234 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
haunts, and has practicaUy banished it as a breeding-species 
not only from this county but from the whole of the British 
Isles 
Dr. Archbald, among his "Curiosities at Drumfriess," 
written about 1684, includes : " Bittour, making a great sound 
in the summer's evenings and mornings by thrusting her beak 
into the ground when she cries."* In those days the Lochar 
Moss in spring must have resounded at night with the 
" boom " of the Bittern ; a weird noise seldom heard durmg 
the day, and, needless to say, not produced as above 
described. " It consists of two notes, one supposed to be 
produced as the bird inhales, and the other as it exhales 
its breath. Naumann attempts to express it on paper by 
the syllables ii—prwnh, repeated slowly several times, t 
The Rev. J. Dickson in 1793 describes the Bittern as a 
-native of Mouswald,"t presumably of Lochar Moss. 
In December, 1819, a bird of this species was shot m 
Mouswald by Mr. John Brown, farmer, m Yernhirst, 
and " was put into the hands of Thomas Heatherton, 
farrier, at PyehiUs, Ruthwell, for careful preservation § 
On February 21st, 1826, the foUowing appeared m the 
Dumfries and Galloway Courier : " A Bittern, or Miredrum, of 
the largest size, and the first we have heard of for a long time 
was shot last week on the estate of Broompark, which 
stretches almost to the side of the Nith, and is withm 
a few minutes walk of this town. This bird, which we 
have seen, is obviously a cock, with very bright pl^^age, 
considering its colour, and has been finely stuffed by Mr 
HeUon at Messrs. J. Kerr & Co.'s." A Bittern recorded 
as " shot by Mr. Denham Young on his estate of OruUy- 
hill in 1826 "|| may refer to this bird. 
In the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, there is 
* Sibbald's MS. Collections, p. 228. 
t Lloyd's Nat. Hist., 1896, Vol. III., p. 94. 
X Stat. Acct. Scot., Vol. VII., p. 294. 
§ Dumfries Courier, February 22nd, 1820. 
II Op. cit., January 11th, 1831. 
