BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 149 
(1793) : * and "The wood-lark and bulfinch, birds extremely 
rare m Scotland, are met with in the extensive wood of 
Comlongan; they are both natives. They make their 
nest among the long grass in the wood, and are. of late, 
observed to have much encreased." (RuthweD, 1794 li- 
lt IS stated m 1834 that " the Woodlark is to be found in 
'iL 7 1 Comlongon " (Ruthwell)4 and in 1836, 
the Woodlark, Alavda arborea," is described as " common " 
in Mouswald.| Sir William Jardine writes in 1839 of this 
^ecies : In Scotland, it is admitted by many writers, but 
withoutmentionmg particulars. Dr.Fleming gives theGaehc 
name while Mr. Heysham states that it is'tlken occasi^ 
ally by bird-catchers in the neighbourhood of Dumfries 
(Upon the authority of Mr. YarreU, Brit. Birds Vol I ' 
p^ 419). We have not om'selves seen a Scottish s'pecimen! 
t:f:^:::,;' *° 
Richard BeU of Castle O'er has recorded that in the 
year 1851 or 1852 he found " a nest with eggs in the Gala- 
side wood about a mile north from Langhohn. Being 
unfamihar," he continues, " with the eggs, though I 
ardent coDector, I took them to the then keeper of the 
SdS I^fPartment of the CoUege Museum, 
Edmburgh, who declared them to be those of the Wood- 
SfpH I ^ ^'"^^'^ courteously 
rephed that he could not remember the name of the keeper 
of the Natural History Department at that time, but that 
the nest and eggs were found in the spring of 1851. He 
further told me that he gave his coUection to a nephew 
and from him ,t passed, much destroyed, through several 
* Stat. Acct. Scot., Vol. VII., p. 294. 
t Op. cit.. Vol. X., p. 224. 
t New Stat. Acct. Scot., Vol. IV., p. 220. 
§ Op. cit., Vol. IV., p. 443. 
II Nat. Lib., 1839, Vol. XI., p. 328. 
If My Strange Pets, p. 151. 
