Norway, Sweden, or Finland ; nor does it range 

 far north in Eussia. According to Mr. Taczanowski it is of very rare occurrence in Poland ; but 

 there is, he says, a specimen in the Warsaw Museum which was killed at Sosnowica, in the 

 Government of Lublin. In Germany it is only known as a rare straggler from the south, and is, 

 Naumann states, very rarely met with; but examples have been obtained in Suabia, on the 

 Bhine, in Silesia, Saxony, and Anhalt, as also in Switzerland. Mr. Hermann Schalow says 

 (J. f. O. 1876, p. 19) that it is a rare straggler to Brandenburg. He has seen one which was 

 shot near Marwitz, in the late autumn of 1869 ; and one was obtained in the summer of the same 

 year near Buppin. Borggreve includes it as a rare and accidental straggler from the south. 

 Schaefer records it once from Pol and once from the Moselle ; and it is stated to have occurred 

 singly in Silesia and on the Elbe. According to Dr. Bey, it occurs in Saxony, where numbers 

 were killed in 1822 and 1829 near Eoblingen, Erdeborn, and Etzdorf, on the salt lake; and the 

 Bev. Mr. Passler says (J. f. O. 1856, p. 62) that it has once been found breeding on the Badetzer 

 pond, in Anhalt, and its three eggs were taken, one of which he now possesses. According to 

 Mr. Collin there are two instances of its occurrence in Denmark — once about a century ago, on 

 Christianso, and again on Lindholm, near Moen, in the autumn of 1825. He further states that 

 Mr. Moller, of Ostrupgaard, assured him that he saw one in the winter of 1864-65, in the north- 



