BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 56 
in a feeble condition, and when pursued sought refuge 
among the rocks. On being caught it was found to be 
very thm, and it only hved a day after being caged by its 
captor. It was stuffed by Mr. Raine, taxidermist of 
Carhsle, who reported that it was an adult male. I have 
personally seen the specimen which is now in Mr Vere's 
possession, and it is certainly a male in splendid mature 
plumage. 
The Golden Oriole, a rare visitor to all parts of Great 
Britam except to the south coast of England, breeds 
throughout Europe south of the Baltic and as far east as 
l^ersia. In wmter it is found in Africa, migrating to Natal, 
the Transvaal and Damaraland. 
THE GREAT GREY SHRIKE. 
Lanius excubitor, Linnseus. 
An uncommon and irregular autumnal or winter-visitor. 
Sir WiUiam Jardine wrote in 1839 that the Great Grey 
Shnke was a rare bird in the south of Scotland, " a few 
mstances only of its capture having occurred to our notice "* 
Writing in 1905 of this bird in the Solway area, Mr. R 
Service says that " every winter for a long series of years 
one or more visitants were recorded, but during the last half- 
dozen years I have not been made aware of any occurrence 
here."t Mr. Tom Crosbie teUs me that in the severe 
winter of 1878-1879 he shot a bird of this species at Kirkbog 
(Closeburn) and that he gave it to Dr. Grierson for his 
museum at ThornhiU ; but I have been unable to trace it. 
il-arly in 1890 there was an unusual number of occurrences 
of this species in Scotland, and ''Mr. T. BeU of Liddel Bank 
near Canonbie, observed a double-barred Grey Shrike on 
* Nat. Lib., 1839, Vol. XI., p. 58. 
t Trans. D. and G. Nat. Hist. Soc, April 20th, 1905. 
