32 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
record can in no sense be regarded as belonging to Dumfries- 
shire but " as the crow flies " (and perhaps as this Grass- 
hopper-Warbler flew) New Abbey is only two miles from the 
nearest limit of our boundary, and I mention this occurrence 
simply to show that the species in Sir William s t«ne was 
known a visitor to the Solway area, and doubtless 
to our county. . , , 
Mr R Service writes : " This is a shy, retirmg little bird, 
which though not really rare in south-west Scotland, is very 
seldom heard and still more seldom seen, and the finding 
of its nest, by any except those who possess the key to its 
habits, a rare accident. . . . This season (1892) some of 
the birdnestmg boys seem to have stumb ed on the 
bird somehow, and no less than three juveniles brought 
me eggs of this bird for identification. These had all been 
taken within a short distance of Dumfries."* Mr^ John 
Corrie writes : " In Glencaim it occurs m considerable 
numbers. I had my attention first directed to the bird 
some five or six years ago [i.e., 1882-1883] when rod-fishing 
on the Cairn, and I have frequently heard it during similar 
excursions smce. The nest is said to be very difficult to 
find and to this circumstance may perhaps be attributed 
my want of success in the search."t Mr. R. Service confirms 
this, and writes me that he has seen the bird at Craig- 
darroch, Maxwelton, and elsewhere in tl^^ C^fyf^^^• 
A note in Miss Wallace's diary for April 22nd, 1906, 
would seem to refer to this bird's presence at that date near 
Lochmaben, but it seldom arrives here so earty ; and it 
departs by the end of August or early in September. 
The Grasshopper-Warbler shuns cultivation, and a fa- 
vourite nesting-site is the tussocky grass in a thickly grown 
plantation five or six years old. By walkmg through such 
a place, and beatmg the ground in front of one with a 
long branch, one may disturb the bird from its nest, and 
thus reveal its carefully concealed eggs. 
* Zoologist, 1892, p. 333. 
t Trana. D. and 6. Nat. Hist. Soc, November 10th, 1888. 
