BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 166 
the nest, and was accustomed with it every season, though 
he did not happen to find it in 1796. T C Hevsham 
noticed its arrival at Cariisle in the thirties regufair 
a«d Macphei-son concludes : "Probably the species was 
^ways very local It is now mre."* Sir William Jardine 
however, writing in 1839 says: "It does not extend in 
any numbers, or with regularity, to the northern or the 
midland counties of England; but southward, in the 
wooded districts, it is considered to be generaUy and not 
vmcommonly distributed. . . . m Scoland it"^ become 
stiU less frequent ; we have only heard of very few examples, 
fh. h o-^' ow« notice, kiUed on 
the banks of the Solway, early in spring, and now in our 
2n„r' ^r.ru*'°*'°" P«°«li^' there 
unknown, cnes."t This specimen passed in a very worn 
1^117"^?*'' ^^y** ^''''^'^ Museum in 187^ 
labelled "No 150. From Powfoot, Dumfriesshire," so I 
am informed by Mr. W. Eagle Clarke 
In October, 1857, "a fine specimen of the Wryneck was 
r.3 T»," ■ ^ ^^'^""^ South-Western Railway 
M^d? fl ' It appears to have been 
staffed ^f ^"^'S'^P^ ™' been 
stuffed for the ThornhiU Museum."$ I could find no 
trace of this specimen when visiting Dr. Grierson's Museum 
at ThornhiU m May, 1908; but in looking through the 
doctor's MS "Notes," I found under date ^October 17th! 
li] 1!. ""^"^^ ^^^^ Thomas Maxwell of 
AUanton Mill had given him : " Wryneck ; a specimen 
which had been kiUed by the telegraphic wir;s near Auld 
girth three years ago, the only one met with here. (Sir 
WiUiam Jardine mentioned to me havmg seen a specimen 
m a hedge near Jardine HaD.) " Auldgirth and ThornhiU 
are two stations on the Glasgow and South-Western 
Railway, some seven miles apart, and though there is 
* Fauna of Lakeland, p. 167. 
t Nat. Lib., 1839, Vol. XL, p. 359. 
t Naturalist, 1857, Vol. VII., p. 283. 
