U BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
species. The nest was placed on the ground, on a patch 
of waste moor, and in structure resembled a YeUow- 
Hammer's, but was larger ; the eggs, five in number were 
shining and pure white. The eggs of the Black Redstart 
are so characteristic that when found in a situation like 
that described, they can hardly be mistaken for those ot 
another species."* As regards this statement Mr B. 
Service writes me: "On June 16th, 1886, I found on 
the identical ' patch of waste moor ' above referred to 
a nest of the Yellow-Hammer containing three eggs. These 
were most remarkable 'varieties,' two of them bemg 
practicaUy pure white, while the third was also white ; 
but close examination showed some very faint speckles. 
The thought at once struck me that here was the explana- 
tion of the supposed Black Redstart's nest found nearly 
thirty years previously on almost, if not exactly, the same 
spot of ground ! So I sent nest and eggs to Mr. Gray, who 
replied as follows : ' I am greatly obliged to you for your 
kind letter and for the nest and eggs which accompanied it. 
The question you have raised is one of much mterest, 
inasmuch as an inexperienced collector might be readily 
enough deceived by the finding of such a nest. There is 
not, of course, the shining appearance of the eggs 
characteristic of the Black Redstart in those you have 
sent ; nevertheless, to a young naturalist especially, their 
whiteness is a little startUng. Had you sent the nest 
without any letter I should not have thought of the Black 
Redstart ; there is an indefinable something which points 
more readily to mere variety. Still, the nest and eggs 
coming from the quarter in which the supposed nest and 
eggs of the Black Redstart were recorded suggest that a 
mStake may have been made. The shining gloss was, 
I recollect, strongly dwelt upon, and this does not appear 
m the Yellow Hammer's.' " 
The second allegation of this species havmg nested in 
the county is made by W. Oxenden Hammond: A 
• Birds of West Scotland, 1871, p. 85. 
