BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 239 
[The Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia, Linnseus) Under 
the Great White Egret in his Naturalist's Library 
Sir WiUiam Jardine writes: "According to the news- 
papers a ' White Heron ' was several times seen during 
the . . . winter [1840-1841] upon the shores of the 
bolway, on the Enghsh side, above Port CarHsle "* Con- 
cerning this statement the late H. A. Macpherson writes • 
Among the Heysham Papers I found a letter of one 
James Irwin, describing carefully the bird which, with some 
warranty from Sir WiUiam Jardine, gave rise to the report 
that a Great White Heron was seen on the Solway in the 
winter of 1840-1841. I have shown this letter to Howard 
Saunders, and we are satisfied that the bird in question was 
a SpoonbiU."t The bird recorded by Sir William Jardine 
may have crossed from the Cumberland shore to Dum- 
friesshire, but of this there is no evidence. There is as 
far as I know, no record of either the SpoonbiU or 'the 
Great White Heron in Dumfriesshire, and my excuse for 
mentionmg either of these species here is to show that the 
above statements have not been overlooked.] 
THE GREY LAG-GOOSE. Anser cinereus, Meyer. 
Local names— Laggie ; Stegg (of the male). 
" Wild geese, wild geese, ganging to the sea. 
Good weather it will be : 
Wild geese, wild geese, ganging to the hill. 
The weather it will spill." 
Old Dumfriesshire Saying. 
A winter-visitant to the Solway ; of late years in increased numbers. 
The Solway Firth affords ideal winter-quarters for aU sorts 
of geese, and the nature of the shores renders them parti- 
cularly safe. The banks of the estuaries of the Annan 
* Nat. Lib., 1842, Vol. XII., p. 135. 
t Zoologist, 1888, p. 330. 
