106 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
Sir WiUiam Jardine writing in 1832 says : it " is found 
in flocks during autumn and spring, but few m number 
having diminished much of late years. In 1819 and 1820 
flocks of many hundreds frequented the holms on the 
Annan, but of late not more than from ten to twenty have 
been seen together."* About the time that Sir Wilham 
wrote Sir Charles Granville Stuart Menteath sent a pair 
of young Starhngs to Closeburn Hall to be brought up and 
Uberated. They were entrusted to WiUiam Hastmgs, 
then an under-gardener on the estate (subsequently the 
taxidermist of Dumfries), " who did as he was instructed ; 
and in the following year one was shot and no one knew 
what it was."t From Newbie House (Annan) m 1839, 
Sir WiUiam Jardine wrote to P. J. Selby that " A pair 
of Starhngs bred in a hole in one of the large trees in front •, 
the first time I have ever known any remain over summer. 
The editor of the Dumfries and Galloway Conner (John 
McDiarmid) wrote of the Starling in 1840, " we would esteem 
it a high favour could Mr. W.{ contrive to send us a pair or 
even an odd one. It is true the same curious bird is partial 
to Kirkbean, in our own neighbourhood, but with aU our 
art we could not secure a nestling either from Arbigland or 
Cavens."§ None of the places here mentioned, it will be 
observed, are in Dumfriesshire ; and the bird locaUy had 
become more than a rarity. 
Thomas Aird records that "eight years ago [t.e., 1856J 
there was not a Starling at Mountain HaU [Dumfries] ; 
now they breed, and large flocks are seen m autumn. 1| 
So long had they been strangers that Mr. John Come states : 
" I am credibly informed that the first Starling seen in 
Glencairn was sold for half a sovereign, and the bird was 
a dead one.""H 
» New Stat. Acct. Scot., Vol. IV., p. 180. 
t B. Service's M.S. Diary, March 23rd, 1887. , o, « , 84, 
t Rev. Thomas Wright, Minister of Borthw.ck, Midlothian ; 1818-1841. 
§ Dumfries Courier, January 1st, 1840. 
II Trans. D. ani O. Nat. Hist. Sac., December 6th, 1864. 
1[ Op. cit., November 10th, 1888. 
