240 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
and Nith are at times crowded with geese, but they 
generally prefer the higher reaches of the Firth. 
The correct identification of immature specimens of the 
different species of grey geese is a puzzling question even for 
experts ; and, if it is difficult to write with anything like 
certainty as to the present <=°^P^'**^^f. J^tttllncat 
these species on our shores, it is stiU more difficult to allocate 
nroperly the records of the past. 
In 1684 the foUowing statement was made concerning 
Loch Urr • " In this loch there is an old ruinous castle, 
with planting of sauch or willow-trees for the most part 
rwit, where many wild geese and other water-xowls 
breed "* In a Bescription of the Shenffdom of Wigtown, 
bv sir Andrew Agnew of Lochnaw and David Dunbar 
of Baldon, we find the foUowmg referring to the same 
period • " In the loch of Mochrome there are bred a number 
of herons and wild geese with other fowls." It is not 
impossible that in these early days this species may have 
nested at Loch Urr, for it may be noted tl^-t/.<^ '^^^l 
as 1843 a few pairs are believed to have bred annuaUy 
in Sunbiggin Tarn, near Orton in Westmoreland t Ii 
both the Statistical Accounts of Scotland local refer- 
ences are obscured by the omission of any distmguishmg 
name. There are many records from various parishes of 
" wild geese " being abundant in hard winters, but no 
records of their breeding, or, indeed, of their havmg bred^ 
It is remarkable that neither in the Catalogue of the Birds 
contained in the collection of Sir William J ardme, is there 
Tny mention of Grey Lag-Geese killed locaUy, nor were 
thJre any local specimens of this species in his coUection 
purchased by the Edinburgh Museum m 1876. There is 
Ldeed, no good evidence to prove that this species visited 
the So way in the first half of the last century, and its sub- 
sequent Appearance there, in ever-increa.ing numbers, 
is therefore most interesting to trace. 
* Large Descr. Galloway, p. 81. 
t Fauna of Lakeland, p. 233. 
