BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE jyg 
twelve to fifteen thousand ZT °^^^""-daIe from 
on the east, to the viS; o'f ThornlTo ^r°'''«-y Hill 
thousand acres*; a total of M ?u T ^^'^en 
acres in Dumfriesshle Ine /T^. ^'^^ ^^'^ 
whole area affected n ^'bor^^^^^^ T^"*^*^ ^'^^^ 
than sixty miles i„ wt , '^^^ "i"* less 
breadth.t This relrl?M ^''''^ twenty in 
n.arvellous iigr^'ofNT^^^^^ ^^*°g^^l^- 
the 1874-1876 K^ Thevlr '*^ ' ^"d, as in 
and other birds of prV ' *°°ompanied by Buzzards 
Owt; ^'if SfSS!:^ -3^3 of these 
pairs of bree^ SZ:^'ZCti'' ^'^"^ '^^^""^^^ 
ably there were three or four / I*' P'""""*- ^'^b- 
vole-infested farms I hL? , """"^e' the 
birds commenced to ^Lt Feh" ^--^ 
nesting without intermissTon till l^^T'l' continued 
twelve eggs were thT u ual nul ' '^'^^ 
what avidity and untiring va^nt iVo f^' ^ ^""^ 
dunng every one of the hours of d!t f P"''""'^ 
a never-to-be-forgotten evn! ^ "'S'^*- I* ^as 
mile of the mooriands alwavsT. °" '""^ 
in sight at once. . rbutl thIL . ? "^"'^ 
midsummer of 1892 I had J^' ''^ ^^en at 
at midnight. Tonight w.fr'^^ 
still. The Owls wtre S * ^""^ ^^ry 
I ever saw. tL vl~ ^^'"^ ^'^^ «*her birds 
squeaking and ruslw T '"T^'^^ ^'^^^^'^ thither, 
*hem. #he unfrhSl)rtstritft°Th '''' ^'^'"'^'^ 
were sitting blinkin^r fh^.v 7 f ^ ^^^'^ ^^^^s, and 
- groups 'on ii:':v'e Sr-V^^ 
never troubled to alight amoL.t 7.^ • I P^'^ents 
K. F. Dudgeon, ^oo%^.,, 1392, p. 165 
^ Report Field Voles Scot (C. 6943), 1893, p. 8. 
N 2 
