BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 15 
lady, a near neighbour of mine, who is fond of observing 
birds, tells me that about the 12th of June, 1889, she found 
a nest of the Black Redstart about half a mile from Max- 
welton in Dumfriesshire. The nest was in a stone ' dyke ' 
(wall), by the side of a road on a high hill called Crossford. 
The young were hatched. She tells me that she often went 
to watch the birds, both with a field-glass and without one, 
that they let her get very near, that she is certain of their . 
identity, and that they were Black, and not Common 
Redstarts."* Mr. R. Service writes me as regards this 
second supposed occurrence : " At least three experienced 
field-naturalists were over the locaHty in the season of 1889 
referred to, two of them being resident in the neighbour- 
hood. None of these gentlemen will accept the record, 
so that Mr. Hammond's dictum that this was an undoubted 
instance of the breeding of this species is scarcely warranted. 
That the Black Redstart may be confidently expected to 
put in an appearance before long as a winter-visitant is a 
justifiable anticipation, but to find it breeding in Solway 
is quite another story. Twice now I have been sent for 
to see a supposed Black Redstart's nest, once near Kirk- 
land (Kirkmichael) and on the other occasion near 
Closeburn, and in both cases they were the common 
species." W. Oxenden Hammond is dead, but I have a 
most courteous letter from Miss Rice, his informant, which, 
however, gives no further evidence as to this alleged 
occurrence of its nesting near Maxwelton (Glencairn). 
Mr. R. Service tells me that he feels certain he saw a 
female Black Redstart in his nursery-gardens at Maxwelltown 
(that is, within half a mile of the Dumfriesshire boundary), 
on March 4th, 1910. This is most interesting as being 
the first record of the occurrence of this bird in the vicinity, 
but does not, however, warrant my including the species 
among the birds of Dumfriesshire without square brackets, 
since it was, as has been stated, actually seen some eight 
hundred yards from the county boundary. 
* Zoologisty 1890, Vol. XIV., p. 220. 
