INTRODUCTION. 
THE ORNITHOLOGISTS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE. 
I HAVE been at some pains to give a biography, neces- 
sarily very short, of, so far as possible, all those who, 
by the observations they have left behind them, seem to 
have been acquainted with the bird-life of Dumfriesshire. 
William Macgillivray, Alfred Newton, and other 
eminent ornithologists have sojourned in the county, 
and have duly recorded their local observations, but 
their inclusion under this title seems unwarrantable. 
Other ornithologists, certainly of Dumfriesshire, such as Sir 
John Richardson, have contributed little or nothing towards 
the avifauna of the county, but their mention here becomes 
obligatory in view of their birthright. The task of 
elimination has been difficult and the result therefore may 
be unsatisfactory ; for while many of those whose biographies 
are included could scarcely claim the rank, yet others 
were indisputably ornithologists of the highest standing. 
As regards living ornithologists and contributors, the reader 
is referred to the " Bibliography " (p. xlix), and " List of 
Correspondents " (p. xliii). 
AiRD, Thomas, b. at Bowden, Roxburghshire, August 28th, 
1802. Educated at the schools of Bowden, Melrose, 
and at Edinburgh University, where he was the 
companion of James Hogg, Thomas Carlyle, and 
De Quincey. He published his first poetical work, 
Martzoufle, in 1826, and his Collected Poems in 1848. 
He was a frequent contributor to Blackwood's Maga- 
zine, and was editor of the Dumfries and Galloway 
Herald from 1835 to 1863. On the 6th of December, 
1864, he read a paper to the Dumfriesshire and 
Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society, 
